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The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
Thu., May. 2. 2024 4:38pm EDT
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our ninth single of 2024:
SAME OLD SAVIOR
Before head coach Chuck Noll revolutionized the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise in the 1970s, the team was mired in mediocrity (or worse) for most of the first four decades of its existence, and a common phrase used by disgusted fans was "Same old Steelers."
Therefore, I wince at the similarity to this parody's title, but it's based on God's immutability (unchanging nature) and the fact that He's been saving mankind since the early days of the Old Testament ... His benevolence didn't begin with a baby born in Bethlehem.
"Same Old Savior" singles out two particular events as examples — the great flood in Noah's days, and the Red Sea crossing during the time of Moses — in the first two verses, but then proceeds to Jesus in the third verse, calling to mind Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
I've liked the song "Sail On, Sailor," ever since I first heard it as a young teenager, but I was surprised when Jimmy asked me in about us potentially spoofing it. Soon after he brought it up, I got the title, on June 20, 2023.
I wrote most of the first two verses and the first half of the bridge on a trip Lisa and I took to Hershey PA on August 11-12. However, I didn't really start working on it again until April 2024. I remember putting the finishing touches on the lyrics on April 12, the day my daughter Heather's longtime boyfriend, Max, met me at a local Eat'n Park restaurant and asked for my permission to marry her.
CAN'T YOU SEE THAT HE'S BLIND
I know we covered this story in our full-length version of "Bartimaeus Eyes" in January 2024, but "Can't You See That He's Blind" gives extra info, like the only Bible verse (Mark 10:46) where he is identified by name and the town where it happened.
I got the title on December 27, 2019, just four days after singing our first Dave Clark Five parody, "Glad It's Over," so I wanted to wait a while, but I loved the juxtaposition of the phrases "can't you see" and "that he's blind."
Something dawned on me in April 2024 while writing the lyrics: Bartimaeus had no trouble begging the Lord for help, because he'd been a beggar all his life! Also, I hadn't noticed before that the events took place in Jericho, the same town where another tenacious outcast, Zacchaeus, encountered Jesus for the first time.
In the third verse, I referred to our protagonist as "Blind Bart," a nod to old movies and shows I've seen where the villain was called "Black Bart." A couple infamous real-life criminals shared that moniker — a pirate in the 1700s and a stagecoach robber in the 1800s. Meanwhile, in the 1900s, the bad guy in one of Ralphie's daydreams in A Christmas Story was called Black Bart.
Matthew's parallel account of Bartimaeus' story tells us a second blind man was healed with him. That's why I specifically sang "No one who watched what he did that day, would try it, too." You see, even though the other blind guy did try it, too, he hadn't watched Bartimaeus, because he couldn't.
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