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about
The masterful Dave Cope deigned recently to work with me on a new song collab - as fancifully satirical as one might expect us two chuckleheads in the same room to be (ah, the old days).
It requires some relative focus to enjoy, but I think it's worthy. Basically it's this:
"The story of Larry Lee, a temp worker of no import, is reading his page six funnies, comes across a yin/yang symbol sprouting from Marmaduke's head, and is transfixed when it proffers ancient wisdom. This unlikely hero repeats the mantra endlessly & rises in the ranks like some guru, and unknowingly inspires a movement toward labor reforms.
But the same cartoon that transfixes Larry Lee incenses a militant group of Taoist extremists who take out their anger on Larry, who becomes an unwitting martyr (as we all are) in the sometimes beautiful, sometimes brutal unification of opposites that is the physical extrapolation of the archetypical yin yang."
Happy breezy listening! 🤣
lyrics
Larry Li was an average Joe
Maybe even less than so
Never read the front page news
The Funnies would inform his views
No agent of sea change was he
A temp at the temp agency
One day perusing Marmaduke
He saw what must have been a fluke
A symbol ancient and arcane
Sprung from that cartoon’s brain:
It might befit the Great Ultimate if we begin
To feel the flowing of where we’re going, and where we’ve been;
I’ve got a feeling, that you’re reeling from within;
‘Scuse my harangue, where there’s a yang, so there’s a yin…
Larry Li rose through the ranks
For being nice and saying thanks
The Great Dane from the funnies bit
Became their spokesman of such wit
A CEO in their midst
On every Forbes’ and Fortune’s list
His crew though did double-takes
At Larry’s T’ai Chi coffee breaks
And asked what such an act divines
For he knew not of bottom lines:
It might befit the Great Ultimate if we begin
To feel the flowing of where we’re going, and where we’ve been;
I’ve got a feeling, that you’re reeling from within;
‘Scuse my harangue, where there’s a yang, so there’s a yin…
Larry Li barely had a clue
As union memberships accrued
A template for the working classes
Spread and flowered through the masses
A sage among us has been born!
With heaps of praise did they adorn
“If rival forces fill the space
Outsized profits have no place!”
Bold reforms did they instate
Healthcare, mat leave, hourly rate:
It might befit the Great Ultimate if we begin
To feel the flowing of where we’re going, and where we’ve been;
I’ve got a feeling, that you’re reeling from within;
‘Scuse my harangue, where there’s a yang, so there’s a yin…
For every light, a shadow casts
As order sprouts iconoclasts
Extremists of the Taoist sect
Perceiving Larry’s disrespect
“Portray the cosmic You and I
In cartoon form and you must die!”
They shouted crashing through the door
“There can be no peace without war!”
No better way to make this point
Than shooting up the whole damn joint:
It might befit the Great Ultimate if we begin
To feel the flowing of where we’re going, and where we’ve been;
I’ve got a feeling, that you’re reeling from within;
‘Scuse my harangue, where there’s a yang, so there’s a yin…
credits
released March 12, 2021
Written by Dave Cope and Matt Steckler
Dave Cope: Guitar and Vocals
Matt Steckler: Other Instruments and Vocals
Mixing by Matt Steckler
Mastering by Mark Alan Miller
Matthew Steckler performs and composes in several musical settings internationally. Primarily a saxophonist/woodwind
specialist, he also performs on vocals, keyboards, percussion and electronic media, bringing a dynamic, holistic approach to the live musical experience. His recordings on Ropeadope, Cuneiform and Innova labels have made Best CD lists in Downbeat and Jazz Times....more
