Crowd shot masthead ApologetiX Logo Keith Haynie plays bassBill Hubauer plays lead guitarJ. Jackson sings leadJimmy Vegas Tanner plays drums
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09.23.23Influential Albums: 1227-1233
09.23.23How to Get the ApX Library, USBs, Multiple Downloads
09.23.23Prayers for Jeff Jennings
09.22.23How to Donate Online or by Mail
09.22.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Wk
09.22.23This Week's Bible Reading
09.22.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
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09.19.23This Week's News Bulletin
09.19.23New Single: '64 & '91
09.14.23Influential Albums: 1220-1226
09.14.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Wk
09.14.23Happy Birthday to ApX Guitarist Tom Tincha
09.14.23Clues for 2023 Single #19
09.10.23This Week's News Bulletin
09.08.23Happy Birthday to ApX Guitarist Wayne Bartley
09.07.23Influential Albums: 1213-1219
09.07.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
09.07.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Wk
09.05.23New Single: '65 & '85
09.04.23This Week's News Bulletin
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08.31.23Prayers for ApX Fan's Son
08.31.23Clues for 2023 Single #18
08.30.23Septuagint CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
08.28.23ApologetiX Needs Help & Prayers
08.24.23Encouragement from 14 States + Canada & Hungary
08.24.23Influential Albums: 1192-1198
08.24.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
08.23.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
08.20.23This Week's News Bulletin
08.20.23New Single: '77 & '84
08.20.23New CD BOGO Ends Wednesday
08.18.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
08.18.23Influential Albums: 1192-1198
08.17.23Clues for 2023 Single #17
08.14.23This Week's News Bulletin
08.10.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
08.10.23Influential Albums: 1185-1191
08.09.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
08.07.23This Week's News Bulletin
08.06.23New Single: '72 & '90
08.03.23A Second Powerful Testimony from Tennessee
08.03.23Influential Albums: 1178-1184
08.03.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
08.03.23Clues for 2023 Single #16
07.30.23This Week's News Bulletin
07.28.23All About Our Upcoming CD, Septuagint
07.28.23Influential Albums 1171-1177
07.28.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
07.28.23Powerful Testimony from a Fan in Tennessee
07.27.23The Stories Behind The Songs on This Single
07.27.23ApX at Big Midwest Christian Rock Festival (Sort Of)
07.24.23This Week's News Bulletin
07.23.23New Single: '81 & '95
07.20.23Oklahoma Fan Loves New ApX CDs on iTunes
07.20.23Influential Albums 1164-1170
07.20.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
07.19.23Tom M. is a Grandpa Again
07.14.23Influential Albums 1157-1163
07.14.23Kinda Stuffy CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
07.14.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
07.13.23The Stories Behind The Songs on This Single
07.10.23This Week's News Bulletin
07.10.23New Single: '73 & '85
07.08.23Clues for 2023 Single #14
07.08.23Fan in Kenya Loves Latest Singles
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07.08.23Influential Albums 1150-1156
07.08.232 More ApX CDs Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
07.08.23This Week's Bible-Reading
07.01.23Fan Reacts to New ApX CDs on Amazon Music, Etc.
07.01.23Influential Albums 1143-1149
07.01.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
07.01.23The Stories Behind The Songs on This Single
06.27.23This Week's News Bulletin
06.27.23New Single: Hall of Fame Hits
06.24.23New ApX Albums Now on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
06.24.23New Rich Mannion Original Music Video
06.23.23Influential Albums 1136-1142
06.23.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
06.15.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
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06.15.23The Stories Behind The Songs on This Single
06.15.23Bittersweet Note from an ApologetiX Fan in Las Vegas
06.15.23ApX Fan Has Stage 3 Cancer But Encourages Us
06.12.23This Week's News Bulletin
06.11.23New Single: Two of a Kind from 1980
06.09.23Mannionversary: Five Years of Rich Blessings
06.08.23Influential Albums 1122-1128
06.07.23New CD BOGO Ends Sunday Night
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06.05.23This Week's News Bulletin
06.03.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
06.03.23Influential Albums 1115-1121
06.03.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
05.29.23This Week's News Bulletin

The Stories Behind the Songs on Single #17
Thu., Sep. 15. 2022 10:40am EDT

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the stories behind the songs on our 17th single of 2022:

YOU SIMPLY WRITE DOWN (MY DIRECTIONS)

I first mentioned the possibility of spoofing "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" to our keyboardist (and drum programmer) Rich Mannion on March 10, 2021, but I had no idea what we'd do with it (if anything at all) until August 3, 2022. That morning, I got the hook line of "You simply write down, David, write now."

Initially, I thought of the Psalms, but two days later a variation of the line came to me: "You simply write down plainly right now my directions." If we decided to go with that line, I figured it would have to be about Moses or one of the prophets or Apostles. I liked the "my directions" part but hated to not have "David" in it.

Then, I thought, "Wait a minute! Didn't David say somewhere that God gave him instructions for how the temple should be built, even though Solomon was going to be the one to actually build it?" Sure enough, even though it's not included in the story in Second Samuel, it's in the parallel account in First Chronicles:

"All this," David said, "I have in writing as a result of the Lord's hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan" (1 Chronicles 28:19).

And that's how we were able to combine both line ideas I had to make "You simply write down, David, right now my directions, David, write them down now." Additional lyrics soon followed, leaving no doubt in my mind it was the right way to go.

This was the first parody I sang after Jimmy's motorcycle accident, so I had to record my vocals at Wayne's studio. Rich did all of the instrumentation.

YOU'VE GOT TO WRITE STUFF

I became a born-again Christian in early 1988 and didn't listen to much secular music at the time, so I missed the initial onslaught of New Kids on the Block later that year. They were designed for a different demographic anyway. My wife, however, is a dozen years younger than I, and the New Kids were her first musical crush.

On July 19, 2022, I took her to see them when they came to Pittsburgh along with Rick Astley, En Vogue, and Salt-N-Pepa. Of course, by then they were no longer "new" or "kids" ... and they'd been around "the block" a few times. Just a little over a month later, the idea for "You've Got to Write Stuff" popped into my noggin.

As soon as I got the lines about First John, Second John, and Third John, it was pretty obvious whom the song would revolve around. We'd done parodies from the perspective of the Apostle John before (like "Go Right Now," "Let Me Sit Next to Messiah," "Hosanna," and "Spread the Way"), but I thought it would be neat to show how he wrote five books of the Bible, making him the second-most prolific New Testament author.

The Apostle Paul was responsible for almost three times as many books (13 or 14, depending on whether or not you believe he wrote the Book of Hebrews), but he only wrote epistles. John wrote three of those plus a Gospel and Revelation. His epistles are brief — in fact, Third John and Second John are the two shortest books of the entire Bible — but each of his other two books has over 20 chapters.