Crowd shot masthead ApologetiX Logo Keith Haynie plays bassBill Hubauer plays lead guitarJ. Jackson sings leadJimmy Vegas Tanner plays drums
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03.18.24Get Multiple Downloads for One Donation
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03.16.24Influential Albums: 1402-1408
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03.09.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
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03.03.24New Single: '74 Solo Smashes
03.01.24A Serious Problem We're Trying to Address
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02.22.24Wayne Is Retiring, What's Next for Him and Us?
02.22.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.19.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.19.24New Single: Billy & The Beach
02.16.24Influential Albums: 1374-1380
02.16.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.16.24Remembering ApX Friend Paul "Doc" Nigh (1956-2024)
02.16.24Clues for 2024 Single #4
02.10.24Influential Albums: 1367-1373
02.10.24Fans Making Plans to Attend Our Big Show September 1
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02.10.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.06.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.06.24New Single: '74 & '83
02.03.24ApX Lead Singer/Lyricist Shares His Testimony 36 Years Later
02.03.24Influential Albums: 1360-1366
02.03.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.03.24Latest CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
02.02.24Clues for 2024 Single #3
01.29.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.26.24Influential Albums: 1353-1359
01.26.24How to Get the ApX Library, USBs, Multiple Downloads
01.26.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
01.26.24Flashback: J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2014
01.26.24J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2024
01.26.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
01.24.24Checking in With ApX Alum Drummer Fred Behanna
01.22.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.22.24New Single: '70s #1 Hits That Remade '60s Top 10 Hits
01.19.24Influential Albums: 1346-1352
01.19.24Encouraging Message from Longtime Fan in Oklahoma
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01.15.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.12.24Influential Albums: 1339-1346
01.12.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
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01.12.24New Testament Reading Started Wednesday
01.11.24New Worship Songs Available from ApX Alum Bill Rieger
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12.29.23Influential Albums: 1325-1331
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12.26.23This Week's News Bulletin
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12.23.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.23.23ApologetiX Updated Christmas Playlist
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12.16.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.16.23New Story
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12.11.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.11.23New Single: '83 & '84
12.11.23ApX Apparel: Order by Tuesday with Express Shipping
12.07.23New ApX Apparel and More: Order Soon for Christmas
12.07.23Influential Albums: 1304-1310
12.07.23Just Reword CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
12.07.23Clues for 2023 Single #25
12.04.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.02.23Influential Albums: 1297-1303
12.02.23This Week's Bible Reading & Rock Thru the Bible
12.02.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
12.02.23New Shirts & Other ApX Merch Coming Soon
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11.28.23This Week's News Bulletin
11.28.23New Christmas Single: All '80s
11.24.23Influential Albums: 1290-1296

The Stories Behind the Songs on Single #22
Wed., Nov. 23. 2022 4:34pm EST

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the stories behind the songs on our 22nd single of 2022:

BAD CITIZEN

I really didn't want to do this parody. "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi was a long, noisy song with a lot of moving parts and tons of backing vocals, and I figured it would be a logistical nightmare to replicate. There were all kinds of things that could wrong.

Still, I loved the new title (I think I got that in April 2019 at about the same time I got the idea for "Slow to Wrath"), and once I started working on the lyrics in mid-September 2022, the first chorus and first verse came to me extremely quickly. I just had a feeling we were supposed to proceed, but I still dreaded it.

The verses, sung by yours truly, are from the perspective of the rulers and authorities who confronted Peter and John in Acts 4 and all of the Apostles in Acts 5. The choruses, sung by Rich Mannion, are from the perspective of believers, both then and now.

The central scripture verse, cited twice in the lyrics, is Acts 4:19: "But Peter and John replied, 'Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!'" Those two Apostles went even further in Acts 4:20: "'As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.'"

I first heard about that story and those quotes in a song called "Can't Stop Talkin'" by The Watchman, a successful local Christian rock band I had to interview as part of my newspaper internship during the summer of my senior year in college in 1986 ... two years before I read it in the Bible myself and two years before "Bad Medicine" came out.


CAN'T LET THE CROWD IN MY HEAD

In September 2022, Rich and I decided to try another ELO tune. We had a few in mind, but I went through my playlist of their hits to make sure we didn't overlook anything. I felt drawn to one I hadn't expected, "Can't Get It Out of My Head," a beautiful song that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, even though it was ELO's first U.S. Top 10 single.

I texted Rich, and he was all for it. Now I just needed to figure out what to do lyrically. I considered "Can't Get Up Out of My Bed," about the paralytic who was lowered through the roof to see Jesus, but we'd covered that from a first-person perspective in "I'm Cured," and I didn't think the guy would still be singing "I can't get up out of my bed" at the end of the song.

Then I thought about "midnight on the water" and "walking on a wave she (He) came" in the ELO lyrics ... "Can't Let a Doubt in My Head"? No, we'd already done "Walk on the Water" from Peter's perspective. So I started thinking about what we could do with the "Robin Hood and William Tell and Ivanhoe and Lancelot" line, and that put me on the path to where this song ended up.

It's still Peter, but it starts with him in prison in Jerusalem (Acts 12), awaiting execution by Herod but miraculously rescued, and it finishes with Peter in prison in Rome many years later, awaiting execution by Nero. With music so majestic I wanted a special title. When "Can't Let the Crowd in My Head" came to me, I thought, "Now that's something any believer could still sing today."