The name Earth Dyed Red is a reference to the worldwide effect of Jesus’
death and His spread shed blood.
THE UNDER 500 ALBUM – so
named because at one point all my equipment cost…under $500.
1. 141
SECONDS (
This is, quite frankly, an odd
song. I don’t plan on getting this odd
again. The drums are an effect off the
guitar.
Lyrics:
“Stop vandalizing,” said the
graffiti on the wall…
2. ATTITUDE
(
Didn’t record as well as I had intentioned. It’s
a shame, really, because it’s a good song.
Lots of punkish energy but some techno shades
surrounding it. That low-volume “ooh”
noise in the second chorus is me going “ooh” into the microphone. How appropriate! By the way, that keyboard hook is one of my
oldest ideas to have gone into a song.
Lyrics:
How will I shock the world
today? If not through deeds, then it
lies in what I say
I tossed the recipe for success so
I could make my views expressed
Perhaps this wasn’t best
My attitude has been all for me and then some (2x)
My attitude has been annoying to all men
My attitude has been all for me, all for me
The ground I stand on hasn’t given
way yet
And the more that I stand on this
ground, the less that I regret
I tossed the recipe for success so
I could make my views expressed
I guess I don’t like rest
Chorus 3x
3. WEEK
OF GRATITUDE (
Written about the camp both Emily
and I went to. I put together a lot of
my cool chord progressions of the time and made this music. Fairly good, all things
considered.
Lyrics:
Through wide sparkling eyes, I see
your smiling face
The summer has begun, with your
warm embrace
You teach me how to grow,
encourage me to be
The person I am deep within,
beneath my city skin
You guide me through these golden
days, showing me the way
Appreciating all you do, I wanna take this time to thank you
It’s the feeling we get here from the start
It’s the way this place can touch our heart
It’s the secret we hold deep within, waiting for the memories to begin
It’s the smiles on everybody’s face – there is magic about this place
With open arms I look to you to
remind me what is special and what is true
You inspire me to be what I once
was, young and free
Walking together hand in hand, I
look down to understand
How the days pass us by – we lose
track and wonder why
Cherishing all you do, I wanna take this time to thank you
CHORUS
It’s not the image you would see,
nor the song that you would hear
It’s an image seen through closed
eyes, songs heard through shut ears
Continuing through the years,
following dreams, facing fears
In this beauty we are reminded the
simple things we take for granted
The majesty of a starlit sky, the
way time flies and passes by
Holding on to what you do, we wanna take this time to thank you
CHORUS
4. IN
MY COURT (
Some of my best lyrics,
and you gotta like folkie-Europop. Some fans rank this their favorite song. And it was fun to put that red herring
opening with the “all-the-knobs-up-on-the-amp” electric guitar in there.
Lyrics:
I have a job that can get old
sometimes
Judging if so-and-so has done the
alleged crimes
Justice never figures in to my
decisions
I’m in for life up here – you’re
in for life in prison
Just look at you, you’re guilty – evidence takes too long
It’s only you who will know if I’m wrong
No matter what the alibi and what is offered in support
You’re all in contempt when you come to my court
Paint a picture, frame him, hang him – matters not at all
I’ve been here 9 to 5 – I’ve
answered justice’s call
This job is too hard, but it pays
a ton
I just flipped a coin to see who
won
CHORUS
Have you ever wondered why my
opinions make no sense?
It’s because I don’t try to sort
them out
Sure, they’re illogical and have
no precedence
But my nonsense has all the clout
CHORUS
5. D-
(UNDER 500) (
When the blues
hits accordion head-on. Ben did
an AWESOME job on that instrument. Another fan favorite.
For that electric guitar lead toward the end, I used an E-bow for
sustain and then hit the string as much as possible with a CD. Rock on.
And I really can’t sing blues. Oh
yes, and D- would be Roman numeral for Under 500. Joke there for ya.
LYRICS:
I’m looking around for a group that has an opening
I’m killer on the kazoo and the
glockenspiel, but no one wants that, so I’ll sit here mope-ning
Life can throw you curves, but
watch for that nasty splitter
I auditioned and failed – a grade
of D- will make you bitter
Well look here’s the deal – your set of skills is not in demand
I’m sure you could find a job somewhere – just maybe not with our band
Can I be a pro – do I have the
strength to record stuff by myself?
Does this here kazoo provide the
way to financial security and wealth?
CHORUS 3x
6. McCLELLAN’S MEMOIRS (
One of my
favorites. Written about the
delaying Civil War general – what would he be like in other endeavors? Please note that the rhyme scheme is also
rigidly fixed, with first verse lines rhyming with second verse, and so
forth. I’m proud of it. And the entire song for
that matter.
LYRICS:
Well, I’ve been famous and lived quite a bit
And I wanna
test my literary wit
So I’ll write a book spanning
birth up to now
But not quite today, for tomorrow
is fine
Well now it’s
tomorrow, there’s the paper and pen
But do I wanna
think about my life again?
Like my army troubles – the whats, whens and hows
Tomorrow’s the day inspiration is
mine
They’ve called me so cautious – I
just can’t see why
This grand venture is one that
will defy
My book is coming quickly, so
quickly in fact
That I’m waiting no longer –
tomorrow I start
See, I am McClellan, and this is
my pen
I’m going to write down my stories
again
But oh! It’s 11, and a picnic is packed
Tomorrow is when I’ll pour out my
heart
Did you hear about the
general? He died yesterday
He was planning to write his life
story today
But as always, he waited and
waited again
And now his personal life will
never flow out of his pen
7. AUDATIM
(
Yes, that’s a robot voice at the
beginning. And yes, audatim
is a made-up word; I figured it would be the sound version of verbatim. I’ve had a special place in my heart for this
song.
LYRICS:
The radio billed this next batch of
songs as new
But hey! This one sounds familiar – so does this one
too
When you use the same progression,
you regress
It’s easy to play more and try less
13 notes to use, 14 if you’re
off-key
Quality evaporated as you boiled
them down to 3
Audatim, sound-for-sound – congratulations you copied it down (2x)
Big
whoop-tee-doo – everyone already sounds just like you
Think before you write, oh Musician
Not-So-Bright
Have you seen someone to correct
your lack of musical sight?
Why is this music so bland? Oh!
It’s the generic brand
I’m too busy being original to give
you a hand
13 notes to use, 14 if you’re
off-key
When you boiled it down is when you
alienated me
CHORUS
If a stricter person like me ran
the copyright office, then you would have infringed so many copyrights you
couldn’t handle all the lawsuits. But
don’t say I didn’t warn you. In time your
fans will come running to my batch of truly original and exciting songs. The way to avoid this gruesome fate is
to…well, you’re the competition, so I won’t tell you!
CHORUS
8-10. WE NEED HIM (
Originally not a trilogy, I wrote
“And Him Alone” quite some time after David Grim wrote the excellent “We Need
Him”. “8 to 5” serves to change time
signatures. I’m really proud of “And Him
Alone”. Great words,
and I love the instrumental with the first appearance of my guitar effects
pedal.
LYRICS:
Why do we sacrifice? Why do we give our lives for something we
cannot see?
Why do we give our all? Why do we feel so small? Why do we say, “let
it be?”
‘Coz
we need Him to save our souls and we need Him to reach the goal
And
we need Him to be with us when we need Him
Why must we always fight? Why must our lives shine bright?
Why must we stand like a tree?
Why is the world so strong? Why do they say we’re wrong?
How can we still let it be?
CHORUS
We never know which way to go, yet
our hearts are still aglow
Why did You
send the One? Why did You
send Your Son
To live His life
just like me?
Why did He give His life and suffer
such pain and strife?
Why did He say, “let
it be?”
CHORUS
2x
How would you respond if I told you
I was seeking a new path?
Would you have me count the cost
with fudged numbers and fuzzy math?
Tell me the exact amount of
writings that are inspired
How high would your figures
run? 2, 3, 10 or may be higher?
Well one of them claims it’s the
only one
So does that mean the others are
written just for fun?
I’m so glad to see you found the
missing piece so we’re not all lost
There just wasn’t enough power
emanating from the cross
Please explain how he is the
beginning and the ending
If his words weren’t good before
your mending
God says He’s the Only One
Do we put words in His mouth just
for fun?
Do you truly think you need Him, or
can you dwell in something else?
Can you achieve freedom by getting
chains to bind yourself?
Why do you think this way? Are you feeling OK? Do you know what it’s about?
Will add-ons save your soul? Is salvation their role?
Do you need just Him to be?
We need Him to save our souls and
we need Him to reach the goal
Are His words 100% whole?
11. THE TRAGEDY OF THADDEUS (THE
FRAY) (
It was a muggy day in April (or was
it May?)
That one small boy named Thaddeus
had touched the fray.
Thaddeus thought that he was big
and independent;
So when the AC broke, he tried hard
to mend it.
First off he checked the wiring, as
Dad had done before
He found the problem – the wires
stopped at the floor
“Well,” said Thaddeus after he had
seen the main fault.
“I know what to do – I will call my
Uncle Walt.”
Now Uncle Walt was an expert on
such things as this.
He solved problems; his solutions
near never missed.
Thaddeus called Walt, but he only got
his voice mail.
“I’ll fix it by myself!” he
said. “I couldn’t fail!”
His dad had told him not to touch
an active wire.
But Thaddeus said, “I’ll be
fine! It’s not fire!”
What Thaddeus didn’t notice was the
short-circuit
In the new wires he thought would
maybe work it.
He plugged in the new wires and
turned on the power.
Thad touched the fray and was
char-broiled in half an hour.
Thaddeus burned up completely from
the big fire.
He should have listened to his dad
– “Don’t touch wire!”
12. ATTITUDE (FROZEN MIX) (
The chill-out
(hence “frozen”) version of “Attitude”.
Listen to the opening acoustic guitar chords and you will notice they’re
a slowed-down version of the power chords.
Plus I copied the flanger vocals concept from
“141 Seconds,” as well as the keyboard part, which in “141 Seconds” was an
effect, and in this song is actually played
notes. I’m proud of that.
LYRICS: See chorus of “Attitude.”
YEARS LATER…I don’t listen to this
album a whole lot, though it definitely had its moments. I must say, though, that there are certain
traits in my admittedly youthful outlook (this album was finished when I was
17, and the songs written at 15/16) that I admire and want to keep in my
songwriting: my whimsical lyrical perspective, and my mad genre-crossing (I
think that’s going to show up a lot on album 5, more so than any album since
this one). My writing’s a lot more
refined than it was at this stage, but it’s still fun to pull it out every now
and again and remember how my really young
self was. “D- (Under 500” and “McClellan’s
Memoirs” seem to have done the best over time, the latter being surprising as
it was not intended by any means to be the highlights of the album (just for
the “record,” I suppose the highlights are to be 2-3, 5, and 7), but it’s one
of my very rare concise songs with a generally normal structure. Anyway…this is my least favorite EDR album,
but it’s still fun.
