Youth Is Not For Pleasure, by Second Language

Youth Is Not For Pleasure

by Second Language

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Second Language's 'Youth Is Not For Pleasure' album recorded in 1985 on CD in a new Deluxe Limited Edition of 100. Comes with 16-page booklet containing photos, credits, liner notes and the lyrics to all the songs.

Includes unlimited streaming of Youth Is Not For Pleasure via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Youth Is Not For Pleasure 05:15	lyrics	buy track
Youth Is Not For Pleasure…(But To Be Brave) Youth is not for pleasure…but to be brave Youth is not for pleasure…but to be brave This never ending infatuation This morbid saint This indoctrinated angel Clips her wings in haste Like memories divided By syncopated thirst Ashes on the water Books thrown into the fire Visions far beyond our grasp to threaten and inspire It’s an illusion It’s an illusion…it’s an illusion Youth is not for pleasure…but to be brave Youth is not for pleasure…but to be brave Hoisted up to serve my time Flapping in the wind Trapped between the innocence And wanting still to win, it’s an illusion It’s an illusion, grounded in the air It’s an illusion, interpretative stares It’s an illusion, three-dimensional recluse Another captive beast dreams of getting loose Wake up! Wake up! You’ve got to set her free Wake up! Wake up! Or they’ll be closing the cage on me Ohhhhhh Youth is not for pleasure…but to be brave Youth! Youth is not for pleasure…but to be brave Youth! Youth is not for pleasure …but to be brave ...but to be brave Youth is not for pleasure…but to be brave ...but to be brave Melody and Lyrics: Toni Zeto 5/12/1984 Music: Jerome Faulkner-Jessie Jacobson-Brian Bielski 4/15/83 + 6/4/83
2.	This Scorched Earth 04:31	lyrics	buy track
This Scorched Earth Fallow lands, barren fields, shallow graves Morning light, new day dawns in still birth Silent seas, voiceless breeze, separate waves Useless sun, pointless moon, this scorched earth This scorched earth, this scorched earth One last shot heard round the world This scorched earth, this scorched earth Still no victory flag's unfurled Siren's songs pierce the night in an endless refrain No star light, no star bright, the sun is burning cold And hope only held as strong as the weak link in the chain of command, grains of sand who do as they are told This scorched earth, this scorched earth One last shot heard round the world This scorched earth, this scorched earth Still no victory flag's unfurled As we hold the final line in the name of common sense Open arms, open hearts, the only defense This scorched earth, this scorched earth One last shot heard round the world This scorched earth, this scorched earth Still no victory flag's unfurled © Lyrics & Melody: Jessie Jacobson 9/84 Music: Jessie Jacobson-Brian Bielski-Jerome Faulkner-Jarrett Lesko 7/9/84
3.	Garden Of Delight 04:08	lyrics	buy track
Garden Of Delight And in this world, no symmetry, no light We fight each urge, we beat the demons back The passions surge, we stretch them on the rack In this garden of delight Men of the cloth, for them the patterns weave a design I envy them but that collar fits too tight The holy shroud blindfolds each sordid sight In this garden of delight All for the love of love From the hosts above we can't see But in their name, we carry on as though The only game in town's the one we know In this garden of delight Well, in the dead of night The death of light's complete Don't mourn the loss, don't mourn the memory You'll turn, you'll toss away your sanity In this garden of delight © Music: Jessie Jacobson-Jarrett Lesko-Brian Bielski Lyrics & Melody: Jessie Jacobson 6/84
4.	Words Into Action (1985 Version) 05:14	lyrics	buy track
Words Into Action Words won't make you feel what you should feel What you once felt Words won't reveal what is real They'll just mislead you from the start They will seal and constrict Charismatic tongues As they conceal They contradict the language of the heart And so one word leads to the next As conversation slips into text Let's put - let's put words - words into action Words into action Words turn into shouts Triggered by doubts Fall on deaf ears Words sprayed all about Ooze from the spout But no one hears So automatic, reeled off by rote Snag on your conscience, catch in your throat Let's put - let's put words - words into action Words into action I would give anything To make you understand No need to read my lips Feel the warmth of my hand Words mean nothing at all They bounce off the wall and fade away But feelings that beckon and call No matter how small Can still save the day Somehow the silence says so much more And in the stillness, love settles the score Let's put - let's put words - words into action Words into action © Jessie Jacobson (Music: 2/5/85 & Lyrics/Melody: 2/18/85)
5.	No God In Heaven Tonight 03:56	lyrics	buy track
No God In Heaven Tonight There is no rest No respite For the weary In search of his holy light There is no god In heaven tonight Last gift of flowers Colors bright For the living Deprived of his holy sight There is no god In heaven tonight Through bloodshot eyes All the world seems a wonder Two shaky hands Grip the wheel Wheel of fortune And it all seems like a dream to me now Through a glass darkly On your conscience On your breath The smell of liquor The lingering stench of death There is no god In heaven tonight He loves his fools And he loves his drunkards He loves his drunkards And he loves his fools But he loves his drunken fools Most of all Loves them through a glass darkly © Jessie Jacobson 5/16/84
6.	Visions Of An Aging Race 05:52	lyrics	buy track
Visions Of An Aging Race Visions of an aging race, starlight reaches your face In a venture to overcome Driven though deaf and numb In a blackened vacuum lie With vengeance and disguise Blood as poison as wine, under sacrificial skies Under sacrificial skies Visions of an aging race Instructed to carve a path Through destruction oh and wrath Mankind without wisdom is like a weapon to the blind The struggling of humanity, always seeking to find Under sacrificial skies Visions of an aging race While the children dance and play All of their toys will be taken away To be punished not for their innocence But for their greed and doubt For negating what life’s all about Under sacrificial skies Oh… no, oh… no © Lyrics and Melody: Toni Zeto 12/18/84 Music: Jessie Jacobson-Jerome Faulkner-Toni Zeto-Jarrett Lesko-Brian Bielski 12/17/84
7.	Excavation 03:59	lyrics	buy track
Excavation You’re like an excavation buried deep You’re like an excavation You hang on to all that’s past you It haunts you in your sleep You hang on to all that’s past you It haunts you in your sleep Bound with tradition Bound with fear, bound to follow So far yet so near Excavation You’re like an excavation buried deep You’re like an excavation You hang on to all that’s past you It haunts you in your sleep You hang on to all that’s past you It haunts you in your sleep Bound with tradition Bound with fear, bound to follow So far yet so near Bound with tradition Excavation Bound with tears, bound to follow So far yet so near Bound to follow Bound to follow, bound to follow © Melody and Lyrics: Toni Zeto Music: Jarrett Lesko-Brian Bielski-Jessie Jacobson 11/5/84
8.	Caution To The Wind 03:55	lyrics	buy track
Caution To The Wind She struts where angels fear to tread Pied piper to the waking nightmares The dancing dead Wake up and cast Caution to the wind Don’t look into her eyes One glance turns strong men into stone And she poisons everything she touches Her kiss will chill you to the bone Wake up and cast Caution to the wind In the eye of the hurricane This is the calm before the calm She knows she has to keep her distance She knows she’s got no soul to save She knows the path of least resistance Leads right to her grave Wake up and cast Caution to the wind © Jessie Jacobson • 9/7/80 + 12/83 (lyrics) & 10/83 (music)
9.	The Edge 04:19	lyrics	buy track
The Edge You were here it was gone You disappear it lingers on In soft focus, delicate obscured This hocus pocus is patently absurd Still it’s there and it’s mine And so I dance a fine line Court it gently, treat it as a friend Though it might just kill me in the end It’s the edge it’s the edge Like the edge of the knife It’s the edge it’s the edge And it slices through my life It provides company It resides inside me Gently slicing my sinews apart Cutting slowly into my heart And the strength I once felt Cut loose by the blow you dealt Still I go on balanced on the ledge Drawn and quartered, a captive of the edge It’s the edge it’s the edge Like the edge of the knife It’s the edge it’s the edge And it slices through my life © Jessie Jacobson • 6/5/80
10.	Long Goodbye (1985 Version) 05:09	lyrics	buy track
The Long Goodbye In the endless summer of discontent The tip of the iceberg on the darkest continent Splintering puppets hiss through wooden grins Toothless to bite the hand that force-feeds Gets under their skins This is the long goodbye The deeper they go, the darker it gets 'Til blood stains the whitewash, liquidates idol threats The country club's burning, body politic sweats South Africa’s up in flames Out of time, far too late for regrets. This is the long goodbye © Music: Jerome Faulkner 5/83 Lyrics, Melody: Jesse Jacobson 5-7/83, 3/85
11.	Uncertain Terms (1985 Version) 04:51	lyrics	buy track
Uncertain Terms (Version 1) These thoughts swarm like flies Form like black clouds across the skies Divide them like worms Each half grows and squirms Uncertain terms These thoughts like disease Sap my spirits, drain my energy Spread faster than germs More fertile than sperm Uncertain terms Serving the sentence ‘Til it serves me Words spoken in passing Become the passwords This match made in heaven Could go down in flames This match could burn twice So swept up in wordplay Playing with fire We’re gonna play with fire To touch you again To hold you and maybe then Your kiss reaffirms It soothes as it burns In no uncertain terms Uncertain terms © Lyrics & Melody: Jessie Jacobson (5/3 & 5/6/84) Music: Jerome Faulkner-Jarrett Lesko-Jessie Jacobson (5/1/84)
12.	I Know You're There 04:29	lyrics	buy track
I Know You’re There The grass a little greener My kiss a little sweeter Than what you were waiting for My dreams a little deeper The stakes a little steeper Than what you gambled with before Why won’t you look at me Why don’t you care? Why, why won’t you look at me Why don’t you care? Can it be, can it be any wonder That I made this social blunder And it haunts me every waking day You never run, you never wander You’re hiding down under But there’s electrical current in the air Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? The grass a little greener My kiss a little sweeter Than what you gambled with before My dreams a little deeper The stakes a little steeper Than what you gambled with before Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? You try to hide from me But I know you’re there Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? Why won’t you look at me? Why, Why don’t you care? You try to hide from me But I know you’re there © Lyrics and Melody: Toni Zeto Music: Jessie Jacobson-Jerome Faulkner-Toni Zeto (5/17/84)
13.	You Pays Your Dues (You Takes Your Chances) 03:52	lyrics	buy track
You Pays Your Dues (You Takes Your Chances) You pays your dues And you takes your chances It’s a slow torturous path To the top of the scrapheap It’s a dark narrow road And the muck runs knee deep You pays your dues You takes your chances You pays your dues And you takes your chances It’s a steep uphill fight To that ivory tower It’s a long lonely walk Down the corridors of power You pays your dues You takes your chances You pays your dues You takes your chances And you pays your dues And you takes your chances Keep your eye on the wheel And your nose to the grindstone Keep a stiff upper lip Work your fingers down to the bone You pays your dues You takes your chances You pays your dues You takes your chances No guiding lights anoint the day No helping hands to point the way No black or white Just shades of gray Shades of gray You pays your dues You takes your chances And you pays your dues And you takes your chances You pays your dues And you takes your chances Take your chances © Jessie Jacobson • Music: 9/29/83 + 3/84 • Lyrics & Melody: 5/24/84
14.	Sky Will Open 03:48	lyrics	buy track
Sky Will Open I have direction, I have insight I have the courage to win this this fight Outside the darkness, inside the light Your eyes are calling me with soft delight Oh and the sky will open up and pull us through Oh yes the sky will open up and pull us through I’m just reacting, I have no plans No strategic moves are in my hands We run so fast, think we can fly We climb the ladder you and I Oh and the sky will open up and pull us through Oh yes the sky will open up and pull us through Bluer than blue, redder than red Reflecting the colours inside my head Orange is the water, pink is the night It sounds so untrue yet I feel that I’m right I have direction, I have insight I have the courage to win this fight Outside the darkness, inside the light Your eyes are calling me with soft delight Oh and the sky will open up and pull us through Oh yes the sky will open up and pull us through And yes the sky will open up and pull us through (repeat) © Lyrics and Melody: Toni Zeto Music: Toni Zeto-Jerome Faulkner (9/84)
15.	Passion Paints A Portrait 07:29	lyrics	buy track
Passion Paints A Portrait Outside the frame (outside the frame) Outside the border The colors run (the colors run) The colors bleed No sense of space No sense of depth No sense of order As all these blinding colors Fade to neutral tones The jigsaw puzzle fragments Form impressions like a mirror Now smash the glass The image comes through clearer Passion paints a portrait Patterns emerge Formless to reason Lines on the verge Of ruthless discipline Image broken and bent In such crude definition As context resolves Perspective slips away Just out of reach It hangs over my head With wire and nail Stretched out so prone and pale Passion paints a portrait Bursting inside Life's fluids course through my veins Turning the tide Raging like a flood Once dried up and dammed Strained by pride, overflowing Now splashed out across eternity With paint as thick as blood Passion paints a portrait © Jessie Jacobson • Music (11/81 & 12/81) Lyrics & Melody (4/82, 12/82, 1/83, 2/83, 7/83 & 6/84)
16.	Words Into Action (Early Version - Bonus Track) 05:02	lyrics	buy track
Words Into Action Words won't make you feel what you should feel What you once felt Words won't reveal what is real They'll just mislead you from the start They will seal and constrict Charismatic tongues As they conceal They contradict the language of the heart And so one word leads to the next As conversation slips into text Let's put - let's put words - words into action Words into action Words turn into shouts Triggered by doubts Fall on deaf ears Words sprayed all about Ooze from the spout But no one hears So automatic, reeled off by rote Snag on your conscience, catch in your throat Let's put - let's put words - words into action Words into action I would give anything To make you understand No need to read my lips Feel the warmth of my hand Words mean nothing at all They bounce off the wall and fade away But feelings that beckon and call No matter how small Can still save the day Somehow the silence says so much more And in the stillness, love settles the score Let's put - let's put words - words into action Words into action © Jessie Jacobson (Music: 2/5/85 & Lyrics/Melody: 2/18/85)

about

Go 2L Records, in conjunction with Alternator Records, is proud to share Second Language's previously unreleased album 'Youth Is Not For Pleasure', recorded in 1985 but not released until 2018, and again, fully remastered and expanded in 2023. It contains fifteen songs - co-produced and engineered by Earle Mankey and recorded between March and June of that year. 'Words Into Action (1985 Version) produced by Tony Berg, Earle Mankey and Second Language will be released as an Atmos and Stereo remixed single 11/3/23 by Alternator Records and followed by Caution To The Wind 11/15/23. Also included as a bonus track on this album is an early version of 'Words Into Action.'

Second Language (2L, for short) was formed in 1981 by Jessie Jacobson and Jerome Faulkner, who were soon joined by Chris Hutchinson and Rick Winward. Toni Zeto joined in 1983 just in time to record four songs with Earle Mankey. In 1984, Jarrett Lesko and Brian Bielski replaced Hutchinson and Winward and the band released a 5-song vinyl EP called 'Souvenirs' produced by Ron Fair and including updated versions of two of the Earle Mankey recordings.

2L gigged regularly, opening concerts for notable artists such as Howard Devoto (ex-Magazine), Love and Rockets, Blancmange, Oingo Boingo, Berlin, Dream Syndicate, Suburban Lawns, Wire Train, and many others, as well as receiving airplay on national college radio along with KROQ and KNAC in Los Angeles.

The band continued through 1989 with several personnel changes before eventually splitting up. However, in 1991, Jacobson, Lesko, and Bielski recorded new songs, and with Zeto, played a few gigs together. In 1992, a new lineup of Second Language came together, centered around Jacobson, Lesko, and Bielski. 2L continued to perform and record, culminating in 1996 with a full-length CD called 'WrongSpeak' before splitting up again mid-year.

Go 2L is also pleased to announce that 2L's 1984 vinyl EP 'Souvenirs', and 1995 CD 'WrongSpeak' will be re-released with bonus tracks in 2024, along with a double-CD, 'Shadow Across The Moon,' featuring 40 tracks recorded between 1985 and 1994; plus 'The Circus Is Back In Town', covering material recorded 1987-1989; and 'Spread It All Around', begun 1996-1997 and completed 2022-2023.

In 2013, Bielski, Lesko, and Jacobson began playing improvisational music together again intermittently, sometimes joined by Zeto and other ex-members. In 2022, the three recorded a new album of all new material, 'Never A Plan' which will be released in 2024.

credits

released November 16, 2023

Album produced by Second Language with Earle Mankey between March and June, 1985 at Shock The Mankey Studios, Thousand Oaks, CA.

'Words Into Action' Produced by Tony Berg, Earle Mankey and Second Language at Shock the Mankey Studios (basic tracks) March-June, 1985, and Cherokee Studios (vocals, bridge overdubs), L.A., CA, 11/7/85.

Second Language (1985):

Jessie Jacobson: Lead Vocals, Guitars, Lyrics, Keyboard, Bass, Percussion
Toni Zeto: Lead Vocals, Lyrics, Percussion, Keyboard
Jerome Faulkner: Keyboards, Vocals, Clarinet, Flute, Percussion
Jarrett Lesko: Bass, Percussion, Vocals, Guitar
Brian Bielski: Drums, Percussion, Vocal

Cover art and photography by Sonja Brenna.
Band photo by Lance Ross.
Design by Sonja Brenna, Toni Zeto and Jessie Jacobson.

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about

Second Language Los Angeles, California

Second Language (1981-present) is an alternative rock band from Los Angeles. They will be releasing 7 albums of vintage and new material throughout 2024 on GO2L Records with Atmos/stereo singles releases on Alternator Records (mixed by Michael James).

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