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The Stories Behind the Songs on Single #9
Fri., May. 27. 2022 2:35pm EDT
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our ninth single of 2022:
THE REAL NEED
I read somewhere that every true Christian has a least one good sermon to give, because we all have a story to tell about what Christ specifically did in our own lives. If the parodies I write are singable sermons, then I've gotten a ton of them using my testimony as the topic, like "Choirboy," "Look Yourself," "More Than a Healing," "He Hears Me," "I Can Read About You," and "Sorry All the Time," to name a few.
"The Real Need" covers a portion of the story that I haven't sung much about before — what happened to me in 1987, the year before I became a born-again Christian. In fact, the cover of this single features a photo of yours truly from that year, sitting on my new '87 Chevy Camaro, the same vehicle I mentioned in the first verse of "Look Yourself." But a fancy new sports car wasn't my real need.
The lyrics in "The Real Need" are all based on events that actually occurred in my life that year ‑ the encounters with the pastor, my mother, and my girlfriend, and how I ended up as a seeker before finally finding Jesus. I don't have the space to explain it all here, but I've told the story personally to people many times over the years. If you want to know more details, send me an email at j@apologetix.com. It was awesome that God sent me a song to sum it up.
Speaking of awesome, how about George Elliott's bass-playing on this tune? I've always considered The Who's original to be the quintessential rock bass anthem, and George nailed it. Kudos to Wayne, Jimmy, and Rich for their parts, too.
SABBATH DAY'S QUITE ALRIGHT FOR NICE THINGS (2022)
This is the third time we've released a spoof "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," following an early live recording (same theme, slightly different title) in 1992 and a much improved live recording with new lyrics (same theme, current title) in 2009. After this 2022 version, I think we can finally give "Sabbath Day" a rest.
Ironically, although this is an Elton John parody, it took three tries and 30 years for us to finally incorporate keyboards. I was pretty pleased with our 2009 lyrics, so my primary purpose for doing it this time was get a nice studio recording with all the proper instrumentation. However, once I took a closer look at (and listen to) the second verse, I wound up making a lot of changes in order to get it to rhyme better with Elton's original.
As a matter of fact, I even changed a few more phrases when we were in the final mixing stages, three and a half weeks after I had recorded all my vocals at Jimmy's studio, Red Apple Audio Workshop. Thankfully, Wayne, who was doing the final mixing, has a studio, too, and he was able to accommodate me on short notice. We recorded vocals for my new lines the day before the single came out.
Come to think of it, we recorded them late Saturday afternoon before sunset, so technically it was the Sabbath. That's extra ironic, seeing as I generally record at Jimmy's on Wednesdays, or occasionally on Tuesdays or Thursdays. I hadn't recorded vocals on a Saturday in about a decade, and even then it was an exception rather than the rule.
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