This song had MANY iterations before arriving in its final form. For most of its life, it was a raging guitar rocker at about double the current tempo. None of the "guitar rock" versions ever satisfied me, but I liked the ideas in here too much to just give up on the song.
Becoming aware of what Trent Reznor was doing with Nine Inch Nails had a big impact on me around the time I was working on this. Prior to NIN, I was something of a guitar snob - I didn't like keyboards because keyboards didn't "rock." Well, I think Trent proved that keys and samplers COULD rock, and HARD.
So, one day I got the idea to halve the speed of the song and load it up with synth parts, and it FINALLY seemed to work. The guitars in the verse sections are my nod to "The Overload" by Talking Heads.
This is bassist Bryan Beller's favorite track on the record, and it's one of the showcase pieces for him. He used an Interstellar Overdrive effect to distort his bass, and I don't know that I've ever heard a bass sound like that, before or since. He improvised the ending of this song in one take, and it remains my favorite bit of playing of his on the album.
lyrics
You lie to me but the truth is in your eyes
I am not fooled, but my head is in the skies
Take, take from me for your freedom within
Time, time will show in the end you’ll be without
That was only after yesterday
When I lost my mind
It was only after yesterday (Yesterday…)
When I knew I’d never find you
Free, you want to be, but your prison is your life
Gone, fade away, never will regain your sight
What have we here?
credits
from Yogi: Any Raw Flesh?,
released March 13, 2001
Words and music by Shawn Farley.
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