In the Key of K

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This is another old track from 1997. It was the third track on side two of my first cassette tape.

I’ve rewritten the lyrics at least two other times. The original title was “Jesus Doesn’t Love Me Anymore” and had a ton of anti-religious, anti-christian sentiment, and quite a bit of violence. I rewrote the words and overdubbed the vocal track on my Tascam four track recorder when I used this song and a handful of others for an admission demo tape and scholarship audition for college, probably in 1999. I also performed Dashes and Desert Sunshine for the music committee and had a music notebook with some notated compositions—it’s funny now because I notated a lot of things incorrectly—you could still understand what I wrote but it was clear I had a lot to learn (basic things like not writing a key signature or using Gb repeatedly when it should be F#, like, for the G major scale). 😎🤷‍♂️Anyway, I was excepted into the program and got a little scholarship, so, yay me!

I had removed all the blatant anti-religious stuff and violence and renamed it Verse to Verse. It is so titled because there is no chorus and each verse is its own idea. I guess each verse sort of works like separate little thoughts or philosophical ponderings.

It should also be said that throughout my teens and twenties I read extensively about mysticism and different religions. Though I don’t follow any of it today, there are direct references to Aleister Crowley’s writings in this song. His idea of “Do as thou will is the whole of the law.” His ideas, roughly, were that you should NOT do whatever you want but analyze your life to know your true Will and do whatever you can to realize that truth. Make sure the things that you do with your life are an effort towards your greater purpose. As a youth, that is how I chose to interpret it. 🕺In my late teens I use to practice Crowley’s theory of invisibility–the idea that you move with confidence and purpose in such a way that no one notices or pays attention to you–you become invisible. I snuck into a lot of places by following his methods and no one ever batted an eye. 100% success rate. 😸 All that aside, I don’t advocate his teachings philosophies, or morality (or lack thereof) today.

Now, lets not forget the drum solo! 🥁Each track (drums, bass, guitar, voice) was recorded as one continuous take with no overdubs or punch-ins on a Tascam four track recorder. Since the song was turning out to be clean guitar with no harsh vocals, I randomly decided one day to add some heavy drumming in the middle and at the end. The drum take went well enough that I decided it HAD to be a drum solo in the middle. I figured, “Why not!?” I added in bass and guitar for the last drum solo at the end and it is fitting–at least to my brain.

This is the final re-write of the lyrics:

//

Verse to Verse

Help me, help me, help me, help me find another way
I can’t see tomorrow if I can’t live for today.
And I will find a way to make you hear what I have said.
I won’t raise a fist right so I guess I’ll raise the dead.

Come and visit me my friend it’s been a long long time,
Since I felt your finger tips since I felt so alive.
When I look into your eyes the vision clouds my head
When we try to find our way I lose track of the thread.

Watch them tear the earth apart and see the world get rough.
We’re parasites wandering through this world so it doesn’t matter much.
Parasites that leech this world of everything it holds
Never thinking twice that maybe we don’t have control.

Drum solo

I think I’ve been waiting for another year of pain.
The Earth is just a tiny smear and we are all the stains.
I’m never gonna find my way because I am a mess.
Aren’t those who feel pain the ones who know their happiness?

I know all these things I see unbalance me the most.
Doing as I Will has been the only law I’ve chose.
Not what I want but what I Will and all that it invokes.
Every bit of light just shades another overdose.

Now is the only time when you want to live by your own way. 
I don’t need incentive though just name the time and place.
Reasons and excuses keep them from living how they may.
I have no regrets because I love all my mistakes.

//

If you’re curious about the original tone of the song, the first verse originally went like this:
//
Help me, help me, jesus, help me find the devil’s way.
I can’t see tomorrow if I can’t live for today.
And I will find a way to make you hear what I have said.
I won’t raise a fist right now but I’ll shoot you in the head.
//
The re-writes make it much better and more inline with my thinking today vs. the angsty hate goblin in his early 20s. 😖 However, I left in some pessimistic things that I don’t necessarily subscribe to today.

How do you play it?

C***|G***|C***|G***| x2
F***|F***|C***|G***|
C***|G***|C***|G***|
Gm***|Gm add 4*Gm add b9*| Maybe?
I don’t remember exactly what I played for those last three chords. I remember it was in the third position and some play on different G chords. Today I play it with these shapes, knowing it is probably NOT what is on the original recording.

-3-3-4—
-3-4-3—
-3-3-3—
-5-5-5—
-x-x-x—
-x-x-x—
I may have just been barring the third fret for the first measure and adding bits and bobs. The tabbed chords above are what I play now.

The chords over the last drum solo are:
C5 Bb5 Db5
C5 Bb5 Ab5
played 2x
C5 Db5 C5
C5 Bb5 Ab5
C5 Bb5 Db5
C5 Bb5 Ab5

I still love this song. It is still just as fun and interesting to me today as it was way back in 1997.