“Beach on the Moon” Playlist (reposted from Facebook)

Written in March 2016, “Beach on the Moon” is a lament of the rising tide of ignorance, intolerance, and neo-fascism (in conjunction with unbridled conspicuous consumerism) parading as patriotism in our current culture. The song has an odd structure -- even within the fairly standard chorus/verse portions (which are neither choruses nor verses, but something in between), you get a modulating chord structure; then there’s the weird almost-song-within-a-song that comprises the bridge. It’s definitely eerie, and certainly sounds like early 80s synth pop.

The songs in the playlist reflect the more plaintive side of Erasure, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Alison Moyet, and Howard Jones. There’s Ultravox’s “Vienna,” which served as a template for the progression of energy throughout this song, Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom” and Electric Light Orchestra’s “21st Century Man” (from the group’s foray into synth pop, TIME) to reign in the theme of off-world living. And there are some newer artists — Death Cab for Cutie, Daft Punk, Robyn, HAIM, and The Postal Service — who fit the bill.

Listen to the music at THIS LINK HERE, and share it with your friends to help the tracks from this album find an audience.

BEACH ON THE MOON LYRICS

I’m watching the earth from a beach on the moon Wondering whether I’ll be able to go back soon, Whether anyone there has noticed the Brown Shirts haven’t gone They’ve just got new uniforms: Designer threads for their jackboot treads, As they crush your necks to make you conform To what they perceive is the social norm.

I’m watching the earth from a beach on the moon Wondering whether I’ll be able to go back soon, When the dolphins departed shortly after the bees and left a thank you note for all of the fish While the oceans turned tide and the flowers all died, I’ll just blow out the candles & make a wish That might have come true if we tried.

She’s my little marble, at least she was for a time Rumor has it she was once an Edenesque Paradise. But the monkeys all hired accountamts and speculated on a roll of the dice For as long as the ledger margins showed profit, They could market her murder unimpeded. Even then the focus groups found her death spiral As entertaining as anything that preceded.

I’m watching the earth from a beach on the moon Wondering whether I’ll be able to go back soon, When the whole human race is floating in space on some random trajectory we can’t define Because we couldn’t be bothered to give up the slaughter No we couldn’t be bothered while there was still time… We crossed some line.