by Joe Panno, Dreux Blalock and Lewis D'Aubin Before the glowing screen I wait The trolls I slew, the orcs I hate They're all just artificial light This game's unworthy of my might I long to lead a fighting band With oaken shield, a sword in hand To make them taste the bloody blade I sense their call, they sure could use my aid Middle Earth Needs Me Summon the portal and bring me there Let me breathe in the elven air Middle Earth Needs Me Summon the council and warn our foes Time to give Sauron a bloody nose Alas, my offer was denied Alone, as I remained inside No portal to another land No shield, nor sword nor fighting band Perhaps my destiny is far away 12 parsecs from the Milky Way To lead the aces into flight For freedom's sake, the Death Star dies tonight The Rebel Fleet needs me Lower the droid into my X-Wing Charge the proton torpedo sting Rebel Fleet needs me Open the hanger and let me soar One two punch to the emperor Unfortunately I was wrong I guess the Force was not so strong But tell me who merits my aid? What worthy child or noble maid? I must protect the weak and small The ones who cannot fight at all Somewhere a tiny village lives in fear Just waiting for a hero to appear... Little smurfs need me Tell the blue ones that all is well I will save them from Gargamel Little smurfs need me Guard the forest wherein they roam I will safeguard their mushroom homes Little smurfs need me Everything's smurfy as it can be Tell Smurfette she'll be safe with me Papa Smurf - heed me Tell them all not to feel so blue I am coming to rescue you! |
The seed for this song was planted by Dreux, who said "Middle Earth Needs Me" would be an epic title for a song. Joe Panno said "I'll get back to you on that" and came back a week later with this stirring anthem practically complete. I wasted no time getting some appropriate lyrics ready - it's not hard when the music is so inspiring. The lyrics were a very self-conscious effort to write a song that, unlike most of our other ones, was totally dependant on knowledge of licensed products and franchises (something we usually try to completely avoid.) I chose two beloved franchises and one hated one! The underlying theme though was videogames - these franchises are all noteworthy to gaming afficionados (The Smurfs being one of my 'old school' callbacks - the Colecovision version of that game was one of the first videogames that actually looked liked the cartoon on which it was based.) This song went through a bit of evolution in the process of recording. Joe Panno was essentially on hiatus from the band by the time we set about getting ready the release version of the recording, and his guitar parts ended up being pretty much supplanted by Chris Lenox. On a hunch I tried replacing the all-male lead vocal on the demo with alternating lines between myself and Barbie, and it worked out pretty well. Guitars were miked up Fender Deluxe for Chris Lenox and Blackstar amp for Joe - both tube amplifiers. Bass was handled with Jim's old Trace Elliot (miked up, as I prefer these days.) Keyboards were handled by Billy's new Roland Juno and Ben's Nord Lead. Credits Drums...........drumbot Guitars.........Chris Lenox, Joe Panno Bass............Jim Fairchild Synthesizer.....Billy Riecke, Ben Caston Trumpet.........Farrar Hudkins Lead vocals.....Lewis D'Aubin, Barbie Cure Backing vocals..Lewis D'Aubin, Barbie Cure Recorded and mixed December 2012 at C.O.G. Secret Lab, Harahan LA |