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Reverse

by Scott Gagner

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    Deluxe 6-Panel Gatefold CD. Designed and hand illustrated by SG. Includes FREE Digital Download Card, full album lyrics, and photos from Abbey Road, Studio 2 recording session.

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1.
I met someone descended from on high / Someone who makes me laugh until I cry / And always leaves me clamoring for more / Never had a friend like you before / We speak in broken charcoal poetry / Inside this chamber of insanity / Shout about the Beatles and the Stones / Never had a friend like you before / Oh, you’re an ocean away / You’re an ocean away from me / You’re an ocean away / You’re an ocean away from me / You, stain glass window coloring your view / But it’s your cracks that let the light come through / Just wish you could see what I adore / Never had a friend like you before / Oh, you’re an ocean away / You’re an ocean away from me
2.
My Glasses 03:35
I’m taking my glasses off / Because I can’t bear to see this world so clearly / It’s simply too much for me / My head can’t take another dose of misery, seriously / I’m taking my glasses off / Because I can’t bear to read the headlines anymore / The greed and stupidity / My heart can’t take this lack of humanity, it’s insanity / I’m blurring out the edges just to find myself some peace / Until all of this agony starts to decrease / I’m blurring out the edges just to give my eyes some rest / Until someone writes a story that I don’t detest / Trust me, it’s for the best / So I’m taking my glasses off / I’m putting my headphones on / Because I can’t bare to hear the sounds you’re making with each other / Brother against brother / The pitch is always wrong / Flat throughout the verses and too sharp on the chorus / Cannot be good for us / I’m blurring out the edges just to find myself some peace / Until all of this agony starts to decrease / I’m blurring out the edges just to give my ears some rest / Until someone sings a song that I don’t detest / Trust me, it’s for the best / A story I don’t detest / Trust me, it’s for the best / I’m taking my glasses off / Putting my headphones on / Hey Scott! Yeah? Isn’t this a great view? I don’t know. Why not? I can’t see it. Why? Because I took my glasses off
3.
Stormy as the Irish Sea / Cloudy as the Milky Way / But I don’t need to worry / While I’m in your light / Shining on this Sunless Saturday / Winds are howling like a hound / Skies above are battleship gray / But I am downright balmy / Underneath your eyes / Shining on this Sunless Saturday / Baby please don’t take your sunshine away / So when I’m shutting down again / It’s only because I’m so afraid / But you don’t need to worry / Behind your green eyes / Shining on this Sunless Saturday
4.
Love never came easily to me / Always a struggle to make it stay / Friends say I shouldn’t cling so tightly / But I never could see any other way / I study those handsome leading men / To find the perfect lines to say / Women say I shouldn’t try to pretend / But I never could see any other way / Never could see any other way / Once had a love so beautiful / Tried to impress her every day / She would say I shouldn’t try so hard / But I never could see any other way
5.
Can’t get much better / Can’t get no worse / I’m turning wine into water / Like Jesus in Reverse / I asked for the doctor / They sent in the nurse / Because I’m growing thin as a rail / Like Elvis in reverse / Send back the taxi / And call up the hearse / Because this love is Dead On Arrival / From Cupid in reverse / Like Cupid in reverse
6.
Your melodies Hold Me / I hear you Everywhere / Singing sweet Little Lies / Like a Songbird in the air / Don’t need to Say You Love Me / Or Think About Me at all / But Don’t Stop thinking about tomorrow / Another town, another curtain call / So play that song for me, Christine McVie / We all know about Lindsay and Stevie / Their silk kimonos and black top hats / But Christine’s Got a Hold on Me / And there ain’t nothing wrong with that / You make You Make Loving Fun fun / Your writing’s Over My Head / Christine, I just wanna thank you / For the way you sang and the things that you said / So play that song for me, Christine McVie / Play that song for me
7.
For Granted 03:23
I can’t see you clearly / When life gets in the way / When it feels like tomorrow / Is just another day / But when I read your story / I wanted to hold that little girl / Something inside me / Awakened to a brave new world / Now I don’t want to take advantage / I don’t want to take control / I don’t want to take you for granted anymore / Now the louder I listen / The more you have to say / And as long as we keep talking / Then everything will be okay / Now I don’t want to take advantage / I don’t want to take control / I don’t want to take you for granted anymore / I don’t want to take advantage / I don’t want to lose control / I don’t want to take you for granted anymore
8.
There was a house here / But there is no house here anymore / Just an acre of weeds / And the occasional rusty soda can / With crows and developers circling / There was a house here / But there is no house here anymore / There was a woman here / But there is no woman here anymore / Just a faint odor of Coco Chanel / And a dying Boston Fern / And an overweight cat / Who just sits all day, silently judging me / Yes, there was a woman here / But there is no woman here anymore / There was a man here / But there is no man here anymore / Just a child, a child / Wearing daddy’s shirts / Staring into the middle distance / Sucking on a lollipop / There was a man here / But there is no man here anymore
9.
Goodbye 03:44
Well, you’ve given all you had to give / And you’re dying for a reason to live / With a song in your head / And a lump in your throat / But you are too afraid to say goodbye / You are too afraid to say goodbye / You’re skin and bones / Under morphine skies / Where bells will toll / And ashes will fly / But you are too afraid to say goodbye / You are too afraid to say goodbye / I am too afraid to say goodbye / Goodbye / You’re hard of head / And soft of heart / But you are too afraid to say goodbye / You are too afraid to say goodbye
10.
Her Idea 02:48
There’s accusation in your eyes / Like I stole something that was dear to you / But it’s time that you should know / That it was her idea to go / You can blame me all you like / I’m not there to defend myself / You can say it isn’t so / But it was her idea to go / I know that this is not what you want to hear / But if you want her to return / You have to set her free / I didn’t drag her by her hair / As if anyone could anyway / I just thought you’d like to know / That it was her idea to go / Yeah, deep down inside you know / That it was her idea to go
11.
Footprints 05:15
Like a weed, you are growing / Like a river, you are flowing / Like the seasons, you are changing a little too fast / Like a fish, you are swimming / With confidence, you are brimming / Like the seasons, you are changing a little too fast / Like a flower, you are blooming / Like a timpini, you are booming / Like the seasons, you are changing a little too fast / Like the leaves, you are changing a little too fast / Like the snow, you are falling a little too fast / Oh, this is what we came here for / Oh, little footprints in the snow

about

“Left me utterly astonished. The luminosity of these compositions shines more brilliantly.” ~ Patrick Donders, Sweet, Sweet Music

Abbey Road, Studio 2. Home of The Beatles, and for Scott Gagner, the realization of a lifelong dream. “I wanted to play the exact pianos that they played, and sing through the mic that John used on A Day in the Life. Doing both was a little overwhelming. It took a while to calm down enough to get a decent performance. After that it just flowed.” The resulting album, Reverse, flows indeed. Gagner has delivered his most melodic, uplifting, and heartfelt songs to date.

The bouncy My Glasses showcases the legendary Mrs. Mills tack piano, while Never Could See Any Other Way finds Gagner collaborating with Londoner Nick Frater on the appropriately psychedelic “completion” of the famous run-out groove gibberish at the end of Sgt. Pepper’s. But far from being another Beatles pastiche, Reverse is all about Gagner’s singular songwriting, featuring fresh combinations of blazing trumpets, growling Juno synthesizers, guitar-driven power-pop, cinematic strings, and beautiful piano.

And then there’s Christine McVie, Gagner’s devoted tribute to the oft-overlooked Fleetwood Mac songbird, who died shortly after the song was recorded. “Recreating those 1977 Rumours textures was a labor of love. After all, my wife sang a Christine McVie song at our wedding.”

credits

released August 22, 2023

Produced by SG. Recorded at Abbey Road, Studio 2 (London, UK), Midwife Studio (Minnetonka, MN), and Decibelle Recording (San Francisco, CA). Engineered by Gordon Davidson, JJ Wiesler, and SG. Mixed by JJ Wiesler (1—3, 8, 11), Jason Weinheimer (5—7, 9—10), and Nick Frater (4). Mastered by Greg Reierson, Rare Form Mastering. Written by SG (Varsity Team, ASCAP), with Nick Frater (Great Sheiks Music, PRS) on Never Could See Any Other Way. Design, illustration by SG.

1. Friend Like You / SG: Vocals, Piano, Electric 12-String Guitar, Nashville Guitar, Ebow, Juno, Glockenspiel / Tim Zhorne: Drums / Sam Graber: Bass / Rob Dehlinger: Trumpet / Erica Burton: Viola / Omega Rae: Vocals

2. My Glasses / SG: Vocals, Bass, Mrs. Mills Piano, Electric Guitar, Wurlitzer, Tambourine, Claps / Tim Zhorne: Drums / Rob Dehlinger: Trumpet / Erica Burton: Viola / Omega Rae: Vocals / Kevin Garrett: Dazzling Conversation, Claps / Nick Frater: Claps

3. Sunless Saturday / SG: Vocals, Electric Guitar, Juno, Wurlitzer, Tambourine / Tim Zhorne: Drums / Sam Graber: Bass / James Nash: Electric Guitar, solo / Jessie Bryan: Vocals

4. Never Could See Any Other Way / SG: Vocals, Drums, Electric 12-String Guitar, Angels, Typewriter, Percussion, FX / Nick Frater: Bass, Mellotron, Pianet, Tubular Bell, Shaker / Rob Dehlinger: Trumpet / Arnie Kim: Slide Guitar

5. Jesus in Reverse / SG: Vocals, Piano, Electric 12-String Guitar, Nashville Guitar, Wurlitzer, Mellotron, B3, Glockenspiel, Snaps / Ryan Johnson: Drums / Sam Graber: Bass / Rob Dehlinger: Trumpet / Jon Chi: Lap Steel Guitar / Jessie Bryan: Vocals

6. Christine McVie / SG: Vocals, Wurlitzer, Piano, Buckingham Guitar, Vinyl Chair, Tambourine / Tim Zhorne: Drums / Sam Graber: Bass / Nick Frater: Fender Rhodes, Mrs. Mills Piano / James Nash: Electric Guitar, Solo / Jason Weinheimer: B3 / Jessie Bryan: Vocals

7. For Granted / SG: Vocals, Drums, Wurlitzer, Electric 6- And 12-String Guitar, Nashville Guitar, Tambourine, Congas, Percussion / Sam Graber: Bass / Rob Dehlinger: Trumpet / Jon Chi: Electric Guitar / Omega Rae: Vocals / Jessie Bryan: Vocals

8. There Was A House Here / SG: Vocals, Muted Mrs. Mills Piano, Synths, Electric Guitar, Tongue Drum, Tambourine, Claps / Tim Zhorne: Drums, China Crash / Sam Graber: Bass / Jessie Bryan: Vocals / Ingrid Gagner: Bridge / Kevin Garrett: Claps / Nick Frater: Claps

9. Goodbye / SG: Vocals, Drums, Piano, Wurlitzer, Electric / Guitar, Ebow, Shaker / Erica Burton: Viola / Omega Rae: Vocals

10. Her Idea / SG: Vocals, Drums, Piano, Wurlitzer, Glockenspiel Sam Graber: Bass / Jon Chi: Electric Guitar / Erica Burton: Viola / Rob Dehlinger: Trumpet / Jessie Bryan: Vocals

11. Footprints / SG: Vocals, Drums, Electric 6- And 12-String Guitar, Nashville Guitar, Challen Piano, Wurlitzer, Juno, Glockenspiel, Mellotron, Tambourine, Trail Recordings / Sam Graber: Bass / Erica Burton: Viola / Tim Zhorne: Sleigh Bells / Omega Rae: Vocals

Thanks to the musicians, engineers, videographers, and everyone else who has supported my music. Special thanks to the Garrett family for hosting me in London. For Carson, Ingrid, Alex, Che (RIP), Gonzo (RIP), Christine Mcvie (RIP), & Kevo (Chamber of Insanity).

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Scott Gagner Minneapolis, Minnesota

Scott Gagner is a Minnesota-based songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He has collaborated with members of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Big Star, The Posies, R.E.M., Los Lobos, and Midlake. His 2019 album "Hummingbird Heart" was voted "Best of the Year" by Power Pop News. His songs have been featured nationally on such platforms as USA Today. Reverse is his sixth album. ... more

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