Quote/Ode to Those who have Fallen Short

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I said a while back that I was going to start posting blogs about the songs on the upcoming record. Well, I've finally decided to start doing that. These blogs are just kind of going to be about how these songs came to be and what they're about, so on, so forth. Hope you get something out of it. Here are the first two tracks.

Quote

This is the "intro" track to the album. In a world where everyone seems to do introductory tracks, I wanted to do something a bit different. Don't get me wrong, it's not the most original thing ever done by any means but I think we achieved a pretty cool concept. I wanted to make the intro something that would tie the album together as one, make it feel united. It starts with a whole slew of synth stuff and continues with the introduction of some guitars and percussion. The vocals also provide a melody that shows up throughout the album. The lyrics come in with a slightly altered chorus of the "title" track of the album, "Beauty Not So Fair". The ending drops off into silence, setting up for the beginning of opening song. It's called "Quote" because my friend AnnaJo has said that she wishes her first word would've been "quote" so that her last word could be "unquote". I thought that was a cool concept and since this is the first track on the first TinT album, I (with her permission) decided to name it that. If TinT ever records an album that we know is our last, the last track on that one will be "Unquote".

Ode to Those who have Fallen Short

This is a song that I wrote almost two years ago. When it’s been that long since you wrote something, it’s sort of hard to remember exactly what you were thinking when you wrote it. I just remember our old keyboard player Chad showing me a guitar riff that he wrote and, thinking it was really good, I decided to turn it into something. One thing I really like about this song is the way it’s set up. It’s not you’re normal verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus setup. I really like the flow.

As far as the subject matter, it’s pretty straightforward. It’s based around Romans 3:23 (for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God) which is a verse that I hear all of the time, but I’m not sure it sinks in. No one is good compared to God. We should stop trying to compare ourselves to one another when none of that even matters.

The song starts with listing some of the ways we fall short. One thing that gets me a lot is treating Jesus like a plate of armor that protects us from sin and therefore using that as an excuse for not acting like I should (because I’m covered). Or maybe my excuse is “God will come through no matter how I act” which is true, but still no excuse. Romans 3:8 says that we might as well say “let’s do something evil so that something good will come of it”. It makes more sense to just do something good to begin with. As Christians it sort of feels like that once we’ve accepted the truth that is Jesus, we label him as someone who’s only there to accept punishment for our crimes (even though we know there’s so much more to Him)

The second verse talks about how we point fingers at each other and how our “church” lives sometimes become nothing more than games with man-made rules for everyone to follow. The verse shifts gears a bit and talks about a personal struggle of mine. You see, I make it a point to really look at the things that the general “Christian” public sees as good or evil and decide for myself. This is good in some ways, I don’t let myself get freaked out by the world because I still have to live in it. When we let everything on TV shock us, those who aren’t Christians get a message of separation and arrogance instead of righteousness. Plus, sometimes we just have to take things at face value and not read to much into them. However, sometimes I use that as an excuse to be exposed to things that I maybe shouldn’t. How much is too much? Where’s that happy medium? Don’t ask me. I’m working on it.

The song continues into the chorus with a sort of realization that we just need to trust that God knows what He’s doing even if we don’t. We have to strive to do what we should be doing, but everyone gets lost. Everyone falls short. The problem is we don’t give God enough credit sometimes. We treat him like He has a history of not coming through or something. This holds us back in a lot of ways. I know this sounds cliché, but we’re not promised tomorrow. I think the sooner we begin to trust him on a regular basis, the sooner we can fully live our purpose.

The bridge falls into more of a reflective mood and it’s about a personal struggle of mine. I have big dreams, and sometimes I get a little carried away. Maybe I plan ahead without letting God in on it, therefore I just fall on my face. Countless times I’ve said “this is going to happen” or “that is going to happen” or “this record’s going to come out then” when I really don’t have as much control over these things as I think I do. The truth is, I’m not good enough. The only thing that separates me from the people that don’t have Jesus is just that; Jesus. We’re so concerned about what we have, what we don’t have, how we’re too young or too old that we sell God short of what he can do with a life. I guess the challenge that this song tries to get across is: Not one of us is better than the other. We may have our personal strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately we all fall short. If this wasn't the case, Jesus would not have had to die for us. So, let’s get that behind us and look ahead at our purpose. A purpose that isn’t about our ability, but about Him and what He’s blessed us with.

Okay, I'll be back. (Imagine that in an Arnold Schwarnzenegger voice)

Still funny....after 20 years....still funny.

-Nintendo D.S.