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The Stories Behind the Songs on Single #12
Sat., Jul. 9. 2022 11:32pm EDT
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our 12th single of 2022:
FOLD YOUR TENT UP
I got the title line for this parody in May 2021 but didn't write the rest of the lyrics till May 2022.
I thought it would be ideal to have the first verse be about the call of Abram (since he lived in tents and followed God's voice), the second verse be about the Israelites in the wilderness (since they also lived in tents and followed God's lead manifested in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night), and the third verse be about believers at the return of Christ (since the Apostle Paul describes our bodies as earthly tents in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5).
I didn't know if I could manage to make all that fit into the rhyme scheme of the original Argent song, but God worked it out for me. I'd been wanting to do a song about the call of Abram for about 30 years!
I also was pretty geeked (and that is a very appropriate term in this case) to get the word "sojourner" in the first half of the choruses, and I liked the way it could be replaced with "soldier" in the second half of the choruses. After all, the Bible does describe us as sojourners (1 Peter 2:11 ESV, NKJV) and soldiers (2 Timothy 2:3-4), and both do live in tents.
Originally, we just planned to replicate the single version of "Hold Your Head Up," but Rich Mannion reminded me that there's an album version rock radio stations play which is almost twice as long, with all kinds of fancy prog-rock keyboards. Since he was eager, willing, and able to do all that stuff, we opted to do that version. I'm so glad we did, because Rich did a phenomenal job.
LOST AND FOUND
When God confronted them in the Garden of Eden, Adam ratted Eve out, and Eve ratted out the serpent. So we Ratted out their story.
I know some of our fans had been hoping we'd eventually do a studio version of this parody, which first appeared on our 2009 live CD, The Boys Aren't Backin' Down. Me, too. But after we put the plan into motion, I took another look at the lyrics and noticed there were things I wanted to change. So we lost some of the old words and found new ones to replace them.
For example, in 2009, we had God saying, "You're gonna go, but then I'll see you again. You'll have it rough. I've said enough. Someday, you'll see." I wanted something more accurate for 2022. So now we have God saying, "'You're gonna go, but then a seed will begin" (alluding to His prophecy in Genesis 3:15, which is also known as the protoevangelium — the first gospel), and then we switch back to the narrator saying, "Life has been rough from Adam up. 'Cause, babe, we sinned."
Here's another change along biblical lines: In the second verse of the 2009 version, we cited Romans 5:10, but this time around, I felt Romans 5:8 ("But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us") better fit our new preceding statement, "I've gotta say, we got the proof when He died."
And those are just some of the improvements. Meanwhile Tinch, Keith, and Jimmy nailed the musical end of things. Consequently, I think this a way-cool junior version of "Lost and Found."
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