They're Putting Me To Sleep

They're putting me to sleep

 I'm deviating from the school album for just one  post cuz I recorded this song on Saturday; and I didn't want to wait to post it. See, there're enough songs on the school album to last till May, and my initial plan was to put new songs on this blog after the school album was all done. But I got impulsive and decided to put this one on. I'll record and post the backwards version later - not sure when, but I'll get it done soonish.

This song's from the point of view of a dog being put to sleep. The picture, above, is from 2018, and I figured it was a good one to use cuz it has a crying dog in it. The bear's just there for good measure. It never hurts to have a bear in your picture.

With these icky health issues I'm running up against, I've been thinking about death a lot. I mean, what I have ain't life threatening, but running up against really bad health stuff does make you think about death a lot. It's like, you realize that your body is mortal and will crap out eventually; even though we all know that fact, technically speaking, sometimes it takes a decline in health to face that reality all-the-way. Death becomes front and center instead of a thing off in the distance. As a result, most of my recent songs have been about death.

When this song came to me in a dream, I thought, wow, this has potential. As such, I thought it would be better to make it about something specific instead of death, in general, because the latter would be boring. I mean, songs about general topics can be boring cuz they don't tell as much of a story as stuff that's more specific. Or at least, when I write songs, that tends to happen. Maybe other people have better luck with general stuff, though, so I shouldn't knock it. If people write songs about general stuff, and they come out good, that's great. But in this case, I wanted this song to tell a specific story, so the idear of the end of a dog's life came to me.

Man alive, though. The voice of the dog really came through when I was figuring out those lyrics. It was like magic, that dog speaking to me.

The lyrics are:

I am an old dog, and I think I’m dying

And my mind’s a fog, cannot find my kite string

(They) took me to the vet for one final visit

Now the sun has set, will I fly up to it?

(They’re) putting me to sleep; what will it be like on the other side of things?

Pray my soul to keep; fuck it is the time; fly me up on Heaven’s wings

Everyone got sad, and I see them crying

But my health is bad, and it’s time for dying

I am an old dog – hope I go to Heaven

Fly me from this fog, with a voice eleven

(They’re) putting me to sleep; what will it be like on the other side of things?

Pray my soul to keep; fuck it is the time; fly me up on Heaven’s wings

Is it fading away? My life is getting done

In the shade of the day, I cry (to the) setting sun

I’m a dog with a shot that makes me fly away

From this fog, it’s a lot; it takes my pain away

Do I hear the spirits that are knocking at my door?

They are really nice to come and get me, oh Dear Lord

They have come to get me, I remember how it was

The last time I was set free and we got on Heaven’s Bus

The "voice eleven" part is a reference thingy - it refers to that scene in Spinal Tap, where the dude's amp goes up to 11. And the "In the shade of the day, I cry to the setting sun" part is a reference to Linkin Park's "Shadow of the Day."