It all started in 1984 as we were waiting to see how many of George Orwell’s prophecies would come true. Orwell’s real name was Eric Blair, and he bore a physical resemblance to my Grandfather Homer Blair, so the times kept blipping on my radar.
Back then, I was musically immersed in the styles of The Alarm and T-Bone Burnett, and the first incarnation of “Throw The First Stone” was arranged accordingly with drums, mandolin, & harmony vocals by Jonny V (of the legendary San Diego punk band Social Spit):
The street level application of the phrase “throw the first stone” means “be quick to blame, criticize, or punish.” It stems from an incident recorded in the 8th chapter of St. John’s Gospel. A mob of religious men are preparing to stone an adulterous woman to death, and they confronted Jesus about it, as if he should commend such a harsh punishment according to the most unmerciful and narrowest application of Old Testament law. Instead, Jesus calmly said, “He that is without sin among you, throw the first stone at her.” One by one the men drifted away because of the truth: All have sinned and need to self-judge before judging others.
I frequently performed this song arrangement live (example)
but eventually gave it a rest. Then, in the year 2000, an opportunity to reinvent it as a sprawling “psychedelic soul suite” came about in the studio, with musical support from my old friend Bil Bryant (drummer/percussionist + tech wizard), The Felix String Quartet, and members of The Monkees road band.
It landed on my FIRE album as this 3-part ramble:
Part I: The Felix String Quartet from Stockholm (courtesy of Bil Bryant) plays over a frenzied live band encore in Tokyo, performed by bassist Jerry Renino, guitarist Wayne Avers, and drummer Sandy Gennaro—all from The Monkees road band*. Call this an act of xenochrony, a recording studio technique where parts are lifted from their original context and placed into a different work. Composer Charles Ives invented this approach after he noticed parade bands blending with one another by “chance,” so he harnessed this blend by design.
Part II: A Talking Heads-influenced song that observes journalists, TV evangelists, and politicians engaged in petulant name-calling. I’ve always been averse to the name-calling and the power-play it represents. As a political aside, it’s brought many a current politician and celebrity down to a negatively juvenile and counter-constructive level.
Part III: More xenochrony, quoting J.S. Bach, the traditional folk song “Greensleeves,” and the fade to “All You Need is Love” (Beatles) while segueing to dreamy riffs on resonator guitar and keyboards.
The term xenochrony comes from a Greek word meaning “strange and alien time.” Time can be chronology, or a collection of images and memories stacked together at will, as our human brains aren’t wired to measure time by the ticking of a clock. Igor Stravinsky (one of my musical heroes) said, “Music is but another way to measure time.” Current events may seem strange and alien, but we have an opportunity to make the best of the time. Now.
* Music sample courtesy of the late Davy Jones (Monkees) who co-produced this track.
#stone #psychedelic #talkingheads #stockholm #sweden #tokyo #japan #sandygennaro #monkees #davyjones #jesus #christ #christianrock #johnnyjblair #singeratlarge #john8 #bible #wayneavers