We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sliding Back

by mike skliar

supported by
arnold_reich
arnold_reich thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

1.
Sliding Back 03:09
lyrics
buy track
Fat chance thin ice Usual measures won’t suffice Roll the dice, try to stay empirical Shakespeare Stan Lee, take your pick One part carrot, one part stick We’re all sick, looking for a miracle Things are turning /Fires burning Are we learning? /Are we sliding back? What’s the skinny, where’s the beef? Who’s the hero, who’s the thief? Good grief, time for action When will we be home at last? Will the future be like the past? Not so fast, slow down, get some traction World is turning/Fires burning/are we learning/Are we sliding back Who got skinny, who got fat Who controls the thermostat Some tin hat autocratic populist What can just one person do Believe a lie or fake what’s true Unscrew your mind and resist We’re all turning /Fires burning Are we learning? /Are we sliding back? (c) M. Skliar 2018
2.
Won't you be my neighbor? 02:52
lyrics
buy track
Won’t you be my neighbor, was the invitation and the promise And it was so honest You were honest and kind The kind we need now We all need to be needed and we need to need others Brothers sisters fathers and mothers Maybe neighbors one and all Love makes the world small Who else could find the goodness and make it glow I think of you, Fred and the tears begin to flow You found people’s hearts even if they were hidden and locked With a puppet and a sock The fairy tales on every block And love solid as a rock Won’t you be my neighbor, was the invitation and the promise And it was so honest You were honest and kind The kind we need now The kind we need now The kind we need now (c) M. Skliar 2018
3.
Poetic License 01:43
lyrics
buy track
I used to use metaphors so organically and rhetoric, synaethesia, and epistrophe but now my words don't flow like a symphony my poetic license has been revoked one too many reckless personifications and i all but abused alliteration with characteristic character assassination my poetic license has been revoked a corny conucopia of almost-clever couplets that cry for deeper meaning like a gaggle of quintuplets but i stay on the surface and rarely go deeper recycling jokes from Annie Hall, Love and Death and Sleeper my poetic license has been a curse an ellipsis of evil from a dark universe If i go on like this, it might even get worse my poetic license has been revoked (c) M. Skliar 2018
4.
Easier to fool you then convince you you've been fooled 03:32
lyrics
buy track
Easier to fool you then convince you you’ve been fooled So said Mark Twain, long ago And the lies come daily, in a never-ending stream we don’t learn what we don’t want to know I’m old, so I remember, five channels on TV When we all heard the same basic news Now we’re all in a zone, reconfirming what we see Floating in the bubbles that we choose Easier to blame and point with a finger Then address complex problems truthfully So easy to sting with a soundbite smackdown Forget the forest and yell about the tree I’m old so I remember the few years after JFK “Ask not what your country can do for you” Now everyone plays a part in their own little play We’re all in the bubbles that we choose So what happens now, no one really knows To repair the damage will take time Gotta move the ball forward, one step after another Its gonna be a long slow climb I’m old, so I remember, five channels on TV When we all heard the same basic news Now everyone’s in a zone, reconfirming what they see We’re all in the bubbles that we choose (c) M. Skliar 2018
5.
Let them in 03:01
lyrics
buy track
Everybody’s family’s from far away or ‘cross the sea Now here in America, the anthem says land of the free Some would like to close the doors and act as if we are at war Those mistakes we’ve made before, exactly what do we stand for? Let them in, and let them prosper Let them in, let them come thru Let them in, to make us stronger Let them in, that once was you (& your family… and they still are…) Give us all your tired, hungry, yearning to be free from hate That’s what makes this country great/open hearts & smart folks at the gate So many of the best, most of our Nobel prize laureates Come from away and don’t forget, how all of us do benefit Let them in, to live in freedom Let them in, it’s what we do Let them in, to help renew us Let them in, that once was you. © M. Skliar 2018
6.
Labor Day in New York City 02:46
lyrics
buy track
Labor Day weekend in the Big Apple, walking empty avenues No cars a-coming, don’t even bother looking, no need for the jaywalking blues Down in the subway I’m alone on the train, the conductor’s not here anymore Drive the train any place I want, why ‘stand clear of the closing doors’ ‘If you see someone, say something’, is what I’d say, alone in canyons of concrete Walk into a movie or a Broadway play, I can pretty much take any seat Problem is the cast & crew are gone as well, I gotta act & sing it all, what fun Easy for a one man show, maybe, but “Hamilton” not easily done I got lox at Zabar’s smoked fish counter, didn’t have to wait till I was paged Restaurants that were booked till next Christmas, no longer were ‘fully engaged’ I could roll a bowling ball on the Highline, not hit even one tourist from Japan Get off the train in Coney Island, go to the beach and even see the sand I was having the time of my life, when I heard the sound of distant thunder If it rained should I sing and dance like Gene Kelly, I began to wonder But when the rain started, it was a strange kind of rain that was not precipitation It was millions and millions of New Yorkers, returning from vacation Goodbye alone time, hello lines and crowds, it was nice while it lasted Hello crowded subway platform & cars, and seat-hogging wide stance bastards Just me and seven million busy making our way, doing it again every day Hello autumn in New York, that crowded crazy urban ballet Hello autumn in New York, I wouldn’t have it any other way © M. Skliar 2018
7.
Zigman Zimmerman blues 04:03
lyrics
buy track
Born in Odessa in 18 and 75 Thirty years later he was glad to be alive When the Tsar blamed the Jews, pogroms turned the streets to red So Zigman Zimmerman, decided to go someplace else instead Odessa had mining, it had ships and a lake He thought the things he knew, he would have to forsake But in a Midwest mining town by a lake, the winters were equally frozen He worked & saved to get a house that his family could grow in Steamship tickets were sent to Russia for his kids and wife When she arrived, they had more kids, living a Midwestern life His son Abe played the violin, worked at Standard Oil to make a living Married and had two kids, up in a town called Hibbing The rest of the story, its got fortune and fame One of Abe’s kids, Bob Zimmerman, changed his last name But tonight, let’s raise a glass to Zigman, and think about refugees Thanks to Zigman (who they called “Ziske”) for traveling far across the sea There’s not much more we know, there’s no interviews But deep in the night I bet old Ziske could sing the blues… (c) M. Skliar 2018
8.
Candle of Hope 02:32
lyrics
buy track
Hate leads to hate, love leads to love There will be days we must rise above Open your hearts, open your soul If some of us are broken, none of us are whole There’s a candle of hope in a voting booth There’s a candle of hope in everyone If the candles burn together, then the candles burn bright And they shine like the light of the sun Hate leads to hate, love leads to love There will be days we must rise above Open your hearts, open your soul If some of us are broken, none of us are whole There’s a candle of hope, there’s a mountain of fear It’s the candle we can see from space Let your flame join up with the rest of the world Lighting up everywhere Hate leads to hate, love leads to love There will be days we must rise above Open your hearts, open your soul If some of us are broken, none of us are whole © M. Skliar 2018
9.
Well and truly screwed 02:10
lyrics
buy track
We started very slowly going off the rails The ordinary fail safes started to fail We can’t pretend as history has lifted the veil We are well and truly screwed Was it an election that was too close to call Or a partisan court was that the start of the fall If I were the Devil I’d be having a ball We are well and truly screwed Watch that fire consuming The goodwill that used to exist Outstretched hand of freedom Is being replaced by a fist When political discourse is a poison atmosphere And one of the parties only caters to fear All the common ground starts to disappear We are well and truly screwed You watch the hearings of the toxic frat boy rapist Its enough to make you turn it of and go all escapist However crazy it’s gotten you have not heard the latest We are well and truly screwed © M. Skliar 2018
10.
Leaf 02:42
lyrics
buy track
You are a leaf right now but one day you’re gonna be a tree You are a leaf right now but one day you’re gonna be a tree Have a little patience one day you’ll see A little gust of wind will carry you to a different location 2x It’ll feel strange at first but it’s part of your education One day the sun will seem like it no longer shines 2x But there will be another season and you’ll somehow figure out the signs And when that new season comes, you’ll grow stronger then you were before 2x Your branches will have leaves, and the circle will be complete once more (c) M. Skliar 2018
11.
Orange is the new Nixon 03:55
lyrics
buy track
Every day you’re getting just a bit more unhinged Watching your favorite fox friends for your daily binge You’re yelling ‘witch hunt’ every day without fail Wouldn’t it be great to see if you could make bail? When Orange is the new Richard Nixon And you have to resign in disgrace When Mueller starts his medicine mixin’ Can’t wait to see the look on your face When the wagons start to circle, and the buzzards do the same And Congress loses confidence in your confidence games When more people from your circle start to plead and start to turn And they finally release what’s in your tax returns When Orange is the new Richard Nixon And your tweets will start with ‘its so unfair’ When Mueller starts his medicine mixin’ And your jumpsuit color matches your hair You and your base in your white hoods and tiki torches You’ll always be with them in a place so hot that it scorches Every week the schemes you concocted Start to unravel thread by thread Can’t wait for you to move out of the White House To a prison cell with a little bunk bed (c) M. Skliar 2018
12.
Entitled 02:05
lyrics
buy track
If we could change the world, we wouldn’t Because we can and we refuse We all talk about freedom and justice But we live in the world we choose What would you give up? To feed the masses Would you remove the rose-colored glasses we are all spoiled prima donna bitches worrying about all our little riches stepping over people lying in ditches oh excuse me, I’m just running late “hope everything is going just great” If we could redistribute wealth, like magic Would we give up our possessions and things Who among us would live as a pauper If you started out as a king? What would you give up? To end the madness Too many people Trapped in sadness we are all spoiled prima donna bitches worrying about all our little riches stepping over people lying in ditches oh excuse me, I’m just running late “hope everything is going just great” (c) M. Skliar 2018
13.
Things you give away... 00:38
lyrics
buy track
Of all the things I’ve learned and forgotten This might be worth repeating every day Its not the things you get to take But the things you get to give away (c) M. Skliar 2018
14.
(bonus track) Eight days in 2018 01:58
lyrics
buy track
We had enough indictments for one news cycle A soundbite that might soon disappear But the almighty praised be he, or she as the case may be Provided a great miracle happened here: 8 days of indictments, of miracles and wonders 8 days of court filings, 8 days of Robert Mueller, 8 days of breaking news, the White House has the blues A great week for Christians, Muslims and Jews In ancient times, tales were told of dictators and Kings And justice that would come from up on high Not in our wildest dreams, of prostitutes and yellow streams Did our blessings and indictments multiply 8 days of indictments, of miracles and wonders 8 days of court filings, 8 days of Robert Mueller, 8 days of breaking news, the White House has the blues A great week for Christians, Muslims and Jews We’re not out of the woods yet But like Romeo and Juliet The bodies are piling up and that’s immense Tho let’s not get too cocky Like the Soviets playing hockey It could all go south, plus we’d be stuck with Pence Till then its.. 8 days of indictments, of miracles and wonders 8 days of court filings, 8 days of Robert Mueller, 8 days of breaking news, the White House has the blues A great week for Christians, Muslims and Jews (c) M. Skliar 2018

about

The state of the world, Mr Rogers, immigrants, Bob Dylan's grandfather, what happens when everyone leaves NYC Labor Day weekend,growing up, poetry and politics, attachment to things, and more are all musically addressed in my latest album. These songs were written between July and Nov., 2018 in New York City. It's a personal time capsule and an echo of what probably many of us are going thru as well.

Full lyrics are posted for each song, too, should you want to read.

"Won't you be my neighbor" is dedicated to Mr Fred Rogers

"Let them in" and "Zigman Zimmerman blues" are dedicated to immigrants and refugees everywhere, and to those millions of journeys made at some point by just about every family on the planet in search of a better life.

"Zigman Zimmerman blues" is about Bob Dylan's Russian-born grandfather.

"Candle of Hope" was written after the sad news of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre.

"Labor Day in NYC" is slightly, but only slightly, exaggerated.

"Poetic License" came out of a conversation with my occasional co-writer, Nancy Rost, who reads my songwriting thoughts faster then me.

Thanks to so many, inc'l my wife Helen, family & friends too numerous to mention Thanks also to the online collectives '50 songs in 90 days', 'November solo album month', and "February Album Writing Month" whose creative and supportive members that keep the inspiration flowing.

PS- I've just included a bonus track, written for Chanukah, 2018, called "Eight days in 2018"- enjoy!

Enjoy, everyone! -
Mike Skliar
December 2018

credits

released December 2, 2018

Mike Skliar- acoustic guitars, electric guitar, bass, dobro resonator guitar, baritone tricone resonator guitar, mandolin, electronic drums, percussion, harmonica, vocals & background vocals.

All songs written by Mike Skliar
(c) M. Skliar 2018 All rights reserved

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

mike skliar image

mike skliar New York, New York

contact / help

Contact mike skliar

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

mike skliar recommends:

If you like mike skliar, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now