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Screwed​-​Up People Make Great Art

from Striking 12: The New GrooveLily Musical by GrooveLily

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lyrics

GENE (GRUMPY GUY’S FRIEND WHO STUDIED SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE):
He grew up poor, just a shoemaker’s son
A lanky kid who had a really big nose
Insecure, immature
He was often found dressing up in girly clothes
His father died and his mother explained
that the Ice Maiden took him away
That little lie made him cry,
Gave him nightmares and it haunted him till his dying day

What a shock
Yeah, it wound him up inside just like a cuckoo clock
Going tick tick tock

‘Cause screwed-up people make great art
They shoot right from the screwed-up heart
Screwed-up people bare their souls and that’s not always smart

Now our man Hans had a heart full of love
But his feelings weren’t always returned
He was odd and a clod He’d make overtures and
always end up getting burned
He was afraid of churches, fire, and dark
Some disaster would be sure to arrive
Now our bizarre superstar
couldn’t sleep because he worried he’d be buried alive

So insane
So he wrote a lot of fairy tales to ease the pain
That crazy Dane

‘Cause screwed-up people make great art
Imagination off the chart
Screwed-up people send us postcards from a world apart

He created a fantasy world and he got him some great reviews
Supernatural stories of snowmen and mermaids and magic shoes
But when his characters get what they want there is often a rude surprise
Because Hans Christian Andersen looked at the world
through really screwed-up eyes

He never married and he never had kids
So his stories were his legacy
Emperor dude, in the nude
And a princess who was kept awake all night by a pea

On and on
Turning all those ugly ducklings into swans
That crazy Hans

‘Cause screwed-up people make great art
God gave them a running start
For example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(he made great art)...

credits

from Striking 12: The New GrooveLily Musical, released March 22, 2005
Recorded on 09/12/04
Recorded by: GrooveLily
Written by: Milburn/Sheinkin/Vigoda
Gene Lewin: lead vocal & drums
Valerie Vigoda: electric violin & backing vocal
Brendan Milburn: keyboard, keyboard bass & backing vocal

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GrooveLily Seattle, Washington

Bicoastal trio GrooveLily inhabits that contemporary space where creative musicians ignore the boundaries laid down by words like rock, folk, jazz and pop. The success of their first concert-musical, the critically-acclaimed holiday show STRIKING 12, has led them farther into the world of theatre, where they have carved out a unique niche as a rock band writing and performing shows. ... more

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