Good Friday

So while I’m dancing on the head of a stick
Awaiting your distinction between “Joe Hero” and “Jack Convict”
I’ll fight the urge to quench the thirst
Of our ancestor’s cravings by not behaving so burned and conned

As my illusion of grandeur slowly crashes
One underlying discourse starts within
Will today’s holy palms become the ashes –
That will accompany tomorrow’s changing hymns?
And so that brings us to Good Friday;
“We both knew this day would someday come”
Although fasting from meat may make you hungry
I’d have never believed you’d eat your young

In a room off pothole infested roads we’d play
Those relative games of black & white & shades of gray
While fueling the urge to fill the void
In our ancestor’s yearnings without concerning this new paragon

Forsaken descendants, mechanical offspring
You’ll never have children while the burden consumes you
Forsaken ancestry – tear down the Temple wall, firebomb the pyramids,
Level the twin towers, then run!

But no one reminds me like you do
Of the ideals and ambitions that have been lost
Of all those naïve conclusions where we’d arrive, fooled
That the best things in life must harbor cost
And so we return to Good Friday, a verge that we’ve expected all the while?
Can either of us see beyond today? May Saturday’s dawn yet be compiled?

Harmoniously singing the songs of yesterday
In an attempt to fabricate those verbal games we play
Our aria is composed of tunes of our ancestor’s likeness-
Too polite to seize our day – Carpe diem!
I want it all and I want it right now!

Forsaken opportunity, situation unforeseen
You never did prepare for this day as reality
Forsaken opportunity – tear down the fortress walls, back-fill your foxhole,
Good Friday has come and now has gone!

Composition © 2002 Ric Albano
Publication © 2005, 2009, 2011 Cygnus Wave Music

Performers
Ric Albano
Piano, Keyboards, Bass Guitar, Vocals
Bret Alexander
Electric and Acoustic Guitars
Ron Simasek
Drums and Percussion
Sinclair Soul
Background Vocals
Listener Guide
Grade

Analysis: This was upon its release, and remains to this day, the best Imaginary Lines song. It the longest song in duration and contains the most complex arrangement of instrumentation, yet deceptively sounds so easy going and simple. The lyrical content is complex and hard to decipher as it draws from several sources – poetic, spirtual, and real-life, while the instrumental “coda” section is a deliberate artistic statement on its own.

Song Trivia
Much of the song was written in a writing lab where Ric tutored while he was a senior at Bloomsburg University in 2002. Although it was actually a “dreary, dark, cold March afternoon” which happened to be a Friday, it was not Good Friday, as that was observered a week later.
The “coda” section was recorded separately from the song proper and it builds to included three piano tracks, three lead synthesizers, three guitars, and two full drum perfomances, along with the one simple, repeating bass line.