And Now The Cross - original song

Mike

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
In mid-January 2017 I had a very distinct dream right before waking for the day where I heard the beginning/first line of the song below – “Hmmm… And now the cross…”. I woke up and recorded how it sounded the best I could. After I heard the song idea in the dream, I also heard the sweetest and very genuine female voice say – “You know you like people more than money.” I recently checked the original recording I had made and it is the same, but a little more raw and deeper, and at the end of the recording I had also mentioned the female voice and what she had said.

Attached is a recording of a full song I recently completed with the dream idea at the beginning and end.

And Now The Cross

Hmmm… And now the cross. It shows the way and for the lost.

I, I heard now the cross. It had to say… and now the cross.

I, I heard the cross.

Ave, Ave a Caesar. It was a different time and we were lost.

Ave, Ave a Caesar. You showed a different way and showed us how.

(louder) Ave, Ave a Caesar. You were a different way. Where are you now?

These are the salient days that they spoke to come and it’s happening now.

Lord, Lord, Lord.

These are important days, what you came to see and who you are.

Dream for these are the days, we can’t deny them for they’re now.

Breath for if you lost your way, life is found there, so push on.

Lead for these are the ways to find our way home and there’s truth.

Hmmm… And now the cross. It holds at bay all that’s lost.

We, we turn towards the cross. It’s the way, save all we sought.

I, I heard now the cross. It shows the way and now the cross.

I have had numerous, like maybe over 100, song ideas, parts of songs, or music type things pop into my head over the years and a few in dreams. I’ve recorded most of them, since working on some of the ideas is a little hobby of mine. The start of this song and the dream is one of the most distinct things I have had in terms of ideas. This ‘And Now The Cross’ song is a combination of three different ideas I had recorded and then recently had decided that they fit together.
 

Attachments

  • Now the cross 15 Sept 21 - Copy.MP3
    3.9 MB
Yeah!! That rocks Mike..I thought of Eddie Vedder too :) Great work recording it acapella like this, can fully imagine, almost hear, all the instrument parts that might be in a full band recording. I love when you go higher pitched in that third "Ave, Ave a Caesar" line.
 
Thank you everyone!

It is a pretty emotional song for me to think about and sing. I was near the end of Laura’s new book when I put it together in the full form of the song above. The lyrics and full idea for the song in terms of structure kind of all came together soon before I sang it.

Meg said:
Beautiful singing, Mike! I detect a bit of Eddie Vedder's style.

Brandon said:
I thought of Eddie Vedder too :)

It is funny. My Mom, whenever I would sing her my song ideas I was working on, would say, “Stop singing like Eddie Vedder and don’t sing so loud!” I do sing very loud overall, can really project my voice when I sing, and that is just how it comes out. Other people have also pointed out that I sing like or sound like Eddie Vedder.

He and Pearl Jam are the biggest influence for me music wise for sure. And I started to really connect to music with the whole Grunge movement and that is when I first started to try to sing. There is just something about him and the band that connects with me on a very deep level. I’ve had dreams with Eddie Vedder in them where he is encouraging me to sing or implying “what are you waiting for” lol or we are singing together. I haven’t listened to their most recent album, expect for one song, since they seemed to have slid into the progressive movement stuff.

I think I also formed how I sing from the influence of listening to Jim Morrison. The Doors was my oldest brother’s favorite band when I was young and I would hear them all the time.

alkhemst said:
I’d love to try putting some instrumentals to it if that’s OK? I’ve been producing music in a bunch of genres for a little while

That is fine with me. I’m interested to hear what you come up with! I have very little experience with playing instruments and not much experience trying to put the song ideas to instruments.

Here is another thread with some of the other song ideas I have worked on and posted, if anyone would like to listen. The Youtube channel for the first two songs is not active, so will attach them in a new post in that thread.

Songs...

In the last six months or so, I started to think about and have the idea that all the songs ideas and things I have recorded could or should fit together in a theme and sequence. And I have been organizing them along those lines. Maybe even the very idea of this is much too ambitious, but the song ideas would be grouped together in four albums – ‘Sleep’, ‘Death’, ‘Birth’, and ‘Salvation’. ‘And Now The Cross’ would be in ‘Salvation’.
 
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