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THE GRAVEYARD STONE

from INSIDE DREAMS (2024 Remaster) by The Santairs

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about

This was originally a dark poem I wrote when I was in high school. The music is simplistic, using a common rock riff running down from AM and it never deviates. Musically, I knew it wasn't interesting, but what I had in mind (for the ears) would be different. I used various techniques that aren't common when I recorded this song. I sung through a PA system, recorded through Carvin monitor speakers, using thick reverb. When overdubbing the bass, I used the direct line in and recorded it off the bass cabinet, pointing a cardioid microphone at one of the bass speakers. I added tremolo to the bass and phasers, filters, and other silly effects to the drums and vocals. The one small backing vocal part was overdubbed after it was mixed onto one track, directly from the main mixer. So, in other words, normal engineering techniques went out the window. Originally, I performed this song at an upbeat tempo. The song wasn't more than 4 ½ minutes long. I slowed the tempo down, slightly changing the pitch, and stretched the song to a length of 5 minutes, 18 seconds, which gave this song a serious psychedelic feel to it.
Lyrically, this song is one of those “up yours” tunes, since that was how I was feeling at the time I wrote it. It's also a story about what some people think rock and roll was really all about, especially conservative Christians (that I had a problem with back in the day) specifically where music was concerned. In my opinion, rock and roll doesn't create Demons, drugs, death, disease, torture, orgies or whatever. It's one of the most purest forms of expression and it's something I live and breathe. It can be used in a negative way, just like anything in life, but it's all a matter of ones' perspective. I remember performing this song live in high school, and it did spark a reaction. The kids seemed to like it based on the fact of the lyrics stating “BLEEDING VIRGIN” and my use of the “F” word, which is one of the few times I did that in a “real” song of mine (not counting some of the silly X-rated songs I wrote for fun.) This song was also inspired, musically, by CCR's song called “Graveyard Train.” Even the poem reflects the tone of that particular tune. I just took it several steps further.
This is song #111.

Recorded at The CELL BLOCK Studio in Auburn, WA.

lyrics

As I Look Upon The Stone, The Feeling Of Things So Unknown.
Blood Dripping From A Bleeding Virgin; Then I See The Drop Of Sin.

People Have Nothing To Find. I Watch Them Wasting Their Minds.
Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll, With The Devil In Their Souls.

The Kiss Of Death Is At The Door. The Way We Act, We Want Some More.
The Drink That's In Begins To Kill. The Girls Of Teens Nipping On The Pill.

(Spoken): The Graveyard Stone That Marks The Head,
Tellin' The Truth For Ones Who Are Dead.
The Wayward Wind Blows Heavily Across.
The People In Pain Have Died By The Cross.
The Pain That Lived Goes On Forever.
Only You Die But The Pain Dies Never.
Smoking Small Plants And Gettin' Much Higher,
Can't Face Reality, You're All Fucking Liars.
The Spirits Have Cried But No One Hears.
You Simple-Minded People With All To Fear. No!

Graveyard Lies Beyond The Dead; The Pain Exists Only In Your Head.
Aborting A Child You Both Creatin' Is Now Guarded In Hell By Satan.

I Watch You Snort Your Humanity (Insanity/Inhumanity!)
I Live With All Your Profanity.
So All Of You Alive Today, The Graveyard Stone Is Where You'll Pay.
That's Where You'll Stay.

credits

from INSIDE DREAMS (2024 Remaster), released May 17, 2015
Wayde K. Brown

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The Santairs Auburn, Washington

I am a musician, singer, and songwriter doing this part-time but have been doing it all my life. I started singing before I could talk at the age of one, and wrote my first real song at 15 years of age. (If you count avant-garde as a song, then the age would be 7.) I currently own my own recording studio; and I write, perform, and record my own music (and other's from time to time.) I am Santairs. ... more

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