Great Unknown – Official Notes

Written, recorded, and produced by Garrett Anderson
Music by Garrett Anderson, Ryan Baldwin, Brandon Boring, and Kenton Dunson
*Track 3 was originally written for and performed by Old King Cole
*Track 10 was inspired by words and music written for “Archaeopteryx” by LUCA

Garrett Anderson – guitars, vocals, harmonica - keys on track 10
Lauren Anderson – vocals on track 5
Ryan Baldwin – drums and percussion
Brandon Boring – bass - vocals on track 8
Kenton Dunson – keys

Album art by Tristan Gilbert - runningmandesigns.com

Technical notes:

I set up a modest home-studio in my basement to record Great Unknown. We began recording on October 26th and the project was finished on November 19th. Thanks to Howie Carolan for lending me equipment to record the album. We ran 3 microphones through a Yamaha MX 12/4 mixer into my computer to record the drums. Everything else was recorded one track at a time through the mixer into the computer. I mixed and mastered the album using an old music editing software program called Cool Edit Pro. Thanks to Howie, Todd McCagg, Dave McMullin, and Kenton Dunson for their help during the recording process. CDs were mass produced by DiskFaktory.

1. Mindy
2. New Umbrella
3. Bohemian
4. Grandpas’ Song
5. Drop these Blues
6. Before Now
7. Day to Day
8. Church Pew
9. Prisoner’s Escape
10. Great Unknown

Mindy

Breathing life into the lines
Free to fly from your worried mind
Even if fools don’t catch your drift
Ever on these waves you will ride

We are fighting the fight
You and I have unsheathed our words
Taken to the sky with our voices
We are haunted by the same old ghosts

So keep on talking about it
Keep on praying out loud
When too many voices are crying
Let your whisper calm us down

Mindy it’s alright to crack that smile
After its all we ever wanted all the while
Mindy its alright to sleep at ease
In the morning you will find another trial

I am thanking heaven
For the gift of your voice
Singing sweet songs of creation and
Drowning out the unholy noise

When too many voices are rising
Let your whisper cut the crowd

So just smile

New Umbrella

So it comes to this and that and everything in between that I’m thinking
That I’m stronger to resist the temptress but I’d just as soon avoid the tempting
As it happens here’s your turf so I’ve no right to try to talk you into leaving
But you’ve got me in a bind and my will’s running outa time the clock is ticking

Through the chatter of the room somehow one voice seems to rise above the clamor
I know I’ve heard that laugh before but in a way this time sounds strange I think she’s faking
Though I try to keep my eyes fixed on the politicking gentlemen I falter
And sure enough she’s there and I do my damnedest not to stare but I can’t help it

What’s a Mississippi man do with a missy with a plan to clip his wings
She’ll Let him go and he’ll come on back cuz he’s attached and she’s pulling all them strings
She kept in touch without a word by being nothing but herself for no one else
Hence her being so polite for all the folks who see the world in black and white

Well she’s not the only one but she’s one of a kind and they’re few and far between
See I haven’t settled down cuz the one in my arms is the woman of my dreams
So please don’t donate too much charity to the happy hobo living wild and free
Cuz then he’ll haveta do your thing and find some rain to try his shiny new umbrella

Oh but When the storms come all I’ll need is a fire to dry my tired feet
So I won’t follow salt thrown over shoulders into memories
See I Don’t believe in luck but I’d be happy to take some if its just laying around
For a minor commotion or a sly diversion so I could bid adieu without ever having to talk to you

Bohemian

Times aint changing the rules ain’t breaking
Only the strong survive and strength is measured by the dollar sign
I got an itch to get in politics to change it from the inside out
But all the hands I’m shaking, money I’m taking could change the man who wants to change the world
But a law school drop-out bohemian lives a righteous life but only one so I’m leaving him
Unless his ink can flood the whole world unless we think about a new world honey

I gotta keep composing You gotta know you’re chosen
To right history your pen is permanent and your will is free follow me
To a new era don’t be scared of thinking in a new way start today
You got a mind of your own you gotta take control or you’re just another in the machine
That is bringing us down

Now my mind is shaking I can’t go insane
I’ve got to play the game

Grandpa’s Song

I look to the sky as I walk in the morning and take a good look like my last
I breathe in the peace that comes with the mourning and knowing that all comes to pass

So ride it high when times are happy and cry your eyes when they’re sad
Love your ma respect your pappy and tra la la loo ra loo

Well I live my life in circles and stories while others are living in lines
It’s just that I’ve found little use in the bothering of going with no end in sight

Grandfather clears his throat, takes my hand, and pulls me close
Says “Son, whatever floats your boat will lead you to your promised land”

Well the night’s cold and dark I can’t see where I’m going
But the sun’s on her way like she does
Well he’s off and he’s gone but he won’t be forgotten
He’s living on in all of us

Drop these Blues

I’m begging you not to burn me Cuz I’ve been burned before
I know I’m playing with fire Cuz I’m so tired of being cold

So hold me close so I can drop these blues

Its even getting hard now to sleep sound knowing you’re not here safe in my arms
And dreaming of you… well it only makes waking so hard

I didn’t think it would last forever
I just hoped it would last for a while

So keep holding on

Before Now

Like a penguin waddling through snow and ice awaiting spring I’m tired of your dawdling
Like a kettle boiling get to me before I scream Or I’ll be screeching suffering

I wanted you before now

Well I did not know you was you But I was looking anywho Lucky me you’re looking too

Fate was running late and I was tired of the wait We met not a moment too soon

Here we’re poised to take the plunge
Like putting flowers into guns
I’m pacified and overcome

Day to Day

I’m doing a new dance called the day to day
Ain’t thinking about tomorrow quit frettin’ on yesterday
And I’m feeling alright doing the day to day

I was just a young fool thinking I could look past the moments
Pre-acting anticipating cause
Wasted time trying to read all their minds
Instead of asking and embracing surprise

Couldn’t fit the whole in my head
Not enough cause for all the consequences
Of all the could that could come to pass
Just one will so I’m

It got so bad I was wishing that I had
Things I had that I had forgot
Too busy counting days till I had it made
Till it killed me I was missing my life

Church Pew

I’m singing along from the church pew
Like momma taught me to
Singing along from the church pew
Like daddy tries to do

Prisoner’s Escape

The jangling of many keys dangling off an iron ring
Alert we caged animals of a break in our routine
Perfume of tangerine betrays her anonymity
She called in all her favors from well-connected friends
To free me from this cell

It’s been seventeen months since I touched my love
Her beauty was somber and worse for the wear
Five I spent hiding, since the night of my crime
Dodging authorities, till they captured me
A year I’ve awaited this day

She begged of me “why didn’t you flee
To a faraway land beyond their reach?
It was a matter of when, not if, my dear
They’d hunt you on down if you stayed too near
Why’d you not run?”

“Cuz Oh Love Oh Love you ask of me what I cannot do
I stayed so I could Lay my longing eyes upon you
In alleys and sidestreets I hid from you and kept out of view
cuz I Knew they watched you too, mine were not the only stares
So they caught onto my trail”

Hand in Hand in cuffs we touched
Warmth in between the cold iron bars
She slipped me a heady juice and begged that I don’t refuse
The chemist assured her that I’d feel no pain
In my Venomous getaway

See the screams of my wife to be, unleashed the beast in me
The fates fondled history, like the drunks to my love
So she watched as I killed a man
And cringed as I killed again
The crimes, though in passion, were crimes just the same
But I had to stay

Careful not to let me know, tearless till she turned to go
She slipped another dose between her teeth
Death in her sympathy, freed us of misery
Our love was saved in its own peculiar way
A life we had waited…

Great Unknown

Wondering where it’s from my glance is at the sky
Answers we found before are slipping through my mind
From all the hints I’ve got I turn from what it’s not
To face the great unknown knowing it’s all I got

After my thinking’s done I find a clearer mind
Looking outside in and minding what I find
From all the hints I’ve got I turn from what I’m not
To face the great unknown knowing it’s all I got