the sophomore album
woke up famous
OUT NOW
Caflisch is a word guy in the best tradition (a little closer to the spirit of Loudon Wainwright III than Leonard Cohen), while musically he would comfortably fit in just as easily with early Seventies singer-songwriters as late Seventies punk pop.
Kevin Avery
author, Everything is an Afterthought:
The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson
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Woke Up Famous | Vinyl
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Past SHOWS
September 27 I Aster Cafe I Minneapolis, MN
September 13 I Palmer's Bar I Minneapolis, MN
August 14, 2024 I 331 Club I Minneapolis, MN
July 12, 2024 I Barely Brothers Records I St. Paul, MN
July 10, 2024 I Hyland Hill Ski Resort I Bloomington, MN (Matt Duo Show w/ Mike Crabtree)
July 4, 2024 | Volume One's 'Sound Likes Summer' Concert Series | Phoenix Park, Eau Claire, WI
June 22, 2024 I Silver Dome Ballroom I Neillsville, WI (Matt Solo Show)
June 16, 2024 I Stone Arch Bridge Fest I Minneapolis, MN
May 18, 2024 | Schooner Tavern | Minneapolis, MN
May 4, 2024 | Dusty’s Bar | Minneapolis, MN
March 22, 2024 | Mousetrap Tavern | Eau Claire, WI
March 21, 2024 | White Squirrel Bar | St. Paul, MN
February 29, 2024 | Happy Hour Listening Party | White Squirrel Bar | St. Paul, MN
February 10, 2024 | Barely Brothers Records | St. Paul, MN
November 25, 2023 | 1 p.m. Matinee | White Squirrel | St. Paul, MN
September 30, 2023 | Mousetrap Tavern | Eau Claire, WI
September 29, 2023 | White Squirrel | St. Paul MN
September 1, 2023 | Driftwood Char Bar | Minneapolis, MN
August 31, 2023 | Minnesota Marine Art Museum | Winona, MN
July 13, 2023 | Driftwood Char Bar | Minneapolis, MN
June 29, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. Sounds Like Summer Concert Series | Phoenix Park | Eau Claire, WI
June 29, 2023 | 9:00p.m. The Fire House 202 Gibson St. Down Town | Eau Claire, WI
June 3, 2023 | 1 p.m. Matinee | White Squirrel | St. Paul, MN
May 6, 2023 | The Portage | Cable, WI
April 22, 2023 | 3 p.m. set time | Barely Brothers Records | St. Paul, MN
July 14, 2022 | Sounds Like Summer Concert Series @ Phoenix Park | Eau Claire, WI
June 17, 2022 | The Mousetrap Tavern | Eau Claire, WI
June 16, 2022 | White Squirrel Bar | St. Paul, MN
music videos
I Ran Away From Home
Matt Caflisch and His Music
Simple Wide Trailer
Something Real
Mickey Crowe
The Bird
Lyrics
Back In The Rain
You’re back in the rain it found you again
Trouble always seems to find you
Do you just cover your eyes and wear a disguise
And hope the mirror won’t remind you
That still you’re out there in need of repair
Trying to hold it together
You need something less cause this is a mess
Always rolling up amongst the heather
So you’re back in the rain and it’s always the same
Cycle of abuse you follow
You cover your lies and sever your ties
Sinking in your sorrow
And yet you’re out there all inflated with air
Pretending that you’re so together
You need something less cause this is a mess
And you’re headed for the heavy weather
Yeah storms are rumbling
Can’t you hear it?
It’s insanity
To be near it
Yeah you’re back in the rain it found you again
Trouble always seems to find you
Do you just cover your eyes and wear your disguise
Hoping the mirror won’t remind you
That still you’re out there in need of repair
Trying to hold it together
Yeah you need something less cause this is a mess
Always rolling up amongst the heather
You’re back in the rain
It found you again
He's Down The Line
He’s down the line
If there’s anything you need
He’s down the line
No malice and no greed
He’s down the road
Now he rides for free
He’s down the line
An admiral on the sea
You always saw the poetry in things
You flew so high on artificial wings
You let us stay and hang out in the wings
And everybody listened to you sing
He’s down the line
If there’s anything you need
He’s down the line
No malice and no greed
He’s down the road
Inside the admiralty
He’s down the line
Ahead in front of me
You know you see the poetry in things
You flew so high on artificial wings
You were smart and you made up your own brand
You played in a super famous band
But he had to go
I think we all know
He had all the fun
He took his shot and now the bottle’s done
He’s down the line
If there’s anything you need
He’s down the line
No malice and no greed
He’s down the road
Now he rides for free
He’s down the line
Pick one of the, pick one of the, pick one of the three
Winter Hates To Wait
They say spring is a week away
Making deals with that summer day
Fall’s too far the pay ain’t great
And winter hates to wait
Skate around the rink
Miss it if you blink
They say the bar will make you cold
And whiskey takes a toll I’m told
Like too much sun it’ll make you old
Fat winter hates to wait
Skate around the rink
You miss it if you blink
They say a child is like a dream
And nothing fills that space it seems
Show them just how much they mean
Cause winter hates to wait
Skate around the rink
You miss it when you blink
They still say spring’s a week away
So don’t waste one more summer day
Fall is far but you make your fate
Winter hates to wait
Skate around the rink
Something Real
She says stay with me
All the days all the ways
She says stay with me
He says marry me
I need you, say I do
He says marry me
For something real that sticks right to your ribs
Something real to pass down to the kids
With something real you don’t have to pay
When something is real it never fades away
Don’t say carelessly
Nothing’s real, break our deal
Don’t say carelessly
We don’t speak aloud
The solemn vow we talked about
We don’t speak aloud
For something real that sticks right to your ribs
Something real to pass down to the kids
With something real you don’t have to pay
When something is real it never fades away
Two people in a dream
Who knows what it means?
We don’t know anything
So won’t you stay with me?
All the days always
Won’t you stay with me?
For something real that sticks right to your ribs
Something real to pass down to the kids
Something real you don’t have to pay
When something is real it never fades away
She says stay with me
Always
She's Not Here For You
She’s not here for you
She went out to a show
She didn’t stay for your act
There’s something you don’t know
She’s not here for you
I heard days ago
She’s not here for you now
And it’s high time you know
So unhand her, you don’t understand her
She is way too cool for you
Caveman tricks never fix
What is wrong with you
She’s not here for you
No one to cheer no one to boo
So not together so it’s for the better
It’s over though for you
So unhand her, you don’t understand her
She is way too cool for you
The caveman tricks never fix
God what is wrong with you?
She’s not here for you
She went out to a show
She didn’t care for your act
Now that’s something you know
Words So True
It was hot and heavy
Not just any fling
Wasn’t even thinking
Barely anything
Love comes easy
When you start to sing
Hear the tolling bells say
Just do anything
So the chiming
Turns to rhyming
Those words so true
Sworn to you
Words so true
Sworn to you
Things that go in circles
Are never ending things
Tolling bells say
Please do everything
And their chiming
Turns to rhyming
Those words so true
Sworn to you
Words so true
Sworn to you
Crush
Hush
It was hot and heavy
Now we count the rings
Wasn’t even thinking
I'm In The City Now
I had to move my town was small
The biggest deal was Oakwood Mall
Oh well, I’m in the city now
I find myself upon the stage
Sponsored by some City Page
Oh well, I’m in the city now
I was big back home, now I feel so small
Driving down West Seventh in St. Paul
Policemen don’t have time for me at all
Too tied up in Midway and Frogtown calls
I’m in the city now
I used to dream about Hüsker Dü
Now I talk to Grant at First Avenue
Oh well, I’m in the city now
I may display Wisconsin plates
Mostly for the auto rates
Oh well, I’m in the city now
I was big back home, now I feel so small
John Lee Hooker’s painted on the wall
Policemen don’t have time for me at all
Randy Moss’s Lexus on the mall
I’m in the city now
The thing I know
I had to go grab opportunity
The other thing
I like to sing the city is where you should be
I still go back where I come from
Once in a while to see my mom
Oh well, I’m in the city now
I like that Joynt on Water Street
Ramblin’ Jack can watch your seat if I’m gone
Off to the city now
I was big back home now I feel so small
Mary Tyler’s standing ten feet tall
Policemen don’t have time for you at all
A Lexus pulls away from city hall
I’m in the city now
I’m in the city now
That Old Devil
If the words won’t change the ones we said
Then I’d rather dream and wake up dead
Alone again in the biggest bed
For one more deal with that old devil if you please
Yeah one more time with feeling please
Overspill your memories
I know you’re gone I helped you pack
That day the sunshine turned to black
I’m glad you’re gone but I want you back
Don’t deal with that old devil if you please
And I can’t blur with alcohol
All those pictures on the wall
So I burned the one where we both grinned
How I wish I had it back again
Old lovers make the worst best friends
So deal with that old devil if you please
The mailman knows you don’t get letters here
I don’t keep the driveway clear
Alone again no one around
Do you catch the noise when I crash down?
There are no ears built to hear that sound
Of bringing that old devil to his knees
That old devil says a deal’s a deal
If that’s the way the devil feels
Then the words won’t change the ones we said
And I’d rather dream and wake up dead
Alone again in the biggest bed
Paul Nelson (It Demolished Him)
He wrote it down for Rolling Stone
If Jann could get him on the phone
He covered Zevon’s private hell
But Wenner said it wouldn’t sell
It demolished him – reduced him down to dust
Some cheap piece from the back of the bus
Who knows where you could ask him when
It demolished him demolished him
It demolished him demolished him
No god, no man, this is how it ends.
Artists have to risk it all
Paul Nelson signed the New York Dolls
And wrote about the folk and blues
In little mimeograph reviews
It demolished him – reduced him down to dust
And not some cheap piece from the back of the bus
Who knows where you could ask him when
It demolished him demolished him
It demolished him demolished him
No god, no man, this is how it ends.
He printed what he knew in mags
Recorded the hollers, blues and rags
Bob Dylan loved your records too
Jon Pankake brought them back to you
It demolished him – reduced him down to dust
Like some cheap piece on the back of the bus
All the best laid plans of mice and men
It demolished him demolished him
It demolished him demolished him
No god, no man, this is how it ends.
Simple Wide Trailer
He was here from Appleton
And she was from the South
Another FM DJ
Who would never shut his mouth
She was just an army brat
Who landed in Eau Claire
Her mom would buy the liquor
So her friends would party there
In a simple wide trailer
That her mom could afford
Praise be to Jesus
Praise be to the Lord
A simple wide trailer
On the edge of the town
Still going to high school
When her mom was around
She threw a drinking party
With Becky, Sue and Kim
All the trailer roommates
Brought some Jack and shot some Jim
Some of them were older then
By six or seven years
But nobody was worried
After six or seven beers
In a simple wide trailer
No parents around
Super 8 camera
Didn’t capture the sound
Of a simple wide trailer
In a simpler time
The gas was a quarter
The phone was a dime
Dad came back from Vietnam
He gave her away
Her marriage lasted twenty years
If it lasted a day
She was Mother Nature
In the nineteen-seventies
She kept a photo album
Of her Kodak memories
In a simple wide trailer
In a park down the road
Not too much to look at
Just a humble abode
A simple wide trailer
That her mom could afford
Praise be to Jesus
Praise be to the Lord
Praise be to Jesus
Praise be to the Lord
I Ran Away From Home
Hey there Austin hesher on the run
Sitting baking in the sun
Vodka Kool-Aid mixers in her car
Learning how to be a star
I ran away from home
I’m just like a rolling stone
Hey lordy lordy mama hey lordy papa
Burning everything that I own
Famous Hibbing rocker with the blues
Had to 23 skidoo
Why is it you look at me so strange?
I better leave the Iron Range
I ran away from home
I’m just like a rolling stone
Hey lordy lordy mama hey lordy papa
Burning everything that I own
I ran away from home
I’m just like a rolling stone
All I need are leather boots
Other sweet forbidden fruits
I don’t know from indecision
I’m not living under your conditions
I ran away from home
I’m just like a rolling stone
All I need is leather boots
Other sweet forbidden fruits
Now you know of indecision
I’m not living under those conditions
I’ll rewrite your history for you
And then I’ll 23 skidoo
Find your freedom anywhere there’s more
That’s why we’re walking out the door
I ran away from home
Just like a rolling stone
Hey lordy lordy mama hey lordy papa
Burning everything that I own
I ran away from home
I’m just like a rolling stone
Time to make a run for it
Before they plow me under it
I don’t know from indecision
I’m not living under your conditions.
Home Run King of ’74 – Hank Aaron
That was no way to pitch to him
They played their music on his chin
Hate mail to the door
Of the Home Run King of ‘74
The greatest baseball man there was
Made to live in fear because
He evened up the score
With a home run swing in ‘74
In the country he was Hank
Six hundred thousand dollars in the bank
Reading letters every day
You just carved his heart away
He was a Bear in ‘52
The Northern League remembers you
They paid fifty dollars more
For the Home Run King of ‘74
And in the clubhouse he was Hank
Never lacked for fuel in the tank
Reading letters every day
You just carved his heart away
-Hammer time-
That was no way to pitch to him
They tried to beat him up and in
Hate mail to the door
Of the Home Run King of ‘74
He was the greatest baseball man there was
Made to live in fear because
He evened up the score
With a home run swing in ‘74
That was no way to pitch to him
Phantom – Bob Dylan
He was a phantom from the Village
Who painted songs in every hue
He got right down to business
He brought it home to you
All the heroes he looked up to
Knew that image was a ruse
And he was only human
But he sure could sing the blues
And he moved to New York City
Someone threw a crucifix
It landed on the bandstand
So, he threw it in the mix
He settled down and had a family
But he was married to the road
Playing every style of music
‘Til he was eighty-one years old
And he moved to California
And built himself a dome
Hammered and he welded
In a studio he owned
He went walking in the rain one time
In the hours before a show
They arrested him for vagrancy
But then they let him go - let him go!
And he came from Minnesota
And he spends the summer there
He can sit and watch the river
In his Adirondack chair
Max Edie (Lizard) – Elizabeth Wilcocks
Max Edie said she’d be the same
But that is not her real name
She used to go by Lizard too
Back in 1982
Lizard with the golden tongue
Singing while you go unsung
From an island in the sea
Wavering away from me
Max Edie knew a Scottish tune
Sang back up on “Whole of the Moon”
The dancing voice of innocence
Who played percussion instruments
Lizard with the golden tongue
Singing while you go unsung
From an island in the sea
Wavering away from me
Max Edie sang with Karl and Mike
And Nikki and the Jacobites
So put the message in the box
So everybody knows she rocks
Lizard with the golden tongue
Singing while you go unsung
From an island in the sea
Wavering away from me
Max Edie said she’d be the same
But that is not her real name
Kevin Rowland’s Tears – Kevin Rowland
Kevin Rowland cried out
Like Johnnie Ray the balladeer
I always hear an Ireland
In Kevin Rowland’s tears
He tapped around in soft shoe
Wearing dungarees
And hummed a tune forever
On the BBC
Kevin’s band deserted him
But he didn’t miss a beat
He went and wrote his biggest hit
And it made you move your feet
He tapped around in soft shoe
Wearing dungarees
And hummed a tune forever
On the BBC
If there was unfulfilled potential
There were master strokes
He made a new concoction
From northern soul and Celtic folk
We can sing just like our fathers
Sing too-ra-loo-ra-li
Poor old Johnnie Ray sang
Made our mothers cry
He tapped around in soft shoe
Wearing dungarees
And hummed a tune forever
On the BBC
Kevin Rowland cried out
Like Johnnie Ray the balladeer
I always hear an Ireland
In Kevin Rowland’s tears
Cathy Silverbag – Cathy Smith
What were you supposed to do
When the user was you?
You give him a shower
Stay for an hour
Come on Cathy Silverbag
Make it speedy, make it drag
I’ll write later, first things first
Cathy open up your purse
What were you supposed to do
When they pinned it on you?
You couldn’t repent
Off to prison you went
Come on Cathy Silverbag
Make it speedy, make it drag
There’s no screenplay I rehearse
Open up your silver purse
Other people were there
But nobody cares
They say, “Who was he with?”
Cathy “Silverbag” Smith
Come on Cathy
Make it snappy
Is there a doctor? Call the nurse
Open up your silver purse
What were you supposed to do?
Mickey Crowe – Mickey Crowe
Mickey Crowe could score a lot
Before they had the three-point shot
Friday fifty-four would do
On Saturday add sixty-two
He averaged forty points a game
Eleven thousand people came
To see him on the very stage
Elvis and The Beatles sang
The one the only Mickey Crowe
Putting on a one-man show
He played his hoops like Pistol Pete
Socks that fell around his feet
Floppy hair, floppy socks
Call his style unorthodox
Mickey floated off the spin
Dodged the ‘D’ to swish it in
Floppy socks, floppy hair
He could score from anywhere
Left and right, to and fro
He’s the one the only Mickey Crowe
Watch him fly, watch him flow
He was high, he was low
Marty Crowe, coach and dad
Knew the talent Mickey had
So, Marty ran the run-and-gun
Give it to your freshman son
They entertained gymnasiums
Green Bay to St. Nazianz
Stevens Point, Peshtigo
Loved the Mick and Marty show
Step right up, now you know
About the one the only Mickey Crowe
If he’s out walking, say hello
To the one the only Mickey Crowe
Joyce Lamont – Joyce Lamont
When Joyce Lamont was ninety-eight
She finally left the Gopher State
She trailblazed at ‘CCO
Forty years on radio
She was a fixture on the air
And read her recipes on there
Her salad dish was such a hit
The New York papers printed it
Do you tune in KLBB?
Find Joyce on at the age of eighty-three?
Spinning Frank and Bing
Making Minnesota swing
Swing!
Do you tune in KLBB?
Find Joyce on at the age of eighty-three?
Spinning Frank and Bing
Making Minnesota swing
The Chairman died in ‘98
The stations played all Frank all day
I saw Joyce on ‘CCO
Letting Minnesota know
If you tune in KLBB
Mr. Frank sings, “Come and fly away with me”
“World on a string”
Making Minnesota swing
Joyce Lamont was ninety-eight
Woke Up Famous – Jack Kerouac
I was born in ‘22
I wrote On the Road for you
I was French Canadian
Raw Franco American
I woke up famous
The telephone would ring
I woke up famous
Who ever heard of such a thing?
Famous
Now I’m a lion with a wreath
I woke up famous
Fame beyond belief
I always ran the football hard
Always fought for every yard
Skipped through school, skipped through life
Skipped out on my pregnant wife
And woke up famous
The telephone would ring
I woke up famous
Who ever heard of such a thing?
Famous
Now I’m a lion with a wreath
I woke up famous
Fame beyond belief
Go moan for man!
I always suffer for my art
I cast myself and play the part
I watch my brother lose his breath
And then I drink myself to death
When I died famous
The telephone would ring
When I died famous
Who ever heard of such a thing?
Famous
Now I’m lyin’ with a wreath
I woke up famous
Fame beyond, beyond, beyond…
Cisco Houston (And Solomon the King) – Cisco Houston
When you were a sophomore
Quoting Solomon
Saying there is nothing new
Underneath the sun
You don’t go to college
The way the rich kids do
You’re on the road for knowledge
Cisco Houston passing through
Then you are a junior
Reading poetry
Made in San Francisco
Like the radical in me
Blacklisted and wounded
For holding left-wing views
And sticking to the union
Cisco Houston passing through
A few more winters
Wishing it were spring
As I sing Cisco Houston
And Solomon the king
Sing out!
When you are a senior
Solomon is wise
Saying all is vanity
Everybody dies
You left California
You were forty-two
So long, it’s good to know yuh
Cisco Houston passing through
A few more winters
Wishing it were spring
As I sing Cisco Houston
And Solomon the king
No more winter
No more spring
No more Cisco Houston
And Solomon the king
God on Roller Skates – Charlie Chaplin
Lights!
I’m charming Charlie on the screen
I come from England with nothing
I make you laugh, I feel your pain
I do it all with my walking cane
I’m charming Charlie of Hollywood
You love me when modern times are good
But I love pictures without sound
I find movement so profound
I’m the greatest of the greats
God on roller skates
Camera!
I’m charming Charlie the Little Tramp
I tip my bowler cap
I’m an artist in my prime
I’m a master of pantomime
I’m the greatest of the greats
God on roller skates
Hitler must be laughed at
And overrun
I’ll read my speech to you
When the movie’s done
I’m the greatest of the greats
God on roller skates
I’m the greatest of the greats
A god on roller skates
Action!
God on roller skates
God on roller skates
God on roller skates
The Bird – Mark Fidrych
He was twenty-one years old
And that pitching arm was gold
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
A simple bachelor
A green sub-compact car
A tiny Detroit apartment
A rookie Tigers star
Talking into the baseball
Patting around the mound
Monday night he beat the Yankees
The stadium got proud
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
He made his mark in baseball
But he was even more well known
The only major player
On the cover of Rolling Stone
Rubbing elbows with Sinatra
Elton John and Gerald Ford
When he took his curtain call
The counterculture roared
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
He was twenty-two years old
And that pitching arm went cold
He was twenty-one years old
And he was something to behold
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
We want the Bird! We want the Bird!
Haven’t you heard we lost the Bird?
He was the Bird! He was the Bird!
PRAISE FOR RUNAWAY
…a concept album about rock ‘n’ roll dreams…
Channing Lewis
Grand Champeen
Runaway is incredibly addicting.
Amy Carlson-Gustafson
St. Paul Pioneer Press
I hear a little Petty, Beatles, Dylan, and even some Bowie…
Shane Gallivan
Kruddler
RADIO STATION REQUESTS
Contact
Questions? Comments? Musings? Feel free to send Matt a message.
Bookings
For bookings or business inquiries please email directly.