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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The CD version of Paul Mark's "Gravity" collection. Deluxe package and liner notes, booklet.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Gravity via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $14 USD

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  • Digital Album
    Streaming + Download

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

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    "...Soundtracks just waiting for films...["Gravity"] will bring nothing less than Oscar-worthy characters and scenarios to your gratefully-ignited imagination...Utterly original..."Gravity" is a musical tent revival..."
    - Greg Victor, Parcbench.live
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    "...An American music jamboree…Mark dazzles the listener with both his musical prowess and scintillating lyrics…Mark’s piano descends back and forth, creating a vibe of cheery demolition… Oh, so cool."
    - Cassandra King, MusicExistence
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    Paul Mark's 11th studio album.
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    ... more
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

    You own this

     

1.
(Words/music by P.Mark) Have you heard? Gravity is failing It's in the papers…Don't act so surprised You think we're all somehow bound to this earth? Well that's just one of those everyday lies It's a fact, gravity is failing Look about…You can't miss the signs Observe how the fallen now rise with ease! And how ladders are so much easier to climb Everybody! Hold fast Everybody! Hold on here Tie your desk, your dog, your child, to a tree Else rue the day when they all levitate and disappear… Waltz on strangers To the music of the spheres Sway towards the heavens Which way is that from here? All that's new under the sun Are ghosts in a hall of mirrors We live, die, then revive And waltz the Vale of Tears It's common knowledge: gravity is failing It's an idea whose time has arrived Birds flail about like drunks Elephants struggle with their trunks And weighty things float like feathers towards the sky Everybody! Hold fast Everybody! Hold on here You're convinced your feet are well-grounded But once aloft you and your kin will have other ideas… Chorus The matter is settled, Gravity is failing You'd be a fool to say it's a lie Schoolboys deny it But the shrewd, we all buy it! Oh, don't let science fool you this time… Chorus
2.
Forever 04:05 video
(Words/music by P.Mark) Cancel the races and call in the favors Send regrets to any friends left in town Toss the tin trophies with the tired suitcases At the terminal lost and found Forever is the last train leaving the station It's an orphan's chorus in a boxcar lullaby Cross my heart and hope to keep One golden promise before we sleep Forever is easy after so much rain Forever is an easy lie Now it's an abandoned platform The blind conductor thumbs his bible Leave too late and you've lost the crowd Better late than never, broken things nailed back together I'll grant your wishes Right out loud Chorus
3.
(Words/music by P.Mark) I spin – I spin when you grin I’m spinning inside – When you flash that smile I went dizzy, I won't deny When I first got a load of your style I'm twirling inside like a carnival ride Whenever you radiate that smile I'm over the moon – When you cross the room I'm a little bit high – When you sit nearby And I wonder what might happen If you just once called me “dear” 'Cuz I spin – I spin when you grin I went dizzy, I won't deny When I first got a load of your style Heat’s circulating, a storm’s percolating Whenever you’re radiating that smile My heart hits the floor – When you head for the door Oh there must be a way – Just to get you to stay And I wonder what might happen If you just once called me “dear” 'Cuz I spin – I spin when you grin There's no limit to What your smile can do Yeah I spin – I spin when you grin
4.
(Words/music by P.Mark) Your battered bones say it's time to switch off the light Promoters claim you owe `em one more fight The spirit is willing, but you can't left hook a lie Or dodge that jackhammer jab on Friday night The boneyard awaits the undercard saints Who too long fought the good fight You slip the left, but look out here comes the right Lord keep me, keep me from the next fight You shoot for the top Till ya finally hit bottom You seek out your better angels Only to find you got nothing in common Her parting words are sounding like good advice She said ya can't always count on people being nice It’s a luxury when people start calling you crazy When truth be told you're just acting out, or lazy I just let her go, doncha know, we could not last one more night Just 'cuz you win it don't mean you're right Lord keep me, keep me from the next fight You take one more blow, for pride or dough Gotta keep small victories in sight You slip the left, but look out here comes the right Lord keep me, keep me from the next fight
5.
Coronation 01:14
(Music by P.Mark)
6.
(Words/music by P.Mark) Blustering down the boulevard in a fact-free cloud High-horse red carpet Tossing nickels to the crowd Check it mister The whole planet's lookin' at me I'm a daddy-made millionaire On a catch and kill spree Tin-pot titan spouting snake-oil repartee Look out mister I'm a con man VIP Flimflam fingers four-flushing on the fly It’s the art of the swindle and the craft of denial Mirrors all around me, and mister I like what I see My kids say they all love me but they lie worse than me Gold medal grifter with a bankruptcy crown I'd mortgage my own mother if she wasn't in the ground Check your wallet, son I'm a con man VIP Bridge The devil's directing traffic he won't let you forget Every mile towards heaven runs up a mountain of debt Buckle up sucker, this ride's all about me I'll set ya free Hey I'm driving I'm a con man VIP
7.
(Words/music by P.Mark) Closing time in a bar downtown Me and the boys from the mine Were still hanging around Drinking the fog of our little town away A silhouette crossed the room Through the dark and din He saw me just as I saw him Then a light went on The friend gone astray Been a decade or more since we shook hands He said he's in town for the night, then he's off again His clothes showed Just how far a man can get away We talked small talk about the wife and kids Not a word about history or the strange things he did How he’d come to be My friend gone astray He caught my arm the parking lot Shook his head and said how sorry he was He said, “There were so many times I wanted to help you out some way” He said, “If it ain't too late maybe I could lend a hand To get you back on track, man I'm still your man I'd do anything For my friend gone astray” I hear my wife rustling in the kitchen I'm at the mirror for the morning shave She's packing up lunches It's just one more school day How do your eyes lose sight of something once so dear? When did that diamond in your eye Just disappear? You just wake up and you’re staring back At the friend gone astray
8.
(Words/music by P.Mark) They got E-ZPass in heaven, you just fly right through the gates The only question Peter asks is, “How come boy you're late?” All the men there carry golf clubs, poker chips and power tools The women sport diamond earrings and smart Italian shoes So I found god's corner office And tugged on upon his hem I asked how come heaven's chock full of stuff Thought I'd never see again? He said… 'Cuz you can take it with you when you go You ask me why they do it, I sure as hell don't know They drag up to high heaven all that garbage from below ‘Cuz you can, yes you can, take it with you when you go Now you can take it with you when you go Now on every wall in heaven there's an oversized TV Everybody wears a Rolex and owns beachfront property God took me by the halo and walked me round the grounds I could tell he wasn't too happy about All the sport trucks driving 'round God said, “For a while I took the high road And all earthly goods were banned But then admissions fell right off the charts So we had to rethink the plan Chorus So how’s about those heavenly virgins I thought I's supposed to meet? God said, “That's just a rumor, son – we could never afford their fees” God looked over the heavenly treasures, and every item was store-bought He said, “If this is paradise, son, then I'm an astronaut” Then he grabbed a large white suitcase Floated off and waved his hand He said, “I'm off to get in on the ground floor Of a start-up promised land “Because you can take it with you when you go My old ideas of heaven just won't fly round here no more I once thought I'd stoop to help 'em Now I just wanna blow Cuz you can, yes you can, take it with you when you go And I can, and I will, take it with me when I go” Then a choir of angels chimed in… Chorus
9.
OTB 02:05
(Words/music by P.Mark) "If like you said lady your dad was reed man in the Broadway pits for all those years Then a trip across the divide was just one more sleepwalk after his morning breakfast Anyway there he was, patch pockets, horned rims, crushed fedora We spotted him pretty easy He wasn't lost, he wasn't fussing, he wasn't bothering nobody “Just one more bird in a room of slow travelers Holding on tight to a lottery ticket, three twenties and a racing form ‘Ya know mister we been searching North Jersey all afternoon for you’ He just stared silent up at the big board, minding the late handicaps “A lone heart will rise to meet the strongest river When tomorrows are all looking like today He must've caught the Decamp line And crossed the Hudson to the city He wasn't alone, looked like he's right at home Right there on 9th Avenue Lincoln Tunnel OTB”
10.
(Words/music by Graham Gouldman) Sick at heart and lonely Deep in dark despair Wondering one thought only Where is she tell me where And if she says to you She don't love me Just give her my message Tell her of my plea And I know That if she had me back again Well I would never make her sad I've gotta heart full of soul She's been gone such a long time Longer than I can bear But if she says she wants me Tell her that I'll be there And if she says to you She don't love me Just give her my message Tell her of my plea
11.
(Words/music by P.Mark) We were supposed to meet this morning I was gonna take you on a cruise Now I'm alone on a slow boat Got nothing better to do You left me all by myself Missing you and your fine self I'm so tired of waiting round for you Last Sunday was gonna be special We's supposed to meet by the merry-go-round Wound up just me on a park bench Watching the sun go down Chorus Every morning down on the corner That bus never seems to arrive At night sleep never stops at my bedside Just like you, nothing's showing up on time A table for two round the corner You said you'd be a little late Ended up just me and Moe the bartender Closing up the place Chorus Bridge Now here I am on that slow boat Making new plans (for us) to get away Arm in arm, you'll be right there with me Gonna be different than today Chorus
12.
(Words/music by P.Mark) The cruelest month is December Never mind what ole' Tom wrote For an all-night mail sorter Down at the P.O. Keep the freight running, and the lines humming Tie them bags up with good cheer Yule greetings off to someplace A long ways from here Sleet, snow and zip codes, bulk mail, parcel post Holidays haunted by Ben Franklin's ghost Sanitation truck snowplows Push the memories from the street With my once-winter's romance That failed New Year's Eve It’s another overtime Sunday It's an 18-hour shift And a trick knee that blew out On a Black Friday's lift And that renaissance-stamp Jesus It’s a million mercies that are just passing through We'll drink in the new year Once this blizzard blows through Sleet, snow and zip codes, bulk mail, parcel post Holidays haunted by Ben Franklin's ghost And the sanitation truck snowplows Toss the memories from the street With my once-winter's romance That failed New Year's Eve

about

"Gravity", Paul Mark's 11th commercially-released album, picks up on the genre-expanding sounds of his critically-praised "Stowaways" CD and sends them into a new creative orbit. Rolling from barroom singalongs to sweeping ballads then detouring into back alley blues rock, "Gravity" is a relentless shake-up of Americana music sounds that are impeccably coupled with Mark's trademark, head-spinning lyrics. Few songwriters can match his unconventional connections and sharp wordplay. And his multi-instrumental mastery and production chops here once again underscore his reputation as a musician's musician.

"Gravity" is a testament to Mark's clear belief that it's always the song that comes first. And here the songs are unified around themes of loss and societal dismay. Steady at the core is Mark's ironic heart and his irrepressible humor. The levity slips in at first almost unnoticed, then as a witty reinforcement of the romantic, world-gone-mad absurdity of it all.

While he began as a saloon blues guitarist and snark-joy composer of roots rock verbal gems, Mark's musical direction continues to expand to include extraordinarily delicate orchestrations with more than a nod towards classic pop mannerisms. On "Gravity" Mark works with a string section on several tracks, the tonal palette veering into cinematic pop textures from the 1950s. And then just to keep the floor tipping under your ankles he launches into a country music hoot that rollicks with Nashville otherworldly, wordy wisdom. Then into a Hammond B3 solo that tears into today's political hackdom with crackling Memphis-blues overdrive abandon.

Mark shares with his songwriting mentors (touch points include Dylan, Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, John Prine) that ineffable delivery of the listener into a momentary pause to consider, then reassess. To see the world just a bit differently. To tear up, then rage, at the predicament of a world defying gravity and drifting away. And then to smile.

credits

released June 5, 2020

Produced by Paul Mark
Mastered by Bruce Barielle, New Orleans LA
©Last Warning Music/Radiation Records Inc.
All tracks BMI
Arranged/recorded/mixed by P.Mark in NYC

Christian Howes, Eli Bishop, Greg Byer - Strings
Tess Primack, Connie Laws - Background vocals
P.Mark - Vocals, piano, bass, guitar, organ, xylophone, drums, accordion

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Paul Mark & The Van Dorens New York, New York

Triple-threat songwriter-musician-producer Paul Mark has been mystifying critics and barflies for decades. With a striking lyrical edge and an encyclopedic facility with American roots music, NYC-based Paul Mark has built a top-drawer original song catalog that tugs on the ears of the literary as well as the liquidated. Mark is principal owner of Radiation Records. ... more

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