The Great Hase G with Thomas and Noah

Lyrics to The Tengooz song : Final Door

The song Final Door is yet another work which evolved out of a series of Hase G (Nodoka Hasegawa) bass riffs.
In both rehearsals and live performances we all felt the song was special and were excited about recording it, especially the very funky third section which now has the sax solo over it.

When we did final record the song and put it online (at Jamendo), none of us was really satisfied ( and we still aren`t), especially with regard to my vocals which I surely MUST redo or at least try to work out something with the mix or effects.

As another way of improving the song were lucky (and honored) to have Mario put a keyboard track over it. You can hear that version on the Tengooz myspace site.

Anyway here are the lyrics to the song:

Final Door

In the darkness color bursts upon me

music in the snores

I enter a multi-chambered palace

which each night I explore

Going through it- room by room

each nook and cranny

I start on the ground floor

But I never grasped its deepest secret

Thats until I reached that final door

Wisemen, mystics, poets,

all the dauntless seekers

of what`s at the core

Some scoured books, sought teachers,

or set out to travel distant shores

Each one made his way into the palace

I mentioned before

Hungering, yearning, for that deepest secret

that they`ll find when they open that FINAL DOOR

Lyrics

Avi Landau 2010

Rice Harvesting in Tsukuba

B

Julien's last jam session with The TENGOOZ

A Large Tengu Mask and Phallus at the Mt. Kaba Shrine - read more about it on Tsukublog

Lyric to YOU`VE GOT TO LET IT GO, a new song by The Tengooz- soon t be released

Hello there all you TenGoophiles where`er ye might be!

Sorry for another long period of silence, but a lot has ben happening.
One happy thing I`d like to inform you about is that we ar now at the mixing phase for one of our latest songs, entitled YOU`VE GOT TO LET IT GO!

This is another work which has evloved out of a HaseG (Nodoka Hasegawa) bass riff.

Here are the words:

YOU`VE GOT TO LET IT GO

Its been so long now
since he`s been gone how
come you dont move on ahead

Why must you cling still
to gone-past things will
you never settle back in bed

You pace the floor now
you smile no more how
come you keep acting this way

I know you`ll say its a cliche
but I will say it anyway

You`ve got to let it go
You got to let it go

You`re sticking tight now
with all your might how
come you dont just let it wing

You`ll never last must
you hold so fast just
just like you`re savoring the sting

Just loosen up, unload your cup
you`ve got to lighten up your load

Release the pain, relieve your brain
and it will help you down the road

Lyrics

Avi Landau 2010

The TenGooz recording with Go

Always Ran- The Lyrics to the TenGooz` Song

This is another song inspired by a Thomas Mayers chord progression.
I wanted it to express what many of you might fell- that we are always
busy running around, and that no matter how much we KNOW that we ought to take it easy- we never do

Always Ran

Well I smoked a big cigar in Havana
I soaked in hot tubs out in Japan
Safaried on the Kenyan Savanah
Lord, even sang some with a rock and roll band

Sometimes it got a bit crazy
things came close to hitting the fan
When I look back now it all seems hazy
When I should have walked it seems I always ran

I worked a dude ranch up in Montana
Flew out to play some gigs by the strand
I did a post-doc out in Urbana
and I tried my best to lend out a hand

Sometimes things got a bit crazy
thought that things would soon hit the fan
When I look back now it all seems hazy
When I should have walked it seems I always ran

Lyrics by

Avi Landau 2009

Julien enjoying some Hoji-Cha at a Tengooz practice

Emotional Times for The TenGooz

Hello all you Tengoophiles out there.
Its been a while that I have written for our blog.
as you can gather from Michael's recent post, we have suffered a terrible loss- that of our friend and one-time Tengooz guitarist
Kin-Chan. The sudden loss of this until so recently dynamic presence has left me shaken.
Amazingly, as thing always seem to be with Michael Frei, just a few days before Kin-chan's passing Michael just happened to be in Japan for business.
They were able to meet one last time. Unfortunately for me, I REALLY believed that I would be able to see a healthy Kin-chan again and I DIDNT go to the hospital.
I had to say my last goodbyes at the funeral hall.

Having Michael with us was, it goes without saying, an elixir, and he happened to be here for a small gig that we did ( he came to the venue almost straight from the airport) and for a great party that we had at Thomas's place which had a truly international jam session.

Any plans for a big reunion gig at Nalu's were put on hold however because of the funeral.

At the same time, and not comparable of course to the loss of Kin-Chan, my dog of many, many years, Tickles, suddenly collapsed and has been unable to move for several weeks. We have been giving her the best possible care but....... things dont look good.

Then, as I had long been feeling UNDER THE WEATHER, and everyone had been urging me to go to the doctor, I finally went to get things checked out. As it was my throat that had been bothering me I went to an ENT.

When he put a scope down my throat to have a look he exclaimed ( in Japanese)- This is not good. Youve got to go to a bigger hospital as soon as possible!
He asked if I had family that I could consult with, etc, all with an expression and air that spelled my doom.

Since that was a Friday I would have to wait until Monday to get further testing and I had the whole weekend to contemplate my fate.

Hypochondriac that I am, I was convinced of the worst and resigned myself to the fact that I would not be around in this world much longer.

It was an dizzyingly emotional couple of days, full of reflections and memories flashing back.

I realized that so many of the lyrics that I had written perfectly expressed what I was feeling. I am talking specifically about The Chills, Almost Out Of Time, Autophobia, etc.....

Anyway, to make a long story short- when I finally did get to the hospital for tests, the doctor gave me a thorough looking over and declared that I was fine!

That means I might be around, making a racket for little while longer.

Listen to The Chills here:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/12850

Gotta go now

will write more later

Avi Landau

Goodbye Kin-Chan

R.I.P.

Last week our good friend Kin-chan (Kanastuka Hirotaka) passed away after battling a serious illness. He was one of the greatest guitar players of the Tokyo area, if not of all Japan, and The TenGooz are honored to have had him play several gigs ( and even more jam seesions) with us.
We will never forget his unique feeling for music, his charismatic performance on the stage, and his enchanting character. We will sorely miss this outstanding artist, who LIVED FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC.

Michael Frei

Michael Frei of The TenGooz

Emmanuel keeping us IN THE GROOVE

Julien,Mario, and Michael jamming al fresco

Michael Frei back with the TenGooz

TenGooz Live

The TenGooz @ TERRA EARTH YA in Tsuchiura

Lyrics to You Know, a Tengooz song from the Facing The Music album

This is another song which gradually generated out of one of Hase G`s bass lines.

Over the months which passed between first conceiving of what the melody line should be,
the idea of what the lyrics should be about germinated in my mind. What eventually emerged
are these words. I am very satisfied with them because everyone I know who hears the song thinks its about THEM.

You Know

You know

but you dont want to think about it

You know

But you dont to have to care

You know

but seems like you`d much rather doubt it

Yes, you know

but you steer clear of the affair

You`ve got lots of other things to occupy your mind

there`s breakfast, lunch, there`s dinner parties

You`ve got good reasons to let your eyes stay blind

so why should you have anything to agitate your mind

repeat

Dont Leave Us Hangin` There !

You`ve got lots of other things to occupy your time

your front lawn needs its weekly mowing

you`ve got lots of other things to occupy your mind

there`s that old blockbuster that the cable TV`s showing

You Know

You Know

Dont leave us hangin` there......

words by

Avi Landau

And to hear the inspiration for all this go to this utube link of Hase G ( Nodoka Hasegawa) playing the bass line solo!

Its here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJeznOiX1dE&feature=related