Lyrics:
I was born into slavery,
My birthright was my bondage to my sin,
Every time I tried so hard to climb out,
My old master would bring me down again,
I tried all the remedies man gave me,
There's so many ways up the mountain so they say,
But each road that I took just sunk me deeper,
It seemed death was my only escape...
(Chorus)
So I died to my sin,
And I was made alive with Christ,
I died to my sin,
And death lost its sting,
'Cause when I died to my sin,
I obtained eternal life,
And now I'm a servant the king...
So with Christ I've been buried,
And just like Him I've been raised,
I walk in a brand new life of freedom,
Emancipated only by His grace,
So when that old Devil tries to claim me,
And tells me that I still should be his slave,
I can just invite him to my funeral,
I've walked away a free man from that grave...
(Repeat Chorus)
Music: So like many of my songwriting endeavors, this one begins with an afternoon of mowing the lawn. Some people have their best thoughts on the toilet, I have my best thoughts on every aspect of life (including the toilet) whilst pushing a mower back and forth endlessly over a field of tall grass. I don't know what it is, but somehow I'm transported to a place where everything is so much clearer, my decisions become final and binding, and my creativity goes through the roof. I've thought up my best jokes, my funniest skit ideas, and some of the greatest (and worst) songs I've ever written while trying to get that last corner of the yard to look good. This song was no different, though it started as a totally different thing all-together. The original bright idea came when I was thinking about Facebook, and how you could write on people's walls, and how "rad" and "tight" (those were actual words I would have used at that time in my life) it would be to write a song about writing on the wall, and relating to my generation while making a point about life and stuff... I was very philosophical at the age of 15ish. So I used the only chords I knew at that point: G, C, D, Am, and Em, and started a song. It ended up actually not sounding that bad, with a little folk flavor, and with more time and perspective, I realized the lyrics were stupid, but the song itself musically was pretty good. For the album version I used plastic spoons to get some of the percussion, which I thought was pretty groundbreaking at the time, and added the harmonica which became a staple of my style (if you can call it a style) back then. So it was a simple but solid little folk song, but the problem was I had written it about Facebook, so, I needed some better lyrics...
Lyrical Explanation: This was where perspective helped a lot. If I had become extremely famous and rich for my music back when I was 15 or 16, I'd be singing songs about writing on people's Facebook walls, taking a walk on a ray of sunshine in the woods, and asking the very philosophical question "How can I smell my pants on a Monday morning...?" (The answer, coincidentally, is and always has been "with my nose...") But I thankfully did not get rich and famous with my music right away, and had time to think to myself: "Hey, this song about writing on walls is rather stupid, maybe I should change it so it's not completely dumb." And so "Dead But Alive" was born. Now granted, I didn't have enough perspective yet to realize that taking "Dead or Alive" and changing the conjunction in between did not a clever and groundbreaking song title make, but again, I was young and foolish. I did however take my inspiration this time not from Facebook (or any social media for that matter), but from Scripture. This would be a common theme for my songwriting career, basing my lyrics not on my feelings or a cleverness of my own, but from the Authoritative Word of God, which is much better than what I can come up with whilst mowing the lawn.
So I went straight to Romans chapter 6, which has always fascinated me. The dichotomy (which I'm not even sure if I'm using correctly by the way) of being dead to sin, yet alive in Christ; dead and buried with Christ, yet also raised to new life with Him. To become truly alive we must die. This was and still is fascinating to me. In a sense, we're all dead in our trespasses and sins, and yet to get out of that death we have to die to it, in order to truly become alive. This is the message of the gospel, that the ultimate death brought ultimate life, that Jesus made a way for our dead selves to have new life in Him. And then there's the image of slavery. That we were all born slaves to sin, and so we have to die in order to be released from that bondage, that weight, and that death brings us release from the slavery of sin, and then our new life gives us a new master who is greater than sin and death, God. It's amazing, how God's plan works and keeps working and gives us so much grace that we never deserved in such an amazing way. So maybe this song oversimplifies that great mystery, but hopefully it shows just how joyful I was to know it, and to know my King Jesus had overcome the grave and made me dead to sin and alive in Christ. Hopefully I'll continue to grow in that knowledge and keep writing songs that reflect His glory and majesty. Or maybe I'll give up and start writing songs like "Tweet for Jesus..."
YouTube Version: Now before you go judging, yes, Jason has a mustache here, and yes, I'm wearing my 'Merica t-shirt, and yes, this is recorded with a terrible microphone and webcam... And actually, there really aren't any redeeming qualities about it, but you can still enjoy watching... It's basically a piece of history now...
Recorded Version: Here's the link to the version we recorded for our very first album, which again was done fairly primitively, in a cave with clubs and such... But for real, it was probably the best sounding song from that album, and I used plastic spoons for percussion! So original! Here's the link.
https://soundcloud.com/justin-samuel-manry/dead-but-alive
Conclusion: So here's the deal, if you're a young songwriter out there, start mowing the lawn! But then when you get inside, don't just trust any idea you had out there, make sure it's not stupid first... No, for real, keep writing, keep growing, and you'll make some incredible stuff that reflects the creativeness you have from your Creator. And feel free to give me some of the royalties when you get rich and famous...
So what song would you like me to do next time? What song would you like me NOT to do? Oh, and I almost forgot, my concert is almost definitely going to be June 20, at my house, admission is free and you can get my new album "Doubts Turned to Joy" for a special introductory price of however much you want to donate to my trip to Cambodia! Hooray!
Peace out, party people.
Singing off for now,
Justin Samuel Manry
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| We almost certainly didn't follow this sign.... |
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