Informal Paranormal

(Zru Vogue)
September 24, 2011
Lyrics by Andrew L. Jackson, Music by Andrew L. Jackson, Rick Cuevas, and Patrick Coyne.

A song narrated from within Zero's mind, "Informal Paranormal" was the sixth lyric I wrote for Exile II, and it went through several different stages of being before settling into the form heard on the recording.

I wrote the lyrics for Exile II in a kind of trance, putting myself in the mind of our protagonist, Zero. Some of the lyrics I wrote didn't have a traditional rhyming scheme, they were really more like poems, and this was one of them when I first wrote it. Later, after I'd composed the initial music tracks in Logic, I started to see how this lyric could work with the music that was taking form. I fleshed out the lyrics with a more traditional rhyming scheme and typed them up.

But then when Rick, Pat, and I had completed the music tracks and it was time to add the vocals, it seemed like the words I'd re-written were too literal and not quite fitting. What to do? We used one of our old dada composition tricks and let the laws of chance weigh in. I numbered the lines of my lyrics and asked Rick, without looking, to choose 6 random numbers between 1 and 20. In the end, the distracted, random nature of the lyrics served to more accurately represent the state of Zero's mind as he's recalling his otherworldly adventures ensnared in the wiles of the former Insect Queen.

In the music, listen for Rick's "insect guitar."

-ALJ

Lyrics:

Back when this life
Was so sweet and easy

Was it all a dream?
Why am I so queasy?

Losing touch
Has left bitter traces
It’s fully funereal
In another time

Insect wings
Teach me things (4x)

With the paranormal
We need to reach back (4x)

Insect wings
Teach me things (4x)

Back when this life
Was so sweet and easy

Was it all a dream?
Why am I so queasy?

Insect wings
Teach me things (4x)

With the paranormal
We need to reach back!

Vogue Town

(Zru Vogue)
September 24, 2011
Words and Music by Andrew L. Jackson

The Exile (part one) began with "A Day In The Life of The Zru" so it seemed fitting that The Exile part two should end with "Vogue Town." In this song, Zero finds himself "back where he's always been." It's the imagined big production number at the end of the off-Broadway show with the ensemble cast onstage. I wrote the lyrics on post-it notes in a fit of inspiration one day.

Rick and I trade off singing lines; Patrick contributes awesome drum fills.

-ALJ

Lyrics:

My tears run down the streets
Of Vogue Town

Are they tears of laughter?
Or tears of joy?
Are they tears of relief?
Listen girls and boys,
We’re all in this together
Some of us more than others
Run out in the streets
Or hide under the covers
Cause nothing is what it seems…
In Vogue Town

No nothing’s as it seems…
In Vogue Town

My home town, my home town...

Come back home to where you’ve always been
Now throw off your frown and give us a grin
There’s nothing lose when no one can win
And every little girl gives it her own spin
Paper play money lines the streets
Of Vogue Town

Put your money down (put your money down)
Let your honey down (let it all run down)
Throw some poetry down (throw it down, down, down)
Throw some poetry down (throw it down, down, down)

Show your happy face (put on your prettiest dress)
Leave without a trace (leave no forwarding address)
Ain’t no federal case (just get it off of your chest)

My hometown — All torn down
My hometown — all burned down

There’s no turning back
From Vogue Town

All fall through the cracks
In Vogue Town

Tears run down the streets
In Vogue Town

On infinite repeat
In Vogue Town