2005-05-11

12 Brothers - The Lyrics: Balance

Prerequisite reading thus far:

We have reached the final chapter, Balance. The story goes something like this ...

The 11 brothers and their father have hit on hard times. The downturn in the market has forced them into near poverty. Now they must contemplate the choice between bankruptcy or trying to salvage their floundering family business. Not having the personality of quitters they decide to go for it and attempt to acquire a loan from a powerful investment banking company in the southwest (you know the one). This loan will help get them through the hard times and hopefully over the hump and back to being successful again. Of course, what they really need is redemption with their lost brother. Bringing him back into the fold, no doubt, would fulfill their emotional needs and, perhaps most importantly, provide them with the economic stability that they desire. #12, being as gracious as he is, gives them what they need on both counts.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Below are your lyrics. These are the original lyrics that I had written for this song. My main issue with them is that there's too much mixing of metaphors and the tone differs too much from the surrounding songs. I had written some alternate lyrics that spoke more in business and banking terms but I can't find them at the moment. We'll deal with these for now and if I can find the other's I'll post them in the comments section.

Verse 1:

now you've seen me again
but don't recognize me
when you look into my eyes
when you make your plea
you can't really see
what you need from me

Chorus 1:

you want a ship to weather the storm
when i could offer so much more
what you want is not to be
but i'll help with what you need

Verse 2:

who could this man be
that he should know us intimately
and propose to fill our needs
our father misses his son
and we desire atonement
but could he be this one

Chorus 2:

we want a ship to weather the storm
and a ballot to carry reform
we want a taste of good graces
and feel of warm embraces

Verse 3:

so how do you plead
and will you concede
that you are guilty
i've put forth a test
that you've passed quite well
and now the matter can rest

Chorus 3:

you want a ship to weather the storm
when I could offer so much more
what you want is not to be
but now you have all that you need


OK, let's hear the music.

10 comments:

Joshua Provost said...

Jer, true, you are using a ship metaphor here, and that's not an exact match to the rest of the album. However, I've got it worked out to sing that way, and it's very emotional, so maybe you keep it.

I would like to see what it would look like with business metaphors, though.

I have a couple recordings of this, but I need to do a new one. I have changed some lyrics. Actually, I freestyled some new lyrics for one of the choruses.

I'll let you imagine what it sounds like: Holland 1945 meets Kind of Like Spitting.

There it is.

Joshua Provost said...

So, what is next for this project, assuming you like the demo I'll bust out tonight?

I've got a good relationship with Sound Tracks studio in Mesa, where Fatigo and NMWG did their most recent work. The owner, Greg, is a great drummer. I could go down there and bust out some real nice demos.

However, I'm unsure what to do about vocals. Is the intent that you sing these songs eventually? Or do you want me to go for it? I don't even think I can sing Sunsets, it's too strange.

Jeremy said...

Here are the alternate chrorus lyrics:

you want a loan to get out of the red
when i could offer no more debt
what you want is not to be
but i'll help with you need


Then there was something else for Chorus 2. Can't remember right now. Hopefully I have it in my home version of 12Brothers.txt

Anyway, regarding your second comment: do it up! This EP definitely needs your vocal stylings.

Joshua Provost said...

Jer, sorry I haven't gotten anything online yet, I've gotten busy the last couple nights. Maybe tomorrow.

Jeremy said...

The wait is killing me. You better get it up there soon.

On an unrelated note, why is it that when you click either of our names under Contributors it does not show up to date information. Do we need to republish the entire blog or something?

Joshua Provost said...

You just have to know who's ahead in words and outbound links, don't you. C'mon, do you think you have a shot at this point?

Jeremy said...

I think I still have a very good chance of being the leader. Republish and let's have a look.

Where's my Balance, cuz?

Joshua Provost said...

Jer,

I debuted the music for Balance to Brock live on Sunday afternoon. He had positive feedback. He also wept and talked about eggrolls.

Josh

Jeremy said...

So I say again, "Where's my Balance, cuz?" Once again Brock has become your surrogate brother. I've been replaced.

Joshua Provost said...

Somebody's got to do it, since you've slipped into Stoic Iceman B-mode (that's right, I'm calling you out). You'll know for sure when Brock announces he's writing a new EP.