Too Old to Be a Rock Star

by Joe Benoit

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180 gram pressing of the second and most recent solo album by Joe Benoit. Includes an insert with lyrics and liner notes.

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1.	Waiting for Revolution 04:27	lyrics	buy track

2.	Paying the Toll 04:58	lyrics	buy track

3.	Easy to Seem 04:02	lyrics	buy track

4.	Disconnected 03:06	lyrics	buy track

5.	Keep Me Satisfied 03:36	lyrics	buy track

6.	Not Enough 04:06	lyrics	buy track

7.	Strip Mall Wasteland 04:00	lyrics	buy track

8.	Can You Hear the Song 05:07	lyrics	buy track

9.	Sing Along 02:18	lyrics	buy track

about

The second full-length album by NYC singer/songwriter Joe Benoit. Includes the four tracks previously issued on the Greetings from Forest Hills, NY EP.

credits

released October 1, 2019

All music and lyrics written and arranged by Joe Benoit

Produced by Sam K. Shaw & Joe Benoit
Engineered and mixed by Sam K. Shaw
Recorded at The Buddy Project and at home in Queens, NY
Mastered by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio

Photography and cover design by Stephanie Moss

The Players:
Joe Benoit - all vocals, all guitars, keyboards, mandolin, ukulele, percussion, drums on "Disconnected" and “Strip Mall Wasteland”
Sam K. Shaw - bass
Kieran Kelly - drums
Clint Paul - bass on "Disconnected" and “Strip Mall Wasteland”

Dominic Carioti - saxophones on "Paying the Toll"
Kasperi Sarikoski - trombone on "Paying the Toll"
Keaon Brown - trumpet on "Paying the Toll”

All songs © 2018, 2019 Joe Benoit / Jo-Re-Mi Music (ASCAP)

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Joe Benoit New York, New York

NYC-based guitarist and singer, formerly of the band The Regulars: wearetheregulars.bandcamp.com

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Track Name: Waiting for Revolution: I hold on to the past too tight
I just want to make it right
But I lose sight of what’s to come
I caught a fleeting glimpse of
What I thought my life was
And all my choices came undone

Chorus:
I’ve been hating
And my conclusions
Never seem to ever change
I’ve been waiting
For revolution
As if things ever stay the same

A path that branches
With second chances
But I can’t seem to pick a road
I proceed with caution
Collapse from exhaustion
I have no guide
So round and round I go

Chorus / Solo / Chorus
Track Name: Paying the Toll: Another year older
Another year wiser you know
A third of a century
I got the white hairs to show
Over the years
I’ve tried to enlighten myself
But it’s getting harder
To pull one more book from the shelf

How many lessons have I ignored?
Missed the whole point because I was bored
How many more times must I be told
That just buying in doesn’t get you sold?

Chorus:
 We could be elevated
If we’d just open our eyes
We could be vindicated
If we’d stop believing our lies
There’s not much here that’s free
And soon we’ll surely see
That we’re paying the toll for a bridge
That’s already been burned

I met a prophet
Who never would use the word hate
She called it a cancer
On which you cannot operate
If love’s all we need
Then why is the world such a mess?
It’s like her disciples
Neglected to tell us the rest

How many lessons have we ignored?
Missed the whole point because we were bored
How many more times must we be told
That just buying in doesn’t get you sold?

Chorus

A man sells a cigarette
And he winds up dead on the street
Churches and classrooms
Are not safe places to meet
Nazis are marching
And ignorance sits on a throne
It’s hard to imagine
But this is the place we call home

How many lessons have we ignored?
It’s not like we haven’t seen this before
Why do we act like it’s something new?
We spread our agendas and kill the truth

Chorus
Track Name: Easy to Seem: I guess I’m burning out ‘cause I feel weary
But what’s to show for my actions?
My mind’s a slippery slope of contradictions
I need some wheels with some traction

My words resonate through the halls
But that don’t matter if they don’t leave these walls
What good are words that will never be shared?

Chorus: 
I recite all the lines
but still remain blind to my part
It’s all just a show
And I don’t even know where to start
It’s so easy to seem
But I don’t want to be what I’m not
If I had a reason to live
I must have forgot

I’ll admit that I’ve been blessed with fortune
But I still have my afflictions
Some people follow what their heart tells them
I just followed prescriptions

I’ve got no right to complain
I’ve got a wife and a house to my name
Still I feel like a fraud whose about to be found

Chorus

I’m okay
I think I’m okay
Am I okay?

Solo / Chorus
Track Name: Disconnected: I never felt as disconnected as I feel right now
I never felt as discontented as I feel right now
I don’t understand the young
Don’t have patience for the old
I’m trapped between two stations on the radio
I never felt as uninspired as I feel right now
I never felt so sad and tired like I feel right now
I want to give a shit about this human race
You say I’ll make a difference but I know my place
And I never felt as unimportant as I feel right now

My heart has been shattered
But what does it matter
If that’s how it stays

I barely got the energy to think or choose
It doesn’t make a difference
Either way I lose
And I never felt as unimportant as I feel right now
I never felt as uninspired as I feel right now
I never felt as disconnected as I feel right now
Track Name: Keep Me Satisfied: If I was a multi-millionaire
I’d tell you that I want a billion
I’d like to think that I would share
But I fear that I would be the villain

Beggars cannot choose
Yeah we got it all to lose
And for every welcome gesture
Another’s refused

Chorus:
 It takes a lot to keep you satisfied
You better find some contentment
Or you’re gonna regret it
Life’s just moments passing all the time
So make the most of your days here
And keep the ones you love nearby

I need to get a different point of view
One that doesn’t put me in a tail spin
I hope I find it pretty soon
And I hope I’m not just what I have been

The future’s looking bright
I tell myself that every night
But if I don’t make a change
I’ll just keep grinding it out in this rut
Break my fucking back for what?

Chorus / Solo / Chorus
Track Name: Not Enough: We don’t have that much money
At least not when you look around
It’s easy to be green with envy
Until you realize
They don’t have what we found

Chorus:
 It may not be enough
But there is always love that I’ll give to you
Even if we lose
I will always choose to be with you

We don’t have that much free time
We spend most of the day apart
It’s not a choice but it’s a living
So we end the night together
And that’s a start

Chorus

Some say there’s a wall around me
Without a window for a view
I just want to say I’m thankful
You took the time to break on through

Chorus
Track Name: Strip Mall Wasteland: I got your number
Put it in a safe place
Hope I don’t lose it
That’d be a sad day
Until I see you
You put a smile on my face

I bought you flowers
I hope you got them
It doesn’t matter
I’m at the bottom
Why would you want me
When you could have anyone?

Chorus: 
And I fear you’re falling
For some guy who’s calling
And it cuts me down to size
And I’m sick of tasting
All the years I’ve wasted
Chasing someone else’s prize

I feel the pressure
Slowly increasing
The gasket’s blowing
No one’s releasing
When will I find her? 
The thought consumes my day

I fake myself out
I rave and I rant
I step on land mines
The ones that I plant
When will I learn
To just get out of my way?  

Chorus

I was a kid who
Had it together
Said it was easy
But I knew better
It was lonely
At the top of the hill

 Well it wasn’t easy
But I made it out alive
That strip mall wasteland
Taught me to survive
And if I was there now
Would I make it out alive?
Would that strip mall wasteland
Still teach me to survive?
Track Name: Can You Hear the Song: I wrap my hands around your neck
But I feel sick thinking what I could wreck
I’ll never be enough for you
Cause I’m not tortured
I guess I’m just bored
If every sound I love is gone
Then why go on?

Chorus:
Can you hear the songs I used to sing?
Did they ever mean a thing? It’s over
But is it really over?
Maybe there’s a song that’s left to write
I won’t go down without a fight

I slide my hand across the top
Twist the knob but something makes me stop
What is there that’s left to say? 
A tale of lost love? 
A sign from high above?
 I never had much impact there
So why should I care?

Chorus

Some progressions will not ever go away
Even if they’re swinging from the gallows

Maybe there’s a land that’s not so far away
Where those chords are dancing in the shadows
Track Name: Sing Along: Skip a dozen generations
They’re gonna unearth our creations
All our milestones and so-called progress
Will long be forgotten
Put a vision in a capsule
Then we hope it’s discovered half full
For the sake of the world’s condition
For the sake of peace

 Only plastic left behind
Hope the future doesn’t mind
Centuries until they find out
Resource tapped, we got our fill
It seems we won’t stop until
There’s nothing left to argue about

Chorus:
 Let’s make a promise
That we take care of each other now
No one’s at fault
If we did the best we know how
Someday we’ll all be gone
Dust in the ground as time goes on
So here’s to happiness
And late night sing-alongs