Track 1. What a Change

The first song on the album is called

“What a Change”.

Lyrics

The lyrics are about two young couples and how we have been changed by their stories. Unlike many of the lyrics on the album, these lyrics came together in an afternoon.

1st verse – Adam and Eve – the poetry at first chronicles their demise but then ends with  “What a change, young lovers, had the fruit stayed on that bough”. That’s one powerful apple. Roughly 50% of North Americans believe this story and it has a profound impact on our society. I wrote at length about it then deleted it all. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

2nd verse – Mildred Loving, of African-American and Native American descent, and Richard Loving, a white man, were sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their case was later settled by the supreme court. Loving vs Virginia is a landmark civil rights decision of the United States Supreme Court which struck down all state laws banning interracial marriage.

Music

I played violin on this and ran it through a a synth processor and then into an amp to get a tone that is reminiscent of guitar but with violin techniques like tremolo and sliding. There’s a fair amount of synthesizer in there as well, courtesy of my favourite synth, Spectrasonic’s Omnisphere.

Mark Spielman  – Bass, Steven Parish – Drums, Don Macd – piano, violin, vocals, synths

Midnight flames were dancing,
waltzing in the sublime,
sharing delicate whispers
near the edge of time.

From the shadows a witness
wakened from his sleep,
spied the young lovers
and rose from his cover
and buried their dreams
neath' a blanket of lies so deep.

What a shame, young lovers
that we blame you still now,
what a change, young lovers
had the fruit stayed on the bough.
What a change, what a change.

One young couple lay sleeping,
caused two worlds to collide
one where colour still mattered,
one where race was no divide.

One night boots stormed the bedroom,
wakened them from sleep
grabbed the young lovers
ripped from their covers
and gave them a night in a cell
and a sentence so steep.

What a shame, young lovers
that they took you on that day
but a change, young lovers,
you began that fateful way.
What a change, what a change.