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  • Streaming + Download

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

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    #6 Best Albums of 2014
    #7 Best Songs of 2014
    "The Art of Erica"
    -- Pop That Goes Crunch

    17 Most-Played Songs of 2015, tied for #10: Your Fake Friends
    Carl Cafarelli & Dana Bonn / Hosts, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio

    21 Favorite Records of 2014: 'Cardboard Vegas Roundabout'
    Alan Haber / Program Director, PurePop Radio

    Top 60 Favorite Songs of the Decade, 2010-2019: Your Fake Friends
    Rick Warhall / Host & Program Director of Chasing the Essential Podcast

    Best Albums of 2014, #75: Cardboard Vegas Roundabout
    David Bash / International Pop Overthrow

    Rating: 9 Out of 10
    Eric Abrahamsen / Glory Daze Music

    Best of 2014, Featured: Cardboard Vegas Roundabout
    Wayne Lundqvist Ford / Host, Ice Cream Man Power Pop & More Show on Radio Andra and Pop That Goes Crunch Radio

    Includes the 10 original songs from the digital album, plus an 11-track bonus CD with alternate versions, mixes, & demos, a 12-page booklet with song lyrics, photos & credits. Shrink-wrapped in an eco-friendly, gatefold card sleeve. Cover art is by cartoonist Brad Schreiber of By Design Graphic Arts. The 10 song titles on the first CD are represented in the cover image.

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  • Full Digital Discography

    6
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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of In the Face 35th Anniversary Deluxe, Radiophonic Supersonic, Elizabeth Parker Revisited (2020 Reissue), Buddha Pesto Manifesto, Champion (Single), and Cardboard Vegas Roundabout. , and , .

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lyrics

Champion
(Words & music ©2014 by Dave Caruso)

Hey, look at me--I'm a home-run ball that got lost in the weeds
But there's a girl I can’t forget
She just hasn't found me yet
And I'm the one true thing she really needs

Tried to be true to whatever it is that I was meant to do
But how many tries will it take
How many missteps and brave mistakes
Before I find the girl who fits the shoe?

How do you keep it light while peeling back layers of bittersweet insight?
Introspection's all the rage
But in your life story I'm an empty page

Eh, could it be--I’m a lonely stretch of road you never stop to see?
Until you find yourself burned out
On some cardboard Vegas roundabout (around & about)
Another disappointment on your sleeve

I don’t believe in regret; I'm a little bit older but I'm not dead yet
Looking my future in the eye
But in the game of courage I’m a few points shy

This place of mine could use a coat of paint
And we could both use a woman's touch
Fate missed again but not by much

Wait and see--But I wonder: How much longer will it be?
Am I too tough for my own good? // Am I just misunderstood?
The meaning of this dance is a mystery

But I won’t give up the fight // I punch in at dawn and I clock out at midnight
A blackened eye and a bruised-up chin
I know what it feels like to be a champion

credits

from Cardboard Vegas Roundabout, released June 11, 2014
Kevin Holevar: Guitars, claps
David Eversole: Bass
Tam Johnstone: Drums
Dave Caruso: Vocals, piano, sleigh bells, accordion, tambourine, claps, synths

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Dave Caruso Detroit, Michigan

Dave Caruso is a melodic pop songwriter, indie recording artist & music educator from Detroit, MI.

Dave offers a series of livestream songwriting courses at his website.

He's also the creator and host of SongwriterStories.com, a songwriting and music discovery podcast, featuring fascinating interviews with songwriters like Matthew Sweet, Marshall Crenshaw, Vicki Peterson and Tony Macaulay. ... more

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