Songs for Drella

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SMALLTOWN:

When you're growing up in a small town

You say no one famous ever came from here

When you're growing up in a small town

and you're having a nervous breakdown

and you think that you'll never escape it

Yourself or the place that you live

Where did Picasso come from

There's no Michelangelo coming from Pittsburgh

If art is the tip of the iceberg

I'm the part sinking below

When you're growing up in a small town

Bad skin, bad eyes - gay and fatty

People look at you funny

When you're in a small town

My father worked in construction

It's not something for which I'm suited

Oh - what is something for which you are suited?

Getting out of here

I hate being odd in a small town

If they stare let them stare in New York City

as this pink eyed painting albino

How far can my fantasy go?

I'm no Dali coming from Pittsburgh

No adorable lisping Capote

My hero - Oh do you think I could meet him?

I'd camp out at his front door

There is only one good thing about small town

There is only one good use for a small town

You know that you want to get out

When you're growing up in a small town

You know you'll grow down in a small town

There is only one good use for a small town

You hate it and you'll know you have to leave

OPEN HOUSE:

Please, come over to 81st street

I'm in the apartment above the bar

You know you can't miss it,

it's across from the subway

and the tacky store

with the mylar scarves

My skin's as pale as outdoors moon

My hair's silver like a Tiffany watch

I like lots of people around me

but don't kiss hello

and please don't touch

It's a Czechoslovakian custom

my mother passed on to me

The way to make friends Andy

is invite them up for tea

Open house

I've got a lot of cats,

here's my favorite

she's lady called Sam

I made a paper doll of her - you can have it

That's what I did when

I had St. Vitus dance

It's a Czechoslovakian custom

my mother passed on to me

Give people little presents

so they remember me

Someone bring the vegetables,

someone please bring heat

My mother showed up yesterday

we need something to eat

I think I got a job today

they want me to draw some shoes

The ones I drew were old and used

They told me to draw something new

Fly me to the moon,

fly me to a star

But there are no stars

in the New York sky

They're all on the ground

You scared yourself with music

I scared myself with paint

I drew 550 different shoes today

It almost made me faint

STYLE IT TAKES:

You've got the money,

I've got the time

You want your freedom

make your freedom mine

'Cause I've the style it takes

and money is all that it takes

You've got connections

I've got the art

You like my attention

and I like your looks

and I have the style it takes

and you know the people it takes

Why don't you sit right over there

we'll do a movie portrait

I'll turn the camera on

and I won't even be there

A portrait that moves

you look great I think

I'll put the Empire State Building

on your wall

For 24 hours glowing on your wall

Watch the sun rise

above it in your room

Wallpaper art, a great view

I've got a Brillo box

and I say it's art

It's the same one you can

buy at any supermarket

'Cause I've got the style it takes

And you've got the people it takes

This is a rock group called

The Velvet Underground

I show movies on them

Do you like their sound

'Cause they have a style that grates

and I have art to make

Let's do a movie here next week

We don't have sound

but you're so great

You don't have to speak

You've got the style it takes

(Kiss)

You've got the style it takes

(Eat)

You've got the style it takes

(Couch)

You've got the style it takes

(Kiss)

WORK:

Andy was a Catholic

the ethic ran through his bones

He lived alone with his mother,

collecting gossip and toys

Every Sunday when

he went to Church

He'd kneel in his pew and say

"It's just work,

all that matters is work. "

Andy was a lot of things,

what I remember the most:

He'd say, "I've got to

bring home the bacon

someone's got to

bring home the roast. "

He'd get to the factory early

If you would ask him

he would tell you straight out

It's just work,

the most important thing is work

No matter what I did

it never seemed enough

He said I was lazy,

I said I was young

He said, "How many songs did you write?"

I had written zero,

I lied and said, "Ten. "

"You won't be young forever

You should have written fifteen"

It's work, the most important thing is work

"You ought to make things big

People like it that way

And the songs with the dirty words

- record them that way"

Andy liked to stir up trouble

he was funny that way

He said, "It's just work"

Andy sat down to talk one day

He said decide what you want

Do you want to expand

your parameters

Or play museums

like some dilettante

I fired him on the spot

he got red and

called me a rat

It was the worst word

that he could think of

And I've never seen him like that

It's just work,

I thought he said

it's just work

he said it's just work

Andy said a lot of things

I stored them all away in my head

Sometimes when I can't decide

what I should do

I think what would Andy have said

He'd probably say you think too much

That's 'cause there's work

that you don't want to do

It's work, the most important thing is work

TROUBLE WITH CLASSICISTS

The trouble with a classicist

he looks at a tree

That's all he sees, he paints a tree

The trouble with a classicist

he looks at the sky

He doesn't ask why

he just paints a sky

The trouble with an impressionist

he looks at a log

And he doesn't know who he is

standing, staring, at this log

And surrealist memories are

too amorphous and proud

While those downtown macho painters

are just alcoholic

The trouble with impressionist is

The trouble with impressionist is

The trouble with personalities

they're too wrapped up in style

It's too personal, they're in love

with their own guile

They're like illegal aliens

trying to make a buck

They're driving gypsy cabs

but they're thinking like a truck

The trouble with personalities is

The trouble with personalities is

I like the druggy downtown kids

who spray paint walls and trains

I like their lack of training

their primitive technique

I think sometimes it hurts you

when you stay too long in school

I think sometimes it hurts you

when you're afraid to be called a fool

The trouble with classicists is

The trouble with classicists is

STARLIGH Starlight open wide

starlight open up you door

This is New York calling

with movies from the street

Movies with real people

what you get is what you see

Starlight open wide

Andy's Cecil B. DeMille

Come on L.A. give us a call

We've got superstars who talk

they'll do anything at all

Ingrid, Viva, Little Joe,

Baby Jane, and Eddie S

But you better call us soon

before we talk ourselves to death

Starlight open wide

everybody is a star

Split screen 8-hour movies

We've got color, we've got sound

Won't you recognize us

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