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©2004 Din Within
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Running Time: 5:09 |
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Additional Musicians:
Jessica Sager (Background Vocals)
Mike Ian (Drums, Additional Engineering) |
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Sound Clips (MP3 format):
[ Clip 1 ]
[ Clip 2 ]
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I’m sitting here alone
Confused and full of doubt
Now that my faith has gone away
What’s left to write my songs about?
I don’t know if you care
That I don’t know what to say
I doubt that anyone is listening
To what I’m singing anyway
I look at my life and get to wondering
If I’ve really got anything to say
What moved me before I’m no longer feeling
My muse was alive and I turned her away
I could write such stories with passion and zeal (was it for real?)
Of sins and sinners, of heaven and hell
But now that my heart has been revealed (if it’s not real)
The people who hear them can tell
“He doesn’t mean it!
His songs are just empty words,
And everyone sees through his façade”
“He always faked it!
He tried to be so profound,
But he’ll never sell me on the songs he never lived”
Make the song you sing a song for life
Make the moment last
Sing for future past – and know:
The words you write could live beyond your years
So make them real and true
So they’ll remember you – and say:
“He was a legend
He spoke right to my heart
He really meant every word he sang
And he sang to me”
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Mark's Comment: |
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This is one of those songs that really came out of nowhere. I was goofing around on the piano, in my favorite piano key (Ab - go figure!) and I came up with the outro part; the words just fell out of my subconscious, and I knew I'd better write them down fast. Once the theme became clear in my head, the rest of the lyrics came pretty naturally. Josh brought some nice perspective to the lyrical end of things, helping me clarify and improve some of the phrasing and wording.
Lyrically, I'm very proud of this track; it carries a message I feel pretty passionate about, but does it using metaphor and without being preachy (which many of my earlier lyrical works tend to do). Overall, I think it's a worthwhile sentiment and it came out better than I even hoped it would.
I definitely had a pretty clear framework in mind when I brought the song to the table - I knew I wanted a big, overblown outro with full orchestration. And it was definitely one of those things that Josh had to actually hear before he was sold (he looked a bit skeptical when I first tried to describe my vision... I had to actually compose it ahead of time and play it for him). It's theatrical, no doubt - I guess my musical theater influences are fairly apparent in this song.
Overall, it was definitely a collaborative effort, and Josh had more impact on this song than he gives himself credit for. Big thanks to Jess for the vocals as well... they really added more dimension to the vocal blend. As you can tell, I'm very pleased with the results!
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Josh's Comment: |
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The first song we worked on. Mark brought most of the music and lyrics to the table. From the get-go he had a very clear vision of what direction he wanted the song to take, so for the most part I let him run with it. There were a few places where we tweaked the lyrics together, but it was mostly Mark's thoughts so he had the final say.
Using the wah for the guitar solo was kind of a joke at first. I did it initially to bust the chops of one of our friends who absolutely HATES wah pedals. After playing with it a bit I realized that it fit rather well. I'm certainly no Hendrix when it comes to using the wah, but I'm glad I picked one up for S4L. In retrospect, I think the tempo of the song was just a tad fast for the guitar solo I wrote, but I really liked it. I'll certainly be using the wah in the future as well.
My sister Jessica did a fantastic job with the background vocals. Her ability to match pitch for overdubs is uncanny. She's got a slight country drawl in this song, which is funny to hear coming out of a New Yawker's mouth.
Many people who have listened to S4L have compared it to some of the songs written by Styx; this seems interesting to me, because although Mark and I are certainly familiar with their popular hits from the 80's, I don't think either of us would be considered "fans." My favorite part is the epic ending; again, mostly Mark. Basically I'll take credit for the guitar solo; Mark deserves the rest. Nice job, bud! |
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