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The Immaculate Dollar of Arlington Heights

by George González

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1.
She’s in a better place, she’s in a foreign state She sailed off on the sea Now I’m the sudden heir of items pure and fair She left them all to me She left a green fishbowl, she left her heart and soul She sailed off on the sea She left her inner eye, she left her peace of mind She left them all to me Now this is hardly just, I feel the verdict is rushed Although she left me sad and blue She’s not all to blame, I plan to do the same For tomorrow, I leave too She left a laurel tree, she left me poetry She left me sad and blue She left soliloquies, she left captivity And tomorrow, I leave too She left a goblin shark, she left a question mark When she sailed off on the sea She left me all my fears, she left me all my tears She left them all to me
2.
Cenotaph 04:41
He thought her temperament was cautionary To match her figure so aviary But he saw her in a rage When someone rattled her cage He said: Hyperborean silent treatment We will discover your little secret If the fates allow It’s too cold for cocoa, that won’t save you now She said: I guess that I could cooperate But first let me stipulate There will be no questions until the end Patience is a loyal friend I didn’t know where he would be I guess that I just got lucky When I found him by the coast I pulled out my pistol upon my approach I said: There are five holes in your head And you use every one of them So let me make one more A rigid body lined the shore The waves must have carried him away And laid him down to a watery grave A cenotaph was built Where there ain’t no body, there ain’t no guilt We are gathered here today I thought I heard the pastor say And then I left the scene Not fear not boredom, maybe somewhere in between And if I have learned one thing From all of my ramblings It’s that in some movies, no one cries Some things are just empty inside Some things are just empty inside
3.
Maybe I should go on a skiing trip And throw caution to the wind With any luck, my skis would slip And down I’d go tumbling I’d spend the night in the ICU I’m sure that word would get to you The joy a get well card would bring It sure beats listening to a broken-hearted girl from California play her ukulele and sing: La da dum I wish I could feel as close to you As if we’d accidentally murdered someone And I wouldn’t know what I should do And you’d say: Throw him in the river! Let’s run! You’d make me promise not to tell a soul You’d have to trust my self-control I’d rather spend the rest of my days in the clink Than listen to a broken-hearted girl from California play her ukulele and sing: La da dum Maybe I should sign up for an intramural boxing match With little grasp of conduct, I would probably start to bite and scratch But I’d rather leave it all in the ring Than listen to a broken-hearted girl from California play her ukulele and sing: La da dum
4.
I’ve been dancing with strangers in hallways I’ve been cuddling with folks on the bus They never know it until I go and blow it I guess I was always a klutz It’s not something I like to discuss I’ve been feeling real vulnerable lately Like the skin where my ring used to be So now I eat snacks with nutrition facts That scare the hell out of me And I don’t feel healthy Flowers wilt like attention spans I share my dessert with the weatherman It’s been a long time since I’ve thrown a snowball Six months since I started a fire I've been misinformed, the coffee is lukewarm It’s been a long time since I’ve perspired Since I’ve acted on desire Flowers wilt like attention spans I share my dessert with the weatherman Now cars make me nervous when walking When walking to hardware stores My shoulders get tense, I lose common sense I might die and not know what for Yeah, I might die and not know what for
5.
I tried for years to make you believe me That the canyons aren’t that grand You would tell me without hesitation That they were formed by God’s own hand Some birds fly south for the winter Other birds tend to stick around It’s like Christmas in a college town You asked me why I never called you If I ever meant to try to change your mind If doing math involving time zones And picking up a cell phone made me disinclined Trying to change your mind, dear It’s like I’m trying to turn the Titanic around It's like Christmas in a college town You’re bright and thin like apple skin But there’s something seedy at your core Maps don’t help when maps are life-sized Or when the ship has capsized to the bottom of the ocean floor Never plan alone time Be happy when it rolls around You’re like Christmas in a college town You’re like Christmas in a college town You’re like Christmas with no one around
6.
Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea Dig her grave with a silver spade I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea Lower her down on a golden chain I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea Golden sun, bring her back to me I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea I found her floating like a feather on the deep blue sea
7.
I thought that she might be Australian So I asked her to please count to six She smiled and said she was a kiwi And we went out for fish and chips She goes to school for engineering She dreams of working in a water treatment plant It’s hard to tell when she is joking It’s hard to tell when to joke back She likes it when the plane is shaking She says it helps her to relax She likes the sound of babies crying She says it always makes her laugh Last weekend she was in a wedding party She stood in the presence of a priest She thinks religious folks are funny I find it hard to disagree She asked if we could talk of touchy subjects Of politics and parliament Of the saucers and the steeples Of violins and violence She likes it when the plane is shaking She says it helps her to relax She likes the sound of babies crying She says it always makes her laugh She thinks that everyone is a singer That doesn’t mean they all should try She likes to take those online surveys The drunk heart speaks the sober mind She likes it when the plane is shaking She says it helps her to relax She likes the sound of babies crying She says it always makes her laugh
8.
Birdwatching 02:43
Once I tried to get into birdwatching I spread peanut butter onto pine cones I asked for binoculars for Christmas I downloaded lots of bird calls on my cell phone
9.
I may have cracked a smile when I heard your awful news It's not because I don’t feel awful about those things he said to you But because it opens up a topic that I really have been meaning to talk through I can see how you’d feel anxious to sit down and talk with me Scars are often left by people whose intentions go unseen But the sea remains anonymous, no boot marks left by schooner ships to see When I cross these hills and reach my home Dulled my pains will be But for now, I’ll keep them close to me I promise to act normal if this all turns out the same I promise not to keep on testing different fonts out with your name On the pages of the notebooks that I’ve had with me since the seventh grade When I cross these hills and reach my home Dulled my pains will be But for now, I’ll keep them close to me I’ve been cutting back on things that I don’t need Like food, and air, and sleep I do it just to make more time for you You never knew, and now you do When I cross these hills and reach my home Dulled my pains will be But for now, I’ll keep them close to me But for now, I’ll keep them close to me
10.
His father died on the day of his birth Try as she might, his poor mum found no work So she put out a grill on the porch and she sold anticuchos The baby grew older (as all babies do) There wasn’t the money for toys, clothes, or food So she sent him to live with his uncle up north in Chiclayo Miguel Calderón Felices, no todos son Si se rompe tu corazón Busca un nuevo His uncle was named Víctor Cerna Guzmán He spent most of his evenings drunk on the lawn Or as part of a quite rowdy crowd at a clandestine cockfight This horrid lifestyle soon took its effect Our poor Miguel was an emotional wreck Until one day, he tried to end it with a spoonful of rat poison Miguel Calderón Felices, no todos son Si se rompe tu corazón Busca un nuevo He spent four somber days on the emergency floor Social services thought that a move was in store And he wound up with his great-aunt Marleni in the hills of Otuzco Life in the mountains; it’s better for some A bit of fresh air never hurt anyone And Miguel and his aunt lived a good life in a house of adobe One day in November, in the still of the night A blood-chilling scream woke Miguel with a fright To this day, he still swears that he saw the ghost of his father Miguel Calderón Felices, no todos son Si se rompe tu corazón Busca un nuevo Slightly concerned but mostly confused, Poor Miguelito; he knew not what to do So heeding a recommendation, he met with a bruja She didn’t read tea leaves; she had no pet toad She asked not what his name was nor what he longed to know She just stared him right down to his soul and she told him the following: Don’t let your heart drop its anchor and stay in this place For the mainsail will rise and you’ll be tugged away And your atria will be torn in two and you’ll drown in the sorrow Miguel Calderón Felices, no todos son Si se rompe tu corazón Busca un nuevo
11.
There’s one hundred buttons in this antique shop I’m looking for one that reminds me of you If you don’t think I’ll find it, well then, I’m sure you won’t mind it When I sew it to my coat for when I am blue You’re the eight o’clock sun on a summer’s day I thought you’d already gone away But there are folks at the equator who have never seen you later Than when they bow their heads at supper time to pray There’s one hundred buttons in this antique shop I’m looking for one that reminds me of you If you don’t think I’ll find it, well then, I’m sure you won’t mind it When I sew it to my coat for when I am blue You’re a protest song back in ‘65 Trying to keep the freedom alive But if you’re fixing to get tied down, there’s no better place than this town Here I was born, here I live, and here I will die There’s one hundred buttons in this antique shop I’m looking for one that reminds me of you If you don’t think I’ll find it, well then, I’m sure you won’t mind it When I sew it to my coat for when I am blue I pin down ice cubes with my straw Just like you, they don’t stay put for long You told me your family is struggling But you went to Europe to see your cousin Well, I can wait; I can’t wait that long There’s one hundred buttons in this antique shop I’m looking for one that reminds me of you If you don’t think I’ll find it, well then, I’m sure you won’t mind it When I sew it to my coat for when I am blue There’s one hundred buttons in this antique shop I found me one that reminds me of you And you can’t call it stealing, because this button is here for me and God gave me a heart to give to you So now I’ve got a button for when I am blue

credits

released August 11, 2017

All songs written by George González except "Deep Blue Sea" (trad.)

*George González: vox, 6-string, 12-string, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, harmonica, melodica, flute, quena
*Brendan Smith: backing vox, percussion, bass, piano
*Lillian González: vox and ukulele on "Girl from California"
*Benjamin Gibson: mandolin on "One Hundred Buttons"

Mixed & Mastered by: Brendan Smith
Cover art by: Lillian González & Karen Gale

Special thanks to Emmalie Arntz, Benjamin Gibson, Lillian González, Dakota Jones, Tate Sexton, and Cameron Stedman for their ears and for their help.

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George González Seattle, Washington

George González is a songwriter from Seattle.

georgegonzalez.substack.com

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