Monday, September 3, 2018

Music Monday: Styx/Cyclorama (Side One)

After being on the road for more than three years, Styx finally released an album of new material on February 18th, 2003. That album was called Cyclorama.



This is the 14th studio album by Styx, and was the first studio album with Lawrence Gowan, following the departure of group co-founder Dennis DeYoung in 1999. It was also the last album to feature Glen Burtnik, and the only album released by the Lawrence Gowan/Tommy Shaw/James Young/Glen Burtnik/Todd Sucherman lineup.

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1) Do Things My Way - We start off by a song sung by Tommy. Funny title if you think about it because with DDY gone, now the band is finally "his".


Look at you you're talking to yourself
Could it maybe be a cry for help
Can't see the forest from your tree there

Sometimes I think you're doing well
Other times you put yourself through hell
It's enough to bring you to your knees dear

I'm gonna open up to you
It's all I'm really trying to do
Say what's on my mind
Yeah what's on my mind, singin'

If you wanna have it your way
Yeah you gotta do things my way
If you really wanna have it your way
All you gotta do is do things my way

You've had me by the little hairs
Running here and there and everywhere
Now I know exactly how your mind is wired

I always knew this day would come
To face the monster you've been hiding from
So either douse the flame of love
Or stoke the fire

Or we can play this guessing game
I call your bluff you do the same
We're just wasting time
Wasting all my time, listen

If you wanna have it your way
Yeah you gotta do things my way
If you really wanna have it your way
All you gotta do is do things my way

I know you never like to compromise
But when you think of all the lonely nights
And I see that look in your eyes
I'd say it's time to simplify your thinking

Why does it have to be so hard
To play your hand and show your cards
If you will I will
If you will I will

Before you get your just desserts
Let me clear your table first
Have you, have you had your fill

If you wanna have it your way
Yeah you gotta do things my way
If you really wanna have it your way
All you gotta do is do things my way

If you wanna have it your way
Yeah you gotta do things my way
If you really wanna have it your way
All you gotta do is do things my way


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2) Waiting For Our Time - Another great song sung by Tommy. This was also released as the first single from the album, but failed to chart.

Looking up from where I stand
I see the vapor trail of a jet plane in the sky
Here the wheel is in my hand
But there's no wind in my sails and life is drifting by

Still I hold on and wait
I know it's not too late and my breeze will come
Muse you satisfy my soul
Keep me warm while the cold world guards the gate

I'm searching, I'm wondering, I'm yearning
Waiting for our time to come
I'm searching, I'm wondering, I'm yearning
Waiting for our time to come

Your love has kept my dream alive
A vision of my life with you here by my side
Every forward step I take
Every moment I'm awake I feel your love inside

So close I feel it in my bones
I know I'm not alone as I climb this wall
But I, sometimes I get so high 
I just want to live, love and taste it all

I'm searching, I'm wondering, I'm yearning
Waiting for our time to come
I'm searching, I'm wondering, I'm yearning
Waiting for our time to come

Here tonight
I lie awake and watch you dream
Under the light of the moon
I wonder just how far we've been
And where we'll be when the sun comes up
Will this be our date with destiny

I'm searching, I'm wondering, I'm yearning
Waiting for our time to come
I'm searching, I'm wondering, I'm yearning
Waiting for our time to come

And I'm waiting

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3) Fields of the Brave - This is one of the songs I was most anticipating because I wanted to know what Lawrence Gowan sounded like with the band and in an original song. I wasn't disappointed.


Sometimes I close my eyes and picture the plains
I see Buffalo Bill and the Iroquois riding again
Open skies, fertile ground
This was heaven on earth that they found

We got what they gave
By their God we were saved
They were humble not depraved
These streets we're afraid of once were the fields of the brave
The fields of the brave

Where a Chevrolet rusts by a closed shopping mall
Can you see through the dust where the brave ones stood tall
Buried deep where they fell
They live on in the stories we tell

They got what they gave
By their God they were saved
And I say this as I pray
I can't help but dream of the days these were fields of the brave
The fields of the brave

After all this time and the struggles in between
We stand next in line with the chance we can build on their dreams

In the fields of the brave
Fields of the brave
We got what they gave
In the fields of the brave
Let their spirits be saved
And I pray this on their graves
There'll be a return of
The days these were fields of the brave
The fields of the brave

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4) Bourgeois Pig - This is a little snippet of a "song" that only lasts 49 seconds and has Billy Bob Thornton on vocals. Yeah, you read that last part right. Some say that this is also a dig a DDY, but I don't see it.

Bourgeois Pig
You got too big
You forgot where you came from

You big pop star
You took it too far
You better get humble and then some

Bourgeois Pig
You got too big
You forgot where you came from

You big pop star
You took it too far
You better get humble and then some

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5) Kiss Your Ass Goodbye - This is one my favorite songs on the album. Sung by Glen Burtnik and features some very cool keyboard work by Gowan. That, and it's very humorous.


Here we go again

Hands making circles that you can't turn back again

Sky turning purple at the funeral of a friend
Who wasn't ready for the ending yet

He made a giant mess, sloppy disaster
And he left it for the rest to clean up after
Now the lawyers do their best
To try to divvy up what's ever left

In the ending you can bet
Everyone feels cheated

Kiss your ass good-bye
Boy you're out of time
You didn't choose life
It's just your luck
You got your turn now
Give it up and
Kiss your ass good-bye

What's left to say
When it's over everyone but you remains
Little children will still go out and play
Just like it's any other sunny day
Oh yeah

In the ending you can bet
Everyone's an equal

Kiss your ass good-bye
Dude you're past your prime
First you loose your looks
Then you loose your luck
Take the hit now
Pony up and
Kiss your ass good-bye

Everybody gets to go around one time
(And they said it wouldn't last)
After that baby gonna go bye-bye
(Before you know it you're the past)
Everybody got to check out sometime
You go first
I'll catch up right behind

In the ending you can bet
Everyone's a loser

Kiss your ass good-bye
Man it's closing time
It never seems fair
It's never enough
Take a bow, pucker up and
Kiss your ass good-bye
(Nothing left to say, now that it's over you can)
Kiss your ass good-bye Good-bye

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6) These Are The Times - JY gets a chance at lead vocals this time and it's another great song. The live version here looked so much cooler so I used that video instead.

I hear voices from beyond the veil
They reverberate in mystery
There are shadows in my heart
And they multiply in memory

And the comrades that I've lost out there
In the scattered ruins still speak to me
If the flickering light of your campfire dims
The world grows smaller, it's closing in
I'm standing here and I want you to live

I know
These are the times we find out who we really are
This will be when a true friend stands at your side
Someone like me who wants to
Believe in the days of high times and innocence
Drawing the lines and shouting back to the night
Someone like me who wants you to live

And from those who've seen the light beyond
We know the end will bring tranquility
But the voices of the friends they heard
Brought them back to this reality

Tough the beacon of light in your life seems dim
The sun's coming up on the world we're in
There are choices here
And I want you to live

I know
These are the times we find out who we really are
This will be when a true friend stands at your side
One more like me
Who wants to believe in the truth of all we experienced
To live again to jump back into the fight
Someone like me who wants you to live

Pouring light from the sky
Portends you and I
Disappears in the night
I still remember

I hear voices from beyond the veil
Like a faint unfinished symphony
Though the beacon of light in your life seems dim
The sun's coming up on the world we're in
I'm standing here
And I want you to live

I know
These are the times we find out who we really are
This will be when a true friend stands at your side
One more like me
Who wants to believe in the truth of all we experienced
To live again to jump back into the fight
Someone like me who wants you to live

I want you, I want you, I want you to live
I want you, I want you, I want you to live
I want you to live

I still remember

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7) Yes I Can - Mostly acoustic song here sung by Tommy. It actually has an official video (that reminds me of something from Tears for Fears), but as far as I can tell it was never released as a single.


So they say that a man can't live in this world
If he's wearing his heart on his sleeve
I can

And they say that a man can't understand
What a women needs when she cries
I can
I can

And I can see you standing in the yard
Tending the roses in your garden
The sun is shining through your cotton dress
And I will freeze this moment here in time
I could live forever in your garden
Ah yes
Yes I can

Fool doesn't know what he's missing the most
It's a bitch of a place to be in
Here I am

How would I know I could give up the ghost
And still hold all your dreams in my hand
Here I am
Here I am

And I can see you standing in the yard
Tending the roses in your garden
The wind is blowing through your golden hair
And I will freeze this moment here in time
I could live forever in your garden
Ah yes
Yes I can

And I can see you standing in the yard
Tending the roses in your garden
The sun is shining through your cotton dress
And I will freeze this moment here in time
I could live forever in your garden
Oh yes
Yes I can

And I can be your man
Mmm, yes I can

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