Heaven/Earth Lyrics
MY VERY OWN ANGEL
(Chris Dedrick/The Lamplighter Publishing Company/SOCAN)
Chris wrote this one in reference to his wife, Kathy. Basically, it’s a song that tells of the love and appreciation one person has for another.
To see her in her sleep, I’m sure she is an angel
I think she was born in another world
She’s my very own angel.
She warms my eyes with the morning sun
and awakens me with the robin’s song,
She fills my soul with the peace of dawn.
She helps me touch that gentle one from
another world inside our world
She’s my very own angel
She makes my life a happy toy
and leads me straight as a trumpet’s tone
I never live a day alone
Someday she’ll give me a little boy
From another world inside our world
She’s my very own angel.
NOW IS THE TIME
(Chris Dedrick/The Lamplighter Publishing Company/SOCAN)
The master mind, Chris, wrote these two songs [this and You Be You below] especially for the album. They are both up tempo and self explanatory, lyrically, so I won’t say much more about them except to credit the groovy bass lines to Chuck Rainey’s talented fingers.
Now, now is the time for lovin’ me
Now, now, now, now, now.
It’s the time now for lovin’me baby,
it’s the now time to please me
Oh baby, tease me in the morning,
it’s the right time to seize me in the night
’cause I’m ready for love and I know its for me
Cause I finally see, just how full life can be.
It’s the time for me.
Now, now is the time for lovin’ me
Now, now, now, now, now.
Its the time now for kissin’ me baby
It’s the now time to brother me
Oh baby, smother me in the morning
it’s the right time to cover me in the night
’cause I’m ready for love and I know it’s for me
’cause I finally see just how full life can be.
It’s the time for me.
Now, now is the time for lovin’ me
Now, now, now, now, now.
It’s the time now for never let goin’
It’s the now time for showin’ me
Oh baby, you and me could get movin
in the right time,so groove me in the night
’cause I’m ready for love and I know its for me
’cause I finally see just how full life can be.
It’s the time for me .
Now, now is the time for lovin’ me
Now, now, now, now, now.
YOU BE YOU AND I’LL BE ME
(Chris Dedrick/The Lamplighter Publishing Company/SOCAN)
[For notes, see Now is the Time above.]
You be you and I’ll be me
close but independently
Not one but two inseparably
you be you and I’ll be me.
Learn to live without me, then
Never learn to live again
Let two be whole and know the cost
if two be one then one is lost.
You be you and I’ll be me
Close but independently
not one but two inseparably
you be you and I’ll be me.
I’m a raven, you’re a swan
fly with me your mind awandering,
but don’t you settle in my pond.
Distance, freedom, turn me on.
You be you and I’ll be me
Close but independently
Not one but two inseparably
You be you and I’ll be me.
Learn to live without me, then
Never learn to live again
Its sad, sad, sad.
Distance, freedom, turn me on.
You be you and I’ll be me
Close but independently
not one but two inseparably
you be you and I’ll be me.
GIRLS ALONE
(Chris Dedrick/The Lamplighter Publishing Company/SOCAN)
This is another original by Chris. Performed as the title indicates by just the girls. Here though, there is an ambiguity abuot the title because the song also is telling of the fears and thoughts of girls when they are alone. The overall feeling lies in Dick Hyman’s delicate interpretation on piano.
I’m afraid of the cliff in the meadow
I’m afraid I’ll fall into my mind
If I tried I could guess what we are running to
It’s a bluff, and I think I’ll stay blind.
Girls all alone are afraid of the dark
Girls all alone are afraid of the light
I’m afraid of the man in the window,
I’m afraid he’ll come into my room.
If I tried I could end it before he’s comes
It’s a branch but it looks like my tomb.
Girls all alone are afraid of the dark
Girls all alone are afraid of the light
I’m afraid of the dreams in my death bed
I’m afraid to go ’way from the sun.
If I tried I could live so much longer,
But I’m dying while living and fearing til dying is done.
Girls all alone are afraid of the dark
Girls all alone are afraid of the light.
2002 – A HIT SONG
(Chris Dedrick/The Lamplighter Publishing Company/SOCAN)
This is a put on for all the people who keep bugging us about having a top 40 single. We had a lot of fun recording it, especially when our engineer Phil Ramone recorded our second vocal track at half speed. The Free Design sounds pretty weird at that tempo. When played back, we’re the Chipmunks all over again. But this effect is used subtly and is only there to help the basic idea.
Hello, teenie bopper,
Hello, deejay.
We’re goin’ to sing a whopper
and you’re goin to make it pay for us.
Hello! Hit, hit, hit.
Sure to be a hit, hit, hit.
Gonna make a hit.
Uniqueness is rule number one,
No weakness to hinder the fun.
Now sing it with reckless abandon
and go to the bank with your mon, mon, money
It’s a hit, hit, hit.
Sure to be a hit, hit, hit.
Gonna make a hit.
You take a little drums
Add a little bass
And let the guitar play
at a teenie bopper’s pace
It’s gotta be a hit.
Hello, teenie bopper,
Hello, deejay.
We’re goin’ to sing a whopper
and you’re goin to make it pay for us.
Hello! Hit, hit, hit.
Sure to be a hit, hit, hit.
Gonna make a hit.
Promotion will cause a big commotion
So, deejay, teenie bopper answer me this:
How can this hit miss?
We’ve done it all right and sealed it with a kiss.
There’s just one fact that we can’t quite shirk:
We did all this last time, and it did not work!
But! This time we’re sure to have a hit, hit, hit.
Sure to be a hit.
DORIAN BENEDICTION
(Chris Dedrick/The Lamplighter Publishing Company/SOCAN)
This is an original by Chris. It’s the only one on the album that he didn’t write out an arrangement for the band. He just wrote 8 bars of a melody, took it into the record date and asked the guys to improvise around this tune.
These guys, Bill Lavorgna, Richie Davis, Marvin Stamm, Vinnie Bell and Arnie Lawrence just happen to be a few of the best jazz musicians in New York City. They fooled around with it awhile, and on the second take, wailed one beautiful track for us.
Chris then wrote vocal parts to fit the mood they created. We sang them and the end product was referred to jokingly as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in miniature.
Peace be with you now, go away
Love be in you now, go away
Peace, love, go away
Love be in you now, go away
He’s the one we have all been looking for;
he was here all the time.
Fear begone,
Words begone – go away.
Additional liner notes by Ellen Dedrick for non-Free Design original songs:
SUMMERTIME: We did this version in 5/4. It was one of the most difficult songs on the album because our syllables had to co-ordinate with the fast rhythm of the piece without sounding choppy or corny. Richie Davis helped us tremendously by playing one of the hippest bass lines I’ve ever heard. Most people don’t know how much it means to a group to have the greatest musicians in the world behind them. But we do, and without their talent and inspiration, recording wouldn’t be half as satisfying or fun.
WHERE DO YOU GO? Sandy sings the solo on this “Hair” song, backed by only a string quartet. The rest of us sat back in the control room and enjoyed her singing. At the end of the final take, Chris summed it up in one word: “Beautiful!”
HURRY SUNDOWN: All of us didn’t sit back on this one, originally done by Peter Paul & Mary, because we knew it had to be good to compare with their job. Chris’s recorder playing and arranging helped a lot to set it apart from any folk version ever done.
IF I WERE A CARPENTER: Not a lot to say about this one except this is one of the first tunes the Free Design ever performed. This is the first time we’ve recorded it for an album.
MEMORIES: This is Elvis’s hit single. But Chris did something a little unusual in this arrangement by writing for an antiphonal choir. In this case it was two brass choirs playing separately and independently of each other. In the first choir, Don Butterfield was on tuba, Urbie Green on trombone, Marvin Stamm on trumpet and James Buffington on French horn. In the second choir, Mel Davis was on trumpet, Ray Alonge on French horn, Rusty Dedrick on trumpet and Paul Faulise on bass trombone.
Chris used these choirs throughout the song and you should be able to hear each choir on opposite sides of your stereo. Later in the song they merge to build with Bill Lavorgna’s powerful cymbal crashes (sometimes so powerful he knocks them right over!) to bring the song to an end.
One other thing I’d like to mention in these notes: A big “thank you” to Mr Light for the freedom he gives us in the studio. And to Phil Ramone, Donnie Hahn and everyone else at A&R Recording Studios for their time and effort in recording this album for us.