magazine_cover

The Magazine

The album was partly composed in France and was co-produced by Rickie and James Newton Howard. NME ranked it number 10 among the “Albums of the Year” for 1984.
Released: September 1984.
Label: Warner Bros.
Length: 40.01.

1. Prelude to Gravity

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

[Instrumental]

2. Gravity

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

There are wounds that stir up the force of gravity
A cold that will wipe the hope from your eyes
Young girl standing underneath the “El” train
Standing there, watching the trains go by …
You think that nobody knows where you are, girl
You think that nobody knows how this feels
Alone, in a world of your own, there you are girl
The small things float to the top of gravity
Gravity
I’m telling you where it is
Gravity

We walk in easy snakes
Through the roulette rattling of the alley
And now the arson smell of moon polishes a    newsstand
They empty the gas can, they watch the fire
If there are three girls running –
There are three girls running nowhere
From remedies that you call random
and we call by name
And ask them to explain why

I heard somebody
Be quiet, Don’t say nothing
I thought I heard someone
Well we walk where we want to
there’s nobody gonna be there
Nobody’s there …
Nobody

I could not say no to the light of my desire
I’m not asking so much
But you roll-call the passion
His lips ? -No
His back ? -No
His face? – No, no, no
I’m not asking so much..
I try to imagine another planet, another sun
Where I don’t look like me
And everything I do matters
instead of there, where you are, girl
In your green paint with a pin to pull
At the fingertips of gravity
Gravity
I’m telling you where it is
Gravity.

 

length: 4:43
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
percussion: Lenny Castro
bass: Nathan East
drums: Steve Gadd
guitar: Dean Parks
fender rhoades: Greg Phillinganes
additional programming: Michael Boddicker

 

3. Juke Box Fury

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

Polly and I went to the circus
Polly got hit with a rolling pin
We got even with the circus
We bought tickets but we didn’t go in…

You won’t like it here when I first take you,
He’s in the back doing his Father O’Riley
for the cops
But you’ll like Woody, he’s hiding in the shed
And we’re going with him
I told my brother,
“When the police come don’t say nothing
Don’t say nothing and the Police will go”

They don’t like it when you beat them
to the punch,
They don’t like it when you come in on a hunch.
And I’ve seen more dreams riding on his eyes,
Than a sure thing like the starry skies,
And you’ll like it when you find out what he’s got
In the backyard,
By the parking lot

Hey Baby, you’re my favorite boy,
I think about you all the time.
And this garbage that you still employ,
Do they really pay for every line?

The Juke Box Fury pounding in your soul,
Juke Box Fury tells them where to go,
Juke Box Fury pounding in your head,
Juke Box Fury every word we said when
We were younger and they hurt us so,
But you never know…
You got a Juke Box.
You can make it even

Look, I don’t like it here.
This is trouble.
That guy keeps gettin’ up
That girl keeps goin’ over to the phone
I’m going to talk to them
You just watch me
I’m going to tell them
“I think you two look like you’re ready to go..
Put your foot right here.
D’ you get it down all right, dear?
Well, put your foot right here…”

Hey, baby, you’re the one for me.
This must be Paradise.
She’s never where you think she’ll be,
But don’t worry about it

‘Cuz the Juke Box Fury’s
Pounding in your soul
Juke Box Fury knows where to go
Juke Box Fury pounding in your head
Juke Box Fury every word we said
When we were younger and they hurt us so
But you never know…

You don’t know what you’ve got,
You can make it even
You got a Juke Box
You can make it even…

Hey Danny! Wait for me!
Hey! Danny?

 

length: 4:11
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Steve Gadd
bass: Nathan East
guitar: Buzz Feiten
DX-7: Neil Larsen
percussion: Lenny Castro
horn arrangement:
Jerry Hey and Rickie Lee Jones

 

4. It Must be Love

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

It must be love that whispers in my ear
It must be love that we keep trying to hear
‘Cuz I imagined this kind of wonderful choice
I imagine you hear the very same voice
When I speak to you
But you say “That’s just my imagination”
Oh no, no, no
It must be love
It must be love

Perhaps one girl who was moving in a fine line
Finds one boy in back
That she can always stand behind
And it’s you and me
‘Cuz that’s where we want to be
Oh, it must be love,
It must be love

People look through everything they see
There’s so many other things to be
I have seen you walking in the rain
I wanted to know why you were crying
I wanna fix what’s wrong…

It must be love the sailor sails for
Must be love that drives a bottle to the bottom
of the ocean floor
‘Cuz I imagine all kinds of wonderful water
I would have you there wherever I’ll go
Way from the seventh sea,
He brings the bottle back to me
Oh, it must be love
Oh, it must be love

People look through everything they see
There’s so many other things to be
I have seen you walking in the rain
I wanted to know why you were crying
I wanna fix what’s wrong…

It must be love that fathoms the moonlight
Must be love that shallows the deepest
part of the night
So you can show them with your eye
The things that make them cry,
Because it must be love
the way you are must be love
And the things you feel must be love
Oh, it must be love
It must be love.

 

length: 4:54
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Jeff Porcaro
bass: David Hungate
guitar: Jeffrey Pevar
percussion: Lenny Castro

 

5. The Magazine

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

Homeboys calling from the corners
Station to station for the Magazine
But her pages are turning out the lights in the windows
And all that you’re reading is the Braille night

I can’t come out and play
Paddy with the Precinct boys no more
But you and me baby, we’ll be lovers again
But she’s walking to the A, walking to the B,
Walking to the C now…
Where are you going?
I’m just going with him…

He could be anywhere
I don’t know where he is
I know he’s coming,
I know he’s coming to me
It could be any day
I will know right away
I’ll know he’s coming, I’ll know he’s coming to me
I’ll know he’s coming, I’ll know he’s coming to me  now…

I don’t think you know what you’re doing
I don’t think you know that she’ll make him cry
Make my baby cry
You break my heart, Carol.

There’s a flagboy calling
“Danger, watch your back now”
“Hey you, Flagboy,
Let ’em come, let ’em come,”
‘Cuz I can see them there
I can see them coming
I can see it all now
‘Hey you, Flagboy
Let ’em come,”

They don’t know where I am
I could be anywhere
I know they’re coming
I know they’re coming to me
It could be any day
I will know right away
I know they’re coming…
I know they’re coming to me
Everything’s coming
Everything’s coming alive…

 

length: 4:42
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Jeff Porcaro
bass: David Hungate
guitar: Dean Parks
percussion: Victor Feldman
strings arranged and conducted by: James Newton Howard

 

6. The Real End

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

Once I had a sweet love
Always followed me around
The way I treated my little lamb was like
The Marquis D. Sade and her new clown
I guess I hurt him
I guess I hung up
I guess I should have called him back
I guess I didn’t care
Maybe I left him there
Maybe a woman just acts like that

What’s a matter?
Hey baby, baby
What’s a matter?
Don’t you want me?
What’s a matter?
Now Baby, baby
What’s a matter?
Is this The Real End?

Well, I had some dough,
I had a big car,
I turned around and all the money was spent
I don’t know wherever it goes but
That’s probably where my baby went
So you got a new boy
He’s so fine
He wants to be with you
All the time
Don’t tell him he’s the only one
Or your new boy becomes a hard to find

What’s a matter?
Hey baby, baby
What’s a matter?
Don’t you want me?
What’s a matter?
Now Baby, baby
What’s a matter?
Is this The Real End?
(Can I tell you about it?)

Once you find yourself
A better man
Treat him special all of the time
Make him some catfish
Fry it up in bed
Don’t leave him hangin’ on the telephone line
But keep him guessing
Don’t tell him where you are
Keep your old linen to yourself
Keep your bank account
And what you don’t worry about,
If you can give,
Well, it just might work out

What’s a matter?
Hey baby, baby
What’s a matter?
You look so funny
What’s a matter?
Now Baby, baby
What’s a matter?
Is this the Real End?

 

length: 4:58
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Steve Gadd
bass: Nathan East
guitar: Buzz Feiten
organ: Neil Larsen
percussion: Lenny Castro
horns arranged by: Jerry Hey

 

7. Deep Space

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

These stars no one else can see
Trapeze the height of thee, vanish as they call
These blues no one else can hear
No one else can sing this one for you
Can they, dear?

Things that you do are always with me
You’re laughing, you’re always here
What’s the use in crying?
It won’t matter when we’re old.

This tear will finally fall
Keep your eyes here
When there’s no net at all…
Where the Lord’s face is like an all-night cafe
There’s a woman who will wait on
What you have to say
Your dreams are like marbles
In the pocket of a little boy
And they whisper when you hold them
Like a beautiful girl,
Beautiful girl.

 

length: 3:12
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
GS-1 digital synthesizer: Rickie Lee Jones

8. Runaround

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

My baby’s always crying,
My baby wants to see me cry, too.

Chain on my heart is going to break
‘Cuz every tear that falls in here
Is a dime for the Juke Box Fury
So punch it in, shake the chain
And listen to the song you’re playing
Shake the chain, Shake the chain

At everything I do
Just enough
Everything I wanted to
Just enough
Everything I put you through
Just enough to know
He don’t want me
Oh, I think he’s polarized
He don’t know which way to go
Where would you be otherwise?
Otherwise? Well, you know we could

Runaround
Because I can get this anyway
Runaround
I can get this anyway
Runaround
l can get this anyway

Light goes down
Somebody could break your heart
Light goes on
You could break somebody’s heart

Chain on my heart is going to break
Every time you try to make me cry
Listen to it now
Punch it in, shake the chain
I can’t take the tears, I can’t take the tears
Shake the chain, shake the chain

At everything I do
Just enough
And everything I wanted to
Just enough
And everything I put you through
Just enough to know
He don’t want me
Oh, you better wise up girl
You better get smart
You better hide your heart

He’s a Runaround
And I could get this anyway
Runaround
I can get this anyway
Runaround
I can get it anyway

Take a deep breath
And break the chain.

 

length: 4:59
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Steve Gadd
bass: Nathan East
guitar: Steve Lukather
wurlitzer: Neil Larsen
percussion: Lenny Castro
additional synthesizers: Michael Boddickero

 

9. Rorschachs (Theme For The Pope)

(Marrants d’eau Douce)
Written by Rickie Lee Jones / Sal Bernardi

 

[Instrumental]

length: 3:15 minutes
composed and sung by Rickie Lee Jones and Sal Bernardi
12 – string guitar and mandolin: Jeffrey Pevar
acoustic guitar: Sal Bernardi
accordion: Nick de Caro

10. The Unsigned Painting

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

There must be a golden frame
Coming to me
‘Cuz where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you?

The very day when you first heard
Your heart beat listens for you still
So I think it’s not so much the painting
As what you give yourself by what you leave
Your signature…

On Sundays the ladies took off their wiry, old hats
And made donuts in the back of the church
I could always smell them cooking
in the middle of mass

Cakes are prizes at carnivals
Holding hands
That’s a gift of our landscapes
For the heart is always
That one summer night
You stretch it from face to face
Like chewing gum
You can rig it up and hear each other thru a tin can
Now it bakes and hardens like an old dream
under the front porch
where the air is talcum
and Mamma’s eyes are blue
and Father took the Weird Beast
and we’re walking next to you

That is the picture that I see
That is the picture that I see.

 

length: 2:18
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
synthesizers: Rickie Lee Jones and James Newton Howard

11. The Weird Beast

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

I brought the Weird Beast here
From Van Nuys Boulevard
So I would not be without a man
When the Tartars reign
Flooded the empty streets of Paris…
And on one of these
Passing boats I thought
I saw the Weird Beast
Speaking in the Russian tongue

Will he kill the Czar?
Will he kill the Czar?

Someday you’ll meet a stranger
Locations everywhere you go
All of the science you’ve kept in bottles
Because someday this dream is going to end
I have this feeling
A Weird Beast is going to come our way

Draw the Weird Beast everywhere you go.
Death speaks the foreign language so
Make sure they hear him breathing.

 

length: 2:39
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones performed vocals and played piano, synthesizer, and GS-1 digital synthesizer. She also arranged horn arrangements.

 

Sal Bernardi – Vocals/Acoustic Guitar
Michael Boddicker – Additional Programming/Synthesizer
Lenny Castro – Percussion
Nick DeCaro – Accordion
Nathan East – Bass
Buzz Feiten – Guitar
Victor Feldman – Percussion
Steve Gadd – Drums
Jerry Hey – Horn Arrangements
James Newton Howard – Synthesizer/String Arrangements
David Hungate – Bass
Neil Larsen – DX-7/Wurlitzer/Organ
Steve Lukather – Guitar
Marty Paich – String Arrangements
Dean Parks – Guitar
Jeffrey Pevar – Guitar/12-String Guitar/Mandolin
Greg Phillinganes – Fender Rhoades
Jeff Porcaro – Drums