The Unknown Show by Quebb

Days after finishing the first draft, and right after a local show for the welcoming Santa Fe community, John Caelan had a freak accident resulting in a head injury--a week unconscious in the hospital was followed by months of recovery, during which John mixed the album, with one deaf ear. Intent on accomplishing what John, Mikel, and Jourdan had set out to do, the album was completed and launched into the world.

Lyrically intense allegory defines this collection of songs, with many of the songs (especially We Are Together) becoming anthems for major social movements around the country. The title song is a chronology of the tour, with a subtext of the political unrest and polarization experienced on the trip.

As of fall, 2006, Quebb is poised to release two new albums, The Venice Reprise 1 & 2, recorded at the Musician's Institute, which will introduce new tunes as well as present acoustic versions of songs from The Unknown Show.

A full lyric book is included in the album.

The Unknown Show

Music and Lyrics by John Caelan

I feel thinly veiled,

Like the lie about the check that I had never mailed.

These words, they haunt my head,

Like the ghost of something clever that I once had said.

I chase the perfect lines

Through imaginary fields laden with Land mines,

As my good sense tumbles like the domino-

I think I'm falling prey to the unknown show.

I feel tense as steel-

Like the last frame's missing from the movie reel.

Each run through the same ol' song

Well, it begs the inquisition: Were we right or wrong?

I drown in a pool of sound-

While a flood of hesitation seems to churn around.

Like the loose leaf spinning in the river's flow.

You can't break free of the unknown show.

Let go the bird in hand-

We need every finger in a three-man band.

The road weaves like a fallen thread

On a tapestry, apparently, of blue and red.

All rolled up in a sardine can,

It's a funny allegory of the best laid plan.

Well, a worthy explanation we may never know-

It's the baffling attraction of the unknown show.

Sunrise, Seattle hills,

Sax in the alley under window sills.

Fine folk on a greener grass-

A kind communiqué with everyone we pass.

See through the cunning rues-

It's the cordial final feast before we pay our dues.

It's the effortless audition on the patio.

Just a little taste of the unknown show.

Strife comes, to the say the least,

When the needle on the compass points to

Somewhere east.

Strange towns where the people stare-

You'd think that we were walking in our underwear.

One down in the land of cheese-

It's the end of the beginning that nobody sees.

It's the fighter's humble moment from a sudden blow.

Nine counts down from the unknown show.

Slipped in from the Jersey side.

Dizzy like a kid on a carnival ride.

Rain falls where the rubble lies.

A lingering reminder of our broken skies.

We marched right down to Madison Square.

A worthy demonstration that would lead nowhere.

Well, there's just one thing that I'd like to know:

How do we resume the unknown show?

I flew like a startled bird

To my home where the angels have the final word.

I walked under moonlight on the Venice beach,

I thought, my God, is my sanity on the breach?

Then, I watched my landlord change the front door locks.

As I stood in the corner with a cat in the box.

I really must confess, I almost didn't go-

But I had to find the meaning of the unknown show.

Have you ever seen a train derail?

The next few months were like a Dickens tale.

Dead broke in the southern slough.

The engine's really not the only thing we blew.

Let's go to Santa Fe,

I think I heard a song that said we'll be okay.

One more line before I finally go.

I see the lights are flashing for the Unknown Show.

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