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The Stories Behind the Songs on Our 18th Single
Sat., Oct. 30. 2021 3:01pm EDT
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our 18th single of 2021:
RUNNIN' DOWN THE DRAIN
I've had the title for "Runnin' Down the Drain" for years. I liked it a lot but didn't know how I wanted to apply it. After all, we'd already done "Bathwater," in 2014. It wasn't until 2021 that I finally realized this spoof could be about Noah.
Wait a minute ... him again? Hey, his story gets four full chapters in the Bible (Genesis 6-9, plus a cameo in chapter 5), and his name is mentioned in 10 other Bible books, so why not?
We've done songs about Noah's life before the flood ("We're Not Gonna Drown," "Noah Man"), during the flood ("Story of a Squirrel," "All the Stalls Stink"), and a combination of both ("Not Logs Lincoln"), but this is our first one about his life after the flood.
However, although the verses of this parody are sung from Noah's perspective, the choruses are something any believer should be able to sing. That's right; it's an empowerment anthem in which we can all make our declaration.
Like Noah, we're all survivors. In fact, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:32). But, also like Noah, we'll all face storms in this life — dark days when the only thing that'll keep us from despair is our faith that God is infinitely more powerful than any storm. Of course, you ought to know that already from our songs "Swimmer," "Turning a Little Seasick," and "Walk on the Water."
In this parody's final verse, we also included a little foreshadowing of some storms Noah would yet have to navigate, with the lines "I'd like to settle down and make some wine" and "my sons seem good."
I DON'T NEED TO SEE MIRACLES
I didn't realize until we were well into production on this parody that we had spoofed "All You Need Is Love," "All I Need," and "All I Need Is a Miracle" within a span of 11 months. I must have been needier than I thought ... like Steve Martin in that famous scene in The Jerk: "And that's all I need!"
You won't get the gist of this song unless you listen to the entire chorus; I don't need to see miracles, but that doesn't mean I haven't seen them. It reminds me of Jesus' words after His resurrection, when He appeared to Thomas: "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29).
It also reminds me of a Snoopy Christmas ornament I got as a kid which said, "It's better to give and receive," which was obviously playing on Acts 20:35. Now, I don't advocate changing scripture, but I get the joke: It's more blessed to give than to receive, but it sure is cool when you give and receive ... when you weren't expecting it.
In the same vein, it's more blessed to believe without seeing miracles, but it's awesome when you believe and then see miracles.
"All I Need Is a Miracle" came out in '86, and I had to sing it as part of an audition for a rock band I tried out for in Latrobe PA in '87. I never heard back from them, but I heard from Jesus in '88. For years, when I'd hear this song, I'd sing "All I Need Is Numerical," but there's not really a good biblical application for that one, especially since we already did "If You Don't Look at Numbers" in 2020.
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