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The Stories Behind Our First Single of 2022
Fri., Jan. 21. 2022 9:16pm EST
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our first single of 2022:
DON'T SCOFF
I got the title and some of the lyrics for "Don't Scoff" on August 21, 2019. It's based on 2 Peter 3:3-4: "Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
Peter goes on to give the reason for the delay in 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
Speaking of delays, even though I liked the title and the lyrics I had, I didn't get around to writing the rest of the words until over two years later. Part of the hold-up was finding the right person to sing the female vocal parts. Then it dawned on me that Keith Haynie's younger daughter, Abby, had a voice well suited for it.
I'd been wanting to have her sing lead vocals on one of our parodies ever since she did such a fine job on the second verse of "Bought by the Egyptians" for us in the winter of 2015-16. The years had really flown by since then!
I contacted Abby about it on October 28, 2021 and finished the lyrics that day. Then it was a matter of us getting the instrumental tracks done and Abby getting time off from work. We both recorded our vocals on January 5, 2022. Her proud papa was also in studio for the momentous occasion. As you can hear, she sang like a songbird.
ENJOY THE SCIENCE
On December 17, 2021, ApX keyboardist Rich Mannion sent me a text with a link to "Enjoy the Silence" on YouTube and said, "Have y'all ever done a parody of this?" I responded and said:
"I missed out on much Depeche Mode after 'Dreaming of Me' and 'People Are People.' Although I've heard 'Personal Jesus' and their version of 'Route 66.' I'll take it under consideration. Depeche Mode was peaking in popularity right when I was immersing myself in the Bible and Christian music (1988-91). So I have been catching up on that era ever since. I'm not promising anything, but I'll least listen to it."
Rich told me he loved the original song, and since he'd be doing all the instrumentation aside from the guitars, I took a shot at writing a parody. I got the title and the first couple lines 10 days later while driving with my wife and kids to visit my in-laws in Jeffersonville IN. We were there for a few days, and I kept working on the words during my daily walks, and I had finished lyrics to send to Rich on New Year's Day.
On January 17, 2022, we put out our parody, "Enjoy the Science," on a single. I knew the process went quickly, but it wasn't until I started writing this journal entry and referencing my old texts, emails and Word documents that I discovered the finished recording was released exactly one month after Rich first contacted me about the song!
I love the way God can make something out of nothing and bring an idea to fruition so quickly. Why, it almost defies the laws of science!
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