This was one of the first tunes I ever wrote on an actual instrument (see also W.B.O.E.)
~ I didn't know much about anything at the time, but I had to play something intelligable, or else turn the amp off ....... ;oP
I was trying to teach myself the repetitive bass fingering technique: like "let your fingers do the walking" in the Yellow Pages ads.
As my fingertips (n as yet underdeveloped unaccustomed muscles) informed me they needed a periodic rest,
the blues like pattern emerged, and then a groovy hammer-on chorus was written, etc.
This was the mid 80s, a metal heyday for teenagers all over the world, and I was no exception. I wanted to turn it up and grit my teeth bloody.
Meanwhile, New Wave was coming into its own as the ancestor of Alternative and Grunge,
and there was heavy rebellion amongst the not so wealthy kids ....... =o/
I joined a basement stoner hicup band for a few weeks,
but the dudes were more into getting blasted than blasting it out, so it never went very far.
We played some Areosmith, Motley Crue and attempted some Zeppelin and a little Deep Purple.
The drummer's basement shook the neighbor's sidewalk.
There were a few originals by them though, that influenced the metal approach of this tune,
~ and the end of this song, more like second half actually, has a kind of medley tribute to a two of those other jams.
So, it turns out to be four tunes (two by me, two by these jammer dudes) for the price of about one and a half, or so ....... =o)
Originally, this was two separate tunes, eventually called "Midnight Sun" and "Countdown to Midnight"
(but they seemed too much alike, for too long, so I hadda do something).
I think I maybe misunderstood the inspiration when the lyrics came out,
and didn't make the connection that they were supposed to be the same tune until years later.
The lyrics are meant to be a parody or satire of metal lyrics of the era,
depicting impossibly apocalyptic syndromes beyond the most pessimistic of Sci-Fi.
It seemed like a perfect plot crux, as I was putting together the pseudo sci-fi rock opera
TIAHOT - The Incidence and Harmony of Time
~ and a reason why to be so silly as to do such things portrayed so similarly in the other totally tubular tunes.
There are more lyrics somewhere, more comedic (remind me to dig em out one day), taking the story into an insane satirical zone.
~ kinda a mix of Monty Python, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Spinal Tap, Tenacious D, etc
~ which would rule, I think, especially now that there's so much more music foundation and landscape to the tune ....... =oP
The pic is the "diamond ring" effect of "the beginning of the end" of an actual solar eclipse,
where the moon passes in front of the sun, perfectly ~ not the Earth's shadow on the sun
~ but if anybody has pix of that, I'd be happy to use them here also ....... ;o)
See also the pseudo virtual concept album thingy entitled
Legends Within ~ A Tribute to Basement Bands Past
for equally early sorta adopted n similar Shadows type jams ....... ;o)
