Some of you have wrote to me wanting to know what a particular song means. One good use of this newsletter would be to tell you all what the songs mean (at least to me) as well as give some other comments about how they were written and anything else interesting. This issue will look at two of more songs, "Forgotten Son" and "The Ancient Track".

Forgotten Son. This song was written about ten years ago. Originally it was two different songs. The acoustic part and the electric part were ideas for separate songs. I had the lyrics written out for parts of each. The acoustic song was a gentle song about suffering at the hands of another. The feel was one of lament and helplessness. The electric song was very brutal and full of retribution. The feel was one of power and revenge. I saw that merging the two took each song to a new level. Helplessness led to revenge and retribution and finally to victory. The two parts complimented each other wonderfully.

Then there was the matter of a chorus. I wanted to interrupt the sheer brutality of the heavy section with a milder chorus. I wanted there to be few moments of calm within the storm where the person the song is about reflects upon who he is and what he is doing. The change is kind of abrupt, and could flow better, but it works as intended. At the end of the chorus when the heavier part kicks in you can really feel the power.

As to what this song means, there have been several times in my life where some aggressive or oblivious person has pushed me aside or stepped on my will and I had no choice but to take it. We all want to fight back, but sometimes we can't. Sometimes we are too weak and sometimes we are compromised. At those times there is little we can do but wait for our time to get our revenge. You feel like a forgotten son, no parent is there to set things right.

However, revenge comes at a price. To fight against the victimizer one must learn the ways of combat. You must feel anger, and seek to hurt another. You must start a fight where there was none before and in so doing become evil in the eyes of others who see you as a troublemaker. The person the song is about is transformed into someone who can fight back. He is strong and he is feared and he wins out in the end. He pays a price though, his days of innocence are over.

The Ancient Track. This song is simple, beautiful, and elegant. Surprisingly it didn't take long to write. Once I'd come up with the chord progression the whole song was basically finished. All that was left was a few sweet sounding solos and some lyrics. The singing was key to the song. It had to make the first part sound upbeat and hopeful and the second part filled with sadness and lamentation.

The poem reminded me of New Age religion and discovering past lives. It seems like Lovecraft is telling a story about a man who finds out about a certain place from a past life regression. He then sets out to find that place so he can see it again. On the way there he sees all the familiar things he remembered and anticipates the wonders that lie ahead. As he crests the hill though his joy turns to terror. The world he thought he knew is actually unfamiliar and frightening. His loved past has now become an uncertain future and he is thrust into the great unknown.

I traded demo tapes of a Lovecraftian nature with Robert Ommundsen. He also had a version of "The Ancient Track" on his tape. It was so different from the Fireaxe version yet it also captured the theme of the poem well. His version was not melodic and musical, but sparse and haunting. He used very little instrumentation but was able to create an atmosphere of dread. The lyrics were read rather than sung which gave a feel of impending doom. It was interesting how two people could take two such different approaches to the same poem and make them work.