Wake Up And Be Happy, by Camber

Wake Up And Be Happy

by Camber

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More Music by Camber

1.	Devil You Know 03:23	lyrics	buy track
I'm sleeping on it and toss from side to side. Still sitting on the fence, as usual I'm petrified. I'm chewing on it until it's cut and dried. And just when I've made progress be sure that I'll backslide. I will decide that I won't decide. Do what I always do and let indecision be my guide because the devil you know beats the devil you don't know. The devil you know beats the devil you don't. I've argued with it until my tongue is tied. I've looked it up and down until cross-eyed. I'm in a comfy place soaked in formaldehyde. But feel like something's sneaking up on my blindside. I will decide that I won't decide. This seems to be as good and safe as any other place to hide. The devil you know beats the devil you don't know. The devil you know beats the devil you don't. And though the offer does sound ace, I might miss my job, my place, her face. What I do know is I just don't know. Can't just go leaping into space. My decision process can't keep pace so I'll decide to keep my options open. Just in case. I will decide that I won't decide. I'm sleeping on it and toss from side to side. Still sitting on the fence with both my eyes shut wide. I'm chewing on it until it's cut and dried. Do what I always do and let indecision be my guide because the devil you know beats the devil you don't know. The devil you know beats the devil you don't
2.	Short Sleeve 03:18	lyrics	buy track
Last time you checked, you thought that all was swell or at least it seemed so. In retrospect your long season in hell left them less than gung-ho. But you'll make them all remember. You'll make them all believe. Though no longer young and tender, still got some tricks left up in your sleeve. Calling collect to drop your next bombshell or strike your next deathblow. Pause for effect, your breathless kiss and tell failed to set them aglow. But you'll make them all remember. You'll beg, borrow and thieve. Though you've lost that youthful splendor, still got some tricks left up in your sleeve. Left up your short sleeve. Who would have guessed? It seems like yesterday you were so self-impressed. That's how this business goes. Well past your crest you've been undressed. And it shows. It blows. No disrespect but you've taken on a smell and it won't sell. We wish you would remember before you make believe. It's better to surrender than wear your heart out on your short sleeve. Out on your short sleeve. We know you blow
3.	West Village Idiot 03:17	lyrics	buy track
I'm on my way, today. Boxed up, retreated to my dismay. I don't like this room. Stench of smoke, stale booze perfume. Cut at the knees, again. Packed in, defeated and shedding skin. I am exposed and been stored and secreted to my chagrin. There's nothing in this room. No myths left here to exhume. What you deserve when you assume you're safe up on the tightrope. I'm on my way, today
4.	Wake Up And Be Happy 03:26	lyrics	buy track
Why do we stay so long in this city she loves me in? Each day we take it on the chin and we've become has-beens. Once young and bold, now we look old. The luster fading from this daily passion play. Hoping someday we'll just wake up and be happy. Hoping somehow we'll just wake up and be sane. We've got to wake up. Why do we fight so hard in this city we love to hate? Each day we aim for a stalemate and we've become lightweights. Once proud and tall now we look small and running short on good reasons for us to stay. Maybe someday we'll just wake up and be happy. Maybe someday we'll just wake up and be sane. We've got to wake up. Wake up in the town where everything is going down if you're the type with passion for restaurants and shows and fashion. We're living in the center of the universe, it could be worse and far surpasses living out among the masses. So we'll never say so long to this city we glitter in. Re-sharpen elbows, reset grin as we re-begin. And make a toast to when we'll wake up and be happy. And take a drink to when we'll wake up and be sane. We've got to wake up. Someday we'll wake up. We're going to wake up. Maybe we'll wake up. We'll never wake up
5.	Darling Daughter 05:08	lyrics	buy track
Unexpected or wanted for what it is worth. Sole source of her hell on earth. Then rejected like some old shoe she wouldn't wear. Message clear she couldn't care. Ignored, neglected. Handed-off, forgotten and left to find my own way. It's tragic to discover that I don't really matter to my mother. So sad and can't get much harder to keep on playing the part of darling daughter. Please come through this time. Words unspoken. Nothing special to declare, speak my mind I would not dare. Promise broken. Conspicuously never there, vanishing into thin air. Affection token. Only with an audience would she ever look my way. It's tragic to discover that I don't really matter to my mother. So sad and can't get much harder to keep on playing the part of darling daughter. I should find some way to get past the inflammatory. Not get cast in revisionist history. By contrast, I'll be okay at last. Please come through this time. Walls erected, never to come down, remain forever in the way. We are bound to each other and though we have our problems she's my mother. It's quite mad and I know I ought to not keep on playing the part of darling daughter. Maybe I can find some way. Get past the inflammatory. Free from revisionist history to write a happier story
6.	Expat 03:58	lyrics	buy track
Bathed warm in sepia tone. Filtered through time, still not half grown. Framed memories of summertime. Endless and safe, still skin and bone. Years before the nest was flown. Airbrushed, sublime, truth still unknown. Before the first curve was thrown. It calls you to come back home. Sentiment now long since gone. Life in its prime eats up its own. What once was a stepping-stone enthralls you. You can't go home. Come back home. You can't go home
7.	Make Yourself Comfortable 03:37	lyrics	buy track
Instrumental
8.	Lenny 03:25	lyrics	buy track
Weekly slot in your date book. Let's pull to the curb and take a look. Breakthroughs let you off the hook and make it all better somehow. And the doctor's spinning your beginnings now. Scene of the crime. Deep in the slime. Put your troubles under close review. Hot for the scoop. Deep in the soup. Search for clues to what is eating you. To salve the hurts you never shook or explain why you can't find your nook. Just requires your checkbook to make it all better somehow. And the meds are winning 'cause you're grinning now. Popping the top. Deep in the slop. An attempt to tighten up your screw. Thrown for a loop. Deep in the soup. Search for clues to what is eating you. Opening drawers inside your head. Boxing the ghosts that you most dread. Better to just get drunk instead. To check your underpinnings requires extra innings now. The doctor takes a bow. Scene of the crime. Deep in the slime. An attempt to tighten up your screw. Hot for the scoop. Deep in the soup. Search for clues to what is eating you
9.	Plissken 04:02	lyrics	buy track
I've hatched up a plan where we escape to somewhere better. Not wait for parole, we'll dig a hole and tunnel out of here. Let's make our getaway. It's more than I can stand. If you decide to stay, I'm not sure that I can. What if we just ran? Refused to be incarcerated. Make our big jail break, be just like Snake and beat it out of here. Let's make our getaway. It's more than I can stand. If you decide to stay, I'm not sure that I can. We're not waiting around for release while the odds decrease for us getting out of here. Tonight's we're over the wall ëcause I'm in free-fall and know I can't do another year. Let's make our getaway. It's more than I can stand. Let's make our getaway. I'm hatching up a plan
10.	A Trick I Learned In The Army 05:13	lyrics	buy track
I become invisible. Disappear completely. In a crowd you can watch me fade away, a trick that I learned neatly. I've got nothing much to say. Chosen my environments well for floating through discreetly. Against the wall, in the back, not on display or to be seen concretely. I've got nothing much to say or nothing much that matters. I'm stealth and your radar screens will never, ever spot me. I'm heat and you can't hit what you don't ever see. I become anonymous. To not to seems unseemly. As just another new jack castaway, a trick I learned supremely. I've got nothing much to say or nothing much that matters. I'm stealth and your radar screens will never, ever spot me. I'm heat and you can't hit what you don't ever see. Just the thought of the room can get my insides twitching. Sometimes I'll give it a go to only wind up bitching all night. And then the wreck it can cause will lead to my unhitching from it all then nothing much else matters. I'm stealth and your radar screens will never, ever spot me. I'm heat and you can't hit what you don't ever see
11.	What Do You Want This To Be? 04:31	lyrics	buy track
She, your most ardent trustee. Keeper of secrets, hearer of screams. Says you're your own worst enemy. She loves you better than anyone. But she'd like to know, what do you want this to be? She wants to know, what do you want this to be? She, your avid devotee. Greatest of allies, rider of extremes. Sees you as some sad refugee. She knows you better than anyone. She'd like to know, what do you want this to be? She wants to know, what do you want this to be? But you've never quite known, living like some absentee. Your head in the ozone, living out some rock fantasy. Awaiting some milestone. What do you want this to be? She comes with no real guarantee but you know she's better than anyone

about

Complicated and urgent, Camber's sound comes from those daring hollows of hope and elation that surprise us in the darkest, most desperate moments. It's those bubbles of peace and clarity that feel fresh and unreal...and these fertile grounds feed Camber's brilliant songwriting, still frustrated and intense. The band moves dynamically through the rock medium with a bass that purrs, guitars that glow and drums that roar, but with a fine pop sensibility. Encased in aggressive rock and melodic start-stops, the music builds up to an almost-frenzy and then calms down with a sad caress. We all breathe like this sometimes. Focused, achingly pretty and tortured, Wake Up And Be Happy thinks and feels and moves. (DER-405)

"Camber gets closer to aural perfection with every release, and with Wake Up And Be Happy, they show even more heart and range. Complicated would be the best way to describe Camber as their songs vary from power-pop to indie rock to emo. Of course pigeon-holing them wouldn't do them justice. The album starts off with a bang on Devil You Know and continues with the melodic and beautiful Darling Daughter. The rest of the album is peppered with intricately woven catchy rock. This will definitely go down as one of my top ten records of 2002." - Dropout Digest

"Across the course of their previous two albums, Camber have played music that's intelligent without ever losing its rock-out lure, and innovative without forgoing their instant appeal. Wake Up And Be Happy continues this excellent tradition, setting the pace with the opening track. The vocals have a distinct edge to them, the drums have a neat reverb veneer and there's a guitar hook in the verse that owes more to a casiotone than a power-chord. This is rock music that's learned from its peers and then re-educated itself with stuff that's not found in the mainstream. Tracks like Expat and Lenny are excellent head-down rockers, and others like Darling Daughter and Make Yourself Comfortable are the sort of friends that are giving terms like melancholic pop-hooks a good name again. Bring it on." - Fracture

"Wake Up And Be Happy from Camber is their most accomplished record yet. The songs on here are urgent and quite diverse. Expat is an example of the sheer loudness Camber is capable of while the next song, Make Yourself Comfortable, is a gentle instrumental. Camber is very dynamic and they evoke an aura of confidence in their uniqueness. The music is catchy as hell and when I finally took it out of the cd player, I was humming brilliant tracks like Lenny. As this music gets more and more coverage, bands like Camber will be sure to come out on top." - Music Emissions

www.deepelm.com/camber

credits

released April 2, 2002

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about

Deep Elm Records

With over 260 releases in its catalog, fiercely independent Deep Elm Records continues to build a better label - one that operates for glory, not gold. Deep Elm is about bands and fans coming together as one and experiencing music's awesome ability to inspire, comfort and console. We're not just making music together, we're making history. Deep Elm: Never. Not. Awesome. ... more