From the recording EMPTY
Lyrics
EMPTY
Did you go to Sunday school?
Where they make you look like a fool
Did they tell you what is real?
How to think and how to feel?
Did they put your brain on the cross?
Did they teach you who’s the boss?
Did they take your flesh and soul
And rake your beating heart across the coals?
Oh, yeah
I know you feel the same as me
Oh, yeah
I’m sure we share the same disease
Cause it feels like God is pissed at me
And now you know what empty is
I’m choking on my rosary
Now you know what empty is
Now you know what empty is
Be careful what you say and who you know
Or you’ll wind up where the naughty little children go
If you tread in the valley of sin
You’d better say your prayers because God always wins
Oh, yeah
I know you feel the same as me
Oh, yeah
I’m sure we share the same disease
Cause it feels like God is pissed at me
And now you know what empty is
I’m choking on my rosary
Now you know what empty is
Now you know what empty is
Now you know
Oh, yeah
I know you feel the same as me
c1996 by Wishnefsky
Wishnefsky – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, synths, bass, tapes
Dave Rodgers – drums
COMMENTS
This song started with a fragment of an idea consisting of some chords changes and a melody that ultimately became the chorus. That particular idea germinated for a few years, but nothing came of it other then the words, "And now you know what empty is." I certainly knew what empty was, but describing it in a lyric was another ball of wax altogether.
In 1995, I took a trip to New York to visit my friend Alan Rosenbach, who was doing a residency in dermatology in Brooklyn, which, you may not know, is renowned for a wide variety of extremely unusual skin conditions suffered by its populace. As Alan showed me around the Big Apple, we passed through Times Square. A couple of gentlemen were preaching through a public address system. It sounded very cool to me – not the content of their words - but the sound of their voices coming from the speakers and bouncing off the buildings. I recorded it with a tiny cassette recorder that I carried with me for such moments.
The recording of the Times Square preachers inspired me to build a complete song around the fragment of an idea.
I don't know why we never rehearsed Empty or played it live. It would have been easy for us to pull off. I think our audience would have liked it. Oh well.
Wishnefsky