MATTHEW McMAHON

• Singer/songwriter
• Veteran worship leader
• Ph.D. physicist
• Renter peeved about bailouts

Just welcomed a new baby into this crazy world - that makes five now! Join me on Facebook!

Matthew McMahon grew up in - oh, let's dispense with the third-person stuff, shall we? I'm from CT, currently living in MD by way of NJ and TN. I'm a Christian. I'm a limited-government conservative. I'm a physicist by training, and that's my day job. One of them, anyway. My other day job is leading worship at a church plant. So I made this record while juggling those and trying to be a good dad and husband. So to answer your questions: Here's an FAQ, er, without the Q. If you watch as much Jeopardy as I do (when I'm not making EPs), you should be able to guess the questions.

• Yes, my wife is a saint, and yes, our four five! children are primarily a credit to her.
• A physicist is someone who studies physics. You probably skipped that class in high school.
• As it happens, I do have a Ph.D. in physics. Nanotechnology and optics were my main fields in grad school.
• No, seriously. I wasn't kidding.
• Blogging? Yep, though I don't do it much anymore, given my other two-and-a-half jobs. My online handle is FzxGkJssFrk and my blog is here. Possibly the only Christian artist with an Instalanche to my name?
• No, I'm not a Puritan theologian.
• Nope, I'm not a West Coast eye scientist either.
• I'm also not a professional golfer. Nor am I Canadian. Though I did finally break 100 in the past year on a real course - with only one mulligan, and it was the legit first-drive-of-the-day variety. Pebble Beach, here I come...
• That's a vicious lie! I am no relation to the ownership of the WWE. Although if they want to write me into their will for some reason, I'm listening.
• EP means "extended play". Basically, an EP is longer than a single but shorter than a full length album. It's sort of a holdover from the vinyl days. Mine has five songs.

Too Big To Fail | Purified | The Mills of God

Sick of the World | Let's Get Ahead of Ourselves

~ Too Big To Fail ~

A little late-summer iced Tea. Perfect for, say, a Tea Party.

• Well after all these years of breaking both our backs to get ahead
• All the pennies pinched to save up for a house before we're dead
• Now the word comes in from Washington that we should try a different trail
• Maybe we can get Too Big To Fail

• Now I'm too naive for K Street, but I'm starting to get wise
• We'll never be big fish unless we're paying off both sides
• So tell Reid and tell McConnell that the check is in the mail
• Maybe we can get Too Big To Fail

• Well, if Uncle Sam and Goldman Sachs
• Would pull the knife out of our backs
• And understand that future taxes torment
• 'Cause you can take it to the bank
• You'll never have to walk the plank
• As long as Ben Ber-Nank(e) thinks you're important
• So c'mon, babe...

• We'll buy a million-buck McMansion (McMahon-sion?) financed through the FHA
• We'll put Johnny in ice hockey and little Jane can take ballet
• And if we get ourselves in trouble Barney Frank will post our bail
• Maybe we can get Too Big to Fail

• 'Cause when you own a couple Congressmen you'll never go to jail
• Maybe we can get Too Big to Fail
• I guess if everybody's doing it, it's not beyond the pale
• Maybe we can get Too Big to Fail
• Yeah after thirty years of searching I've finally found the Holy Grail
• Maybe we can get Too Big to Fail

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~ Purified ~

Believe it or not, this song was partly inspired by my nanotechnology research.

• When people look at me
• The outside's what they see
• And the artifice is pleasing to the eye
• This superficial sheen
• Can turn them envy green
• Like the rot beneath this whitewash I've applied

• But I don't want to be polished
• I want to be purified
• Freedom from all the tarnish inside
• I don't want to be polished
• I want to be purified
• Freedom from all the tarnish inside

• To You it's crystal clear
• You see through my veneer
• With an expert appraisal of my worth
• When I let fire fight
• The dross is brought to light
• And You separate the silver from the earth

• And I don't want to be polished
• I want to be purified
• Freedom from all the tarnish inside

• Yeah, Love's ablaze with smoke that clears what polish can't refine
• Through the haze there reappears an elegant design
• That I was scrubbing away
• That I was scrubbing away
• I almost scrubbed myself away

• I don't want to be polished
• I want to be purified
• Freedom from all the dirt that lurks inside
• I don't want to be polished
• I want to feel the furnace flame
• Even if it costs me all this surface fame
• I don't want to be polished
• I want to be purified
• Freedom from all the tarnish inside

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~ The Mills of God ~

I believe in the sovereignty of God. I think Longfellow might agree.

• What do you say to the mother who buries her infant son?
• Where do you find any faith when they call out the divers?
• When the village is washed away,
• Isn't anyone or maybe everyone's to blame?
• And how do you tell the survivors?

• Calamities come and consolations go
• And we're left to make sense out of it all
• They tell me that these mills of God grind awfully slow
• But I believe they grind exceeding small

• Now if it's true that everything happens for a reason
• Then where do we find the peace to fall asleep?
• Well Allah feels no pain
• Buddha shuts his eyes and calmly smiles again
• But Jesus stops to weep

• If they're right and God's a lie
• Life stinks and then you die
• There's no cosmic court where I can complain
• But if this is true and more
• Well You got a lot to answer for
• But I still need to know You feel my pain

• Now I don't know if we'll ever find an easy answer
• But to take the griever's hands and help 'em cry
• 'Cause I don't have it yet
• But even in our accidental alphabet
• There's a cross before the why

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~ Sick of the World ~

Sometimes you just have to let it out.

• And I'm sick of the world
• I'm sick of the world
• Yeah I'm sick of the world
• I'm sick of the world

• Where we live in a culture that plays us for fools
• Where madmen go nuclear and kids shoot up schools
• And then they'll try to tell you that people are basically good
• Well the poisonous fruit that our parents consumed
• It's lodged in our genes and it leads to our tombs
• And I know it's true 'cause my members won't do what they should

• And I'm sick of the world
• I'm sick of the world
• Yeah I'm sick of the world
• I'm sick of the world
• But even if I'm at the end of my rope
• I'll keep believing and hold on to hope
• As long as You're sure
• There is a cure
• As long as You're sure...

• 'Cause we're all on the lookout for Old Number One
• We murder our daughters, we murder our sons
• And we bludgeon our conscience with talk of extremes and of rights
• And we're wagging our fingers, but after the War
• We fled to the 'burbs and abandoned the poor
• Now we blame it on Johnson and wonder who turned out the lights

• And I'm sick of the world
• I'm sick of the world
• Yeah I'm sick of the world
• I'm sick of the world
• But even if I'm at the end of my rope
• I'll keep believing and hold on to hope
• As long as You're sure
• There is a cure
• As long as You're sure
• There is a cure
• As long as You're sure...

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~ Let's Get Ahead of Ourselves ~

Dave Ramsey tells his callers that when you got married, "The preacher said, 'And now you are one.' He did not pronounce you a joint venture." Amen to that.

• We always said that our best days were ahead of us
• And we been too right for too long
• Now here we are - we both know that isn't good enough
• And it's time we proved ourselves wrong

• Well let's get ahead of ourselves
• And let the days catch us later
• Oh I'm tired of waitin' around for life to come our way
• Let's get ahead of ourselves
• And find the love that is greater
• Oh, baby, and let our best days start today

• We all have fears that our past is catching up with us
• You got yours, and baby you know that I got mine
• I'll dry your tears - I want to show you that I'm serious
• It's time to leave it all behind

• I'm done with this joint venture, baby
• I want us to be one of a kind
• One in heart
• One in purpose
• Can we be of the same mind?
• whoa yeah

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Producer: Matthew McMahon

Recorded at Golden Sound Studio, Kensington, MD

Musicians:

• Andy Hamburger - Drums
• Scott Harlan - Bass
• Matthew - everything else: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, keyboards (i.e. organs, pads, strings)

Other credits:

• Recording - Ryan Panepinto
• Mixing - Scott Harlan and Ryan Panepinto
• Mastering - Scott Harlan
• Photography - Sean Patrick Muldowney
• Album cover design/Facebook contest winner - Nina Palazzo

The Taylor acoustic guitar you hear on the EP was graciously loaned to me by my good friend PJ Fleming.

Steve Sinni and my sister Colleen pitched in with PR stuff like writing press releases.

• Dave Ramsey. Because people running their personal finances like they thought they were Congress helped get us into this mess. And Congress running the country's finances like Congress... well, you know. Anyway, following Dave's advice has gotten me to the point where I could pursue this dream without going into debt for it. You can, too. Seriously.
• Christ Community Church: the Germantown, MD church plant where I'm serving as director of music. If you live in or around Montgomery County, MD, we'd love for you to worship with us. (BTW, it should go without saying that the church is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, any or all of my lyrics - but I'll say it anyway.)
• The Corner at National Review: A tremendous variety of politics, economics, culture and all sorts of other good stuff from a conservative perspective.
• GetReligion: if you're not reading this blog, you're probably missing most of the religious context in your news stories. Put it on your list.
• Andy Osenga is a terrific songwriter and a better guy. He probably doesn't realize that I owe him more than this link.
• Shaun Groves is an awesome blogger with an awesome Web site. And he's written a couple of tremendous songs.
• Prof. Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, is the "Godfather of the Blogosphere". Major Tea Party supporter and anti-pork crusader (to mix a metaphor), sometime musician and nanotechnology enthusiast. My kind of guy.

Drop me a note at MatthewMcMahonMusic (at) gmail (dot) com!

You can also get in touch at my Facebook page.

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