I just want to share with you the lyrics to one of my favourite songs these few months. The song is Slow Fade by Casting Crowns.

Do you know this Sunday school song?

Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see

It’s really amazing how Casting Crowns wrote a song using the same truths but expanding on the concept to apply to us adults. It’s just one of those songs you would wish you had written.

I feel that this song is really relevant to me for several reasons.

First of all, I don’t possess any supernatural ability to repel temptation. I am a mortal man. I’m vulnerable to temptation. I don’t think I’m alone. I don’t think we can find any normal man who is not prone to temptation.

Second, this song really reminds me that I have to be an example and role model for my children. The second verse reminds me that there are little feet behind me watching me, following me.

I read somewhere that the first four years of a child’s life is spent absorbing everything from their parents like a sponge.

I tremble thinking of this responsibility that I have.

Finally, this song also reminds me that marriages and families don’t break up overnight. It is a process that happens subtly if we’re not careful. And the destroyer of families is none other than the devil.

Here are the lyrics to the song. I highly recommend that you buy the Casting Crowns album “Altar and the Door”. It’s one of the best I’ve heard this year, with 3 or 4 really good songs.

Update: I found a YouTube clip of the song here. It’s not the original music video, but the song is playing in the background.

Update 2: Another video on YouTube, Casting Crowns singing the song live in concert. But the quality of the recording is quite bad. 

Slow Fade by Casting Crowns

Be careful little eyes what you see
It’s the second glance that binds your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it’s the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

[Chorus]
It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

[Repeat Chorus]

[Bridge]
The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you’re thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

[Fade out, little girl sings]
Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see

Photo: Matouš Horáček

*fade in the #1 most corny song in the world, Eye of the Tiger… muted guitar string played in 16th beats, jeng! jeng jeng jeng! jeng jeng jong! jong jong jeng! Bass comes in with the high hat… JENG! JENG JENG JENG! JENG JENG JONG! JONG JONG JENG!!! *

Note: If you invite me to your wedding dinner and you play Eye of the Tiger, don’t blame me if I start dancing on the table *wiggle wiggle shake shake* “.. I am the Thai GerrrrrR!!!”

Ok… back to our topic. Presenting, my guitars

1. Ah Beng

Sorry BengBeng, but my bass guitar is really named “Ah Beng”. Ah Beng is the strong macho five string bass on the right side of the photo.

It is a Fernandes 5 String SPB, made in Japan. It has got active pickups and a really nice gold finishing. The body is transparent black… you can see the wood grains from a certain angle.

My dad got me this bass ten years ago when I started learning bass. I didn’t appreciate what a fine bass it was, until recently.

The bass has gone north to south, from Penang to JB. It is my primary bass. It’s a really good bass. The action is low, the tone is quite sweet. After ten years it still feels like new. After going through my Behringer Bass effects, the bass sounds even better.

I was thinking about getting an Ibanez 4 string or something, until I found…

2. Ah Mac

Ah Mac is the bass cool-ly leaning against my bass amp. It has that white pickup guard. I got Ah Mac from my bass si fu who was selling it off for one of his students. It’s an el-cheapo bass (Samick Ken Something signature). I use it to practice my slapping.

Ah Mac doesn’t sound so nice compared to Ah Beng. In fact, it sounds so crappy in a live setting that I don’t dare use it in a performance again. It has a really high action that really develops my muscles when I use it to practice.

I love Ah Mac because it makes me feel so terror. Got two basses. Don’t play play.

3. Carlos

Finally, my acoustic guitar my dad and my sister bought for me 12 years ago. It’s a Santana brand guitar. Before you have any visions of me play drug induced devil worshipping songs… I don’t have much skills in the acoustic guitar.

I can probably strum some songs for a church gathering… but I can’t play like my sister can. She’s the guitar hero of the family (and drums expert and keyboard expert).

Nowadays I mainly use Carlos to help trap cockroaches in my condo.

Before you go and say that’s a lot of guitars… my sister has five guitars! Four acoustic and one electric. Her main guitar is the sexy “Takeshi“, a very very nice Takamene. When she plays it during worship service, it sounds absolutely heavenly.

P/S: Just because I have three guitars doesn’t mean I have obsessive compulsive disorder ok? At least… I hope not…

Technorati Tags: Bass, Guitar, Acoustic, Fernandes, Samick

The song starts telling a story of someone having done something wrong… he’s in a situation where he can’t escape the consequences. It’s a song of regret, and a very haunting song. I can’t help repeating the song 4 or 5 times each time it comes up on my playlist.

It starts off with the piano playing the hook of the song… the three chords that will be repeated throughout the song. Halfway through the intro the rest of the band comes in, and then quiets down to focus on Chris’ vocals…

Oh no, I see,
A spider web, it’s tangled up with me,
And I lost my head,
The thought of all the stupid things I said.

Oh no what’s this?
A spider web, and I’m caught in the middle,
I turned to run,
The thought of all the stupid things I’ve done.

I never meant to cause you trouble,
And I never meant to do you wrong,
And I, well if I ever caused you trouble,
Oh no, I never meant to do you harm.

Oh no I see,
A spider web and it’s me in the middle,
So I twist and turn,
But here am I in my little bubble

Singing, I never meant to cause you trouble,
I never meant to do you wrong,
And I, well if I ever caused you trouble,
Oh no, I never meant to do you harm.

They spun a web for me,
They spun a web for me,
They spun a web for me…

I’ll be blogging tomorrow about my trip to Melaka.

Technorati Tags: Coldplay, Trouble, Melaka

P/S: My web server is supposed to be down for maintenance this weekend. Sorry if you were having trouble connecting to this website.