Live Faust, Die Jung

It's a collection of raw, unprocessed pop songs with that familiar Big Rude Jake edge and witty lyricism. 

While packing up to move from Brooklyn to Toronto, Jake put a few old discs on the turntable. Mostly, he was playing the famous "Transformer" album, produced for Lou Reed by David Bowie. 

Jake began to muse that many of those old Lou Reed songs have chord progressions that are not unlike the progressions Marvin Gaye was using around the same time over in Detroit. 

These musings led to this album: a sort of Lo-Fi Seventies pop CD that imagines an alternative universe where Lou Reed grew up in Detroit rather than Queens.

Reminder to all hardcore Big Rude Jake Fans: This CD is a big departure. 

The lyrics are still evocative and compelling, like previous albums. However, the music is not swing, or traditional jazz in it's core. 

'Steppin' Out Under the Moon' is the track that captures that old feel most. 

Reviews: 

Although it was the New York jazz scene that had attracted him to that city in the first place, it was the rock and soul sounds of New York in the 70's that ended up inspiring him the most, and it was this legacy that eventually led to the creation of his latest release, "Live Faust, Die Jung." 

With this album, Jake switched his centre of influence from jazz to soul, and came up with a CD of infectious, hooky songs, laced with powerful images and his trademark lyrics. Already, interest in this new record has brought many new people into the world of Jake; many of whom had never heard of him before. Will these newbies go back and check out the older material? Of course, it is our hope that they will, but right now all attention is on Jake's remarkable transformation from Big, Angry, Bile-spitting Swing Punk... Cecil Barns, ATOMIC magazine, NYC - Great album. Consistently good songs that don't deal with the usual tripe. Nicoletta is a great example of good music with lyrics that'll make you reflect on the out-of-the-ordinary.

Produced by: Jake Langley/A. Jacob Hiebert Engineered by: Jake Langley Musicians: Jake Langley (bass, guitars), A. Jacob Hiebert (songwriting, vocals, guitar), Kevin Coady (drums), Jesse Baird (drums, percussion), Dennis Keldie (keyboards), Christopher Plock (sax, vocals) 

1) Brooklyn Blue

I've seen things go down around here that ought to be remembered
And I know folks who deserve more than to simply fade away
But the price of life all down around here is too much altogether;
And everything we do is trashed into the coming yesterdays.

And it leaves me Brooklyn Blue,
And it leaves me Brooklyn Blue.
It tears me through and through.
But there's nothing I can do,
And it leaves me Brooklyn Blue.

They don't think much of our kind when you get into the city
But she's got a way of seeing these things through
She acts real tough when she comes around but, brother, she don't fool me
The way she bites her lip, you know, it might seem strange to you,

And she leaves me Brooklyn Blue..

2) Nicoletta
Hey there Nicoletta Darlin', lately I've been thinkin'
And for one single time I wish you'd just shut up and listen

Once I would have died for you
I would have stood to fight for you
Or served my living heart up on a platter
But these days all I feel for you
Is grief for how I fell for you
And I won't be your Hero, Nicoletta
No, I won't be your Hero, Nicoletta

And if I stay to be your man
and soldier through the bombs
What will you do to me, my dear,
once you get what you want?

Oh, I won't ride the great white horse
And I won't run the jagged course
and I won't bust my ass to make things better
And I won't turn the other cheek when
You bite and scratch and bitch at me
And I won't be your hero Nicoletta,
No, I won't be your hero Nicoletta.

And isn't just a shame, my dear
When you're up against the wall
And everything  you want
You never wanted after all

And I don't care if you don't approve
Of how I feel or what I do,
And I sure as hell won't be your Great Defender
Risk your life for some ideal
Then they treat you like a criminal;
So I won't be your hero, Nicoletta
No, I won't be your hero, Nicoletta

3) St. Annie Out on the Front Stoop

1.
St. Annie out on the front stoop
Warm summer night all alone
Eyes closed and knees tucked under her chin
Just a'listn'n to the radio.

Have you seen St. Annie?
St. Annies' got a brand new man
And he don't treat her better than any of the others,
But she digs him just the same

She was the undiscovered wonder
She was the marvel of our times
Tip your hat to the light fantastic
As you go tripping by.

2.
Annie as a gold-gilt Magaline,
And I was her devotee
She was sex and sin to a thousand men
But she was liberty to me

Bridge
And the last time I seen her
She was crouched up against a wall
Franticly tearing through a little black purse
Like the world was gonna crumble and fall
Crumble and fall

4) Music in the street

1.
I hear the music when I’m walkin’ in the street
I hear the sound of a sweet melody
And a single voice can start a revolution
I still believe in the song
And I do believe the time has come

Hey Hey Hey!
Raise your Hands up High!
Raise your Hands up High!

2.
I hear the voice of people aching to be free.
I see the power in the numbers on the street.
And a single voice can start a revolution
And I still believe in that song.
And I do believe it won’t take long.

3.
I see one that’s doubtful and another one’s afraid
Measuring the gains against the things they take away
But you can’t tell me, that all that money
Is better than a better world, (No!)
I still believe in the song.
And I do believe the time has come!

5) Home…

Hey now, hush now, 

Mamma can you hear me now?

Verse 1
I don’t wanna go home
I don’t wanna be sittin’ by my window
In my bedroom all alone
I wanna run like the wind and lightnin’
In the streets all on our own
Rent my room
And dust my broom
‘Cause,
I don’t wanna go home.

Bridge
And Oh! My!
You should have seen us dancin’,

We was 

Alright!
You should have seen us go.

Verse 2
I don’t wanna slow down
I wanna put a million miles between me
And this sad town
I wanna split the night wide open
          With a wedge of steel and chrome
Tell ‘em please
To forget about me
‘Cause,
I don’t wanna go home.

Hey now, hush now, 

Mamma can you hear me now?

I don’t wanna go Home…
Hey now, hush now, 

Mamma can you hear me now?
I don’t wanna go Home…

Hey now, hush now, 

Hey.

6) Steppin' Out Under the Moon

Hey Ho Hombre Poco

Spinin' Spanish Creole
And singing Bayou Gris Gris
In the summer Steamin' Hot;
Keep your wide eyes open
When I come by a'callin'
‘Cause tonight we gonna cake-walk
through the town that care forgot!

(Chorus)
Steppin' Out under the Moon
Down on the Fountainbleau
Madam Marie and the Baron and Me
We goin' Steppin' out under the Moon

2.
Looka dat Fancy Yankee

Struttin' on down BurGUNdy
Come a ‘by my house, and a’drink my wine,
and then presume to judge me
But the breadth of me is bigger
Then all souls put together
And you heap hot coals up on yo' head
when you speak ill about me.

3.
And Disiples of Desire

Sing Sacred songs of pleasure
As rev'lers stray into the light
and into the dark ag'in; (dark aw-gin)
And the fate of flesh and bone
And the Fortune of the Soul
Wanders undecided through the 

streets of New Orleans
        (NOO awLINS)

7. Sweet Night Sounding

I used to watch her from my bedroom window
Comin' on strong with that "honey, come on,"
Easy Breezin' in the street below
Sending out a song up to ev'ry mother's son,

I was just a kid when I first got the fever
Climbin' the walls, and pacing the floor
Dreamed someday I'd disappear alltogether
In the velvet smooth of a great Ever-more

chorus
When I make my move, It's gonna be alright
Outta that door and into the night

Into the sweet sweet night.
Into the sweet sweet night.

So it is the summer's come around again
And I swear this time I won't be left behind
I won’t let her down like all those other men;
I'm gonna stand out of line, I'm gonna take whats' mine

Put on something cool and put on something sexy
Do yourself up right tonight, cause we be goin' steppin'
The street is fine and the wind is soft and easy
Destiny is calling me and we won't keep her waitin'

Can't you hear, my heart a poundin’
And can’t you feel the drag of circumstance
And can’t you hear the sweet night sounding?
And can't you see?  The kids just want to dance.

8) (Don't it Just) Break Your Heart

Hey!
Don't it just break your heart?
To think this land of Plenty
Is a place so full of Pain
Well, don't it  just break your heart?

One trip into Storyville
And I never was the same
And I say…

Hey!
Don't it just break your heart?
To think this land of Plenty
Is a place so full of Pain
Well, don't it  just break your heart?

1.
Woman on the Rampart
Singing Haitian patois
And sings a Blue Note Liturgy  

in Santeria Voodoo
Of spazm bands in Jackson
And visions in the Absinthe,
Of sin laid out on the Esplanade
all tarted up in ju ju.

One night on the Rampart
And I never was the same
And I say…

2.
Joy and Easy Malice
Is measured out in balance
Thick like honey suckle 

hangin' heavy in the air
They cling to Deuling Oak trees
And spill like sloppy whiskey
And splatter on the street
and the cracks in Congo Square

One chorus from the brass band

And I never was the same
And I say…

9) Neck Deep in the Blues

(intro)
And the Blues fall down on the street where I live
Like the soot and the sleet and the snow
And it gathers in shadows
And the dips and dark narrows
And out in the rag-tattered road

(chorus)
Neck Deep in the Blues
Neck Deep in the Blues

(verse 1)
Brother can you lend me a dollar,
He friend can you spot me a five?
Ya see, my cheques' not due
For another week or two,
I'll pay you back for sure this time

Well, you sure can't get drunk on a dollar,
And you sure can't get tight on a five,
But you can ride a rocket
And take it down town,
and watch all those pretty lights shine

(verse 2)
Man can you show me to the station
Sir can you point out the train?
I've been walking in circles
For hours and hours
And I seem to have lost my way.

Well, nobody's waitin' at the Station
There's no one to meet on the train
But if I find the right track,
I just might get myself back
To the place from which I came.