Hello and welcome to the online home of the new album EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE, from Ann Arbor, Michigan-based musician Brian Lillie.  Though not an official Squirrel Mountain Orchestra album, many of the Squirrels and deputized Squirrels play on this critter, so Woo Hoo! to that…

Since the album is only available via download (currently, it can be purchased at cdbaby.com ), this site is going to be the equivalent of the “liner notes”, with a track-by-track breakdown of the lyrics, who played what, and other assorted items of interest as they pop up.

There you have  it.   I hope you enjoy the songs and the playing, and also hope you and yours are doing ridiculously well…

Bri

Have you heard about the Two Chairs?
Have you heard about the Two Chairs?

That one, over there, is called the Ignorance Chair
And ignorance is bliss when  you sit there
That one, on the other side, is a place where you just can’t  hide
It’s the Chair of Truth
Let’s hope we all get there

Have you heard about the Two Chairs?

Woe be to anyone
Who  gets stuck between ‘em

Have you heard about the Two Chairs?

* * *

ALEX ANEST: Electric Guitar
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitar, keyboard
JIM ROLL: Bass, keyboard, violin
JOSH SCHOR: Drums

Wake up
open your eyes
take a shower
put something in your belly
put on your shoes
walk outside and go to work

Every place you used to stand
is tilted over and falling down
and every strip where you used to land
the jungle now has overgrown

You wonder if you’re strong enough
you doubt that you’re strong enough
to get through

And every fact you’ve counted on
well, some are broken and some are just wrong
and all these roles you used to play
are out of work cuz they closed the stage

You wonder if you’re strong enough
you hope that you’re strong enough
to get through
so what will you do?

Wake up
open your eyes
take a shower
put something in your belly
put on your shoes
walk outside and get to work

* * *

JOHN LATINI: Pedal steel
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitars
JIM ROLL: Baritone guitar

Does anybody know the words to the song?
Does anybody know the words to the song?
I’ve been trying my best to fake it
Trying to sing along
Does anybody know the words to the song?

Does anybody know the steps to this dance?
Does anybody know the steps to this dance?
My partners have  tried to show me
But it’s so hard to keep hold of their hands
Does anybody know the steps to this dance?

Everything all at once

Does anybody know the right thing to say?
Does anybody know the right thing to say?
Whatever it costs to buy it
You know I would gladly pay
Does anybody know the right thing to say?

Everything all at once
Everything all at once
Everything all at once

* * *

ALEX ANEST: Electric guitar
AL DIBLASSIO: Percussion, drums
JOSLYN LAYNE: Vocals
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitars
GREG MCINTOSH: Mandolins
JIM ROLL: Bass
PAUL SCHMITTER: Keyboard

The old coat on the fence
Says “hello” to the apple
That lies in the road, hung over with frost
The cat leaves the wellhouse
As the night disassembles
The mice in the butterscotch weeds wander lost

You gather coldly
And as thick as a rain cloud
The crows scream their thoughts from the Indian corn
The bones of your feet
Are asleep in your work boots
As you start up the truck and take
Halloween by the horns

The morning dissolves
Through the break in the back fence
Where the leaves spread like rust
On the hull of the sky
Your blood’s turned to coffee
Your chest is a darkness
Where the bird of your heart refuses to fly

You drive into town
As the afternoon bruises
As the evening begins to stir in its tomb
And at the outskirts you see
There’s a witch in every window
Ghosts in the bushes and bones in every room

The night accepts goblins and fairies and heroes
All begging for favors, all wild and forlorn
And just for a moment
You step out of your costume
Out of exile to take Halloween by the horns

* * *

BRIAN DIBLASSIO: Drums
RICH GRIFFITH: Belt buckle
JOSLYN LAYNE: Vocals, solo
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitar
GREG MCINTOSH: Banjo
PAUL SCHMITTER: Keyboards

Here’s a video for HALLOWEEN BY THE HORNS, put together from footage from my friend and collaborator Joe Sacksteder’s upcoming movie, MALIGNANT:

It’s a trick of the light…

There’s rooms in the mansion that have never been open
The locks have no keys and the doors have no knobs
When the servants get lost, they pray they won’t find one
They pray they won’t find one– they’d rather lose their jobs

It’s a trick of the light…

When the Thunder God gets tired of throwing lightning at mortals
He lays down in the valley and puts his feet up on the mountain
And he dreams about the good old days, back when he could remember
Back when he could remember what all this was about

It’s a trick of the light…

As I was tearing down the palace, I accidentally cut my heart open
Blood came gushing out and dead leaves and empty bottles
And forest fires and circuses and angels and bullets
And goblins and mummies and emeralds and dirt

It’s a trick of the light…

* * *

ALEX ANEST: Electric guitar, lap steel
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitars, keyboard, percussion
JIM ROLL: Bass, keyboard, percussion
JOSH SCHOR: Drums

Falling aside all these words that
End where the twilight begins
Where the silence of your orphaned heart
Meets the ever-shifting winds
Sirens are screaming
As you upgrade to hurricane
You set your sights on the Capitol
And you fill your fists with rain

Something good
Something fine
Something warm
Something kind
Something peaceful
You’re trying to find
Something good
Something good

When you feel your own lightning
Crackling away in the dark
Why do you always turn away
And let it blow everything apart?
Why can’t you ever just become
Your own ripe, magnificent storm
Pregnant and forgiving and quenching and warm?

Something good
Something fine
Something warm
Something kind
Something peaceful
You’re trying to find
Something good
Something good

The sky where we live is no place to lose our wings…

* * *

ALEX ANEST: Electric guitar, Lap steel
AL DIBLASSIO: Conga, harmony
JIM LATINI: Drums
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitar, mandolin
TANIA MONGER: Violins
JIM ROLL: Bass
JAMIE MONGER and MATT CHUDACOFF: String arrangement

You say you know me well
I have to disagree
What do you think you’d find
If we rode off into
Deeper territory

If I was not your perfect man
Then what would I be?
Come on, darling, take my hand
And we’ll drive off into

If we dig down deep enough
Into the shadow earth
You’ll find the country where I’m from
The city of my birth
Where half the houses burn
And half are filled with jewels
Where half the men are lovers
And half the men are cruel

If I was not your perfect man
Then what would I be?
Come on, lover, take my hand
And we’ll drive off into
Shadow country

Let’s sit up on the wall
Atop the Great Divide
So you can see it all
Everything on every side

You say you know me well
I have to disagree
What do you think you’d find
If we rode off into
Deeper territory

* * *

ALEX ANEST: Lap steel
AL DIBLASSIO: Glockenspiel and evil glockenspiel
JOSLYN LAYNE: Vocals
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitar, percussion
PAUL SCHMITTER: Keyboards

In an alternate future
On a road not taken
You’re still driving your old car
And the radio works
The rosebush you planted
Has not yet been murdered
By that big ugly sheepdog
Of your neighbor, the jerk

Most of all your heart hasn’t burned out yet
Most of all you don’t hate spring yet

In an alternate future
You are still with her
And she’s just as glorious
As the night that you met
There’s been no confusions
No late night phone screamings
She still wears your sweater
And you share the same friends

Most of all your heart hasn’t blown out yet
Most of all you don’t hate your own voice yet
The sound of your own voice

In an alternate history
You worked much harder
At listening to her
And sharing yourself
As you run out the front door
She pulls you back inside
You’re late for the party
But she smiles, “Oh well”

Most of all your heart hasn’t burned out yet
Most of all you don’t hate spring yet
You don’t hate spring yet
You don’t hate spring

* * *

MATT CHUDACOFF: Keyboards
AL DIBLASSIO: Harmony
RICH GRIFFITH: Fretless bass
GREG MCINTOSH: Guitars, harmony
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitars
JIM ROLL: Drums, fretful bass, percussion

It’s cold
Radio says it’s ten degrees below

It’s six a.m.
Time to leave your burrow
And head out into the snow

It’s cold
Feels more like one hundred degrees below
Not to mention the wind chill
Let’s not mention the wind chill

It’s cold
There’s an inch of ice to chip
And a murderous road
Mismatched gloves
And your bright blue furry coat

It’s cold
The sun is spilling up
Across the silver road

And you feel old
Like the pilot light in your chest
Couldn’t possibly hold
Out the cold

It’s cold
You wonder how you’ll ever
Pay back all you owe
And how you’ll ever learn to love the snow

It’s cold
And there’s so far, so far, so far, so far left to go

It’s cold

* * *

ALEX ANEST: Lap steel
AL DIBLASSIO: Harmony, percussion
JOSLYN LAYNE: Vocals
BRIAN LILLIE: Guitars, keyboard
CHRISTOPHER MOORE: Mandolins
PAUL SCHMITTER: Keyboards