Inspired by DMFA, this can be seen as a followup to 'Born with Wings' off the Incubi and Succubi album. That song left the protagonist with the promise that there is a school out there willing to take them in and shelter them from their persecutors. This song explores the pro's and cons of attending that school.
I'm very fond of the bass solo which appears around 3:00. It's reprised a few times, not least because it makes a good link to join two disparate parts of the song.
Around 7:15 we change course entirely and have a tour of the school in a manner very reminiscent of Karn Evil 9 from ELP's classic album. As with 'I'm Daryil', this was a pain to mix and I ended up mixing the song in two halves which were razorbladed together around 6:50. I think. The edit worked well enough that I can't hear it anymore.
Bela Santiago and his Exploding Head band was a concept I was playing around with a few years earlier but wasn't able to incorporate into a song until now. One of the more interesting parts of recording it was having the final word 'band' sung at the same pitch until I ran out of breath, and then doing a chord change by varying the tape speed for each track. Fun, but not quite as striking as I'd hoped. The cough and other sounds which you may be able to hear in the run-up to the vocals on that part were accidental and occurred while recording the backing vocals, however I decided to leave them in as it gave a slightly shambolic feel to the section which was exactly what I had in mind.
lyrics
A Hundred Years (or, the SAIA song)
First Impression - Born with wings
The world outside is vicious, the world outside is cold
You'd better listen, or you'll die before you're old
There's much to teach you, there's much to learn
You need the basics or you'll end up ashes in a funeral urn
Give us a hundred years or so, we'll teach you all you need to know
Give us a hundred years or more, it's safer when you know the score
Your parents never told you, they kept you in the dark
They felt that you'd be safer if you lacked that vital spark
Well, what you know can hurt you, if you are told too young
A child's careless words can get the whole lot of you taken out and hung
Second Impression - Running for your life
Third impression - The Academy
Our school is here to help you, we'll teach you what we know
We'll keep you well-protected 'till it's safe for you to go
The course is pretty weighty, it's going to take a while
And we'll be here to help you when you go through the traditional denial
Fourth impression - The Tour
Roll up, roll up, kid, it's time to have fun,
Now you're enrolled here the lesson's begun
There's plenty to do here, there's plenty to see, all this and more in our academy
We'll teach you to pose as a regular man, it's safest to do this whenever you can
There's people are there who would cut off your head
“The only good demon is one that is dead!”
Step right up! This way to the library . Step right up! This way to the pool
Step right up! This way to the fencing room.
Step right up! We'll have a friendly duel
We'll teach you to hide and we'll teach you fight
You won't need to sleep, you can party all night
There's plenty to do here, there's plenty to see
All this and more in our academy
We'll teach you to heal and we'll teach you kill
To make people better, or make them feel ill
We'll teach you to do good, and how to do bad
To make people happy or make people sad
Step right up! This way to the torture room. Step right up! This way to the gym
Step right up! This way to the science lab
Step right up! Indulge your every whim
Now we can be deadly, regardless of age, we easily fly into a violent rage
We'll teach you to keep your emotions in check
To save you from getting an axe in the neck
And now we've completed our whistle-stop tour
Just ask the headmistress and she'll tell you more
And if you've glazed over, and don't understand,
There's Bela Santiago's Exploding Head Band!
Fifth impression - Bela Santiago's Exploding Head Band
Sixth impression - Give Us A Hundred Years Or So
The world outside is vicious, the world outside is cruel
But we can teach you how to live and how to keep your cool
We hope you'll join us, we'll teach you what you are
With some encouragement, we're certain that you'll end up going far
Give us a hundred years or so, we'll teach you all you need to know
Give us a hundred years or more, it's safer when you know the score
supported by 5 fans who also own “A Hundred Years”
"There is lambswool under my naked feet..." - those words always come to my mind while listening to the first bars of "Wide Of The Mark". There's undoubtedly quite some "Genesis" heritage to be found in the music on this album. However, the band that is most closely related to "The ID" is certainly "IQ", which is among the favorite bands and artists named by both Peter Albrektsen (gtr, kbd) and Tim Pepper (v, kbd). So the similarity of the names "ID" vs. "IQ" is obviously not purely coincidental. Being a long-time admirer of the creative output of "IQ", this album inevitably reaches my heart. Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
supported by 5 fans who also own “A Hundred Years”
Some say it's prog... but actually, it's something much better - although I still can't tell for sure what it really is. Anyway, this eclectic-crossover-what-the-heck-whatever thing has extremely funky guitars, and bursts with all kinds of surprises. I'd say it's genuinely progressive, with the term "progressive" positively not meant as it's typically understood nowadays. Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
The hard-hitting, genre-agnostic songs on the latest from Dan Webb were inspired by conversations he had with a wide range of musicians. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 18, 2023
