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#24- State of Mind (1982)
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Single   $0.5
A whimsical song with philosophical wordplay and catchy melody
folk funny political sixties novelty gentle prolific idiosyncratic lehrer jefferson airplane ochs paxton steve goodman
Artist picture
Tom Paxton meets Jefferson Airplane. Extremely prolific singer songwriter with a wide range of styles from bizarre novelty tunes and surrealistic poetic songs t
With more than 300 songs and counting and for more than 30 years, I have written in a variety of acoustic styles from novelty tunes to love songs to historical ballads to poetic surrealistic songs to retro-acoustic pop. From bizarre to traditional from funny to poignant, whatever style the song is in, the melodies are usually memorable and the lyrics unpredictable. This site will eventually contain rough often first take demos of my entire song catalogue. Many of the earliest songs when I first started writing will of course be shaky. So expect the songs to get better as time goes on. Feel free to come back and browse often as I will constantly be adding songs, one by one in chronological order, starting in 1974. If you are looking for some unusual songs to cover from a little known but unique artist, you have come to the right place. Just e-mail me. If you find a song here that intrigues you, but you don't like a line or two, or you think it needs a bridge, drop me an e-mail and maybe you can earn writer's credit if it gets that song to be recorded or performed.... otherwise just enjoy. You can become a Rob Lincoln fan at no cost to you. I promise that if you keep coming back there will be some real surprises along the way. While mostly acoustic, some original material will veer into folk rock and even 60's pop, but the garage rock and loudest material will also be found in full band arrangement at soundclick.com/abrasiveflowers Eventually some of these 300+ tunes may be rerecorded and make it on to CD, including a novelty CD that would be suitable for Dr. Demento or an historical ballad CD or a political song CD--but until then, this is the only site you can hear most of these songs. (A few of my songs CAN be found on songramp.com/RobLincoln and myspace.com/lessickandlincoln)
Song Info
Charts
Peak #397
Peak in subgenre #57
Author
Rob Lincoln
Rights
1982
Uploaded
January 28, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.4 MB 128 kbps 3:42
Story behind the song
I brought this whimsical little tune with the philosophical wordplay and infectious melody to the band (Hearthstone) and despite it being completely the wrong fit, we couldn't resist performing it. The band did it up in an electric ska style, and it never really worked that well. I felt this was the best song I had written to that point and actually kept it in my solo reportoire for quite a while after my rock band days ended. Thus, unlike all the songs that came before, I did not have to re-learn this one before recording it and you can hear my acoustic guitar playing is a lot more confident. Over the years I performed this as a silly song in quasi reggae fashion as well as a sad and reflective tune. I guess it depended what state of mind I was in:) This version plays it right down the middle. Mp3 listeners gave it a 3.8..... Some Mp3 Club comments were: "I hear some Cat Stevens influence here" "This is the best lyric I've seen from you so far. In fact, it's a really good lyric under any set of circumstance" "I liked the feel, and it had some good lines, and the chorus was neat. I found it hard to get my mind around it though, and I suspect you were trying to do too much with the lyrics." "Great Idea and something I've thought about many many times....you really captured it." "I love the way the song rolls along... and the words roll off your tongue as well. I'm gonna hold onto this one as a cheer- me- up when I'm working on the computer."
Lyrics
State of mind Life's unkind But love is in the world I'm just a mammal So are you We're just little grown up Boys and girls And if I start thinking too much I just might go insane There's enough things in this world To dream our lives in pain But mind over matter All matter forms mind It doesn't matter Ask the mad hatter He says there's no such thing as the truth There's only the lie And we're living in a state of Living in a state of Living in a state of mind We're living in a state of living in a state of Living in a state of mind I was so in love with you But now I only love you The difference ain't in the words It's just in the point of view (you) I must tell my mind to tell my heart Not to feel it so Contradiction follows me Everywhere that I go But mind over matter All matter forms mind It doesn't matter Ask the mad hatter He says there's no such thing as the truth There's only the lie And we're living in a state of Living in a state of Living in a state of mind We're living in a state of living in a state of Living in a state of mind Sometimes I feel so depressed I don't know what to do Then my friends come calling And it takes away the blue Everything I see and know Depends on what I do And if you don't believe this song It means it may or may not be true But mind over matter All matter forms mind It doesn't matter Ask the mad hatter He says there's no such thing as the truth There's only the lie And we're living in a state of Living in a state of Living in a state of mind We're living in a state of living in a state of Living in a state of mind Alternate verse (Replaces last verse) Now if you ever feel depressed And don't know what to do Just let your freinds come calling It will take away the blue Everything we see and know Depends on what we do And if you just believe this song It means it may come true for you
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