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by Rule of Thumb

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John Parsons
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7hilldale
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1.
Sidereal Day 03:51
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it’s 7:26, i’ve been awake quiet, still disentangle, rise counting the beans in the grinding mill i’m afraid of falling off the face of earth and being hurtled into space every day is one more revolution with you rotate to the midway of the curve and tarry there the sweeping of the hands across her face and through her hair i have trouble staying on the ground by myself i’d never get around every day is one more revolution with you but your soporific is so terrific twenty-three, fifty-five and change sidereal day i have trouble staying on the ground high enough, but not to go around every day is one more revolution with you _______________________________________
2.
The 99 03:17
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the gravel driveway in front is full by eleven everybody’s here there’s never too much in the way of light a gray blanket of an atmosphere i like the table in the back that has the map of california under glass she lets me hold her fingers trace the miles i make it sound like heaven might meet me where the 99 meets the 5, down by wheeler ridge rest stop fifteen miles and i catch my breath she’s not the first one to point it out local legend says ‘the earth will move!’ and in the end it’s not what she thought or what she said or what she did but why the earth decided to twist and break you know the feeling, for heaven’s sake doesn’t everybody? _______________________________________
3.
Nom de Plume 03:19
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last name first say it clear, please, for the reporter something here is out of order just a few questions remain what's in a name? what's it to you? your sobriquet, your nom de plume cognomen nomenclator, he our fathers give them by decree i don’t mind you wanna live your lie my, how you’ve grown tell me to mind my own first name last year was wendy confusion at the PTA what happened to mother? we heard, but what can we say? back seat, country squire talking ‘bout the way back auto bingo was his name-o buckled in the way back tears at the truck stop never gonna find the way back i’ve kept mine i never had a reason for another though i have been called a few things in my time time won’t let me choose one over another how can you draw that line? _______________________________________
4.
Edgewise 02:11
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i sat down to take my place at the table a paper napkin and plastic utensils everyone else had flatware and pretty cloth i stood up to raise my voice in objection a stirring speech, a threatening gesture all i managed was a nervous cough is someone trying to tell me something? you can say it to my face the subtle art of conversation has its place bite my tongue until you’ve said your piece the fork in yours the sharpness of it means very little chance of seeing eye to eye someone’s trying to tell me something deliberately, and to my face the subtle art of conversation has been misplaced i stood up from my place at the table it’s not my place if i’m not even able to get a word in edgewise, anyway _______________________________________
5.
The Rays 05:12
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tears all falling down on cheeks eden apple red she cried until she drowned lovesick in the head a body can only take so much until it’s full the salt and the water, a grave from her heart her life did pull swollen in a spongy kind of way wrung out, then put away that was last night this is today now she’s only soaking up the rays tears and the falling down by the water, made a splash on the beach the revelation is blue finding her here at last _______________________________________
6.
Never Saying Anything 03:44
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there’s a lot to be said for not saying anything i let it go, even though i know what that will bring cause every time i lose it i have found that getting worked up only brings you down when i keep my tongue in check there’s a backup in my head my congestion begs the question is it better off said? but every time i lose it i have found that getting worked up only brings you down so i’m never saying anything again all this talk of keeping quiet do you hear what i hear? out of the sound and the fury one thing is crystal clear every time i lose it i have found that getting worked up only brings you down so i’m never saying anything i’m carrying the weight of the world one word at a time _______________________________________
7.
Tornado Man 02:36
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i’m a mess and maybe there’s a lesson in that simple little fact she’s a cleaner you’d know it if you’d seen her in the act so it’s really no surprise there’s no wool to be pulled over her eyes is it my fault? i’m confused and maybe that confusion is a messy thing to see i’m trying hard i’m trying to remember how much worse i used to be is it my fault? (i don’t think so) is it my fault? (i think so) is it my fault? (i don’t think so) but i don’t know i go to my room i make my own mess i’m all twisted up i’m spun out i’m a tornado man coming clean and staying clean is really just a matter of degree i’m picking up, i’m rearranging if it matters you can stop me i’m trying to lay low i need a halo i go to my room and make my own mess i’m all twisted up i’m spun out i’m a tornado man tornado man (etc.) _______________________________________
8.
Hiss 06:58
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once an architect of peace he moved in circles high and wide when the war was cold the scare was redder than the changing tide the charter ink still wet the right whitewashes left and chambers leveled one that left a man as good as dead what does that say about the soul of a nation as a whole? quick to be the hanging judge quick to find a head to roll rolling down the slope (as if he didn't have enough rope) <ping!> goes the sound a country submarining down under water under bridges on the floor, the pressure's greatest escape 44 months in the pen in a pumpkin in a field letters caught on celluloid their tiny secrets soon revealed did the woodstock numbers match? who can tell who was right unless you’ve been inside of every head in the middle of the night? quick to be the hanging judge quick to find a head to roll rolling down the slope a trick of hope is just enough rope ping! etc. even when he was stationary he was moving all the time _______________________________________
9.
High Horse 04:12
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when i was young (not like real young but old enough to know better) i would speak right out of what i sat upon did not take much to get me going when i was gone stepping squarely in it as i tried to climb up on my gifted high horse this precious soapbox saddle up or settle down ramshackle back porch my bully pulpit liquor-soaked cap and gown i mellowed like kentucky bourbon bottled all the rage and threw it out and over all the years i spent trying to throw it up i've learned the derby runs with or without me i've been shown my place the space between the shoe and mouth is just about a foot _______________________________________
10.
Bus You Ride 04:10
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free magazines and bottles green and empty clean up this mess mess up my mind with free advice she gives it over ice like love on the rocks rocks in my head late night satellite i could ride all night so i gather and i spill outside and i wait for the bus you ride it's three AM she let me stay till then i'm down on my luck luck of the draw i guess she gives now she takes puts me outside in the rain time to go home home is where her heart is like a late night satellite... ride, ride, ride ride, ride, ride _______________________________________
11.
Evergreen 04:31
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picture this, if you can and i’m sure you can a family sitting ‘round a fresh cut evergreen exchanging pleasantries and smiles and gifts they can’t afford now you’ve got the picture would you care to hear the soundtrack? can you stand it loud? distorted four-part harmony a disenchanted chord a sump pump in the basement saves a lifetime’s clutch of ornaments that used to hang and shine abandoned like the pretense all is fine gather when they must you can trust the talk revolves around the memory of a time when children didn’t speak their piece of mind picture this, if you can and i know you can a family sitting round a family sitting down a family spinning down and yes, they all seem so very happy _______________________________________
12.
On A Saturday 03:05
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it’s been a little weird, so please forgive me if i talk about it so obliquely so to speak she was hit 18 wheels and fate and god knows what would have happened if? (what would have happened if?) but there she is on a saturday there she is on a saturday there she is on a saturday, finally walking back around town it’s the town that she loves and i know exactly why cause she and i have a thing or two (or maybe three) in common with each other and i know exactly how she feels when she tells me that it hurts (it hurts) and there she is on a saturday there she is on a saturday there she is on a saturday, finally walking back around she’s finally walking around the town and she knows exactly what i mean when i say it’s such a shame and although things are getting better now they’ll never be the same _______________________________________
13.
A List 03:13
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he got dropped from the A-list just before the christmas party was it some habit of which he was unaware? or something that he said? there’s a secret they keep to themselves how does it feel to be alone? (wonderful timing) how does it feel to be alone? (such wonderful timing) how does it feel to be alone? the most wonderful time of the year what a fine and lovely evening last year, nearly made the column no reports of heavy weather it’s as if he never… to forgive is to forget is it colder than you thought? maybe yes, then again, maybe not _______________________________________
14.
Watershed 04:14
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one jack over keep the change the channel got a dollar here that says the end is near black out slowly, fade to velvet under you, the rolling ground of lost and found my church rages on and on about it feet of crows and clay i can’t pray without it not one moment to spare for an epiphany i still rush to wait the rain out in the dark but i grow old waiting for the watershed but she don’t mind she runs my hand underneath the water says “give it just a little bit of time” belly back down reaching for another one of these days, true nirvana’s gonna knock me up step outside decision made to smoke away a banner year, but i’m still here and now out standing an open field of memory a safety net of true regret duck back in order up and over out i steal home to wait the rain out in the dark _______________________________________
15.
Goodbye Blue Monday 07:04
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a hand up, a three-letter question a cursory search for the piece a wake, then a wave to the passing then release a sister’s eyes telling the story and a sad one, a bad one it was a head full of lopsided pity just because reading everything i gotta figure this out the nurse in admissions was only trying to lighten the load for the kid there’s no way of her ever knowing what she did reading everything i gotta figure this out bleeding everywhere on everything i said that i gotta figure this out on the slow tower park fade (and so on and so it goes and so on and so it goes and so it goes on) why he must always so muddily must he make every mistake that he’s ever made once again? what makes me think that i’ve got it all figured out? how can subtraction make positive the account? the twist of the offer, a pound of flesh now but then tempered by the toll that ten thousand disappears takes (on and on and so it goes on) it takes over i am over it _______________________________________

about

rule of thumb's fourth and final release was actually recorded after the band had officially disbanded. featuring a batch of songs the band had honed on stage, the album remained unheard until digital technology made widespread distribution possible.

credits

released April 1, 2007

produced by john parsons

recorded by derek bianchi

engineered by derek bianchi

mixed by derek bianchi (interrupted occasionally by jumpy and hero)

this all happened at muscletone studios in berkeley, california

mastered by berek dianchi at jumpy hero mastering lab

design and layout — john parsons, hugo campos
buzzy bee bug in the ear — paul huber
buzzy bee photography by melissa kaseman
band photographs—the brothers kiel

rule of thumb is:

brandon hemley — drums, vocals
chris kiel — bass, vocals, shaker
russ kiel — guitar, vocals
john parsons — vocals, guitars

all sounds on the album created by rule of thumb, except:

nan bakmajian — congas, cello
derek bianchi — tambourine
peter cornell — saxophones
andy davis — banjo
jason kleinberg — fiddle
matt twain — piano, hammond organ
alyn kelley — background vocals

all songs by john parsons © 2007 mumble orchard music ASCAP

rule of thumb uses fender guitars and amps, musicman amps, gretsch drums and other things for which we get jack, zero, nada from the manufacturers.

thank you: everyone who’s been to a gig over the years; kara, max, harry and gus; magoo, lulu and julia; michelle; nan and jake; our parents, teachers, associations; free; sorry; refocus; alger hiss, stephen fagan, and kurt vonnegut.

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Rule of Thumb San Francisco, California

A now-defunct San Francisco quartet that bridged the alt-roots and indie-rock worlds through memorable melodies, literate lyrics, and non-traditional song structures.

Over the course of four albums, Rule of Thumb created what listen.com called "Multi-faceted, near-flawless gems of catchy, yet uncompromising pop. Rule of Thumb's music is smart, beautifully produced, and scintillates with wit." ... more

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