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Soul In Exile Redux

by The Hesh Inc.

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    Get all 6 The Hesh Inc. releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Soul In Exile Redux, Jersey Shore Baby b/w Feel Alive Tonight, Soul In Exile 3: Love Runs Aground, Boardwalk Mystic, Soul In Exile 2: Jersey Shore Baby, and Soul In Exile. , and , .

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1.
This is the story of a love affair Of passion and despair with that lazy crazy place The holy city the holy land oh Lord have mercy Jerusalem New Jersey to me it’s no disgrace Who’s that child sitting in the stroller A junior rock’n’roller in front of daddy’s hotel Ridin’ across the sky suspended from a cable Mixing bowl cradle casino carousel Well folks met folks and the seeds of love were sown Paradise found now for the time it could be home In the wild turbulence the seeds were scattered and blown But what’s been planted must grow Thus did the Jersey Shore Baby I once shared a playpen with an inner lake angel baby And maybe just maybe she rubbed off on me And when thirteen came around there came the magical weekend Off the lovers’ deep end between I and she I found the secret to life on a lucky charm imprinter And I shattered to splinters all I used to be From neb-nerd to cool no longer a pushover The old way was over and I felt so free I made this town mine I made it all my own Dreamland high above all the mundanities of home I had stumbled upon Eden but my flight fell like a stone Into open ended exile thrown Orphaned Jersey Shore Baby A simpler time in the not too distant past When the cars were fast and the love was in bloom A more innocent age when the buildings were standing Life wasn’t so demanding and the bust was a boom Maybe one day I can end this dispersion With no more diversion keeping me from my one true love Well it’s no time to bitch it’s time to get moving About time to start proving these dreams made flesh and blood And though what we grew up with in our generation May have fallen into disintegration But I’m marshaling forces to turn desolation Into paradise by the sea, I’m the Jersey Shore Rebuild the scenery, I’m the Jersey Shore Well come waltz with me I’m the Jersey Shore Baby --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
2.
I said Help me Doc I got songwriters’ block I just can’t find my inspiration He said That ain’t no block you just ran out of stock what you need dude is a long vacation I was in the east my heart was in the west and when asked why resist assimilation I left my heart back in Asbury Park that was the explanation In junior high I would lift my eyes to from where will come my salvation In the army I swore I’d head straight for the shore when my three years reached their cessation The beacon that shined its light into a mind blackened by social darkness and isolation With the promise that someday after the bull gets blown away I’d undertake massive relocation Chip on my shoulder since I was a soldier Drive your friends crazy don’t get lazy Underground homesick grab yourself a broomstick This ain’t no statement just block abatement Tramping around through the streets of this town under an onslaught of precipitation The mist was so thick I knew I’d be sick without some spiritual medication I staggered my way to nuevo dolce cafe and sat down to the taste of innovation Then the evening sky cleared so I regrouped and steered my sights to nocturnal invasion Saw her sitting on the boardwalk rails with her usual gang of friend females in sweatshirt jeans and flirtation Flashed her my jazz and blues and snakeskin shoes and then she was mine for the duration She took my arm she felt so warm she was soft intoxication I didn’t inquire she was lover for hire but she didn’t fit the characterization What am I trying to say here this ain’t no cliché here You wanna be a beatnik you gotta be a streetnik Check the rhyme and meter you ain’t gonna beat her Blinded by the light Bruce no use call a truce But you know it’s all right Yeah you know it's all right But you know it's all right It's all right if it's all night Well maybe the agencies declared a hiring freeze But I’m not looking for a job or a vocation This is the time I’ll seize just to follow the breeze Blowin’ through town on revisitation I’ve come here to spurn the life of Sit And Learn And I don’t want no redemption or salvation No matter which way I turn my bridges seem to burn So I’m just here in life to find my station From the seaside bar joints to the land’s end points Pick choose and shoot for my destination I’ve come to anoint the long-awaited counterpoint To these trends of cynicism and stagnation 127 miles of as many different styles The possibilities of limitless exploration No more self-denial or tribulations and trials I won’t accept any statute of limitation Playing my wordgames so what if it all sounds the same None of this crap rap beatin’ like a clap trap Radio hum drum makes me go ho hum Rock’n’roll tidy bowl no soul pigeonhole Grab your attention keep it in suspension It’s the great backlash against all the cheap trash Mindless conformity mental deformity If you ain’t receivin’ it don’t you believe in it --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
3.
Bruce! 03:52
One hazy teenage summer as my world began to change A song oozed through the radio so new and different and strange So unlike the current trends, my hair stood on end At the sound of that guitar and that sax I stood still and succumbed to the piano and drums And I knew there was no turning back He was the boss, the doctor, the angel of soul King of the Jersey Shore, crown prince of rock’n’roll The music he made reached deep inside and took hold Oh the love that it gave me! Through whirlwind years of love and pain after I first discovered him Through earthquake battles shaking the walls after being told to sink or swim Through the storm and the stress and the fear and the threats Always on the edge of a hurricane squall Through innocence and wildness and ecstasy and crisis Whether laying low or walking tall He’d be speaking straight to me whenever I’d hear him sing He was right there with me telling me he’d been through the same thing He gave me strength and courage through whatever fate would bring Oh the faith that can save me! Not just a rock’n’roll singer, he was my big brother He was my male role model above any other He showed me how to express the things that I’d feel And he showed me what it meant to be true and be real. Then people made faces whenever I’d mention his name I couldn’t understand why, it was such a damn shame Ten years of backlash Disrespected and bashed Especially in his own backyard Headbangers and hangers-on and that ersatz refrain All the hype and hoopla, so cartoonish and lame. His love life displayed More than the music he made Where the hell was the hero with his guitar? Three fugazy albums and an image gone sour Gave me reason to doubt his undeniable power Taking on the world’s weight Stumping for issues and candidates The way he’d never dream of selling me a car His myths and legends have become unhip and passé His rock’n’roll promises have all faded away I used to believe, I still wanted to believe But he’s making it so damn hard! Well I still tear up the highways whenever I’m back down here Into the bars and the backstreets of these towns here I follow all the bands that emulate his sound here Still looking for him ‘cause I know he’s around here And when I finally meet him after I waited so long I’ll say Thanks for the music, the great lyrics and songs You showed me how to hold on to a dream that’s so strong Someday it may raise me! --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
4.
So why do I keep coming back? ‘Cause of all I’m saying here Teenage punk fantasies of getting a band and playing here On hold for twelve years but now there’s no delaying here I’ve established the fact ‘cause now I’m back and babe I’m staying here I feel free! Myself! Loose! Unchained and unfettered here Unweighted unburdened untied and untethered here Because for the first time life began to look better here And so I upended the reason for following the law to the letter here Oppression thrown off and independence declared here The forces that would claim me all blinked when I stared here They fell before my challenge they took and lost my dare here Now I got the last word about how long to grow my hair here Now I’m the one to decide how outrageously to dress here Which realities to question and what conventions to test here And if the past was cursed then the future is blessed here ‘Cause I won’t stop till I’ve shot to the top and I’m up there with the best here Falling in love and coming of age here Finding the key to the universe and unlocking the cage here Planning my strategy and setting the stage here And if you ask me what’s all the rage here Well—rock’n’roll is king here! The angels they sing here! It’s all got that swing so it means everything here! History was made here! The greats all stayed and played here! The bands made their stands on the strand’s grand parade here! No apologies here! The place to just be is here! The wild innocent spirit in the night still runs free here! There’s a heart that still beats here! The unfinished completes here! Romance blooms in every crack in the streets here! I know just what gives here! No more negatives here! I’m reborn, I feel alive, I touch life, I live here! So now I’m coming back to be with the things that formed me To stomp on ideology and laugh at conformity In spite of all the well-meaning naysayers who warn me I’m coming back to harvest all the things that are going for me I’ve come back to this place from the ends of the earth To taste that shot of love and experience rebirth I can lie on the sand and melt into the turf I sit by on the water’s edge and become one with the surf It’s a way of life it’s not just another place It’s where everything moves at just the right pace Without any needs to get caught up in the race It’s contentment and ease and a certain style and grace So this is the story of where it’s all at Where the awkward geeky kid became a supercool cat Where the Jersey Shore Baby sprang free of his trap It ain’t just an act he’s here and he’s back … and that’s that! --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
5.
There she stands straddling the boardwalk Pushing out from the beach into the sea Like some vaunted marine version of radio city She stands crumbling but she’s calling out to me She’s the crown jewel of the waterfront The echo of former grandeur The haggard old lady of the coastline A glimmer of former splendor Once upon a time she saw royalty come and go Long ago when she hosted many a famous face But now even the derelicts that used to hang here are gone They moved along and never were replaced Her star once shone bright in the sky But like a meteor, she fell It was a downward spiral onto the slagheap And all that’s left now is a hollow shell I walk the terraces soaked with ocean spray Beneath the paint-chipped vaulted ceiling I search around for a way inside Just to get the feeling Just to stand within the cavernous hall To let her spirit surround me And to try once again to make heads or tails Of what’s going on around me. Well I can’t believe that this is happening yet again After we both agreed once that we didn’t want to repeat that end But you had this thing about “growth,” above everything else And at the same time you say I’m thinking only of myself Why don’t you look in the mirror Well we went out west to change our place and change our luck We didn’t last a year there before the disaster struck It was those ‘friendships’ you cultivated outside of us, away from me Well I know how close your kind of ‘friends’ can be Now the picture is so much clearer And all your advisers whisper in your ear That you could be doing so much better than me Your enablers tell you what you want to hear And they show you what you want to see Your sycophants that all surround you With your pronouncements, they’ll all agree And all of the above, they drown you With brown tides of sympathy And you emphatically state “there is no us” You resent the way I push and you’re not even willing to discuss But if I don’t fight for us, what does that make me? Well you stall, blackball, and build your wall With the help of all your ‘friends’ You obfuscate and manipulate All your means to reach your ends You may say that there is no more us I say it isn’t so There always was an us, there is an us And I refuse to let it go! And as I sit inside by the piano onstage Playing my heart out to four thousand empty seats The hidden sounds of concerts and celebrations of better days Embedded in these walls release their heat And set me on fire with a passion that consumes A passion that once existed for you filling up this empty room Bringing some life to light the palpable darkness and gloom Struggling in vain to counteract the words of my inner prophet of doom No more funny places No more famous faces No more days at the races No more steeplechases No more former graces No more love embraces All that’s left is empty spaces And the glory with barely any traces It’s all gone! --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
6.
Well I heard it on the highway like the holy word of G-d It was so loud and clear I had to pull over, I was so awed Well I heard it on the highway and I couldn’t resist the push It was just like a commandment from heaven, like the voice in the burning bush Well shake, rattle, and roll down the Garden State Down Routes 35, 71, and 88 Even if we’ll just run round in circles cursed by fate We’ll capture all the views now ‘cause we may never be here again I heard it on the highway, it was the greatest song in history It had a rhythm and melody all its own but the lyrics, they were a mystery It was the sound of the rock’n’roll heart and it was beating in full blues time It said, Go down to the ocean and make the music of your mind Well I saw it from the highway Risin’ on the horizon like Mt Sinai in flames Like a fiddler on the roof down on the Parkway Singin’ out that tune and calling my name It was handed to me by the seaside White hot and written in stone Full power forward and full speed ahead No stopping now that you’re on your own It was the day I graduated when I came back in touch with the calling It was there where fifteen bands were playing Paying respect to the one who had fallen It was just as the all-star open jam was ending The sound of drums boomed from way up high There were ten bolts of lightning, one for each Word crashing through the mist-choked sky I heard an organ scream through a Leslie But none on Earth ever sounded so great I looked up to heaven, I thought I saw the moon But I knew I was staring clear through the gates I kicked off my shoes, I fell down on my knees I bowed face down into the sand But he didn’t want none of that false formality She just wanted me to reach out my hand Well I heard it on the highway … --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
7.
When I saw that above-mentioned vision, I must have gone blind When I heard it on the highway I nearly lost my mind I was knocked out in the first round Dead before I hit the ground Knocked out in the first round And I left what I once was behind I saw the boardwalk lying empty like an unplowed field I saw the casino’s doors all shut and sealed I was knocked out in the first round When I saw what became of my old town Something got stolen and I couldn’t live it down And it burned like a scar unhealed There was a circle on the floor where the carousel used to be There was G-d-only-knows-what where dad’s hotel used to be There was just dirty water where the bumper boats used to be There were cruisers and dealers where the rollercoaster used to be The ferris wheel used to be The pier of steel used to be The sky ride, the high dive, this town’s appeal used to be I don’t want to be a Used To Be The true believers all come by busload and caravan And it seems like every one of them has got a plan But they’re all knocked out in the first round When they see the disparities that still abound Ready once again to burn it all to the ground They don’t care, just as long as they see their man Everybody holds out hope for some improvement But nobody holds out any hope for any new amusement It’s all knocked out in the first round They bulldozed the Palace down All they saved was the Tillie grin from the silly old clown Now it’s all history but hey, at least there’s movement There are upscale condos where the Monterey used to be There are upscale condos where Net Lane’s used to be There are upscale condos in what the Berkeley used to be There are upscale condos where the St. James used to be There’s upscale where everything we knew used to be There’s upscale and more upscale as far as the eye can see Maybe what’s better is what Used To Be So here I am, still in my position as a rock’n’roll singer A piano player in the place where my soul still stubbornly lingers I wanna make sure my glory days don’t fade away I wanna make sure my glory days are here to stay I wanna make sure my glory days keep on being glory days ‘Cause they’re slipping right through my fingers C-8 meets C-4 and then—implosion Another piece of a broken dream falls into the ocean We’re all knocked out in the first round Dead before we hit the ground Knocked out in the first round Flat out cold still on the way down Knocked out in the first round Fall like bricks but without a sound Knocked out in the first round What I saw when I finally came back to this town Knocked out in the first round So much happened since then but I still can’t live it down Knocked out in the first round Oh … knocked out! --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
8.
Love runs aground A wrenching sound Into the shore like a burning ocean liner Drifting, smoking, ramming into this town What happens to a love that couldn’t get much finer Hellstorm Hellfire Seven days and seven nights just like a bad dream Nobody knows if there will be any survivors Such a senseless end was unforeseen Straight from the wedding They were heading Off to a happy ending But they caught fire out at sea They lost power In the fateful hour Just what went wrong remains a mystery Hellstorm Hellfire The burning hulk beached off the convention hall Destruction meets destruction and the toll rises higher Spectators from the city Come one, come all Is this conflagration The sorry culmination Of a romance everybody said Showed a sea of promise Sha la la It was magic Now it’s tragic Fairy tale love gone become a nightmare Save Our Ship Save Our Survivors Save Our Souls sweet rock’n’roll It was a class act Now it's a sad fact B-movie love affair done gone up in flames Save Our Ship Save Our Survivors Save Our Souls sweet rock’n’roll Love runs aground … --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.
9.
Well our love ran aground when the passion engine locked The sudden jolt caused me to bolt and finally take stock Our house was made of glass and you flung that rock And I was shattered by the crash I moved the token of our love from my finger to my pocket I’d love to take it to the lake and shoot it off like a rocket Or maybe I’ll just take it downtown and hock it After all, I could use the cash I tried walking all over the shards of what we used to be But in my blindness and oblivion I stepped on them in my bare feet My soul in exile, trailing my blood in the street Oh those glass memories cut so deep Remember what must be like ancient history How we’d spin up to the cities in search of music and poetry The little lost sheep poet’s son-in-law would turn his own key From an old tradition into a song From the bottom line to the middle east to the castle by the sea From the funky clubs down the aisle on the way to the canopy This time it was to be for real, it was to forever be And you marched on right along I Love You I Love You I Love You Seven Times Round My Soul went the refrain And for snail’s pace time I couldn’t put it on for fear of withdrawal pain My soul in exile, tried crying but no tears came This time nothing remains Well our love running aground It must have been a spectacular sight to see Considering how it blew up like Independence Day fireworks In front of the whole community And speaking of independence I’m taking my time cherishing my newfound liberty Time and money are mine to spend Any which way now that I’m free I’m doing all the things I couldn’t do with you And I’m doing them with such glee You thought I wouldn’t have the guts But that just shows how well you really knew me You think I’ll just sit here and rhapsodize Till I question my sanity But that won’t happen this time, you see I’m through with the dirge and elegy. Well there would have been a time I’d have loaded up my car with all my past mistakes And like a stunt in a movie I’d stick the accelerator to the floor and disconnect the brakes I’d take her up Edgemont And with a figure-eight spin I’d ditch her in the lake As if somehow all that would Eliminate all the pain and dull all the ache Well this time I think I’ll leave all the garbage by the curbside I’ll set all the flotsam at the waterline Let it get taken by the high tide Then I’ll point my car whichever way she’ll go And hit the road for that long, long ride But without you as the rider by my side I have only my faith as a guide My ship runs adrift when cast off from you With nowhere to land, no direction, little hope of rescue My soul is in exile as long as it’s not one with you … --- ©2022 The Hesh Inc.

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released January 28, 2022

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The Hesh Inc. New Jersey

Songwriter, performer, keyboard player, beach enthusiast, perpetual transplant, aspiring cult figure.

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