The Temptation Song - Song Explanation

       Welcome back once again to the only blog on the whole internet that will simultaneously waste a few minutes of your day while also letting you in on my creative process in songwriting. (Really, I think it's a win-win...-win.) Today we open the vault, quite like when Disney releases an "animated classic" on DVD and Blu Ray "for a limited time," but actually they'll just keep re-releasing it until everyone on Earth has emptied their pockets and bow at Mickey's feet. Actually, it's not really like that at all. I have made nowhere near the money Disney spends on giant Pluto plush dolls alone, and most of the money I do make from my music goes toward one mission trip or the other, but anyways, back to the point: Today I will be diving into about the third song I ever wrote (if you don't count "Ratty the Mouse is Dead," which I am not making up), which is a song about temptation, cleverly titled "The Temptation Song. Check these lyrics!

Temptation, coming over me,
This situation, Lord, is more than eye can see,
Believe me, Lord, I'm doing all I can,
But You can see me, Lord, You see I'm such a sinful man,

Lord You know I've been here before,
When all of this evil was knocking at my door,
Lord You know how I long to be free,
But I know that You could use this to grow me,

This temptation, that's pulling me away!
My moderation, Lord, I'm losing every day,
Lord please give me, a little self-control,
Lord send some of that Fruit of the Spirit to my soul,

Lord You know I was born into sin,
And sometimes I just let that junk back in,
Lord You know what I need is grace,
So please help me take the way of escape,
From temptation,

Though the wrong,
Seems oft so strong,
There is a Savior Who,
Is gonna see me through...

This temptation, He's gonna see me through
In my temptation, I'll always turn to You!
Lord I'll never be perfect, not this side of glory, this is a thing I know!
But sanctify me, Lord, make me holy, until You take me home!
And lead me not into temptation, no, no, no...

The Music: Being one of my earliest tunes, I was very fixated on the key of G, which is the guitarist's best friend, but I was also very enamored with this little trick I had picked up wherein you slide down the bass line from G to Em, and back up to G. (It also works with C to Am, in case you were wondering, which I'm sure you were...) So I decided to put as much of that as possible into this particular song. For you non-musical people, it's the part that sounds like "dun, dun, dahhhh, dun, dun, dahhhhh!" But, in a stroke of either genius or luck or just being stupid, I decided to speed up and totally switch my strum rhythm for the chorus kind of part, which to this day I really like as a sort of reprieve from the repetition of the rest of the song. For the bridge, I figured out a way to make the bass line get all the way to Am so I could have a fun little walk up to Bm (which does not stand for "bowel movement" so get your mind out of the gutter) to add a little "flair" and "pizazz" as it were. So for 17-year old Justin, this wasn't a bad effort, kind of a folk-sy feel, which was very common for me, variations in the same key, harmonica friendly, and ultimately I'd say it all worked together.

Lyrical Explanation: This song, as with most of my songs at the time, was written for a class assignment. In fact, if it weren't for Mr. Malloy, my praise band teacher who sounded a lot like Napoleon Dynamite, and Mr. Neiswender, my Bible/Chemistry/Calculus teacher who did not sound like Napoleon Dynamite, challenging me through class assignments to write songs about Scriptural themes, I might not have started writing them at all. I might have started writing stupid teen love songs and become Justin Beiber, or I might have not started writing songs in the first place. (Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse...) So I owe a lot of thanks to those two, who made it an actual assignment I'd get graded on to write a song, which I took as a challenge to write a good song, which in turn gave us this little gem.
          Now believe it or not, this song was based on a section of "The Purpose Driven Life," by Rick Warren. I know, I know, "Justin, how can you write a song about 'The Purpose Driven Life' and still call yourself a reformed, John Piper/David Platt Neo Calvinist?! It just doesn't work!" And I see your point, but first of all, I don't define my theology by any man, living or dead, I define it by Scripture, and obviously I have certain thoughts that line up with what certain other people have said in the past, but none of that is as important as sticking to the word, in my opinion. Secondly, I found several parts of "The Purpose Driven Life" to not be complete garbage, and to be quite helpful and Scriptural. (I didn't like the constant change of versions of the Bible just to make it make the particular point Rick wanted to make, but that is a completely different topic for another day.)
        So anyway, this song came out of the chapter on Temptation. I looked at all sorts of Scripture on temptation, and the ways that God helps us fight it, how He provides a way of escape, gives us self-control through His Holy Spirit, will never tempt us beyond what we are able, in fact is not the one tempting us because He cannot be tempted by evil, but is always with us and will never forsake us. So I took all those ideas, plus a line from the Hymn "This is My Father's World," ("Though the wrong, seems oft so strong") and combined all that with my personal prayer to God to lead me not into temptation to form the lyrical basis. Hopefully, you can hear the passion and reality in my voice as I dealt with the real temptations a 17-year old dude faces. This was a real prayer in my life. It still is. Temptation doesn't go away when your teenage hormones die down, or when you're an adult with a job, or even when you're old and retire to Florida. Maybe they become different, but they're still there, and you still need God to keep providing the way of escape, and helping you to take it. I know I still do. I do hope this song speaks to you in a new way today, and that you love it like one of your own babes, like I do... (Well, maybe not that creepy...)

YouTube Video: This one is from way back when I first got a computer with a webcam, so it's most likely shaky and grainy and has terrible lighting, but enjoy anyway!

Recorded Version: From my first album with my brother called simply "North Side Jamboree," one of the best tracks in my opinion, mostly because of the harmonica. Here's the link.

Conclusion: Thanks for joining me on another musical journey into the past. Let me know how you like it, which song you'd like me to do next, if I should keep doing this, and whether I should grow a big ol' mustache again like I had in high school... Now go, and be golden!

Singing off for now,

Justin Samuel Manry

Awesome. Sauce.

Oh My Son (Song Explanation)

       Welcome back to my highly popular (among moms) and wildly successful (if you compare it to, say, Ghost Rider 2) series of blogs explaining some of the thoughts and heart and passion and strange odors behind some of the greatest songs I've ever written. This week I'll be taking a look deeper into the favorite song of at least one of my fans who is definitely not my mother, Oh My Son. It is a ballad of sorts, if I even know what a ballad is, but anyways, more of that later, here are the lyrics:

Lyrics: Oh My Son

Your first act was unholy retribution,
You followed it up by following your blind ambition,
You used deceit to get the nations on your side,
And though you hated me for you I would have died, Oh my son...
You had it all the looks, no blemish, your perfect hair,
But underneath it all you proved an unworthy heir,
Oh will this sword from my house ever take its leave?
And though I love you son they say I mustn't grieve! Oh my son!

My son, my son, oh my son,
You died in vain for your own childish rebellion,
What did you feel while you were hanging from that tree?
The pride of your life became your ultimate defeat, oh my son!

You were born to humble means,
The line of kings You came from was a distant memory,
They wouldn't believe Your teaching, they couldn't accept Your signs,
And though I loved You, Son, I knew You'd have to die, oh My Son...
You had no stately form that men should look upon,
But underneath You were the only Holy One,
You asked Me to take this cup, but surrendered to My will,
And that obedience is what led You to be killed, oh My Son!

My Son, My Son, oh My Son,
Your death was not in vain, it saved this world's rebellion,
I know You felt forsaken, hanging from that tree,
Your final breath dealt death it's ultimate defeat, oh My Son!

Oh My Son, You paid the ransom,
Oh My Son, You conquered death,
Oh My Son, You brought fulfillment,
Oh My Son, the shadows have left,
Oh My Son, soon I will send You,
Oh My Son, to bring them back, Oh My Son!

Music: I am not what you would call a classically trained musician. I took guitar lessons first from my dad, who taught me everything he knows, quite literally, and then from Mr. Malloy, who was not so much a guitar teacher as a general music teacher, and sounded like Napoleon Dynamite, and then from my brother Jordan, who promptly got married and stopped teaching guitar. All that to say, I don't always know what I'm doing, musically speaking, but I can tell when something sounds good. In this case, it was keeping an E in the bass while moving from a B to a C# to a D to an E on the second string, and adding a G# to an A# to a B to a C# on the high E string, which roughly translates to "This song sounds dagstinkin' awesome," to borrow a phrase from Beethoven... And then for the "chorus sort of thing" I used open chords, where you just take the E formation and move it up and down the neck, which are a staple for my father, who has never touched a bar chord with a ten-foot pole, and just sound sensational... If all my songs were made up of open chords, I'd be fine with that... Anyways, for fear of boring you with unnecessary details, suffice it to say that my musical style is "whatever comes into my head," and "whatever sounds good to me," and we can move on to the deep and well-textured meaning behind this song...

Explanation: So a while back I was reading through II Samuel, which tells the story of David once he finally becomes king, and naturally I was drawn to the character of David's son, Absalom, who had hair that weighed 200 shekels when he cut it every year. Now that's something I could relate to... A once a year haircut... My middle school self would have killed for a once a year haircut, free from the evil cutters, and ending with a hair weigh-in that would show the sheer volume of my incredible locks... But anyway, what was I talking about? Oh, yes, so I kept reading about this man Absalom, and it turns out he was kind of a major dirtbag. Even the good things about him: his handsome appearance and propensity for leadership, went straight to his head and were used for his own selfish gain. The first major story we read about him he is murdering his brother for revenge, later he fake apologizes to his all-too-merciful father and then gets people on his side by acting like he's a man of the people, and after that he did some not so nice things with several women on top of the king's house, and by that time I was totally not on board with Absalom, no matter how much his hair weighed.
              So he uses his sneaky, sniveling, conniving ways to become King of Israel for a short time, there's a war, and eventually his army has been defeated, and while he's riding through the woods his hair gets caught in a tree (which, again, I can relate to...) and so he's a sitting duck for Joab, who puts a spear through him. But the thing that got me was after all that, after all the back-stabbing and public shame and just general awfulness of pride that defined Absalom, David was still completely broken up when he heard of his death. This son who had disgraced him, had been the complete opposite of a man after God's own heart, was a son David still loved, and would have died to save. And even then, David was told he couldn't grieve. And so the heart of this song really comes out of David's cries, "Oh my son, my son Absalom, oh my son! If only I had died in your place! Oh Absalom my son!" 
          And so I started writing this song about a man weeping for his son who had been wretched and spiteful and generally just not a nice person. But then I started to think, "If David as a father wept and wished he could have died in the place of his imperfect and disrespectful son, how did God the Father feel about His One and Only Son, Who was perfect, Who was holy, Who willingly laid His own life down?" If anyone deserved to die, it was definitely Absalom, and yet Jesus died for sins He didn't even commit. And so the song about one father-son relationship turned into a song of parallels between that and the Father-Son relationship that is the basis of our entire faith. I do tend to bring most of my songs back to the gospel, which is probably a function of how I was raised, to see God's entire plan of salvation in the smaller stories that make up the bigger picture, but this one seemed like a no-brainer.
           Absalom was basically the antithesis of everything Christ embodied. He was prideful, hated his father, couldn't wait to be king, was impure, died for his own selfishness, and was ultimately done in by the hair he took so much pride in. On the other hand, Christ was humble, even though He had every right to be over all things, He humbled Himself to the point of death, not for selfish ambition or trying to become an Earthly king, but to save rebellious sinners such as Absalom from their sins. He wasn't flashy, or overbearing, or even handsome, He was simply God in the flesh, loving people who were lost like sheep without a shepherd, and He is coming back to be King finally. And that is something to sing about.

YouTube Version: I do apologize that it's so shaky, my bed isn't as steady as a tripod apparently... But I did tie a belt around my forehead! Jason wasn't around to record it with me, unfortunately, but you can just imagine the banjo...

Album Version: Here's the link that hopefully works to the version from my latest album, Quite Plainly. I actually really like how it came out, with simple percussion and banjo. Hopefully it'll be on all the radio stations when I die and become immensely popular like Michael Jackson or whatever.

Banjos make everything better....

So there you have it, another successful instillation of this amazing series that will last as long as I can stand listening to myself... Comment with the next song you'd like me to totally ruin for you by explaining it! Then comment with a song you'd definitely want me to AVOID doing AT ALL COSTS! You know, just to balance it out... You'll probably pick one of my favorites, but no worries...

Singing off for now,
Justin Samuel Manry

(What) I Was Once - Song Explanation

              Welcome, music folks, to the very first (real) installment of my new (less funny) blog, detailing the reasons behind (ha, behind...) some of my personal favorite songs written by me. (I would call them my "Greatest Hits," but that would be a stretch...)
              Today I'm going to look into in my humble opinion, one of the best songs I've ever written (at least part of that statement is true) and definitely the best recording I've ever done, because it involved copious amounts of electric guitar. I'll be spitting the lyrics for you in a second here, but first, a word on the title: I was stuck between calling the song "What I Was Once," and "I Was Once," and so in the interest of placing as much unnecessary punctuation as possible in my titles I decided to jam both of those titles together and put a word in parentheses, which turned out to look very artsy and upped the song's "cool factor." So basically, what I'm saying is that the title was divinely inspired...
Here are the lyrics:

(What) I Was Once - Justin Samuel Manry

I was once a liar, I was once a thief,
I was once foolish, I was once deceived,
I was once chasin' my lusts and my pleasures and all the world had,
I was once hateful and hatin' and bitter and envious and mad,
I was once selfish, Life was all about me,
I was once a murderer, I had blood on my hands,
I was disobedient, I thought it was grand,
I was once givin' in to every vice I could find under the sun,
I was once livin' in rebellion and laughin' oh I thought it was fun,
I was once enslaved, but I've been set free...
(Chorus)
But when the love of God came down,
He changed my life around,
He saved me from my sin not by my works but in Him,
And then His Holy Spirit poured upon me,
Love, joy, peace, and more, oh how He,
Washed away the stain and the pain and the shame,
Of what I was once!

I was once judgmental, But had a plank in my eye,
I was once a bigot, So caught up in my pride,
I was once lookin' down upon sinners, despising their shame,
I was a Pharisee self-righteously forgetting from where I came,
I was once haughty, but God taught humility...
(Repeat Chorus)
Meekness, doesn't equal weakness,
It gives compassion for the lost,
Havin' sympathy, doesn't mean that I agree with sin,
It just means I understand 'cause I know...
What I was once!

Explanation!
        So one of my favorite scripture passages of all time comes from Titus 3, when Paul is encouraging Titus to remind his church of the not-too-popular message of "being subject to rulers and authorities" and "showing humility towards all men." This message is generally summed up in the word "meekness," not that we are weak or pushovers or lame-wads who have no spine, but that we respect others and put them above ourselves, their needs above our needs, and don't just be rebellious for rebellion's sake. But the main point of the song I take from the rest of the passage, which shows us the reason WHY we can have this sort of humility, because we were all at one time just like them: liars, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. I was once all of those things. I can say "I was once a murderer," not because I have actually been an assassin for hire at any point in my life, but because Jesus said that whoever is angry with his brother is already guilty enough to be called a murderer. I know what my own sin is like, and if we're honest with ourselves, we all know what our own weaknesses and sins look like, and how we are desperately wicked and lost.
        But then comes the good news! "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, He saved us..." He didn't leave us like we were! He didn't let me stay what I was once. He changed me. He sanctified me. He washed me clean. And that is the realization that makes me want to tell others. That's the thing that makes me say, "I will go and spread Your word wherever You tell me to, because I was once like all the lost people in all the world, and You were able to change my life around."
       That's what meekness leads to. It's not about backing down and being a sniveling snarly snoot, it's about realizing that we live in a world full of sinners, but they aren't any worse than we used to be, and so authorities should be obeyed, and all people should be respected, and all of this should lead to compassion and love for all those who are lost.

Video Time!
       Below is a grainy, old webcam video of Jason and I singing this beloved song. IMPORTANT NOTE: we were both growing terrible mustaches at the time, which I take full responsibility for, it was all my idea.... Enjoy!

Recorded Version!
This comes from our album, Quite Plainly, and hopefully I can embed it, if not, just follow this link.

So it didn't work, so you can click on the link or this one to SoundCloud: 

https://soundcloud.com/justin-samuel-manry

          So anyway, thanks for reading, hopefully next week around this time, I'll be writing a whole new blog with an all new song featuring totally different lyrics and a brand new explanation and the same old crummy video... Or maybe I'll just keep re-posting this one, it seems like a lot of work...

"Singing" off,
Justin Samuel Manry