Get all 48 Paul Shapera releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Puppetshade Chronicles 1: The Black Beyond, The Posthuman Cabaret Live, Kevin & Abi And The Secret Of The Stolen Sun, Jill's Psychedelic Sunday, The Posthuman War Act 6: The Battle, The Posthuman War Act 5: The Pursuit, The Posthuman War Act 4: Red River, The Posthuman War Act 3: A New Dream, and 40 more.
1. |
Katy Shaw
05:14
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Katy:
These are days of fret and fear
We got war and we got tears
All the optimists are begging in the streets
Times are tough so people go
to get their kicks before it blows
So after dark the party’s ragin like a beast
The scene is swinging daddy-o its on
fire every night and so take your pick of
dancing, vices, don’t you know there ain’t a lot of laughs round here much
This worlds nothing but worry
It looks better when its blurry
It’s good times til the sun comes up
...
I major in bad habits
Like thievery and skag its
A lifestyle not built to last this i know
My lovelifes flawed cause i
Only go for girls who only go for guys
But at least my heart never gets broke
I wake up sometime after noon drink my
Coffe black just like my mood and then i try to
think of reasons i should move from either this bed or this dump
Most days its a short list
I need money, need a fix
It’s good times til the sun comes up
....
When the jonesing’s knocking at your door
Its not something that you can ignore
That need it makes your bones all start shaking
I know you think i’m just a fool
But i got it all under control
The one talent i have is the art of escaping
...
I make my pennies at the club
Fencing hot and sketchy stuff
My best friend Sheila’s always there at my side
We dance and make some deals
I pine away for her in heels
Getting loaded as we drift through the night
Theres a thing or two i do not bother to think
Like the future or my mother, i drink
For this moment and no other let the dice stop where they drop
This worlds nothing but worry
It looks better when its blurry
It’s good times til the sun comes up
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2. |
The Lowdown 1
01:35
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Michael:
In the city of new albion some years back a bit
When the civil war raged and the voodoopunks hid
And the nightlife was swinging as everyone feared
This day was their last so they drank without care
Theres a woman named katy who trouble befell
And Its her tale today that we’ve come here to tell
Its thursday, and like every night come rain or come shine
She heads to the club, to the music and lights
Her best friend is sheila who in secret she loves
Theyll shmooze and theyll booze, make some deals, do some drugs
The evening has started lets join them there now
At a club called the Balley on the south side of town
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3. |
The Balley
06:36
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Katy:
The joint is set to jump, the band is warmed on up
The crowd is getting juiced, getting loose enough
Fear and dread gets parties fed
When your ticket might be up
The men they all pretend that they’re a big deal but
The shady and the ladies know what is what
The beat it thumps, the show lights up
All the jack and jills go jump
Me and sheila wheelin, dealin case the place
Sippin’ hooch, got dough to make
The dutchman’s got some stuff to shake
We shmooze and booze and trade
Sheila stuns, my heart is shot
Her boss the cigarette girl’s got
agendas that i just cannot
Players play and plot
I gotta sense of doom that i can never shake
Like walls closin in, trouble on its way
I live with it day after day
All the shade i cannot face
But at night when the tunes and the groove’s just right
Im lit and sway and feel just fine
For just a moment all’s all right
Swingin at the Balley tonight
Sheila: Wormy’s come into some cash and is looking to buy. Let’s head over
Katy: i heard his brother got nicked by the fuzz. Their pickin up all the junkies lately
Sheila: Nah, i heard it’s just the tan san druggies they’re scoopin. Come on.
Katy: Im in, i just gotta.. i just gotta feed the monkey. The shakes is coming. I’m headin to the fire escape, i’ll meet you at Wormy’s table in 10
Sheila: Just keep it light, we still got all night
Katy: Dont worry, i got ya.
...
Police:
On the day we come it’s over
Everybody here against the wall
This is a raid so be compliant
We’ve got a list of names, we want them all
Please show your ID when we search you
If you dont have it then you’re coming in
And if you try to run we’ll shoot you
Just do your duty as good citizens
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4. |
The Lowdown 2
01:25
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Michael:
For two weeks there’s been rumors that the cops are rounding up
Are the junkies and the druggies but no one knows for what
Some say it’s all just rumors, but now katy knows its not
Since now Her girl there sheila’s the latest party girl to be caught
Katy was damn lucky as she escaped the raid
Thats cause she was shooting up out on the fire escape
She hid up on the roof and though she was in a daze
She watched them take poor sheila and a bunch of other folks away
So katy’s scared and frightened so she runs back to her place
To sit and hide and lose herself in her favorite drug’s embrace
And wonder what shes made of, can she step up, or cope
Cause this broken little junkie might be sheila’s only hope
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5. |
Without Her
04:14
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Katy:
When life come down hard with a smack and crack
So you run and you hide in a dreamland made of skag
And no one need tell you you dont deal with things well
Ever since that night in that hotel years ago went to hell
And when life comes down hard now you just run away
And the one girl you love she needs you today
but its all turning sour
And i cant
Live without her
If you just keep your love locked away in your head
And only pick girls who will never come share your bed
Then you never need tell them that you love them and so
Then your heart is kept safe and it will never, never be broke
You can pine deep in silence and the skag keeps you warm
And just live for the good times and ignore the hard knocks at your door
Getting louder
Cause i
Cant live without her
If i lay in this room in a dream and a daze
Ignore it all til finally it all goes away
Though in all your life you never once said
I love you to any girl except inside your head
If you run to a womb are you running to death
If you love her you’ve got to step up catch your breath
Its come then, your hour
Cause i
Cant live without her
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6. |
The Lowdown 3
01:01
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Michael:
Sheila has a boss, a cigarette girl you might have seen
Who works down at the rhumba club almost every night of the week
But this simple cigratte girl is much more than meets the eye
She’s the head of this here city’s only union just for spies
If anyone would know the dirty secrets of this town
It’s this girl whose name is cora, shes got webs that wind around
The rhumba club’s a jungle, every type and every sin
And katy a gazelle but still she’s heading right on in
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7. |
The Rhumba Club
06:29
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Cora:
Each night the lights go down, the rhythm pounds and out here in the crowd the jungle howls
Some hunt and others scheme, some things grin like sin and some things look so pure with knives for teeth
As they laugh, masks will slip for seconds falling
Deadly games will be resolving
For you see to seem is not to be
.
Each night the rhumba growls and in the masks beneath the masks my people stalk and prowl
Theres games inside of games, roles and parts portrayed like russian dolls that always twist and change
My sweet spies, eyes that always are deceiving
masks in masks forever scheming
For you see to seem is not to be
.
To our business let us turn, my pawn is compromised and yet for her it seems you yearn
Where she is you seek, and information is my currency, the air i breath
So for me, theres a thing you must acquire
And i’ll tell what you desire
Though you’ll see to seem is not to be
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8. |
The Lowdown 4
01:09
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Michael:
So Cora’s has told Katy that she needs something procured
It’ll take some theivery, some b & e, to get it for her
Cause Cora’s got her finger in more than just one pie
She’s brokering a deal between the mob and an albino tribe
This merger it involves very lucrative control
Of a sandy drug called tansan that is quite the rage im told
But this job is too complex for Katy by herself
She’s gonna need to call her old friend Constance in for help
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9. |
The Old Days
02:31
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Katy:
Wild at a party we were boozing teens
The cops pull up and so we, scatter while giggling we
stumbled to a field and Constance, the moon shown in her hair
we kissed, drunk and blurred and still, we made out right there
We never ever talked about it, to her cheap thrills
but to me a magic moment, but i kept quiet still
she was indeed my first love, though she never knew
the same old cycles just spin round and round, and round it's true
No one ever taught me how to, get up when i'm down
my mother always suffered silent, until that night and now
i think about that hotel, but sometimes too i swear
i think about that field, that kiss, the moon, her hair
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10. |
The Heist
07:36
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Constance:
look who just walked in here, katy dear i missed ya
it's been too long, arent you a sight
your dress is so inspired
you're looking kind of tired, katy, girl are you all right?
Katy:
C, it's good to see you, i gotta job, i need ya
i 'll tell you more if agree
it's a little B&E, a two girl job i think
we always made a real good team
Constance:
I'd do anything for ya, you know that. Just like the old days, huh?
Katy:
Just like the old days
...
Constance:
A little nick will do the trick, a snatch, a jack, a grab
A pinch, a sack and out the back before it gets you nabbed
Keep your walk so nonchalant, wonder whats ado
The art my dear, diverting gear from their domain to you
The rush the chase on out the gate
The sirens in the street
The artistry of larceny
The vocation of the thief
They say in ancient times when mighty pyramids stood tall.
The class divide was first devised the have nots and have alls
Right then and there i tell you here the first thief they appeared
To recirculate, reallocate the partitioning of wares
The swipe, the take the quick escape
The plot, the crime the scheme
The artistry of larceny
The vocation of the thief
…
The pluck the swipe the swap the heist
The snatching of the loot
The plunder, con, defraud and gone
The sweet talk and the ruse
The hustle, game, its all the same
The setup and the scheme
The artistry of larceny
The vocation of thief
Constance:
Hey, do you wanna go somewhere and talk? I feel like... i feel like there's stuff unresolved from before and we could sit and chat and you know, have a little girl time.
Katy:
I do, i really do. I really wanna... it's just.... im sorry, i gotta... i cant, i want to it's just.... im sorry. im so sorry. i gotta go. I gotta go. im sorry.
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11. |
The Lowdown 5
01:02
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Michael:
Katy goes to Cora who’s delighted, pleased as punch
And Cora's way of saying thank you Katy very much
Is to give our girl an address, well an address and a name
The name is mark, the guy who knows whats up with Sheila’s fate
Marks been hard to find, for reasons which we’ll see
He’s holed up and a wreck and there's some stuff he’s seen
At first he’s scared of Katy but she slowly calms him down
And he spins a tale of just whats going on all over town
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12. |
Mark
06:54
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They come to hunt the poor man
When all his luck runs out
They come to hunt they come to take you
Down down down
Mark:
So im at the bar with ramon and the boys and ramon’s like, hey, i know this sweet score but its gonna take some cohones, and he starts talking about some hush hush secret super soldier program the governments got going and how they got this guy who’s half machine and they’re trying to buld phase two 2 which is like either an army of robot fairies for him to lead, or some kind tank they attach his bottom half to and ramon doesnt know but theres this tinker’s shop where they’re putting the plans together and every thurs some government laison goes there to meet with this tinker, some guy named lloyd an some woman named llewelyn who they say is related to edgar mcalistair, like, THe edgar mcalastair and they got these plan there and if we stole them we could start a bidding war between the government and resistance and itd be the biggest payday ever seen but im like, hell no thats how to get killed, but then later, as we’re getting drunk Brandons starting in on me, how im a lame thief and i dont have the sauce for it, and finally im like screw you brandon, me and ramon are gonna steal these plans and itll be epic and i’ll show you.
...
So we do the job but it all goes completely wrong causethat Llewelyn woman was there and she scared Ramon who shot her and im like “ hell no i didnt signon for no murder charge” cause i never seen someone killed before and its not good, its not good at all and so im puking on the floor but we did get these plans in this folder but they’re weird, bruh, i don even know what theyre for and we get away and so later that night we’re at Ramons celebrating except im not celebrating im crying and sobbing, wait, no, dont tell Brandon i said that, i totally didnt cry, im like stone cold, so anyway Ramon wont let go of the plans, he’s clutching them and he’s getting lit on this drug called TanSan, like completely blitzed out, and suddenly he just disappears, like, one second he’s on the sofa and the next he’s gone and im like “woah, this is like end up in the psych ward stuff” and he stays gone for like 2 hours but then 2 hours later he just pops right back in with some story about going back in time to a prairie, only he had the plans with him but he dropped them there and didnt bring them back and its right then we hear sirens.
...
So i just bail and Ramon was behind me but because he’s all drugged out he’s slow and the cops nab him but i just keep running and i head underground thinking maybe i’ll go hide with the voodoopunks but the tunnels under the city are like a maze, bruh and there’s like weird people down so i gave hp on that wandering around the dark is not my thing i figure i’ll just stay outta sight up here and the next thing i know im hearing they interrogated Ramon to death and they are after me so i’ve been hiding and running and im not doing too well but thats not all cause now they’re rounding up every druggie they can get their hands on and word os they got this big warehouse they’re sticking them all in and they’re force feeding them Tansan until one of them blips like Ramon and goes to that prairie place and brings them back their folder and if your girl was taken thats where she is and you just better hope she’s hasnt dropped dead of a drug overdose because they’re burning through druggies and im sorry but thats all i can help you with cause im staying out of sight until this whole thing blows over and if you were smart you’d stay out of it too but either way nice to keet you, good luck and im out of here.
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13. |
The Lowdown 6
01:05
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Michael:
So i hope you were laying attention cause that all was a bit
Much For me to recap, but the jist of all it is
That katy’s now headed to warehouse in which there are all
These Floors full of drugged out folks sitting, tripping balls
And sheila will be there if she hasnt already OD’ed
So while katy heads on over, lets take one last peek
Into sweet katys poor psyche, dont judge her too damn hard
She’s just a good soul thats had a tough deal of the cards
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14. |
Christmas In The City
04:30
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Katy:
Four years ago xmas as the Woodshire hotel
In room 318 a broken lamp fell
A man left his family for a woman he loved
And waited here years but still she’d not come
In 110 a hooker was staying alone
Her night off in style, eating cake with a spoon
And in room 200, just one story more
My mother was lying there dead on the floor
Its xmas time
Its xmas time
Xmas time in the city
In 310 a man sat alone with his cat
His mind slowly slipping like his weathered grey cap
He couldnt remember his home or his kids
Or the name of the cat, or how long it had been
The maid last night walked in a room where she gasped
Her husband and brother in bed wearing masks
And in room 200, just one story more
My mother was lying there dead on the floor
Its xmas time
Its xmas time
Xmas time in the city
Up there, the clouds cannot take
And they burst and they shatter and break
And they fall apart slowly, disappear without sound
All that’s left snow falling down to the ground
My step father left her, took eveything so
I stole a big score to keep her afloat
A bag full of money i brought back but when
I opened the door i saw next to the bed
The pill case was empty, not even a note
But i just can’t blame her, i wish i had known
I wish she had stayed here, just one xmas more
I wish i had never walked out of that door
Its xmas time
Its xmas time
Xmas time in the city
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15. |
The Warehouse
10:43
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Michael:
So Katy heads on over to this warehouse by the docks
with 5 floors packed wall to wall with people tripping their faces off
There's some security guys watching for anyone who dies from overdose
then they carry the body to the window and toss it out into the river below
Thus into this madhouse our dear katy heads
praying that her girl sheila isnt already dead
Katy:
Oh thank the stars i finally found you
Sheila:
Is that katy, have you come?
Katy:
Everything will be ok now
Sheila:
i was so so sure you’d run
Katy:
I’ve been running such a long time
I think its time i finally stopped
Ive been scared and sad and lonely
I need to say this just this once:
Im scared to ever love because im scared my heart will break
I keep me oh so silent and never ever say
And im never gonna be free, if im never ever true
I have to say it one time, have to say that i love you
Sheila:
Katy girl you know i love, i always have your back i do
Katy:
I dont mean all fun and friendly, i mean the way that might scare you
I mean like men dont make me crazy, not the way girls like you do
Sheila:
I always wondered why you never hooked up never have a no flings
Katy:
Now you know
Sheila:
I guess i do
Katy:
Im scared to ever love because im scared my heart will break
I keep me oh so silent and never ever say
And im never gonna be free, if im never ever true
I have to say it one time, have to say that i love you
Sheila:
i wish told told me, K befoe this
I dont why you’d think i freak
I don’t know why you think i’d leave you
Im way more open than you think
If i’d have known we couldve maybe
We still can it’s just, its so...
If we’re gonna bear our souls then
Theres one thing that you should know
On the day we come its over
Im an informant, it was me who called
Back at the club i brought the cops in
To pick you up, you know the raid and all
The reward, its so much money
They would have let you go in a few days
That time the two of us did tansan
I watched you blip, i watched you blip away
They’d pick you up you’d get their folder
They’d let you go and i’d get all that cash
And then the two of us would party
Go back to dancing, boozin, having laughs...
Cop:
Miss Shaw get on your knees this instant
put your hands behind your head
we've got you now, no sudden movements
we dont want you quite yet dead
your cooperation's appreciated
your help to us a lot it mean
the time has come to do your duty
if you run we will blow off your knees
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16. |
The Lowdown 7
05:07
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Michael:
They take our dear girl Katy into a room with windows closed
And make her take the tansan, what they call a heroic dose
And sure enough 10 minutes later, she disappears and hell
And i swear all them government jackals all start peein themselves
Katy:
A thousand little slaps a thousand kicks when you are down
The stabs with daggers as you just begin to turn around
The blithe offhand abasements til there's tears upon your face
A thousand days that casually just make your poor heart break
A thousand little slanders, slap the ice cream from your hand
When you were tear stained and defenseless that's when the real insults began
The glee with which a thousand petty cruelties are adhered
Your defilement is something they either love or do not care
I hope you bleed and rot in places where the sun will never shine
And the stench makes all around you in disgust recoil and cry
I hope you all start choking til you beg for one last breath
I hope your lives all spiral into pestilence and death
You can all go burn in bonfires where you shriek in ghastly pain
And i hope i live to see it, i hope i get to light the flame
I am done being your victim, watching all your heartless deeds
Your death’s i hope asphyxiation on excrement in extreme
Michael:
This is all years ago now, in a place thats far away
A place about which Other people like me have had lots more to say
Theres been big ol grand Sagas and sweeping, epic regales
Some that have sat and heard it even say its all just characters in tales
But each one of those chatacters is a world, each ones a big sweet deal
Every passion and longing and heattbreak and doomed struggle, they’re all real
I just tell their stories, and cry every time
And drown myself here in, i know, much too much wine
But whether or not i wonder how much longer i can take
Telling these tales, so many stories and so much goddamn pain
All right, but This tale’s about katy, whose taken that damn drug
And finds herself transported to a prairie in another time and thus
She sees that damn folder that caused all this fool fuss
And so she goes ahead and just picks the thing on up
But then she starts walking, she figures shes got
About 2 hours more til this drug wears itself on off
She aims to keep walking as far she can get
Far from that warehouse, the police, and the life she has led
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Paul Shapera Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cama’s attempt to commune with higher beings failed; she only found Decadent Dottie. Together they roamed, indulging in dangerous forms of psycho-neural self-exploration which Cama hoped would present the key to her people’s further evolution. It only led to her destroying her people so that one of their pets could evolve. She sat in her former civilization's rubble and listened to Paul Shapera. ... more
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