Worldwide Favourites 

 Discography

Adam Again ~ Worldwide Favourits

Worldwide (from Dig)
There is a reason
And I don't know what it is
A bloody season
Well, I've heard that these things happen
Worldwide
Worldwide

What about Headman Shabalala?
Does anybody care about justice?
Three billion people in the world
And his spirit weeps for all of us
Worldwide

It's All Right (from Perfecta)
Was it an Indian gift?
It should be easy to remember
Something easy to remember
It's all right
It's all right
It should be easy to remember
Some things are easy to
Remember
It should be easy to remember
Some things are easy to
Remember

Hide Away (from Homeboys)
Do you hide away because I just won't feel you?
Darlin' I'm touching you now
I just don't know how to be near you
Baby, come close

What is this?
A season of bliss, betrayal and sorrow
Darlin' I'm holding on tight
Save us tonight, love me tomorrow
Angel, don't hide

Bad News on the Radio (from Homeboys)
Took a walk at midnight
'Cause all day long I've had to lay low
But the keys are on the table
And if you want to leave, you just say so
Got to keep the lights off
Got to keep me in the dark with my eyes closed
Maybe a dream can set me free
Spotlight on the highway
Bad news on the radio

I know you tried to warn me
That we should take what we had
Left and hit the
door
But when homeboy tried to burn me
I had to give him what he asked for
Now I watch you sleeping, Don't wake up and say
goodbye
There's no more
As the sirens arrive
Spotlight on the driveway
Bad news on the radio

Strobe (from Perfecta)
I heard you crawlin' up my front lawn
Flipped the switch and you were gone
I feel better when I turn it on
Get real simple and make a song

Strobe
I want to tell you
Ooh ooh ooh...

Eyes Wide Open (from Ten Songs)
Today if I called you
Will you call me your own
Well you may not recognize me
The way that I've grown

Well, I've been through a maze of doubt
A hundred miles of life without you
Here's my shadow on your door
I don't know what I'm waiting for
I've got my eyes wide open
I'm coming back
I'm coming back with my eyes wide open

I didn't want to play
But you had to keep score
I've turned a big table
And left the cards on the floor

Well, I've been through a maze of doubt
A thousand miles of life without you
Here's my shadow on your door
I don't know what I'm waiting for
I've got my eyes wide open
I'm coming back
I'm coming back to you with my eyes wide open

Today if I called you
Would you tell me I'm wrong
With the way I've come to believe
Will I ever belong

Well I've been through a maze of doubt
A million miles of life without you
Here's my shadow on your door
I don't know what I'm waiting for
I've got my eyes wide open
I'm coming back
I'm coming back to you with my eyes wide open

Now I've seen
I've realized
That I've seen
I've realized

Dig (from Dig)
I had a big idea
I had a lazy eye
I broke the sacred seal
I told a crazy lie
I've had my conscience bent
I've had my patience tried
I've been down in the desert and
Up by the riverside

Consult the cards to measure mine
The earth is hard, but the treasure fine
To the sea, I'll crawl on my knees
At the sea, I'll wait on my knees

Stone (from Perfecta)
There's a lot for me to say
About a hundred ways
For me to wrap my words around your face
But it wont do any good
I never really could
Convince you that when I said to leave
I meant "please stay"
There I've said it now
To late
It's late, I've got to get up early
I'm late, I've got to get some sleep, baby
It seems crazy to me, maybe
I'd like to turn to stone tonight
And try to forget that day
That I chased you away, baby
Will you be coming home tonight

It's my history   
This song's not about me at all
Just trying to conjure up some fantasy  
Do you believe me now 
This late
To late, I've to get up early  
Hey...
It's me
It's me
Are you coming home

Homeboys (from Homeboys)
In the summertime on the street where I grew up
There were black guys and white boys and Mexicans
And we'd love to make a football game, light post to light post
"Here comes another car, get out of the way again"
We'd never miss a day, and hardly missed a night
Of talking about each other's sisters under the streetlight

Didn't care about the world
Didn't matter about nobody but the homeboys
The tiny and the strong
Everybody knows that they belong with the homeboys

The Tenth Song (from Ten Songs)
When I remember you
I remember that your body was broken
I remember that your blood was spilt
I remember that you didn't have to do it

Deep (from Dig)
My days of wishful thinking
Soldiers of sorrow sinking
Words dance, beginning riddle
And in the end, and in the middle
Deep will I dig, I

Useless and empty...., is it?
World stupid, loveless limits
With immune deficient fathers
Sick sons and dying daughters
Deep will I dig, I

You Can Fall In Love (from In a New World of Time)
All your life, you've waited to know
Something real, or someone who would show you
Something your heart could feel
People let you down, love never true

On the cross the man of your dreams
Dies in shame, in love with us all
Willing to take the blame
Dying to give
Love ever true

All You Lucky People (from Perfecta)
Will give me a minute?
And then show me an hour more?
Can you find something in it that I can't ignore? 
I'm after it, I'm after it and you'll know
I keep thinkin' about all you lucky people
Comin' by to say hello
Hello (that's all now, that's all now)

So then wait for a minute  
I wont ask for a second more 
We could find something in it
Worth fighting for  
I'm after it, I'm after it and I know  
I keep lookin' at all you lucky people
Stoppin' by to say hello    
Hello, hello, hello
I'm the same, you're the same
I'm the same, you're the same
I've got nothin', I've got nothin'  
I've got nothin', but time now (etc.)

Sleepwalk (from the Dig sessions)
I wanted something
I wanted something big
It was something
It was something big
I wanted something
I wanted something big
It was something
It was something big

I was down
I looked around
I looked up
I got up
Wanted in
I begged in
I said please, please I need to get on
I need to get it
I need to need what the sick find as healing
Look for me in this, in this

I wanted something
I wanted something big
It was something
It was something big
I wanted something
I wanted something big
It was something
It was something big

Where am I
What am I
Is it I
Am I in
Am I in
Wanted in
Wanted in
I said nothing to promote this dream
I found something
But I could not lean to the needs, all the needs
Of the shy, dry seed
What wish
Witness would cry and bleed

I wanted something
I wanted something big
It was something
It was something big
I wanted something
I wanted something big
It was something
It was something big...

River On Fire (from Dig)
What would you say if you knew what I was thinking?
Maybe you do but you know not to dig too deep
What if I knew what you needed for sure?
I've seen in your eyes you need more, much more

I know a lot about the history of Cleveland, Ohio
Disasters that have happened there
Like the Cuyahoga river on fire

Relapse (from Perfecta)
You with your headaches
Me with my golden voice
I meant it all
I meant it all
The same, the same...
I'm working on a riddle 
I pray that God can keep this secret safe another day
So I can find some time

Believe me, believe me, believe me
I'm fine
Believe me, believe me, believe me
I'm fine

I've seen a father's grief
I've seen a crazy drunk 
I've taken some  
And I'm waking up
The same, the same...
I'm leaning on forever  
God knows I want to have it in my sight and I can't say
Goodbye, I want to try  

Believe me, believe me, believe me
I'm fine
Believe me, believe me, believe me
I'm fine

Sneaking up again, again, the end
I thought that I was better
Sneaking up again, again, the end
I thought that I was better
Sneaking up again, again, the end
I thought that I was better

You and your virtue
Me and my silver tongue
I'll let it out  
I'll talk about  
The pain, the pain.....
Some mystery perfecta
These puzzles try to fool the fools and drive the genius mad
It isn't safe to come home
It isn't safe to pick me up  

Believe me, believe me, believe me
I'm fine
Believe me, believe me, believe me
I'm fine

1. When we were approached about putting together a collection of hits, this was the only one we could come up with. Other than that, we've just tried to collect together some songs that have been in some way special to us over the 13 (or so) years that we've been playing together. I'm often asked about the Headman Shabalala line in the 3rd verse. He was a singer in Ladysmith Black Mambazo who was murdered while we were working on the Dig record, on which this song originally appeared.

2. This is from Perfecta, which was, for the most part, a big jam session with almost all the songs being written in the studio. We would get together every couple of months, set up and see what would happen. In some ways it was a mess. We ended up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 22 tracks without any lyrics, and it took around 3 years to finish the record. It was great writing songs that way.

3. This is one of my favorites.

4. A true crime story from our 3rd album, Homeboys, which was a theme record of sorts about living (as we all were) in a pretty rough area of Southern California. This song is built around an insane drum beat from Jon, who had just joined the band. He has been an integral part of everything we have done since. Doug Webb played tenor sax. He paid us our best compliment ever. On a break during his first rehearsal with us, I asked him what Coltrane's music was like, and he looked at us and said, "Like this."

5. This song has only one chord. We meant to go back and make up a real bass part, but we forgot.

6. An early rave-up. Rhodes took me about two days.

7. The Dig album came out perfectly for the most part. All the songs ended up just how we wanted them, and I was happy with all my lyrics. Riki's harmonies on this title track are beautiful (as usual).

8. One of our best songwriting moments. We all worked on the music together, and although it took me around two years to finish the lyrics, they came out just right. I remember the moment when we were trying to figure out how to get from the verse to the chorus, and Paul yelled out F minor, which, of course, was exactly it.

9. Another city story. This one's all about the street where Paul and I grew up. Jerry G (of the last verse), had a little brother when he died. The little brother was too young to have truly known Jerry. Not too long ago, I was on my old street and I offered Jerry's brother a ride. He's a gang banger now, has spent a lot of time locked up, and his other brother was also murdered. He wanted to know all about Jerry, and I told him all I could before dropping him off downtown.

10. The big finish of our 2nd album. Kind of a strange one. I remember that this song was being mixed in one studio while another song was being mixed in a different studio. I was running back and forth.

11. Greg had started a band of his own after Homeboys, and was writing some good songs for them. When it came time for Adam Again to get ready to record, we all holed up in a rehearsal studio for a couple weeks and wrote and rehearsed the songs that would make up Dig. About half of the tunes came from riffs Greg had been using in his songs for his own band. In a way, our musical direction followed after what he had been doing by himself; this song in particular.

12. From our first album. I think we were trying to copy a Fela Kuti record.

13. Recorded live, with only the vocals overdubbed. We only used one mic on the drums.

14. A once-abandoned experiment from the Dig sessions where we messed around with turntables and a DJ (Cartoon from Freedom of Soul). It appeared only on a Brainstorm compilation.

15. Our finest song. I believe that it's one of the saddest songs ever.

16. A legend in our own minds epic from Perfecta. I decided to include it on this collection at the last minute. I honestly don't know why. I hadn't even listened to it for years. It seems to sum up something which I reserve the right to figure out later. Maybe we just like it. As for you... thanks for listening all these years. Thank you for getting it, even when we weren't sure.

Love, Gene

top