I went up to my old hometown this past weekend for a concert. It was the CD release party for one of my good friends, Grant Terry. (Quick full disclosure moment: I think I have pretty good taste in music, but I'm also very biased. I think Grant's good, has a bright future. I'm the say guy, though, who still thinks that The Common Ground Band [CGB] is the greatest worship band of all-time, yes even better than Delirious?. I also thought that Agabus was good. And if you've ever heard Agabus, well ... enough said.)
Not only is Grant a good friend of mine, but his keyboard player also happens to be my best friend. So it was like killing two birds with stone, supporting two friends in one night. And a blast to boot.
Elizabeth and I spent a little bit more money than we were expecting. Wasn't expecting an admission charge, but we gladly paid $5 apiece to get in. Then, we bought Grant's new CD for $10. No problem with that because I want to support my friend. And it's honestly worth the investment. It's high quality production from Seth Jones, who went to high school (at different times) with me, my best buddy K-Rob and Grant (who is 5 years younger than me). But I also liked the two bands that opened for Grant, a local group of high schoolers called Waltz With Me, and Oklahoma City-based David Dunn.
If they stick together, which is always a question of a young band that is approaching the decision of going their separate ways for college, Waltz With Me has a bright future. But, to me, it was David Dunn who stole the show.
I've always loved lyrics, even if I have about as much musical talent in my body as most musicians have in a fingernail clipping. Simply put, I can't sing, I can't read music, I don't play an instrument. I just don't have any musical ability, but I do love words. I love words that are strung together to form a powerful statement. And David Dunn is an extraordinarily powerful lyricist.
I purchased his newest 5-song EP, interestingly enough entitled David Dunn EP (he's so clever). All five of the songs are very well done -- great quality and powerful poetry. I grew up writing poetry, even if I haven't written much lately. I've probably written 50 or so poems in my life, and I'd say probably 8-10 of them I would label as being very strong, worthy of being put to music and turned into songs. I would do that, you know, if I had any ability whatsoever. Instead, I listen to people like Grant Terry and David Dunn and am amazed at how they are capable of doing what they do.
The song on the EP that struck a chord the most with me is Underneath Your Skin, which I believe is a poignant look at what we as a society classify as beauty. Unfortunately, we look mostly at the outer portrait to determine what is beautiful, while many times that outward skin is simply a cover-up of something truly ugly inside, which is where true beauty lies.
Here are the lyrics to Underneath Your Skin. I think you'll see why they registered with me.
Everybody stares, anytime you go anywhere you have the spotlight
Every man you meet, he really wants you to think he's Mr. Right
Friends all say that soon someday you will be famous
Oh, the pretention, all this attention goes to your head
Goes to your head
You turn the lights on and everybody knows
That you're beautiful, that you're beautiful
You leave the lights off, will they still know?
I don't think so, I don't think so
I don't think so, I don't think so
Is there more to you than your Gucci shoes and your Mercedes Benz?
They look fine when they don't define who you really are
What you bought makes people stop, give you the attention
The wandering eyes make you despise what you really want
You turn the lights on and everybody knows
That you're beautiful, that you're beautiful
You leave the lights off, will they still know?
I don't think so, I don't think so
I don't think so, I don't think so
Underneath your skin is what makes you beautiful
Don't listen to them, they just want to use you
Underneath your skin
There's women everywhere who don't really care if they are real humans
If they have nice thighs and beautiful eyes, then they're good to go
All that matters to them is attention from men, can you say pathetic?
There's two types of boring, dull and annoying, you get to choose
You turn the lights on and everybody knows
That you're beautiful, that you're beautiful
You leave the lights off, will they still know?
I don't think so, I don't think so
I don't think so, I don't think so
I'm still working on trying to decide which of the 10 songs on Grant's new CD is my favorite, although I'm pretty sure I've narrowed it down to one. I'll probably post the lyrics to that song a little later and give my reasoning behind why that's my favorite. In the meantime, go check out David Dunn!
