Credits
Now and Then was recorded in 2000 and in 2021 & 2023 at Clamsville Productions and Michael Broening Productions in Arizona. The project consisted of using recordings from a variety of sources including recordings from 1998 that were digitally preserved and added to with additional tracks, new recordings in 2021 & 2023 from scratch and recordings that were started by Richard in his home studio. Some of the same musicians are on the 2000 and 2021 recordings. Literally Now and Then.
All songs were written by Richard B. Marx
Producers: Richard B. Marx and John Hererra
Recording engineering by: John Hererra and Michael Broening
Mastering: John Herrera/Clamsville Productions
Vocals and Guitars: Richard B. Marx
Keyboards: Michael Broening
Drums & Percussion: John Herrera
Bass Guitar: Dimitri Sanhas and Melvin Brown
Additional vocals: Diana Lee
Lyric
Ready Willing and Able
Written by: Richard B. Marx
Come and move a little closer, whisper in my ear
Honey you don’t have to lie to me, just tell me what I want to hear
I’m sick and tired of all this small talk, the witty repartee
There’s only one thing left for you to say
Ready Willing and Able, that sweet refrain
Ready Willing and Able, can only mean one thing
Why don’t you make yourself crystal clear, clear as the light of day
Ready Willing and Able is all you got to say
I think I heard what you thought you said, if you know what I mean
You’ve explained yourself perfectly, that’s what’s confusing me
Why don’t you paint me a picture, throw in some charts and graphs
Or maybe you could just give me the facts
Ready Willing and Able, that sweet refrain
Ready Willing and Able can only mean one thing
Why don’t you make yourself crystal clear, clear as the light of day
Ready Willing and Able is all you got to say
Everclear
Written by: Richard B. Marx
Some juke joint dive off of Venice Beach
It’s dark inside so I shuffle my feet up to a bar stool
This Sunday crowd is the perfect blend
A diverse mix from the low rent end of the gene pool
Way in the back someone’s holding court
Disciples gathered ‘round
I bend an ear of indifference
Towards his impassioned sounds
Calls himself Everclear
For the price of a drink, he will lay you bare
This alcoholic savant with his martini stare
Knows your future, your past, acts like he doesn’t care
He’ll ride the mystic wave if you’re still buyin’ the beer
That keeps him Everclear
He never fails, gets inside your head
And your worst fear is to lie in a bed of your own mistakes
A gift from God or a curse from hell
100 proof from his bottomless well, is more than you could take
From somewhere deep in his pickled soul
Dark secrets kept at bay
For every drop he squeezes out
There’s so much he won’t say
For he is Everclear
For the price of a drink, he will lay you bare
This alcoholic savant with his martini stare
Knows your future, your past, acts like he doesn’t care
He’ll ride the mystic wave if you’re still buyin’ the beer
That keeps him Everclear
He is Everclear
Everclear
Hang A Right At Albuquerque
Written by: Richard B. Marx
This work-a-day with no time for play has me up against the wall
The sides keep getting deeper in this rut I’m in
Just when I think there’s no way out that song comes on the radio
You know that one ’bout Mexico and takes me back to places I have been
I’m going to hang a right at Albuquerque
Head down south for some tender mercy
Take the top down ’round El Paso
Gonna habla me some espanol
I’m going to hang a right at Albuquerque
Take it slow no need to hurry
Do some good for this old gringo’s soul
In some border town down in Mexico
Cantina, senorita, enchilada, margarita
Are the only words in Spanish that I know
And that funny look upon my face is just a big old smile
It’s with me all the while
It seems to turn up everywhere I go
I’m going to hang a right at Albuquerque
Head down south for some tender mercy
Take the top down ’round El Paso
Gonna habla me some espanol
I’m going to hang a right at Albuquerque
Take it slow no need to hurry
Do some good for this old gringo’s soul
In some border town down in Mexico
Do some good for this old gringo’s soul
In some border town down in Mexico
This Woman I Know
Written by: Richard B. Marx
This woman I know has the smile like the face of a twelve-year old
Holding hands on a first date picture show
But the innocence of a lady of the night
Asking for the time of day
This woman I know she’s as warm as the sun in the afternoon
Through the window of my favorite room
But she can cut me cold as a dagger that’s been carved from solid ice
This woman I know
This woman I know is more than I deserve
I’d give her my soul and ask nothing in return
Of this woman I know
With her touch she sooths my every nerve as I memorize her every curve
You could take from me all that I have for another night like this
With this woman I know
We shared our lives we shared our bed with the passion of the newlywed
Sometimes our love hangs by a thread, but I’m never letting go
Of this woman I know
This woman I know is more than I deserve
I’d give her my soul and ask nothing in return
Of this woman I know
All the times she pulled me from my madness
Can’t imagine where I’d be today
Whispers to me in the voice of angels
I still love you anyway
This woman I know
This woman I know is more than I deserve
And I’d give her my soul and ask nothing in return
Of this woman I know
This woman I know
This woman I know
Technicolor
Written by: Richard B. Marx
Ever since I was a wild-eyed child, I’ve had this fantasy
That leading man upon the silver screen really should have been me
He always looks so good, knows just what to say
If he gets in a jam, he always gets away
So laissez faire, he lets the chips fall where they may
I want to live my life in Technicolor
Save the world a hundred times a day
Drive fancy cars and sleep with gorgeous lovers
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
Never thought that my celluloid dreams could do me any harm
But lately some of my very close friends have gotten quite alarmed
I quit my job couldn’t see any use in it
Such a bore reality, guess I lost my grip
I don’t make a single move without a script
I want to live my life in Technicolor
Save the world a hundred times a day
Drive fancy cars and sleep with gorgeous lovers
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
Go to exotic places, disguised in different faces
Livin’ life on the run, don’t have to trust no one
I’m always in the money, everyone thinks I’m funny
I found my place in the sun
I want to live my life in Technicolor
Save the world a hundred times a day
Drive fancy cars and sleep with gorgeous lovers
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
Save the world a hundred times a day
Drive fancy cars and sleep with gorgeous lovers
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
In Dolby THX
In Technicolor
Love those special effects
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
A multi-screen complex
In Technicolor
With lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of sex
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
Livin’ my life in Technicolor
Who Shaves The Barber
Written by: Richard B. Marx
I’ve been watching you for a week or two
And you know that I know that you know what I’m here to do
You see I’ve come for you
You love the guns and the drugs, the hours and the pay
An adrenaline junky with your badass outlaw ways
You live for dangerous play
With your delusional karma and your bullet proof dreams
Your samurai politics and felony schemes
You’ve made some enemies
Who shaves the barber, who calls the shots
Someone who can get up close and doesn’t care what it costs
Who shaves the barber at the end of his day
And when the deed is done is there nothing more left to say
A hundred years ago I still called you friend
We both used to run a little wild even way back then
Runnin’ on the wind
But you never slowed down, no you never looked back
You pushed and you pushed ‘til you wound up with blood in your tracks
Deep and bloody tracks
Now someone’s gone and put you on their special list
And it’s me they called in and I’m the very best
Now you can guess the rest
Who shaves the barber, who calls the shots
Someone who can get up close and doesn’t care what it costs
Who shaves the barber at the end of his day
And when the deed is done is there nothing more left to say
I’ve been lookin’ over my shoulder nearly 24 hours a day
There’s a ghost of a man in the mirror, who’s seen his better days
And if I had it to do all over, I would never let it end this way
With a shot in the dark and nothing more left to say
Who shaves the barber, who calls the shots
Someone who can get up close and doesn’t care what it costs
Who shaves the barber at the end of his day
And when the deed is done is there nothing more left to say
Banana Republic
Written by: Richard B. Marx
He says he comes from northern Idaho
Just off the boat from Bogotá
Some special training back in ‘63
Strictly against the law
You say you want it done quietly
With no questions asked at all
If you can pay in cash with unmarked bills
Then he’s the man you want to call
Down in Banana Republic, where rules are subject to change
Just don’t mess with my money and stay one step up on the game
Down in Banana Republic, you keep your back to the wall
Don’t go looking for trouble and watch the dark end of the hall
You say your trade is ending misery
You’re like some minor league god
You feel compassion for the enemy
But not enough to stop
Your world is shapeless shadows everywhere
How can you even find your way
But now it’s all that you know how to do
And they’re so willing to pay
Down in Banana Republic, where rules are subject to change
Just don’t mess with my money and stay one step up on the game
Down in Banana Republic, you keep your back to the wall
Don’t go looking for trouble and watch the dark end of the hall
One day they’ll find you face down in the dirt
Will there be anyone who’ll care
You think if you keep movin’ you’ll be fine
But you ain’t going nowhere
Down in Banana Republic, where rules are subject to change
Just don’t mess with my money and stay one step up on the game
Down in Banana Republic, you keep your back to the wall
Don’t go looking for trouble and watch the dark end of the hall
Banana Republic
Shangri-la
Written by: Richard B. Marx
The old man knows things he’s not telling me
He lives a separate world apart
The lightness of his laughter’s killing me
With lessons for a foolish heart
The old man’s seen things he’s not showing me
He answers to a distant call
I trace his footsteps as he’s leading me
On our way to Shangri-la
Shangri-la, out on that lost horizon
The road is hard, the way is far
Shangri-la, the mist is slowly rising
And shows the way to Shangri-la
I look around, I listen carefully
And wonder why we all agree
To live our lives so full of misery
With so much longing to be free
Shangri-la, out on that lost horizon
The road is hard, the way is far
Shangri-la, the mist is slowly rising
And shows the way to Shangri-la
Shangri-la, out on that lost horizon
And shows the way to Shangri-la
Workin’ Without a Net
Written by: Richard B. Marx
Melinda came from where the corn grows straight and tall
A little worn-out town just south of nowhere at all
She knew she’d never make it through another dreary day
So she packed it up, caught a bus and rolled away
Headed east wound up in New York City
Didn’t know a soul but she took no pity
She faces each and every day without fear or regret
Now she’s workin’, Workin’ Without a Net
Marcos lives in East LA where guns they grow on trees
The shots can come from anywhere, like some deadly random breeze
He swore he’d raise his family there, wasn’t ’bout to move away
Said blood is blood at any price he’s gonna stay
He would get respect where there wasn’t any
With an open hand against so many
He faces each and every day without fear or regret
Now he’s workin’, Workin’ Without a Net
As you’re breathin’ your last breath, the reaper at your door
Starin’ down that tunnel through which every soul must pour
Will you face towards the light, and with open arms be met
Now you’re workin’, Workin’ Without a Net
Yes you’re workin’, Workin’ Without a Net
Workin’, Workin’ Without a Net
Livin’ With The Blues
Written by: Richard B. Marx
I guess he just showed up one day, I can’t remember when
Before I knew what happened, he just moved right in
Thought he was only passing through, stay for a day or two
But now I know how wrong I was, I’m living with the blues
Livin’, Living with the blues
I tried to throw the sucker out, the guy is just bad news
I’m Livin’, Living with the blues
Looks like the blues is here to stay, I’m livin’ with the blues
The blues he likes to sleep in late, up by one or two
Helps himself to all my cake, drinks up all my booze
No money can’t afford no rent, he’s wearing’ my best shoes
But then I guess that’s what you get when you’re Livin’ with the blues
Livin’, Living with the blues
I tried to throw the sucker out, the guy is just bad news
I’m Livin’, Living with the blues
Looks like the blues is here to stay, I’m livin’ with the blues
The Blues is like a shadow that I can never shake
I never should have let him in that was my first mistake
I’m Livin’, Living with the blues
Looks like the blues is here to stay, I’m livin’ livin’ with the blues
Livin’, Living with the blues
I tried to throw the sucker out, the guy is just bad news
I’m Livin’, Living with the blues
Looks like the blues is here to stay, I’m livin’ livin’ with the blues
Domesticated Man
Written by: Richard B. Marx
Sometimes I get restless just plain bored with this day today
And it gets me to thinking I could live my life some other way
I start dreaming and scheming my imagination runs away with me
Off to some very foreign country foreign far as the eye can see
But then I look into your eyes I’m staring right at the promised land
Because when it comes down to it, I’m your domesticated man
Domesticated man take out your trash and make your breakfast for you Domesticated man I’m something else out on the barbecue
Domesticated man I don’t expect no one to understand
But if there’s one thing for certain I’m your domesticated man
I’d like to beat the heat rub noses with the Eskimos
Maybe moved Tahiti and paint portraits with my big toes
Open the laundry in Cairo I hear the people there are very very clean
Or teach the mambo in Morocco that would really be making the scene
But it ain’t ever going to happen just not part of the natural plan
Because when it comes down to it, I’m your domesticated man
Domesticated man take out your trash and make your breakfast for you Domesticated man I’m something else out on the barbecue
Domesticated man I don’t expect no one to understand
But if there’s one thing for certain I’m your domesticated man
Open up a little cappuccino stand in Bogota
We could stay up all night probably never have to sleep at all
But it ain’t ever going to happen just not part of the natural plan
Because when it comes down to it honey, I’m your domesticated man
Domesticated man take out your trash and make your breakfast for you Domesticated man I’m something else out on the barbecue
Domesticated man I don’t expect no one to understand
But if there’s one thing for certain I’m your domesticated man
Because when it comes down to it honey, I’m your domesticated man