Credits:
Produced and Arranged by Todd Rundgren for Alchemedia Productions, Inc.
Production Manager: Michele Gray
Engineered by Michael Rosen
Assistants: Eric Thompson and Michael Semanickbr>
Digitally Recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA.
"Parallel Lines" Engineered by Rob Beaton
Recorded at The Plant, Sausalito, CA
Edit Engineer: Richard McKernan
Assistant: Marnie Riley
Edited at Conway Studio, Hollywood
Mixed at Utopia Sound
Originally Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound
Cover Art by Todd Rundgren generated at PIXAR
Electronic Image Compositiong by Todd and Ken Fishkin
Typography and Layout by Todd and Lisa Osta
Photo of Todd by Jim Lannen
Photo of Singers by Lisa Osta
Session Videography by Ed Vigor
Representation: Eric Garner/Panacea Entertainment
Special thanks to: Robbie and Misubishi. Everyone at Tarpan Studio. PIXAR. Jean and Cathy.Patti.Merf.Ralph and Mary Lou.
The Want of a Nail:-
Guest Vocalist: Boby Womack
Drums: Micheal Urbano
Tamborine: Gary Yost
Bass: Larry Tagg
Piano: Vince Welnick
Guitar: Lyle Workman
Trombone: Jim Blinn
Tenor Sax: Bobby Strickland
Trumpet:Mike Rose
Strings: Paul Brancato, Dean France, Roberta Freier, Stephen Gehl, Nathan Rubin, John Tenney
Harp: Barbara Imhoff
Background Vocals: Brent Bourgeoius, Michele Gray, Vicki Randle, N.D. Smart, Jeanie Tracy
The Waiting Game:-
Drums: Michael Urbano
Bass: Larry Tagg
Synthesizer: Byron Alfred
Digital Piano: Vince Welnick
Guitar: Lyle Workman
Background Vocals: Brent Bourgeois, Keta Bill, Kim Cataluna, Michele Gray, Skyler Jett, Mellisa Kary, Scott Matthews, Cary Sheldon, N.D.Smart
Parallel Lines:-
Drums: Michael Urbano
Percussion: Prarie Prince
Bass:Larry Tagg
Synthesizer:Brent Bourgious
Harp Synthesizer:Nate Ginsberg
Spooky Synthesizer:Scott Moon
Digital Piano:Vince Welnick
Guitar: Lyle Workman
Background Vocals:Keta Bill, Michele Gray, John Hampton, Melisa Kary,Scott Matthews,Annie Stocking
Can't Stop Running:-
Drums: Willie Wilcox
Electronic Drums: Prarie Prince
Shaker: Michael Pluznick
Timbales:Michael Urbano
Tembourine:Ralph Legnini
Congas:Mingo Lewis
Bass:Kasim Sulton
Kalimba Synthesizer: Roger Powell
Synthesizer:Vince Welnick
Lead Guitar:Lyle Workman
Guitar: Vernon 'Black' Ice
Background Vocals: Mary Lou Arnold, Kim Cataluna, Michele Gray, Cary Sheldon,Bill Spooner, Larry Tagg, Bryan Thym
Unloved Children:-
Drums:Michael Urbano
Tambourine: Gary Yost
Bass: Rick Anderson
Hammond Organ: Jimmy Pugh
Digital Piano: Vince Welnick
Lead Guitar: Todd Rundgren
Guitar:Lyle Workman
Baritone Sax: Bobby Strickland
Brass Synthesizer: Byron Alfred
Background Vocals: Brent Bourgeois, Kim Cataluna, Michele Gray, Scott Matthews, Cary Sheldon, Larry Tagg
Fidelity:-
Drums: Michael Urbano
Congas: Michael Pluznick
Bass: Larry Tagg
Synthesizer: Brent Bourgeois
Harp Synthesizer: Nate Ginsberg
Guitar: Lyle Workman
Clarinet: Peter Apfelbaum
flute: Bobby Strickland
Background Vocals: Kim Cataluna, Michele Gray, Scott Matthews, Cary Sheldon, Shandi Sinnamon, N.D.Smart
Feel It:-
Drums: Prarie Prince
Congas: Michael Puznick
Bass: Randy Jackson
Digital Piano: Vince Welnick
Lead Guitar: Vernon 'ice' Black
Trombone: Bruce Paine
Trumpet: Mike Rose
Tenor Sax: Bobby Strickland
Strings: Paul Brancato, Stefan Hershm John Tenney, The Dick Bright Strings
Background Vocals: Kim Cataluna, Michele Gray, Scott Matthews, Cary Sheldon, Shandi Sinnamon, N.D.Smart
Hawking:-
Drums: Michael Urbano
Congas: Michael Pliznick
Bass: Randy Jackson
Piano: Byron Allred
Vibe Synthesizer: Brent Bourgeois
Guitar: Vernon 'ice' Black
Guitar: Lyle Workman
Tenor Sax: Bobby Strickland
Background Vocals: Keta Bill, Skyler Jett, Raz Kennedy, Annie Stocking, Larry Tagg, Bryan Thym
I Love My Life:-
Drums: Michael Urbano
Bass: Larry Tagg
Piano: Nate Ginsberg
Hammond Organ: Jimmy Pugh
Lead Guitar: Lyle Workman
Congas: Michael Pluznick
Choir Master: Narada Michael Walden
I Love My Life Choir: Kim Cataluna, Clarence Clemons, Daymon Cooper, Vince Ebo, Shirley Faulkner, Emma Jean Foster, Paul Gilbert, Michele Gray, Derick Andre Hughes, Skyler Jett, Melisa Kary, Eric Martin, Scott Matthews, Kelly Moneymaker, Jenni Muldaur,Vicki Randle, Charles Reed, Paul Scott, Cary Sheldon, Shandi Sinnamon, Bryan Thym, Jeanie Tracy.
Track Listing:
Discography:
LABEL Cat.
No Tracks/Title Format Cover Country
Warner Bros CD3538 The Want of a nail/Todd
Interview Promo CDSingle No PS USA
Warner Bros CD3643 Can't stop running Promo
CDSingle No PS USA
Warner Bros 22868 Parallel Lines/I love my life 7"
single PS USA
Warner Bros CD3632-2 Parallel Lines Promo
CDSingle No PS USA
Warner Bros 22868-4 Parallel
Lines Cassingle PS USA
Roadrunner WB922843 The Want of A Nail/Fidelity 7"
Single PS HOLLAND
Warner Bros 25881 Nearly
Human Album Standard USA
Warner Bros 22P 2719 Nearly
Human Album 5 fingered hand JAPAN
Lyrics:
The Waiting Game
Parallel Lines
Two Little Hitlers
Unloved Children
Fidelity
Hawking
Want of a Nail
I've been wrong
I had plans so big
But the devil's in the details
I left out one thing
No one to love me
No one to love me
No one to love
For the want of a nail, the world was lost
For the want of a nail, the world was lost
For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost
For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost
For the want of a horse, the rider was lost
For the want of a rider, the message was lost
For the want of a rider, the message was lost
For the want of a message, the battle was lost
For the want of a battle, the war was lost
For the want of a war, the kingdom was lost
(Such a tiny thing)
You're askin'
What's all this talk about horses and war?
Put yourself in the place of the man at the forge
And day after day you live a life without love
'Til the morning you can't take it anymore
And you don't get up
Multiply it a billion times
Spread it all 'round the world
Put the curse of loneliness on every boy and every girl
Until everybody's kicking, everybody's scratching
Everything seems to fail
And it was all for the want of a nail
Tell me what else could the answer be
Don't hold back now
Give me all your love
Just a little more love
A little tiny bit of love
Every time that I fall for that same old trick
I punish myself with the same old stick
I want to believe it so badly I deceive myself
Forgetting reality
Ignoring the fact that you're altogether someplace else
Forgetting reality
But I swear here and now
The truth shall be mine
And surrender to my prayer
The weapon is time
I'll play your waiting game
I'm gonna win the win the waiting game
I'll play your waiting game
I'm gonna win this game my friend
And forget you in the end
Your memory seems like a living thing
I never know if I'm imagining
I look at your face and I know that's impossible
Forgetting it's just a dream
Now I'm hearing your voice saying anything is possible
Forgetting it's just a dream
And I still can't say why
You keep invading my mind
But this uncontrolled fixation
Grows weaker with time
A cloud of unknowing floats between you and me
A trickle of love still flows between you and me
But we live in different galaxies
But I swear here and now
Your heart will be mine
You'll surrender to my love
My weapon is time
And your wall of resistance
I will slowly undermine
While your uncontrolled fixation
Grows stronger with time
I'll play your waiting game
I'm gonna win the win the waiting game
I'll play your waiting game
I'm gonna win this game my friend
And I'll be with you in the end
I'll play, yes I will
Kindred spirits moving along the spiral
I can see you up on another level
It's too great a fall
And I can't reach you to pull me higher
But I don't seem to get much closer or any more far
What would you tell me, if I could hear you speaking?
If you could touch me, how would I know the feeling?
I just can't imagine
But I try to do it anyway
I wish I was moving faster, I wish you'd drift back
But it just wasn't meant to happen
Very soon I'll have to
Face the fact
Some things never come together
Parallel lines running on forever
And you can't turn back
There is never any starting over
Parallel lines never do cross over
It's a challenge
Gotta make myself remember
Facing the truth, well, that doesn't mean surrender
What is bravado and how much is a force of will?
I know that the world is full of opposites that attract
But unless we ignore the physics
Very soon we'll have to
So I send you the gift of empathy
If you'd once in your life acknowledge me
I have visualized so thoroughly
That when I think of me I think of we
Can't face the truth
It means that we must surrender
Understanding won't satisfy the hunger
It whittles away at the destiny we fulfill
And like an animal running wild
You can't call it back
And it's just gonna make it harder
When it's finally time to
It's like a train that's stuck running on a track
Parallel lines running on, running on, running on
Why are we racing to be so old?
I'm up late pacing the floor
I won't be told
You have your reservations
I'm bought and sold
I'll face the music, I'll face the facts
Even when we walk in polka dots and chequer slacks
Bowing and squatting, running after tidbits
Bobbing and squinting just like a nit wit
Two little Hitlers will fight it out until
One little Hitler does the other one's will
I will return, I will not burn
Down in the basement
I need my head examined
I need my eyes excited
I'd like to join the party
But I was not invited
You make a member of me
I'll be delighted
I wouldn't cry for lost souls you might drown
Dirty words for dirty minds, written in a toilet town
Dial me a valentine, she's a smooth operator
It's all so calculated, she's got a calculator
She's my soft-touch typewriter and I'm the great dictator
A simple game of self respect
You flick the switch and the world goes out
Nobody jumps as you expect
I would have thought you would have had enough by now
You call selective dating for some effective mating
I thought I'd let you down dear, but you were just deflated
I knew right from the start, we'd end up hating
Pictures of the merchandise plastered on the wall
We can look so long as we don't have to talk at all
You say you'll never know him
He's not a natural man
He doesn't want your pleasure
He wants as no one can
He wants to know the names of all those he's better than
Can't Stop Running
Time marches on
I learn to crawl, I learn to walk
You couldn't stop me from running
Stop me from running
Before I heard my name
Before I learned to talk
I knew I was running to something
Running to something
Into the arms of my god
Time marches on
And I awaken to the world
And I'm still running to something
Running to something far away
Unseen by the others in the herd
I'm only running to something
Running to something
Into the arms of my dream
I can't stop running
I can't stop running
I have a vision of myself breaking the finish line string
I still can hear it
This dream is calling
So I'll keep running
Time marches on
I start to trip, I start to fall
And now I'm running from something
Running from something on my tail
Can't turn to look, can't hear the call
I'm only running from something
Running from something
Running in fear I will fail
Meanwhile
Time marches on and on
And the strength to run may soon be gone
Now I watch the young ones coming
And it's on their legs I'm running
Into the arms of my god
Can you hear it? Can you hear it?
Feet don't fail me now
Must be a factory somewhere
Keeps on cranking them out
Seems like they travel in pairs
Not worth the trouble but too full of clout
Somebody must play his game
They get stuck in the here and now
Lending and borrowing pain
His fist, your face, you kiss the ground
But he don't do nothing half way
Complete this equation
He needs justification
Distaff affirmation
To keep on crankin' it out
We could build cell on cell
Mainline him straight to hell
But that would not dispel
Violent men, hard-headed women, unloved children
Must be a garden somewhere
Keeps on sending them down
Big eyes, big teeth, big hair
Ready to breed with the nearest clown
She has the will to complain
But something won't let her
Break free of the tether
Even though she knows better
She just can't figure it out
We can prescribe for pain
Have her declared insane
Even all this won't change
Violent men, hard-headed women, unloved children
We let them find their own way
While everyone chooses
To ignore the abuses
We've all got excuses
We keep on, keep on cranking them out
And nobody has the time
To look at the great design
But they're all from the same bloodline
Violent men, hard-headed women, unloved children
I've been hurt
I've never been so hurt
Yes, and only you know why
But I would be far more hurt if we had to say good bye
When I think that it's all or nothing
I tell myself
True love does not demand fidelity
If there's one sacred place always in your heart for me
Time has come
I knew the time would come
When someone would want to be more than friends
But we had a love so sweet
I thought the dream would never end
If my love could not withstand this jealousy
I'd remember the day I threw away our eternity
Has no plan, things will happen we don't understand
One day the glove is on the other hand
And when you think that it's all or nothing
Just tell yourself
If our love could not withstand this jealousy
We'd remember the day we threw away our eternity
If it's true love, it does not demand fidelity
Oh it hurt me so bad
But I can't help but love you for eternity
I know we got a true love
Feel It
I look at you and go mad
With thoughts of things that I'd do
If I had just one chance to show you
What this man really wants to do
When we're through, you would say
It's been done never that way
Now I know you can learn something new every day
And it feels so good
If you don't think too much
Don't even try to be serious
Just let my hands take control
And give me all of your soul
You know I tried
To run away but I can't hide
From the moment that's suspended deep inside
When you were mine
And now I need to feel it
One more time
Won't you try to feel it
Help me try to feel it
Feels so good when you lean into me
In the dark I can see
In my mind I can feel what is reality
Why can't you see
Things like this are meant to be
Yet somehow once again
You have thrown me aside
But always this feeling survives
Help me try one more time
Don't you know I tried
Whenever I
I close my eyes
Then I don't mind being the way I am
But whenever I try
Explaining why
I know I never can
Now that it's
Gone, paths I used to travel
Gone, things I used to handle
Gone, once I had a choice what to be
But then god kissed me
And I lost it when I fainted in his arms
Have pity on me brother
I'm trapped behind the mirror
I'm out here on the border
Wondering why
Why was it I?
Maybe my mind wouldn't have come this way
If I'd taken my time
Answers only unwind
When you can't look away
Maybe 'cause
I want the secret broken
I want the casket open
I need to see what no eyes can see
And when god kissed me
Then I dreamed them when I fainted in her arms
Now I've got to go on sleeping
Lean in a little closer
And I'll tell you what I'm dreaming
I'll tell you what I'm dreaming
I see time without beginning
Space without an ending
I see bodies strong and running
With minds not comprehending
Have pity on your brother
Please have pity on your sister
Take pity on each other
And on every living creature
Whenever I
Open my eyes
I can't believe it's real
It's a jungle outside
People just survive
They can't reach the high ideal
But I
Know if I can't recover, at least I
Know, I know the book from cover to cover, and who
Knows, I might dream forever
Since I've met the world's greatest lover
When god kissed me
And I knew it when I fainted in his arms
Let's dream together people
I Love my Life
Every day I hear the news
Seems like people worship pain
All your Oprahs and Donahues
They just can't explain
As you reap you shall sow
I looked high I looked low
Now I know that I love my life
I love my life
I said me and my creator
We got a funny love thing
It's happenin' now and not later
Yeah, that's why I sing
First came thought then came deed
I got caught now I'm freed
All I need is to love my life
I love my life
Time, the topic of the sermon tonight is time
Time, the thief of hope
Time, the ameliorator of all our endeavors
What will we do with time off our backs?
We would make this world a perfect place
We would make our lives a perfect thing, if not for time
But I tell you now, time is an illusion
Time is an illusion, time is not real
Time is the dividing line between what is true and what is not true
Between what is real and what is not real
Between what is so and what is not so
But who, I said who, who stands for time?
Who stands at the threshold of time?
Who decides what is true and what is not true?
We do, you and I
You and I decide what is true and what is not true
What shall be our guiding light?
Happiness, I say happiness
But in a world, I see people in a world of misery
I see a world full of sorrow
Why should we be happy?
Tell me why should we be happy?
We need a message from above
Look over there, look over here
I can see it, there is beauty in the world
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Trivia