BEAUTY KILLS ME (recording)

Beauty Kills Me is a recording of 12 contemporary art songs, including 2 by Kelly, and 7 written in collaboration with singer and songwriter Carol Lipnik, an aria by Monteverdi, a James Bond theme song, and music by French singer songwriter Charles Aznavour. At the heart of these songs are musings on the paintings of Caravaggio, trips to riveting dreamscapes and dazzling nightmares, and amorous forays through provocative terrain. Including Sung in multiple octaves and vocal styles, Beauty Kills Me is released by Strange Troubadours, and is available on CD Baby Music Store, Amazon, and iTunes/Apple Music Store.

John Kelly – vocals, guitar
Carol Lipnik – additional vocals
John Di Pinto – arrangements, piano, accordion, flute
Nioka Workman – cello
Justin Smith – violin

Recorded and mastered by Dave Cook at Area 52 Studios, Saugerties, NY
Additional recording at the Bunker Studio, NY, and Lofish Recording Studios, NY
This recording was funded in part by a USA Artists Gracie Fellowship, a Sundance Institute Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship, the 2wice Arts Foundation, and The Ethyl Eichelberger Award.

BUY:
CD Baby Music Store
iTunes / Apple Music Store
Amazon

BEAUTY KILLS ME (Carol Lipnik / John Kelly)

CUPID SONG (Carol Lipnik / John Kelly)

PROFIT BLUES (John Kelly)

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (John Barry / Leslie Bricusse)

MOTORINO DUDES (Carol Lipnik / John Kelly)

OBLIVION SOAVE (Claudio Monteverdi, from L’incoronazione di Poppea)

THE DAZZLING DARKNESS (Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly)

OUT OF BODY (Carol Lipnik / John Kelly)

ALL THAT’S LEFT (Carol Lipnik / John Kelly)

CARA VIAGGIO (Carol Lipnik / John Kelly)

THE ESCAPE ARTIST (John Kelly)

WHAT MAKES A MAN A MAN (Charles Aznavour)

SONG LYRICS

BEAUTY KILLS ME Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly

Beauty kills me, always did
Light from your face plays on my lid
Blinking kind, blinking shy
Thinking wild, thinking why

Beauty finds me, never knew
Quite what to do with beauty true
When all the world competes for you
The accident of me turns blue

Beauty slays me, then I sink
This complexity makes my knees weak
My head goes down to find what’s true
I close my eyes and savor you

Beauty holds me, I release
Beauty loves me, I increase
Beauty likes my artful thrust
Beauty leaves me, I adjust

CUPID SONG Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly

Oh, my love
My timely aim is so shaky
And I’m afraid to miss my mark
And scare you off – and that alarms me

Though I fear – a pattern here
Could it be from scars – or indecision
Hey, if it don’t work out
What’s love will be love – what’s friendly will remain

If I’m brave enough
And tough enough
And drunk enough
Can I drink enough of the MooooooN

Oh, my love
I’m not insane – I am not flaky
Just stuck by the surprise
As I surmise – I’m up the wrong tree

Though I fear – some pattern here
Are you from Mars – or just a prick-tease
Hey, if it don’t work out
What’s love will be love – what’s friendly may remain

If I’m Brave enough
And Slave enough
And God enough
And Odd enough
And Man Enough
And Fan Enough
And Cool Enough
And Fool Enough
Am I Chill Enough
Am I Still Enough
Am I Plain Enough
Am I Sane Enough
Am I This Enough
Am I That Enough
Am I drunk enough
Have I drunk enough of the MooooooN

Oh, my love
My timely aim is so shaky

PROFIT BLUES Music & Lyrics by John Kelly

So what about the blues
Ain’t I got blues
Payin’ my dues
I got some blues
Payin’ my dues

I need a job
I ain’t no slob
May have to rob
I ain’t no slob
I need a job

But I got a job
It just don’t pay
Work every day
Don’t always pay
Work every day

And there’s the rub
Stay in my tub
My naked hub
Stay in my tub
There’s the rub

So what about my blues
Stay in my shoes
Walk through the news
Find stuff to do
Make somethin’ new

da a da a da a da da
da a da a da a da da
da a da a da da da da da

MOTORINO DUDES Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly

The screeching blur tears
Through city traffic in a knot
The racing heart reels
Born to show us what they got

Past the gaze of ancient tombs
Weaving through the crooked streets
Roman gods in bumpy fleets
Speed the Motorino Dudes

Starts soft
Gets loud
Reverberates
And disappears

Out of nowhere
Then they’re gone
Accelerate
To what they near

Round the fountain through the gates
Umbrella trees that over-drape
Buffing cobblestone balloons
Speed the Motorino Dudes

Left at a stop sign, right through an exit
Brush an embankment, shift the endowment
Rev the addiction, love the momentum
Menacing the city, Roman Motorino Dudes

Starts soft
Gets loud
Reverberates
And disappears

Out of nowhere
Then they’re gone
Accelerate
To what they near

THE DAZZLING DARKNESS Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly

Joni says the dazzling darkness restores
I say nights the time I abhor
When demons fly – eruptions fry
The sentries have left open the door
The centuries have left open the door

Reckless dreams are a mean-headed crime
Lost control in a socket of time
When I dig down deep I lose good sleep
Till I fade stupor-numb from the wine
Still I hear her voice say – just you try
Remember – the night doesn’t lie

You just turn out the light
And surrender the fight – that’s right
To hear what the night has to say

The past goes out to pasture
I give-in to overdue sleep
Forget to remember my will
I slobber on my pillow
And the dazzling darkness restores
As carnivorous nurses fly

OUT OF BODY Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly

My past fades – Distress retreats
Points of regret – Point to reprieve

Still as a rock – My body sprawls
As skin and spine – Begin their call

To come apart – And slip away
To foreign goals – They will not stay

I’m out of body – And of two minds
One stays below – The undersigned

And one goes north – Expose a rift
As one stays south – Remains adrift

I am released – From spine and skin
Watch from above – Unshackled twin

High and clear – Glued to the wall
Your stratosphere – I do not fall

I am the watcher – The finest guide
I’ve got your number – You cannot hide

And I see – Earthbound me
All gnarly need – And sprouted seed

Not just some body – In a bed
Earthbound is – The same as lead
Consider space – Where we collide

I wait inside – Your crazy shell
To be released – To cast my spell

Not just somebody – In a bed
Earthbound is – The same as led
Consider space – Where we collide

ALL THAT’S LEFT Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly

A madman stands on the end of a pier
Someone shouts I LOVE YOU
Another cries I LOVE YOU TOO
As boats glide by
Tugs – slips – and ferries

Submerged in a book some beauty sits
A yellow marker highlights
An Asian man pulls in three poles
No catch today
Just lots of end of summer

This, my only summer – my only summer
This summer
No fishing boats, no bodysurfs
Finally get to soak – in all that’s left

This beauty leaves – breathless and lush
Gorgeously primed for journey
So many heads turn
We dare the burn
How beauty rules – our summer fares

This, my only summer – my only summer
This summer
No fishing boats, nobody surfs
Finally get to soak in – all that’s left

CARA VIAGGIO Music by Carol Lipnik / Lyrics by John Kelly

He enters a room – for model pose three
He’ll access the wound – and paint what he sees
I see

He’ll single source light – before he begins
To draw on the life – to shadow the skin
Skin

He wants to seduce
He needs to offend
He craves to give form
And he longs to lose control

To know when to stop – move on to the next
The residues build – as the colors blend
Blend

Yeah, how can it be – that a tear-painted eye
Can make you weep – from wet to dry
Try

I want to seduce
I need to offend
I crave to give form
And I long to lose control

The layers that lurk – below painted skin
They matter much more – that the renegade spin
Win

We want to seduce
We need to offend
We crave to give form
And we long to lose control

THE ESCAPE ARTIST Music & Lyrics by John Kelly

I pour my heart out on some stage
I duck bright in crowded rooms
Consider choices I have made
Then get to work and play the fool

I skim the grounds, caress the beau
I hear a sound, I see a tree
I overload, don’t always know
Why I stay, or when to flee

I move from one stage to the next
Peals of laughter leak from the wings
The sounds of people living
A type of life that eludes me

I go outside, I take a walk
To recharge and to re-believe
When I hear so much shallow talk
Do I stuff my ears or shoot the breeze

Could I escape these city islands
Penetrate the water walls
Fascinated, saturated
By only what’s black and white and gold

Then I hear the jaded rant
The evil twin is spinning dread
He can’t bear the present tense
But I won’t be so easily led

Friends and foes and sidetracking woes
Ancient dares and new complaints
Creative clutter, good and bad
That is the fare, not the restraints

Blessing or curse, which is worse
Some feed the soul and some the purse
However I may try to fit
The hunger stays, my gut is ripped

What sort of soul can understand
Or withstand this high-contrast life
I procrastinate, I self-medicate
I house dance with my shirt stripped off

Miss Martha Graham she said some words
‘Bout unique voices never being heard
So lighten up, you stingy bard
What’s soft is soft, what’s hard stays hard

John Kelly Performance

BEAUTY KILLS ME (recording)