Beckond Blog: Monday, August 04, 2008

Song Lyrics
Category: Music

I wrote this blog to give people an idea what I'm singing about. Maybe someday people will actually be able to hear me singing?

BROKEN

I wrote these lyrics while thinking about an indigent man that Yuni and I would always see outside of the grocery store we go to. He had a piece of cardboard that read, "Disabled veteran. Please help." People would avoid him by driving out another exit or not looking at him, which made me realize how we are sometimes like ostriches. "If I don't see you, that means you don't exist." In a way, we all have situations where we are disabled ("broken") just like the man outside of Smiths, and people look the other way. I wanted to explain in these lyrics how we have the tendency to see what we want to see, or not see what we don't want to see.

(Verse 1)
I alone, the one you won't look at on the street
Just a man abhorred by this society
It's so easy close your eyes
And you'll see I'm not really there

(Chorus)
The face of the faceless
The eyes of the blind
A man broken
Beyond the lies
And the hate in your eyes
I stand broken

(Verse 2)
I alone, the one
You chose to never see
Vacant eyes that hide
Sheer animosity
It's so easy
Close your eyes
And you'll see I'm not really there

(Chorus)
The face of the faceless
The eyes of the blind
A man broken
Beyond the lies
And the hate in your eyes
I am broken

* * * * *

NEW WAVE

One of the reasons Trent and I became friends so quickly years ago is because we both share a love of cars. Not just any cars, though. They have to be fast! We made up our own little racing club called "Facehater Racing," mostly to mock this group of high-school kids that formed their own racing club called "Team Red." So, in the chorus where I sing "facehater," it's mostly just an inside joke.

(Verse 1)
Smell the smoke
See the steel
Touch the chrome
Feel the wheel
Two on the strip
Spin tires for grip
Then pull back

(Bridge to chorus)
It's time to put your money where your mouth is
I see the fear in your eyes, though you talk big
So shut your mouth, get in the car, let's do this

(Chorus)
Facehater
Facehater
Give me power
Give me speed
Give me everything
I need

(Verse 2)
Drop the clutch
See the scenery blur
Hear the scream
Of the engine's thunder
They're head to head
Burning through tread
Eating track

(Repeat bridge to chorus)

(Repeat chorus)

* * * * *

SLIM JAM

I spent four years of my life in Mexico. I love that country and its people. Everyone knows that there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants living here in the US. In my job, I work with many of these people. Some of them have shared with me their stories about when they crossed the border. One man explained to me that there was one stretch of the journey where he had to climb over the cadavers of people who didn't make it and were left to die in the desert. Heavy stuff. Thousands of families are divided because of the illegal crossing into the US, but the reason for coming is always the same: to find a better life. In the process, wives and children are left behind, and sometimes forgotten. It's pretty sad.

(Verse 1)
Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams. Tread lightly.
Move quickly, and place your every step exactly.
Speak softly, and try hard not to breathe too loudly.

(Bridge)
I'd give anything
I'd give everything

(Chorus 1)
All that I ask
Just give me the chance
To see my life through some other eyes
Through some other eyes

(Verse 2)
Suddenly, you realize that your wife and family
Have sadly become no more than just memories.
The irony—with them your life was full, now you're
Empty.

(Repeat bridge)

(Chorus 2)
All that I ask
Just give me the chance
To live my life on the other side
On the other side

(Sung through extended bridge)
Through some other eyes . . .
Through some other eyes . . .

(Ending)
Don't let me fade, now . . .
It's all I ask
Don't let me fade, now . . .
And don't just let me slip away
Don't let me slip away

* * * * *

EXILE

I met my wife while working on my graduate degree in Mexico. We were married, and I eventually brought her back to the US when I was hired at my job. She wanted to go to an English-speaking ward (congregation) when we arrived to SLC. After going there only a few times, it was very apparent how superficial people's "good intentions" were, especially with my wife. They treated her very poorly, but always with smiles and seeming politeness. Hiding behind their facades, their words dripped with honey while inside they boiled with poison. Plaster saints thinking they were perfect saints.

(Verse 1)
Smiling faces feigning friendship
In a place that should feel like home
No more than bogus kinship
Concealing gnashing teeth and foam
Is this really what you teach?
Do you practice what you preach?

(Chorus)
You preach of virtue
You preach of brotherhood and love
Paint yourself holy
First in line for Sunday worship
You live a plaster saint
So take your friendship

(Verse 2)
Smiling faces hiding loathing
Using truth to conceal your lies
Dressed in religious clothing
I see indifference in your eyes
Love one another
You say it with your tongue in cheek
You call me brother
Then turn around and call me freak

(Chorus)
You preach of virtue
You preach of brotherhood and love
Paint yourself holy
First in line for Sunday worship
You live a plaster saint
So take your friendship

And take your "innocence" and "charity"
I don't need your fake interest
It's all hypocrisy

You think you're right,
But you can't see you're all blind
You can't see . . .
Me

* * * * *

EMPTY V

My grandpa was my best friend and hero. He passed away while I was doing my graduate studies in Mexico.

(Verse 1)
Seasons change—scenery turns to shades of rust
Heroes fade—their body's grounded turn to dust
A eulogy honoring a man so brave
I gaze upon his coffin in an open grave

(Verse 2)
In solemn reverence, I stand amidst the bitter cold
And quietly watch as grass, and earth, and leaves of gold
Cover up a man whose life gave me the chance to live
And whose death stained my memory

(Chorus)
And for just a moment, I felt time stand still
A hush of reverence cross the sky
And I know somewhere in heaven I heard an angel sing
I heard an angel cry

(2nd Chorus)
And for just a moment, I reflected on this man
His image flashed across my eyes
How could you leave me here alone?
You were my hero!
But even heroes die

* * * * *

6-4-4

A song about overcoming weakness, trials, you name it.

(Verse 1)
Breathe in deep
Shake it off
Your mind needs focus
Now's the time
To react
This is your moment

(Chorus)
Oooooh!
Innocence
Oooooh!
Innocence

(Verse 2)
Step by step
You advance
Into the fire
Breathing in the flames
Of your desire

(Chorus)

(Verse 3)
Look ahead
Pay no mind
To what's behind you
Sweat and pain
Are your friends
They're what define you

(Chorus)

* * * * *

WHIT

I'm going to stop telling people what this song is about because I want them to have their own interpretation of its meaning

(Verse 1)
In the darkness I can hear you standing o'er my bed.
I can't see you, but I feel your steps inside my head.
It's three and thirty in the morning; night is black as sin.
Still I hear your lifeless movements, my nerves are wearing thin.
As trepidation pours over me, all I want to do is go to sleep.

(Chorus)
Sleep I will forsake
Or slowly go insane
You keep me awake!
You keep me awake!
¡Jamás dormiré!
You haunt me . . .

(Verse 2)
And I know you flash a toothy smile, because you know full well
That your illness is my weakness; I have to lash out before I burn out!
And your ever-present, never-ceasing racket has bored a hole in me.
All I want to do is go to sleep.

(Chorus)
Sleep I will forsake
Or slowly go insane
You keep me awake!
You keep me awake!
¡Jamás dormiré!
You haunt me . . .