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KURF​Ü​RSTENDAMMNED

by SKELETON STAFF

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Ben Habegger
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Ben Habegger If David Bowie had ever written the music for a Don Bluth flick, this is what that would have sounded like. If you’re a fan of animated films and period-style musicals, I cannot recommend this album any higher. Favorite track: We're In Berlin.
Rebekah Galante
Rebekah Galante thumbnail
Rebekah Galante I really like what you did with this album. its strange but fun and I can't wait to see what comes next. Favorite track: The World Will Be Our Valentine.
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  • Full Digital Discography

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of MALAPROPISM, ABSENTEEISM - Collabs, Covers & Cast-Away Children, Biggest Baddest Fan, Art Girl, It's Murder, KURFÜRSTENDAMMNED, I Told You I Was Poor - Deconstructed, Born To Be Fat, and 2 more. , and , .

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    Limited Edition Compact Disc with additional signed artwork by Skeleton Staff

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1.
Welcome to Berlin, To Berlin we welcome you. Here’s your passport and your trunk Mein Herr. Anything that you wish to declare? Welcome to Berlin, To Berlin we welcome you.
2.
Here we are at your request re-living the doomed burlesque, everyone’s in fancy dress, we’re celebrity-obsessed, our economy’s recessed, all the world’s in the same mess, are we disappearing west as our history would suggest? Every parent’s tired and stressed, every teenager’s depressed, every child is dispossessed, every pensioner regrets, we’re all sinking with the rest in political unrest and the one escape that's left is to run around undressed. Everybody on brink of this disaster, parallel the faces ‘round the Jägerstrasse. Let’s not waste this precious moment ~ Open up your heart we’re in Berlin. Every wonder’s waiting for us ~ Open up your arms we’re in Berlin.
3.
4.
Ladies and gentlemen we welcome to the stage the headline act for this evening, fresh from the land of Australia. With a tuneful chest of songs that will inspire and amaze you. They’re the toast of their homeland, now Berlin will not fail you: ~ SKELETON STAFF ~
5.
Klaus works nights from 10 ‘til dawn, filming porn. Elke slips the milkman one when Klaus has gone. And the milkman’s wife is making plans with the loudmouth at the taxi stand, who will always take a helping hand if you are short a fare. Adulterers, liars and thieves, need the longest memories. What tangled webs we weave, when we set out to deceive. Now the milkman’s made his free delivery, Elke lets him lounge around in Klaus’s gown. And the milkman’s wife was packed to go, but the taxi driver never showed. Being wise to where her husband goes, she’s now back on his trail. Adulterers, liars and thieves, need the longest memories. In all our histories, can’t we evolve beyond these? Stealing prints to sell them on at Cafe Braun, Klaus gets caught and now he’s done. They’ve sent him home. All the journey back to his abode, the taxi driver won’t leave him alone. Whilst the milkman’s wife invades his home, ripping at Elke’s hair (she says) Adulterers, liars and thieves, need the longest memories What tangled webs we weave, when we set out to deceive. Adulterers, liars and thieves, spanners, suitors, schleppers and screens. In all our histories, can’t we evolve beyond these? Damage, carnage and contradictions leave the Wachtmeister with 5 convictions. Adulterers, liars and thieves, need the longest memories What tangled webs we weave, when we set out to deceive. Adulterers, liars and thieves, Otto Dix just paints what he sees. Throughout our histories can’t we evolve beyond these... Can’t we evolve beyond these?
6.
Extras 02:38
Selfies and dairies and ladies’ anatomies, kittens and puppies and animal charities. Skateboarding casualties, global catastrophes, media posers of every category. Shamed bullies, caught hoodies, police brutalities, shedding the calories, truths, myths and fallacies. This best of times is worse than all those times we cursed... Extras, extras crowding the stage ~ Extras, extras acting our age. We’re all stars ’cause we’re all the same. There’s no one left to watch the show. Self-diagnosing your family’s allergies, babies and bellies and holiday galleries. Flattery chat leads to strange sexualities, fantasies, tragedies, ugly realities. How-to for dummies and expensive gadgetry. Bankruptcy, blasphemy, government strategy. This golden time is worse than all those times we cursed... Extras, extras crowding the stage ~ Extras, extras acting our age. We’re all stars ’cause we’re all the same. There’s no one left to watch the Extras, extras crowding the stage ~ Extras now defining our age. We’re the stars now we’re all the same. There’s no one left to watch... There’s no one left to watch the show.
7.
“The mind is like an umbrella - it functions best when opened.” “I’m worth more dead than alive. Don’t cry for me after I’m gone; cry for me now.” “I do not weep: I loathe tears, for they are a sign of slavery.” “What use is there for a biography of myself? I’m just a movie actor.” “The Great War was the greatest sexual catastrophe that has befallen civilised man.” How joyous the man who fights for his domain. Who leaps from the trench to conquer new terrain. How joyous the man who takes the day and claims it as his own. “I will either be famous or infamous.” “No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.” “My brain bled dreadful visions. I could see nothing but a thousand skeletons jigging in a row.” “There is only good music and bad music.” “It's an old ploy of the bourgeoisie. They keep a standing ‘art’ to defend their collapsing culture.” How joyous the man who fights for his domain. Who shoots for the stars and won't stop taking aim. How joyous the man who‘ll seize the day and claim it as his own. How joyous the man who fights for his domain. Who leaps from the trench to conquer new terrain. How joyous the man who’ll seize the day and claim it as his own. “Don’t be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.” “Whoever stays for any length of time in Berlin hardly knows in the end where he actually came from.”
8.
Old Berlin. We’re conquering every street in old Berlin. We’re dead men still on their feet in old Berlin. We're tasting the sour and sweet in bad old Berlin. Old Berlin. Everyone has their price in old Berlin. No one is thinking twice in old Berlin. Everyone rolls the dice in old Berlin. Every sin is there on the menu. Here in old Berlin, we’ll never forget you, now your every street and alley’s a venue and the bargain’s getting sweeter every time we come here. Every bar’s a sensual vacation, every gyration a tempting sensation, how can we control our own great inflation when we know...… The world will be our valentine, no need will be declined. Your love’s like an assembly line, we’re trying everything that we can try. The world will be our valentine, we’ll conquer all we'll find. For everyone that’s so inclined, we’re trying everything money can buy. Old Berlin. Come to the cabaret in old Berlin. Lucifer’s holding sway in old Berlin. Life is a dark bouquet in bad old Berlin. Old Berlin. Cold cash for hot sisters in old Berlin. The price of a nasty rash in old Berlin. For high art and utter trash is old Berlin. You could win your own place in history, down in old Berlin you’ll re-write your destiny, whether it be clean, dark or dirty. You can rise out of the muck-heap any time you want to. Every girl’s a sensual vacation, every boy in town’s a tempting sensation, how can we control our own great inflation when we know… The world will be our valentine, no need will be declined. Your love’s like an assembly line, we’re trying everything that we can try. The world will be our valentine, we’ll conquer all we’ll find. For everyone that’s so inclined, everyone, everywhere: The world will be our valentine, no need will be declined This town is like a sparkling wine, we’re trying everything that we can try. The world will be our valentine, we’ll conquer all we'll find For everyone that’s so inclined,we’re trying everything money can buy, we’re trying everything money can buy.
9.
Crutches 04:55
Despite their threats I had no bucks to pay, and they’d broken my spine at the end of the fray. The surgeon frowned in disgust and dismay for the x-rays revealed my destroyed vertebrae. I can’t walk, I can’t walk, I can’t walk, I can’t walk: I’ll forever need crutches to give me support. I’m an object of laughter, an object of sport, but I really don't care, ‘cause I’m comfortable with my crutches. Throughout the country the healer was known, So he smiled and reclined on his ivory throne. His disciples and minions snatched my crutches from me and they laughed and they sneered as I fell to my knees. You can walk, you can walk, you can walk, you can walk: You don’t need to rely on any means of support. You’re an object of laughter, an object of sport, if you keep on deluding yourself that you need your crutches. Before they broke the news, they broke my crutches over my head. And a fractured rain of splinters showered me with dread. And when the bough breaks, the baby comes a-tumbling in its wake… My crutches broken, my anger did blaze, So I swung with my fists and I raged and I raged. I was kicking their heads, I was throttling them good, ‘til I noticed that without assistance I stood. I stood. I could walk, I could walk, I could walk, I could walk. There’s no need to rely on any means of support. But today if I see any props of that sort: Both of my legs still go weak at the sight of crutches.
10.
Cousin Frieda has a tiny little problem, sadly, she’s a trifle plain. All the boys and girls ignore her and her clothes are drab and tame. Ah, but cousin Frieda has another option from this surgeon's magazine. She won’t be a natural beauty, but at least she will be seen… She wants to join the gang. She’s signing up, wants to join our gang. Say goodbye to abnormality. She wants to join the gang. She’s signing up, wants to join our gang. Decrease her dimensionality. And she don’t care what it cost. Neighbour Fritz is getting uneasy and anxious now his business won’t survive. But he has another option, since our last recruitment drive. He wants to join the gang. He’s signing up, wants to join our gang. The Party’s fixing his maladies. He wants to join the gang. He's signing up, wants to join our gang. His policy is brutality. He wants to join the gang. He’s signing up, wants to join our gang. There's no time left for neuterality. He wants to join the gang. He's signing up, wants to join our gang. Our reach is expanding nationally, And we don't care what it cost.
11.
When I first signed on, you should have seen me. Every man walking wanted to be me. Giggles and sighs were heard as I walked by. Curtains moved when I passed under streetlights. Since my return, they look in a different way. I recall shop girls straining to see me walking in the rain. Now my romantic bearing ain’t quite the same Longing once made them peer over hedges, now their eyes snag on all my rough edges. It was the uniform that once made me, now it's the thing that roundly betrays me. Since my return, they look in a different way. I recall shop girls straining to see me marching in the rain. Now my heroic bearing ain’t quite the same.
12.
Those People 01:12
Those people way over there, they think they’re superior. They’re crafty and sinister, degenerate whisperers... Those people are not like us, they’re not people we can trust. Those people keep to themselves, this country just isn’t theirs. Those people should burn in hell, they give off a horrid smell. We should make them disappear. Left-handers just ain’t welcome here.
13.
When you don’t know history, never sifted its debris, there’s one thing that's guaranteed: The same mistakes will be... Parallelism, will it happen again? Parallelism, who’ll be taking the blame? Parallelism, is it feeling the same? Looks like the same old train... Inflation, Discrimination, Misinformation, Legalisation, Exploitation, Intoxication, Solicitation, Self-congratulation, Deprivation, Infiltration, Capitulation, Dehumanisation, Cooperation and then Cremation. Looks like the same old train.
14.
Break out the champers and strike up the band,we may not see out the year, I’d rather take up my banjo or take to the stage, rather than trembling in fear. They went down happy, so happy, that’s how they all died, back in Berlin the last time. They went down singing, yes singing, that’s how they all died: With their voices all raised in song. Now everybody says you must not fear, then everybody says your end is near. Then everybody says this man’s sincere, then everyone says he’s a racketeer. Then everybody says this fiscal year, you’re gonna have to find a new career. Then everybody says you must be of good cheer. Then everyone says shift it up a gear, then everybody says it’s too severe. Then everyone votes not to interfere, then argues over what to commandeer. Then everybody blames the auctioneer, when no one bid ‘cause the reserve’s too dear. Then everybody says there are no problems here. But I say: Break out the schnapps and let's strike up the band, we may not see out the year, I’d rather take up my top hat or take to the stage, rather than living in fear. We’ll go down happy, so happy, that’s how we’ll all die, just like they did the last time. We’ll go down singing, yes singing, that’s how we’ll all die: With our voices all raised in song. We'll all die singing, yes singing, that's how we'll all die: With our voices all raised in song.
15.
Goodbye Berlin, I’ll be leaving today, no stops along the way. Life in Berlin was beautiful but now I’ll be on my way. Farewell my friends, I’ll remember you still, locked in that one-way train. Life in Berlin’s been beautiful, but we must be on our way. When we were together ~ Natives and foreigners... When we were together ~ High-born and commoners... We felt no oppressor ~ ‘Cept Boot-girls and Dominas... When we were together ~ When we were together. When we were together ~ There were no followers... When we were together ~ We were autonomous... We felt no displeasure ~ We walked with confidence... When we were together ~ When we were together. Goodbye Berlin, I’ll be leaving today, boarding that one way train. Life in Berlin was beautiful, but now I’ll be on my way.

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released May 1, 2016

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SKELETON STAFF Sydney, Australia

Skeleton Staff are a Psych-pop folk glam baroque’n’roll ensemble from Sydney Australia, that live in a cartoon strip.

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