← more from
Big Secret Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Good American Songbook

by Bob Cummins Jr.

supported by
cmfl8691
cmfl8691 thumbnail
pdclifford
pdclifford thumbnail
plescanfan
plescanfan thumbnail
Joshua W Mrvos
Joshua W Mrvos thumbnail
raffaele melina
raffaele melina thumbnail
Kurotoshiro
Kurotoshiro thumbnail
gizzfan2020
gizzfan2020 thumbnail
brooksbutler
brooksbutler thumbnail
sars123
sars123 thumbnail
malice3648
malice3648 thumbnail
Katie Duke
Katie Duke thumbnail
/

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited run! Includes exclusive lyric sheet and liner notes. This is the way Good American Songbook is meant to be heard.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Good American Songbook via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 100 

      $30 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

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

      $11 USD  or more

     

1.
...But That's My Life 02:48
lyrics
buy track
If I knew all the pains of lifetime I'd never live But that's my life If I live in the past I'm never prepared for you I feel the best I'll ever feel And forget the feeling until I can find the feeling in myself again
2.
Could You Be My Magic Arm? 04:25 video
lyrics
buy track
In and out my mind I just need some friends around me Enough fine days to be kickin' around In and out all day An excuse to skip the laundry I needed a break but now all I do is take the fall Never amount too tall Could you be my magic arm Before you go please help me take it off I'm much too weak If I had too big a load to carry by myself It carries on I don't know if you'll be gone So you know I'll be here down on the floor Waiting for my life to pick me up After giving it some thought I've decided not to use it Without certain days in the week I'm lost It's the only thing I can do to not abuse it Get up out of bed time to go out driving in your car Giving you my regards
3.
You Were 03:18 video
lyrics
buy track
You say you're calling yourself better now I've been away from you too long I never saw you to be so wrong I had seen your eyes before the dawn of this You're picking all my simple fancies out And it's a waste of time to fight I've got a new way out of my life If I give my life to god I'll never die You knew that far too long for hope To give you none for you to cope You were by my side when I began to wake You were by my side You were just in time to see me fall asleep You were just in time
4.
Making The Cut 03:40
lyrics
buy track
Detective killer The carpet stain Where we both watched Naked and Afraid Cus it'll be too dark soon I know you saw me getting high all day Memorizing the sunrise at the lake The boats washed up last night All I ever wanted was for you to tell me son you were right all along But it never really mattered You never need to make the cut It never really mattered You never need to make the cut Four eyes on me in the hallway All the while I'm alone I wouldn't stray Until I saw another The meek rebellions of the folks in me Never mirror the tough world I see And is that fine with me Has your driving gotten to you It's got to me too All I ever wanted was for you to tell me son you were right all along But it never really mattered You never really made the cut
5.
Know If You Do (feat. Benjamin Spike Saunders) 03:28
lyrics
buy track
I am confusion Given all that I don't know I'm on the way to being a man I know that it's hard but I can't make Heads or make tails of it Growing up dumb Corners too tight to fit but tell me I'm not I am curious if there were another time To be a kid I'd take it again Be out of my car but it's too late Promise to mail for it and get it back soon Use it and fight for it and find a new job I'm in the trailer park with dinner to spare Call me back up tonight and I won't be there Say no, don't be slow Be your only friend Stay low, tell me where to go, do what you're told I don't know that There is no end to me and no beginning There is no end to me and no beginning There is no end to me My truest feelings are a roaming blackbird Describe the words to me cus I don't know Do you believe the words I say because I don't Know if you do
6.
Analou 04:18
lyrics
buy track
When you're sitting in the city And you can't find Analou In the long and lonely winter You're awake with someone new And your head is in a whirlpool But you know the thing to do Is to get out of this home world In a way that's going to And if the boat is rowing over And you can't get your shoes untied You run in place under the teal and white covers Of your grandmother's house as a kid Say you don't have to say that you're sorry But you can't be proud of what you did If you're living in the city And you can't find Analou At the end of every whirlpool She's a better place for you In a world that kills the homebound In a world that kills you too It's the overwhelming total Of the places born in you
7.
In Tow 03:12
lyrics
buy track
All that feels good on the trail Isn't good all the way back For now a tent for me In the carbon tourniquet on my face tell me I'm good To go around in fire in tow Call the finished tires of new velocity I'm going for Tired of turning faster for a dream that I could not afford For now Telling me how In the morning when I rise Fill my cup In your best way It's just a matter of time Tell the man I'm good for you Good for us Good for more time Tap out, go back to town For now Show me to the people I forgot And I'll remember their names Give me twenty days and I'll collect my thoughts to build a frame To put a picture
8.
Many Times Before 03:14
lyrics
buy track
Before you came back down for me I swore I would never disappoint you friend I know I did All the things you did before I've been in the world you've known You have seen me in this place Many times before And I know you've been in this place Many times before Please don't tell me I've been wrong You were just a child before I'll help you up before you go Finding your new home It's better that you know
9.
Done For Good 03:37
lyrics
buy track
When I told you what I saw I did it for good When I played the part of myself I did it for good Time flew us out of our minds And played out what our hearts had soon defined Play that conversation for me One more time What am I gonna say to you What have I done to make it this way for you What am I after all this is done Done for good My eyes fool again You tell me you're on your way I'll be smart and stay cool again Or I'd be crazy enough to pray And I'll be in the corner tonight Take a little bottle and make two polarities fight Fortified by four walls and a night light
10.
Here (And That's Alright) [feat. Amari Amore] 05:44
lyrics
buy track
Wish I could take you here And show you where I was The open door I've made for you Would be there for you in time Would be there for you in time Time for you to see your life Made for you to love in time Formed in love A tangled vine Ripples down your cheek and tumbles through the air Torn from me and out of sight Corners of a moonlit fright Come sing me your tune From a time that has gone by From a merry time for us Underneath the veil divine You are here and that's alright
11.
Your Gold Chain 04:11
lyrics
buy track
Cold and unwieldy It sits around your neck And your old familiar people walk away You can't afford it It takes you to your knees But it almost makes you feel like you're okay Your gold chain On my chest Makes me glad today If I took Your gold chain You wouldn't want to stay You like your troubles And fulfilling your needs All the complicated patterns of your day Believe my story And tell it back to me And to all the friends you told me betrayed

about

For all his other accomplishments since his near-outsider bedroom pop debut Shakewelle, you’d forgive Dallas songwriter Bob Cummins Jr. for a just-okay follow up. Since re-releasing his debut on Portland, Oregon’s Big Secret Records, Bob has developed a reputation as a first-call north Texas session player, earning sideman gigs across the state, leading to a spot in Midlake spinoff group Harry Zimm.

But Good American Songbook is 11 songs of classic tunesmithing with modern touches that belies Cummins’s age. Here, Cummins is disciplined, writing like peak Paul Williams or Randy Newman on side A before moving to obscure Dylan-inspired and resurrected Wrecking Crew tunes on side B. Refined with Portland producer Andrew Jones, the album’s flourishes reveal influences that stretch into contemporary pop and top liner territory — “Analou” pays its respects to Frank Ocean while the intimate yet sweeping ballad “Here (and That’s Alright)” respectfully nods to Ethan Gruska. Though Cummins’s home base is in the golden era of 60s mainstream songcraft, he leans forward to find kinship in anthemic New York-style 80s piano songs with the LP’s opening salvo, “...But That’s My Life.” The guitar-driven jangle pop closer “Your Gold Chain” is as much essential Byrds as it is the best of Wilco.

For the Bob Cummins Jr. heads who have been around since his strange beginnings, Good American Songbook is still purely Bob. As mature as the writing and production is here, one can still hear playful Moog melodies and Nintendo 64 sounds — you’ll find no soundfonts here, by the way. Cummins and Jones tracked down the original Roland patches on real digital synthesizers that Nintendo sampled for Super Mario 64. Recorded between Denton, Texas’s Echo Lab (courtesy of Jason Isbell and Shakey Graves producer, Matt Pence) and Jones’s Portland studio, each song is arranged as idiosyncratically as one has come to expect from Cummins, but grounded by three pianos, an array of synthesizers and drum machines, a case of orchestra percussion, a coconut, and live takes cut with a full band in-studio. In short: a lot less MIDI this time around, but it’s no less interesting.

"The album represents a snapshot of a year of my life," Cummins explains. "The worst of that year battled hard with the best, and both are apparent in the music. The pandemic happened, my band fell apart, I met my girlfriend, I lived in three different places. Sometimes more than one place at once. This release was meant to be a stripped down, more raw version of my last record Shakewelle, and it was born from collaboration with Andrew Jones, who brought MIDI-controlled Logic demos into the real, tactile world. This record is steeped in the feeling of The Beach Boys' Love You — that maybe the best is behind you, but there’s enough ahead to keep moving on and making music. Writing songs while wasting away in an apartment, separated from society, as someone who otherwise would have the world at their fingertips."

Early drafts of tracks from Good American Songbook drew features from buzz-generating songwriter and fellow Dallasite Amari Amore, and Bristol, England’s troubadour Benjamin Spike Saunders (Gold Day Records, Katy J. Pearson). Cummins may already be gathering laurels with this outing, but he’s staying humble. After all, the songbook he’s building is — for now — just “good.”

credits

released October 23, 2023

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Bob Cummins Jr. image

Bob Cummins Jr. Dallas, Texas

Bob Cummins Jr. is a Dallas singer-songwriter who bridges the musical gap between when the Beach Boys found drugs and the release of the Nintendo 64.

contact / help

Contact Bob Cummins Jr.

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Bob Cummins Jr. recommends:

If you like Bob Cummins Jr., you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now