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• 01. Come See Me +

  Like a wild and wooly tree on the shoreline by the sea
  casts a spell way over me like a flower and a bee
  enchanting perfume on the breeze middle springtime blooming trees
  nobody ever said a word that moved me more than these
  
  like a movie and a theme a ceiling and a beam
  a trip with per diem, benevolent regime
  like a shoreline in a dream and a river and a stream
  and the snowy mountain scene the river had just been come see me
  
  

• 02. Go Go Green+  

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  Baby don't dig tobacco Jack
  She gets her smoke from the patch out back
  She grows peas and honeydew
  Mashed potatoes and string beans too
  Canvas bags to haul her food she do things the green gang do
  Sustainability Magazine Sierra Club since 15
  
  Baby don't drive no 3 ton car
  She can smell a lying oilman near or far
  don't eat meat from the factory
  she don't drink water from across the sea
  she got solar cells for I can't say
  they get her where she's wants to go night and day
  baby don't smoke no gasoline my baby gets her go go green
  
  She loved her Oldsmobile and her big black truck
  but now she's got a Prius she don't give a fuck
  Changed her nylons for sheer bamboo
  Lipstick comes form her garden too
  Don't buy news papers any more
  she gets her news from Colbert Report
  switched to fish when she turned 19 my baby gets her go go green
  
  Don't mind coughing up the carbon tax
  She makes money bringing bottles back
  open up drink em down put em in the rack
  She close the flu on the chimney stack Huh
  She got sweaters down to the floor
  Sometimes she leaves them open sometimes she close the door
  Her sheets smell like you never seen
  My baby gets her go go green
  
  

• 03. Plan It   +

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  I'm fairly sure I'm doing no good like a drug cop in the neighborhood
  I got no choice I gotta work. Bring round my town car. I'm an oil jerk.
  
  I've got my Standards. I live in a Shell. I put an X on every gallon I sell
  I smoke the planet making' jack at the pumps And I'm ok Jack, you're the oil chumps.
  The Party's on and the fix is in
  and good time Charlie's conned the suckers again
  
  I drag the oceans with a 10 ton chain take what I want throw the rest back again.
  Why would I care if the ocean gets dead? I got my oysters my bread.
  
  I chop the mountain top so I can burn coal. My acid rains in your ice and your snow.
  I stuff your face with pig fat and meat. You make me golden it's sweet.
  
  The Party's on and the fix is in and good time Charlie's conned the suckers again.
  They say a new one is born every day then a white truck hauls them away.
  As I understand it we had a plan it just worked out this way.
  
  

• 04. The Pearl +

  A million cars on fossil power driving 7 miles an hour
  Trying to get down town underground got one coffee down
  A million ants with bits of plants in a line from here to France
  All of them wearing brand new pants they bought with their advance
  And then you drive your tank to the bank
  Because of all the gas it drank Permit me to be frank
  Some choices you made stank
  I think you know it's true the things you do take you far away from you
  Until you don't know who is standing in your shoe.
  
  And now you silly goat you missed the boat
  Now they've got you by the throat
  But on a lighter note you've still got a vote
  There's a chance remote for antidote
  That if you please I'd like to float
  If you'll permit a quote before it's all she wrote
  I think you know it's real the thing you feel
  So here's what I'd like to reveal
  You make a brand new deal and then you'll feel surreal
  Simply take your girl for a twirl and set the sail that you unfurl
  For a bon voyage remember it's your world
  And trade your underground garage for the pearl
  
  

• 05. Life On Earth +

  From fire and water wind and soil and love you gave me birth
  fed me to my very soul overfilled my purse
  gave me everything I have everything I'm worth
  love and light peace at night Life on Earth
  
  She is an endless tumble and roll of eternal matter and light
  do we want to have been an asset or liability
  when she whispers goodnight
  everything I've ever had, everything I'm worth
  to wind up here free and clear Life on Earth
  
  

• 06. Juice +

  I don't know if I should drink, my doctor says I gotta think
  Agrees it's not too bad for hearts but not so much for other parts
  Got so scared I asked my shrink she said quit red white and pink
  I listened Lord and how I tried, but if I said I quit, I lied.
  I quit whisky in Kansas City laid off beer in Chanticleer,
  I quit gin in Arlington, adieu to rye in Molokai,
  I sacked sherry in Bonners Ferry cut vermouth outside Duluth
  In Talahass or Tuscaloos, it's no use. I can't quit the juice.
  
  I gave up ail in Lauderdale, retired bourbon leaving' Durham
  I quit corn in Californ, quit white wine in Caroline
  Kicked cognac in Kodiak, done with Jack in Pontiac
  Rid of rum in Premium but you know what's to come
  
  My last martini? Doheney Last Drambou in Kalamazoo
  Champagne? Bangor Maine, fare well to port at the Alamo Fort
  Wild Turkey? Albuquerque, Ballantines in Bedford Mines
  But each time I tried to quit the grape I did not escape
  Every time to quit the vine I backed across the line
  I quit the red, but instead I already said
  In Talahass or Tuscaloos, it's no use. I can't quit the juice.
  
  

• 07. Lee +

  Lee's forgotten more than you will know.
  Walks towards the corner mighty slow.
  Used to walk for weeks behind a plow
  Fell asleep once milking Ruth the cow.
  
  Lee's seen more than you will ever see.
  Dust bowl blew his family to Eugene.
  Watched his mother pull his daddy's teeth
  And one day helped her place the home made wreath.
  
  Once with Billy Stone they took a chance
  Then Billy got his face blown off in France
  Lee held Billy ‘till his soul set free
  Now Lee needs a buck to buy some tea
  
  Lost more friends than you have ever had
  Now some days Lee remembers he's a dad
  Then aches to see his daughter Emily
  Without remembering how long it has been
  
  Once Lee had a wife or maybe two
  Couldn't say if either were untrue
  Maybe that had been in Coeur D'Alene
  But he knows there was a pretty girl in Spain
  
  Knows a place just half way up the hill
  Where if he asks to let him sleep they will
  Most nights Lee just sleeps out in the park
  Where once he found a twenty dollar bill
  
  Now down on the corner no-one sees
  rushing by in trucks and SUVs
  Thinking that their lives will never be
  Lonely and forgotten just like Lee's
  
  
  But I know you will remember Lee
  One day on a corner you will see
  
  

• 08. Mais Oui +

  Allons-nous vivre eternellement
  Eternellement toujours ici
  Pensez vous que nous pourrions
  Que nous pourrions
  Mais oui mais oui
  
  (Will we live here eternally,
  perpetually in this place?
  Do you think we could?
  But yes.)
  
  

• 09. Mountain   +

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  I know a place where they fly around planets
  tumbling through star fields while food grows on trees
  And Sunday morning they sing about heaven
  as they're flying through it and nobody sees.
  
  So take my hand we'll walk in the ocean
  on Spanish Banks to Jericho Beach
  and I will take every moment I'm given
  knowing my treasure is sharing each
  
  So I'll sing my song and stand in the ocean
  walk on the mountain float in the sea
  And all night long I'll wander the allies
  wait on the corners hoping to see
  
  A face that looks the way that I saw you
  the first day I saw you in dazzling light
  and then brought me home cradled and held me
  healed what befell me into the night
  
  

Initial Album Disc Two

• 01. Emily, There Are No Words   +

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  (Instrumental)

• 02. When You're Young +

  A dream he had as a little one wound him up dead in the desert sun
  They gave him boots and a pretty gun What's it all matter now it's said and done?
  
  He had a wife and they had a son. He missed his dad when the week was done.
  He sang his song and he beat his drum. What do you do when you're young?
  
  What a wonder the world would be watched through children's eyes
  Doctors lawyers Indian chiefs all who act so wise
  Fill their pockets raise their guns deaf to all the cries
  
  What a wonder the world would be run through children's eyes
  Every pathway, every dog and tree loved like apple pies
  Greatest treasure ever won on the pillow lies
  
  Dear children lost in the jungle war
  we saw you raped turned and looked no more
  Your lives had only begun. What do you do  when you're young?
  What a wonder the world would be. What would you do if you were young?
  
  

• 03. Sea Saw +

  I don't know how I came to know the things I know I do
  I saw a kid on a crowded street and he saw me see you
  
  I watched you sigh you watched the wind in the sky
  I asked you why you said "you know"
  
  I don't know how I came to see the things I see I saw
  I know a girl in an empty room who knows what sea she saw
  
  I watched her grow deeper and deeper in love
  she saw I know everything we are made of
  
  

• 04. Sonata +

  One day you'll be walking up the road around the bend
  That day you'll see how the song you're singing ends
  All the things you've seen places you have been
  drift away like one night's dream
  Then you'll take a hand and we'll cross the sand
  Slowly walk into the sea
   
  We'll see star fields floating on our backs in the swell
  Soft clear we'll hear ringing of a silent bell
  Tumbling through space planetary grace
  suddenly a light will break
  From the dark of night bursts a nova light
  and for the first time you'll wake
   
   One day you'll be walking down the road around the bend
  That day you'll see how the song you're singing ends
  
  

• 05. Tea +

  You're smile is beguiling whenever you're smiling
  We should be on an island for two
  We'll get the fella to put an umbrella
  He'll tell all the others to shoo
  
  Mares eat oats and does eat oats but you're the oats of me
  Some drink wine all the time but you're my cup of tea
  Making full a schedule will never set you free
  Scheduling nothing earns my kind of PhD
  If I had the chance to I'd probably advance you
  A wish for romance true and free
  
  One hand claps could bring perhaps a moment when we see
  Everything so clearly that no-one could disagree
  Differences that separate whatever they might be
  Disappear like sparkling beer beneath the shady tree
  
  It's all coming clearer like steam on a mirror
  One blow dryer nearer to me
  
  

• 06. I Won't   +

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  Doc said I gotta get my weight down
  said I'm too old to run around
  told me to stop going downtown with his renowned frown
  I could I probably should but I won't
  
  Baby wants to put me on the right track
  wants me to cut back Baccarat
  Put me in rehab in Chilliwack she wants her Cadillac back
  I could maybe I should but I won't
  
  Send this out on the news feed I ain't quitting the wild weed
  The Man will never succeed. Decreed. So proceed.
  
  High time you faced the fact Jack
  we're going to crack a six pack
  Gonna make you take back the wise crack about the midnight snack
  Some would, I could but I won't.
  
  Send this out on the news wire I ain't ready to retire
  Keep rockin' you'll never expire on fire? Go try her.
  
  Before you take me out to bury six feet beneath the prairie
  I'm going back to Calgary like a coal mine canary
  You can tell your mademoiselle but I won't Mis-spell farewell, I won't.
  
  

• 07. The Snake +

  You got plenty of warning that nothing is fake
  You wouldn't call her fabric opaque
  She talks like an angel and walks like a snake
  Hot? She'd make a raw clam bake.
  
  She'll make you buy big cars like movie stars
  A great big joint she can build on the point
  Fly her to London and gay Paris
  A suite at the Grand Marquis
  
  You couldn't have known when you left home
  The pressure you'd feel when she
  Turned up the heat to join the elite
  And live like the bourgeoisies
  
  She wants a ski chalet at Mont Pellier
  A Kennebunkport get away
  Eight miles high across the sky
  To leave the Jones' behind
  
  In her Versace bag with the Neiman's tag
  Is a wad that'd make your pony gag
  And like you just found out the whole amount
  is from your bank account
  And what was your first clue? when did it come to you?
  You're in an unsustainable bitches brew
  And if you be her pup ruff and keep it up
  it'll be the end of you
  
  

• 08. Theme +

  I can't forget the things I've known they make me want to drink alone
  condemned man waiting by the phone If I had one I'd go home
  
  Resentment I could never drown If I choked a million bottles down
  in every whiskey bar in town the only lost I've found
  
  I almost feel I could confess. It's not the thing that I do best.
  Maybe then I'd get some rest from being a man possessed.
  
  I tripped I rampaged pushed and shoved And then I stumbled on your love
  there came an echo from above that I could be part of
  
  I can't believe the things I'm seeing in a place I can't remember being
  a totally familiar scene I know it's not a dream
  
  

• 09. Song Title +

  She sends a message I try to let it through wouldn't you
  She told me something and every word came true toodle loo
  
  Once on a trip I met a girl knew me but how could she?
  She took my hand gave me a twirl
  laid bare a light to see
  
  She sends a message I try to get it through wouldn't you
  She told me nothing and that is all I had to do had to do
  
  Once on a trip I met a girl knew me but how could she
  She took my hand gave me a twirl
  laid bare a light for me
  I tried to get it through toddle loo
  
  



About The Initial Album


(Press Release)
While most songwriters expressing their environmental awareness might choose to take up their cause with a protest song, John Lefebvre has a different approach: the eco-ballad. On Initial Album, Lefebvre spins tales of those who go green. "Baby don't drive no 3 ton car / She can smell a lying oilman near or far," he sings on "Go Go Green." "Don't eat meat from the factory / She don't drink water from across the sea." The 18 songs on Initial Album are populated with protagonists like this, men and women who respect Earth and are dazzled by its wonders.

Of course the record has its villains too, like the destructive, profit-hungry characters of "Plan It." "I drag the oceans with a 10 ton chain / take what I want throw the rest back again," sings a shortsighted fisherman. "Why would I care if the oceans get dead? I got my oysters and bread." The stories all unfold with Lefebvre's wry humor and gift for wordplay. In a moment of sarcastic candor a particularly willful oil man boasts, "I've got my Standards / I live in a Shell / I put an X on every gallon I sell. I smoke the planet making jack at the pumps. And I'm ok Jack. You're the oil chumps."

Initial Album was recorded under the able guidance of famed producer Brian Ahern (Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash) and features contributions from arguably the greatest session players, drummer Jim Keltner (Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Neil Young), slide guitarist Greg Leisz (John Fogerty, Joni Mitchell), Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne and the incomparable Dean Parks. Ranging from rough and tumble rock and roll to contemplative piano ballads and from boozy rockabilly to west coast groove the 18 tracks on Initial Album span the stylistic gamut, tied together by the common threads of Lefebvre's scathing wit and commendable wisdom.

www.johnlefebvre.com