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This Perfect Day

by Bill Gable

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Also includes a high-res digital booklet PDF.
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      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Signed copy of the "This Perfect Day" CD by Bill Gable, which includes an attached 8-page booklet with song lyrics and images.

    Includes unlimited streaming of This Perfect Day via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    "This Perfect Day" CD by Bill Gable, which includes an attached 8-page booklet with song lyrics and images.

    Includes unlimited streaming of This Perfect Day via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

1.
hot star you read about shine on me or do without we all seem to need some miracle or we can’t face the day I’m making you the center of my universe I’ll look at you that way new guru like a perfect flower there’s a genius born nearly every hour with the power to keep believing and to keep the world at bay I’m making you the center of my universe I’m making you that way this poem like a gypsy’s heart makes love to you but is still naïve it only hopes to be meaningful beyond what words can say I’m making you the center of my universe and I’ll look at you that way
2.
this morning I was here when the sun come up lying in my bed being wide awake when suddenly the birds all began to sing it hit me like a ton of real life put a smile back on my weary face and all at once I finally realized there isn't a thing there isn't a thing in the world that people can't overcome people say the world's in dire straits I see it all with my own two eyes but I can see the dawn of a brighter day there isn't any heart that cannot be touched there isn't any world that cannot be saved there isn't any choice that cannot be made there isn't a thing there isn't a thing in the world that people can't overcome there isn't a thing in the world that people can't overcome not a hat full of rain not a heart full of pain not a hole in the sky not a reason to die not a moment to lose if we hold this life dear for the children whose future I fear there isn't any heart that could not be touched there isn't any life that could not be saved there isn't any world that could not be made that's why I got to say there isn't a thing in the world that people can't overcome there isn't a thing in the world that people can't overcome
3.
there was no word of warning it hit him one morning he was still in the prime of his life he took to his bed with a terrible feeling while the doctors were rushed to his side some kind of voodoo curse some dark aboriginal spell too malignant to ever reverse too abstract for the power of science to quell they huddled around him with pills and prescriptions they filled up his head with advice but they left him no cure for the things he was seeing that kept him awake every night there isn’t a medicine made to put back the fire in your eyes nobody knows why it kills us to compromise is it chemical, spiritual emotional, material the dye that we use on our hair the creamer in coffee that lowers our resistance to something unseen in the air how can the soul stand up subjected to all this disease from the day we drop dead on the street to the prickly rash we develop on the soles of our feet no talking in tongues no laying on of hands no soaking the body in ice can ever replenish the vitamins lacking that keeps us on edge all our lives there isn’t a medicine made to put back the fire in your eyes nobody knows why it kills us to compromise
4.
the phase of the moon is new and all the women are fully adorned today be happy and place an offering by your door the sky above your head is blue but if you stumble you could fall when trouble surrounds you never put down your horn when the rains have come and gone and the liquor has been made from your share of the corn give thanks for everything and place an offering by your door but when the beast is in its den if you’re the one they choose to draw him out on this night be hopeful never put down your horn
5.
when the world is sleeping I’m already up and leaving throwing my net out over the sea a fisherman’s life for me when I get back every evening first there comes the cleaning and on every one I do my very best a fisherman’s life for me for me, for me as happy as a man can be for me, for me a fisherman’s life for me the only ones worth keeping are speckled and fight with feeling take these home and throw away the rest a fisherman’s life for me I may not be a man of breeding but I know that I like my eating and I like to eat what I like to eat best a fisherman’s life for me for me, for me as happy as a man can be for me, for me a fisherman’s life for me no matter what kind of weather the very best in the school run deep so cover your hook with plenty of meat a fisherman’s life for me for me, for me as happy as a man can be for me, for me a fisherman’s life for me
6.
sunlight comes streaming through my window somewhere out there in the world there’s a place for me pretty boy on a plastic swing don’t it make you wonder why the caged bird sings? songlines across the blue horizon following the setting sun was my destiny I dream I fly on silver wings don’t it make you wonder why the caged bird sings? does he sing from hunger does he sing for company does he sing from happiness or just to break monotony lately I’ve left the door stand open thinking any fool would fly if you sent him free don’t he know outside it’s spring? don’t it make you wonder why the caged bird sings?
7.
the world was my mother’s laughter awakened to the rocking sound the next step, the one that I’m after each new day learning to stand on the ground in a world that’s constantly spinning every step on the edge of beginning rose, rose, where’d you get your red what comes first, lightning or thunder? how does it feel to dream under water? miracles everywhere, perpetual wonder if only to see again with the eyes of a child shining sea that holds the world upside down the thing that has my reflection the best thing there is to be found one by one the shapes I see through the clouds every slumber slowly awaking every day the world in the making rose, rose, where’d you get your red what comes first, lightning or thunder? how does it feel to dream under water? miracles everywhere, perpetual wonder if only to see again with the eyes of a child the world was my mother’s laughter awaking to the rocking sound the next step, the one that I’m after rose, rose, where’d you get your red what comes first, lightning or thunder? how does it feel to dream under water? miracles everywhere, perpetual wonder if only to see again with the eyes of a child
8.
My Ballerina 05:40
a panda bear or lilypads or something that could be so easily destroyed your fragile beauty like a china doll in my rough hands or an ever lingering phrase of Claude Debussy tireless and timeless my love for you on your toes never falter, ballerina we’ll take this life by storm no matter how it goes never altering my ballerina a swirling ring of pirouettes like the morning light Monet captured on his canvas each stroke perfected the promise of a simple man to always be here to see you land protected we all lose our balance so easily on your toes never falter, ballerina we’ll take this life by storm no matter how it goes never altering my ballerina
9.
someday this will all come back to me from far away, buckling my knees the memory of this perfect day suspended in limbo summer leaves underneath a frozen pond each of us never feeling we belong what is it that keeps the simple truth so hard to believe impossible to count upon? all my cares go out this open window throwing everything I know out this open window last night after making love to you I lay here staring at the sky and everything I ever thought I knew flooded my memory somewhere far away it carried me to a place beyond all resistance what is there a man could ever need to bring him peace of mind beyond this existence? all my cares go out this open window throwing everything I know out this open window

about

“This Perfect Day” was recorded over an 8-month period in 1990-1991. Co-produced by Bill Gable and Roscoe Beck (Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes), the album features Gable on vocals, guitars and keyboards; Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group) on bass, Tom Brechtlein (Rickie Lee Jones, Leonard Cohen) on drums; Luis Conte (Madonna, Eric Clapton) and Alex Acuna (Weather Report, U2) on percussion; Bob Sheppard (Steely Dan, Lyle Mays) on flute; and Dino Saluzzi on bandoneon. The album incorporates distinctive arrangements by Stephen Barber (Joe Zawinul, David Byrne) and Bill Ginn (Leonard Cohen, Carole King) and a wide range of eclectic elements and musical styles.

credits

released December 8, 2003

Produced by Bill Gable & Roscoe Beck
Engineered and Mixed by Dan Garcia & Steven Strassman
Additional mixing and post-production by Rich Breen
Mastered by Doug Sax
Design and Art Direction by Jack and Laurent Durieux for Milk Graphics

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Bill Gable Los Angeles, California

BILL GABLE is an uncompromisingly original American singer-songwriter, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist whose music spans the boundaries between pop, jazz and world music.

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