Before Your Summer Fades

by Blank Pages

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1.	Take the Stage 03:56	lyrics	buy track

2.	She's Got the Knack 04:04	lyrics	buy track

3.	It Is What It Is 05:19	lyrics	buy track

4.	Late Bloomer 03:17	lyrics	buy track

5.	Make up Your Mind 03:44	lyrics	buy track

6.	Red Eye Love 02:47	lyrics	buy track

7.	High Flyer 04:38	lyrics	buy track

8.	So Long, Long Friend 04:34	lyrics	buy track

9.	Lost and Found 03:59	lyrics	buy track

10.	That's Too Bad 03:08	lyrics	buy track

11.	Writing a New Tale 06:15	lyrics	buy track

12.	I Have Been Lost 05:37	lyrics	buy track

about

Can power pop be thought-provoking while celebrating the giddy excitement of a classic three-minute single at the same time? Blank Pages songwriter Greg Potter thinks so, and his band has been doing just that from their New Jersey studio for nearly 25 years.

On Before Your Summer Fades, Potter pairs his signature melodic sensibility with lyrics exploring uncertainty, loss and inevitable change. Blank Pages’ sound is a unique blend of old school (Big Star, Wings) and modern pop (Sloan, Mike Viola) that is distinctly their own.

The record comes after a 7-year hiatus marked by the arrival of children and the loss of old friends. But Potter never stopped writing, and he delivers an engaging album that ponders middle age. From the straight ahead rock of the album opener “Take the Stage,” to the acoustic introspection of “So Long, Old Friend,” the record moves seamlessly from fuzzy tweed amps to sweeter moments drenched in jangling acoustics.

Melody is central to Potter’s approach, as evidenced by power pop tracks like “High Flyer,” “She’s Got the Knack,” and “Lost and Found.” The album closes with two songs that find him delving deeper into the uncertainly of midlife: the expansive “Writing a New Tale,” and the anthemic “I Have Been Lost.”

Before Your Summer Fades is the fifth studio album from Blank Pages, featuring Potter on guitar and lead vocals, Jason Brown on bass and guitar, Ed McCaffrey on drums.

Before Your Summer Fades is the band’s most accomplished record to date, adding a new level of sophistication to the Blank Pages catalog both musically and lyrically. The band has four prior releases on the FDR Label: Funny Pages, 45 & 33, On My Street and Absolute Uncertainty.
credits

credits

released January 19, 2018

Greg Potter: guitar and lead vocals
Jason Brown: bass and guitar
Ed McCaffrey: drums.

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FDR Label Chesterfield, New Jersey

FDR Label is the small NJ indie label with the big power pop heart. Formed in 1996, FDR Label is known for wildly popular tribute CDs to the Replacements, The Who, and the 80s movie tribute, High School Reunion.

Releases have featured Guided By Voices, Frank Black, Matthew Sweet, Pat Dinizio, The Bigger Lovers, Bastards of Melody, The Successful Failures, the Dipsomaniacs, Taggart, and many more. ... more

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Track Name: Take the Stage: Pick your guitars up, tune and plug 'em in.
Flip all the amps and turn 'em up to ten.
The curtain opens, you play that song again.

You want to leave your mark and make the most of every night.
You never know when you'll play your last show, so take the stage.
We're ready to go.

Under the spotlights, the sweat rolls down your cheek.
The club is packed and there ain’t an empty seat.
You hit the strings and the crowd goes to their feet.

You want to leave your mark and make the most of every night.
You never know when you'll play your last show, so take the stage.
We're ready to go.
Track Name: She's Got the Knack: When I drift too far away from here,
she reaches me and brings me back.
Because she is my girl and she's got the knack.

I've seen a place in my mind
that words cannot express to you.
Still I try to paint you a scene
that recreates the way I feel
before the colors fade.

When I can't see white
she takes out her brush
and adds some color to my black.
Because she is my girl
and she's got the knack.

There have been times
when I've felt my confidence was all but gone.
And it seemed everything that I had
would slowly slip away from me
right between the cracks.

When I drift too far away from here,
she gives me something that I lack.
Because she is my girl
and she's got the knack.

When nothing matters much to me,
She will find a way to light my spark.
Sometimes when I feel so uninspired,
She intrigues me with her special art.

I would think that this must sound familiar to you now.
So please stop me if you've heard
this tape loop spinning round my head
before I repeat myself.

When I drift too far away from here,
she reaches me and brings me back
because she is my girl and she's got the knack.
When I drift too far away from here,
she reaches me and brings me back
because she is my girl and she has got it.
Track Name: It Is What It Is: Lately I just don't feel like myself.
My mind is wandering and my feet end up somewhere else.

Something's changed at all those places we go.
I've forgotten all those little things I used to know

But you said, “Don't overthink it, it's easy to see.
Don't overstate it, it's simple to say.
Don't underestimate yourself, you'll catch on
that what this is is what it is.”

Maybe I've just been trying too hard.
My thoughts are racing and I've pushed myself too far.
I can't help looking everywhere.
Maybe I'm searching for something that isn't there.

But you said, “Don't overthink it, it's easy to see.
Don't overstate it, it's simple to say.
Don't underestimate yourself, you'll catch on
that what this is is what it is.”

What this is, is what it is.

But you said, “Don't overthink it, it's easy to see.
Don't overstate it, it's simple to say.
Don't underestimate yourself, you'll catch on
that what this is is what it is.”

What this is, is what it is.
Track Name: Late Bloomer: Late bloomer, there's no time to wait.
Spread your pedals before it gets too late.
Open up and let your fragrance flow
across the breeze before the shadows grow.

Late bloomer, you're finally catching on.
Show yourself before your summer's gone.
Take your place among the garden's glade.
Catch the sun before your colors fade.

You've arrived but the seasons change so fast.
And soon the sultry summer winds will pass
and blow your fallen leaves through the grass.
So make the most of every day
for soon tomorrow will be today.

Late Bloomer, it’s time to spread your seeds
and root yourself among the other weeds.
Next year's sprouts will grow to bloom one day
after fall when you wilt away.

You've arrived but the seasons change so fast.
And soon the sultry summer winds will pass
and blow your fallen leaves through the grass.
So make the most of every day
for soon tomorrow will be today.

Late bloomer, there's no time to wait.
Spread your pedals before it gets too late.
Open up and let your fragrance flow
across the breeze before the shadows grow.
Track Name: Make up Your Mind: Everything clicks on, until she turns it off.
Then she turns me on again.
Should we keep flipping this switch?
I can't decide.

Everything is good, until she makes me feel bad.
Then she makes feel good again.
Should we keep putting ourselves through this?
I can’t decide.

So please make up your mind
because I can't make up mine.
Please make up your mind
before you make up mine for me,
because I can't decide.

I feel so young, but too old for this.
Then she makes me feel young again.
Is this heartache or bliss?
I can’t decide.

So please make up your mind
because I can't make up mine.
Please make up your mind
before you make up mine for me,
because I can't decide.

Love or hate?
Pain or pleasure?
Start or stop?
It's now or never.
I can’t decide.

So please make up your mind
because I can't make up mine.
Please make up your mind
before you make up mine for me,
because I can't decide.
Make up your mind.
Track Name: Red Eye Love: 7:15 at terminal D.
I saw her face behind a magazine.
Ran to the gate, dropped my bags
when she picked up my boarding pass.

Checked my plane, departing on time.
Got my book and plastic bottle of wine.
Took my seat next to my new friend.
Maybe this flight will never end.

My mind is reeling (she’s not feeling).
My pulse is quickening (she’s not listening).
Well, I guess she was only being polite.
Touching down in reality is a bumpy flight.

My head is spinning (her patience is thinning).
My mind is swimming (her eyes are dimming).
Well, I guess I kept her up all night.
Touching down in reality is a bumpy flight.

Our plane's descending (she’s pretending).
My heart is soaring (she’s deboarding).
She moved through the crowd and out of sight.
Touching down in reality is a bumpy flight.
Track Name: High Flyer: The sweetest bird that's ever flown.
The muse for every wind that's ever blown.
And from high up in the trees
she'd never even see anything
so small as me.

A trail of sparkles through every eye
as she glides through their skies.
Every head turns to stare
as she circles through the air.
She's a high flyer.

From up in the clouds
I'm just another face in the crowd.
From up where she sings,
I'm in the shadow of her wings,
where I wait for her song's beautiful sound
here on the ground.

There's the one I couldn't forget.
Lifts my spirits up like a jet.
But she takes off in flight
and soon I'm out of sight.
She's a high flyer.

From up in the clouds
I'm just another face in the crowd.
From up where she sings,
I'm in the shadow of her wings,
where I wait for her song's beautiful sound
here on the ground.

She's a high flyer.
From up in the clouds
I'm just another face in the crowd.
From up where she sings,
I'm in the shadow of her wings,
where I wait for her song's beautiful sound.
She's a high flyer.
Track Name: So Long, Long Friend: Goodbye.
So long my old friend.
It's far too soon to end.
So long my old friend,
'til I see you again.

When the passage of time
starts to fade my memories,
would you send some kind of sign,
or anything to remind me?

Goodbye.
So long my old friend.
It's far too soon to end.
So long my old friend,
'til I see you again.

Before you blink years have gone by.
We have changed and grown apart.
But I'm imagining the day
when we pick up back at the start.

Goodbye.
So long my old friend.
It's far too soon to end.
So long my old friend,
'til I see you again.

We can try and slow it down,
but life is quick at moving on.
So please forgive me if I might
sometimes forget that you're gone.

Goodbye.
So long my old friend.
It's far too soon to end.
So long my old friend,
'til I see you again.
Track Name: Lost and Found: Those times we had nothing to do and no other place to go.
The first moment when you see someone you've got to get to know.
The anticipation because it’s almost Friday night.

I want that back.
Give me something so strong I can't recapture it when it's gone.
I want that back.
Before it gets too late let's take one more time around.
Because anything worth looking for is lost before it's found.

The twisted knots in my gut when I called you on the phone.
That speeding engine in my shirt when we found ourselves alone.
When you told me that you feel the way I do.

I want that back.
Give me something so strong I can't recapture it when it's gone.
I want that back.
Before it gets too late let's take one more time around.
Because anything worth looking for is lost before it's found.

Until I find it I've still got that memory.

I want that back.
Give me something so strong I can't recapture it when it's gone.
I want that back.
Before it gets too late let's take one more time around.
Because anything worth looking for is lost before it's found.
Track Name: That's Too Bad: Yes that's too bad that we don't talk.
I guess it was sad when I had to walk away
from that situation.

Mistakes were made I admit it's true.
Then you blamed everyone but you.
And once, I was mad.
Now I don't think about that much.
And I guess it's too bad that we lost touch.

Yes, that's too bad that we don't kiss.
But I think that I'm glad that I won't miss being the one
who takes your frustration.

We all lose now and again.
But thanks to you nobody wins.
And once, I was mad.
Now I don't think about that much.
And I guess it's too bad that we lost touch.

Well that's too bad and I don't care.
I've had just enough of your unfair treatment and
manipulation.

Everyone's had love go wrong.
But I can’t worry so long.
And once, I was mad.
Now I don't think about that much.
And I guess it's too bad that we lost touch.
Track Name: Writing a New Tale: Your story begins and years have flown by
but the weeks drag on and on.
And while you’re living by the book,
you only write it day to day:
word by word, line by line and page by page.
That’s a tired biography.
Now I’m writing a new tale to tell.

In chapter two, characters come and go,
but the plot never seems to change.
Though you followed chapter and verse,
it lacked a central theme
or a metaphor for a simile that’s drenched in hyperbole.
It’s a familiar tragedy.
So I’m writing a new tale to tell.

Anyone can spin a yarn,
but you need a clever motif
for compelling narrative
that’s hailed in the Sunday Times’ book reviews.
Though it sounds like a cliché,
writer's block got the best of me
and the climax was a bit weak.
Well, I should have read that on the flap.
That’s just a mundane fantasy.
So I’m writing a new tale to tell.

Mine is a common history.
So I’m writing a new tale to tell.

Now I’ve penned my first account
with more fiction that fact,
like a worn out paperback
that’s thrown in the dollar bin at a second-hand store.
Though it won’t make the best sellers list,
there’s a sequel in the works:
no literary masterpiece,
but a volume I’d be proud to pass to my son.
A chronicle I share with no one.
It’s not the same old story.
Now’s I’m writing a new tale to tell.
Track Name: I Have Been Lost: Where have I been?
I was searching for
that perfect place and couldn’t find it.
I have been lost.

Now I’m here,
at some new place.
I found a path that led me to it.
I have been lost.

And fall is falling down into
this forest I’m wandering through.
But soon I’ll see right through the trees.
And I will push right through the leaves
because standing here, makes it clear
that I have been lost.

What did I do
by moving much too slow?
I missed a chance and didn’t know it.
I have been lost.

Now I know I was unsure.
I couldn’t see but now I get it.
I have been lost

And fall is falling down into
this forest I’m wandering through.
But soon I’ll see right through the trees.
And I will push right through the leaves
because standing here, makes it clear
that I have been lost.

Now this season’s light arrives so late
that it’s left us with no time to wait.
Because there’s something to be found
before the shadows cross the ground.
Because standing here, now it’s clear
that I will not be lost.