My "The Spirit Carries On" Project

Background

Some years back I bought Dream Theater's album Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory. (And I suggest you do as well. Like, right now.) I was struck in particular by one song: "The Spirit Carries On". There should be a video of the band planning it live on your left, or better yet you can listen to the studio version.

I expect Dream Theater songs to feature dazzling proficient playing, so that is not what made this song stand out. Instead, it was the things I usually ignore: the soaring melody, hopeful lyrics, and heartfelt vocal delivery. And not just the vocals; John Petrucci's guitar playing on this track is far more emotive than is fair for something so technically impressive.

Not long after that first hearing I came to the realization that I want this song to be played at my funeral. (I have no reason to suspect that I'll be needing a funeral any time soon, but that has been true of too many people I've known who are no longer with us.) There was just one problem. "The Spirit Carries On" is part of an epic song cycle about a man who, through hypnotherapy, comes to understand that he is the reincarnation of a young woman who had been murdered in the 1920's. As a result, about 20% of the lyrics are entirely unrelated to the circumstances of my life, and indeed are unintelligible without the rest of the story.

The Project

Thus, I was interested in recording my own version, with modified lyrics that make it a more generic expression of hope for an afterlife. I came back to the idea several times over the years, but was always too busy with other things to work on it seriously. Only this summer did I have the requisite free time and willpower to make it a reality.

I started by actually writing some alternate lyrics, which you can find below. Then I started to transcribe the song. It is neither complete nor entirely accurate, but a pseudo-transcription credited to user "Leland" at Songsterr saved me an enormous amount of time and headaches. Since I have neither the ability to play drums nor a drum kit, I then programmed the drum part into Hydrogen Drum Machine Then I imported that track into Audacity and recorded bass, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, piano, organ, and lead vocal parts above it over the span of many weeks. I applied compression and panning to some of the individual tracks, but did no other post-processing, because I would have no idea what to do. There are background vocal parts -- both a four-part choir and a solo descant -- that add a lot of complexity and emotional power to the original recording that I have not reproduced, because I have found no good way to do so.

To say that I am pleased with the result would be an overstatement; it paints my many deficiencies as a musician in stark relief. My guitar and piano playing are out of time, my singing and parts of my guitar playing are out of tune, I had to grossly simplify the guitar parts to come up with something that I can actually sort-of play, and my voice is just so terribly annoying. And the one thing at which I am semi-competent (the bass) just sounds like an indistinct rumble through half of it. But I am not convinced that I can do any better, I certainly have no more time to work on it, and after probably 100 hours of work I cannot not release it.

Resources

You can play my recording. (To download, just select "Save Link As" or equivalent from the link's context menu.) There is also a version without vocals, if you would like to replace mine with your own. If you do actually use this in the way I had intended, please leave me a note here. My slightly modified lyrics are below:

[Verse 1]
Where did we come from?  Why are we here?
Where do we go when we die?
What lies beyond?  What lay before?
Is anything certain in life?
They say "life is too short, the here and the now,
And you're only given one shot."
But could there be more, since I opened the door,
They say that my soul has been bought.

[Chorus]
If I die tomorrow,
I'll be alright,
Because I believe,
That after we're gone,
The spirit carries on.

[Verse 2]
I used to be frightened of dying;
I used to think death was the end.
But that was before, I'm not scared anymore;
I know that my soul will transcend.
I may never find all the answers;
I may never understand why.
I may never prove what I hope to be true,
But I know that I still have to try.

[repeat chorus]

[Bridge]
Move on, be brave, don't weep at my grave,
Because I am no longer here.
But please never let your memory of me disappear.

[Verse 3]
Safe in the light that surrounds me,
Free of the fear and the pain.
My questioning mind has helped me to find,
The meaning in my life again.
Heaven is real, I finally feel,
A peace that is filling my soul.
And now that I'm here it's perfectly clear,
Now I have seen what was foretold.

[repeat chorus]
   

Legal

[Note: While I believe that everything in this section is true, I am not a lawyer, and this should not be construed as legal advice. Rather, it represents a few hours worth of Internet research.]

"The Spirit Carries On" was originally written by Petrucci, Portnoy, Myung, Rudess, and LaBrie (Dream Theater) and published by Warner Brothers Music Corporation. To record a version of the song requires a mechanical license to compensate the authors. Fortunately, license terms do not need to be negotiated with the rights holder; the Harry Fox Agency has the authority to collect compulsory mechanical licenses on behalf of virtually all publishers, and I have purchased one. (I may distribute up to 25 copies, a limit that I cannot imagine meeting. The cost of the actual license to do so: $3.06. HFA's processing fee: $15.00.) Thus, I believe, I have fulfilled my legal responsibilities as an arranger and recorder.

If you would like to download, listen to, make copies of, or otherwise use my recording, that requires a separate copyright license agreement between you and the person who created the sound recording (me). Fortunately for you, I am releasing the sound recording with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. You can follow the link to read the full text of the license, but it essentially means that you may do whatever you would like with the recording, without requesting permission or paying me a fee.

Playing this recording at a public event (such as a funeral) requires yet a third license for public performance rights, that compensates the songwriters. It is not possible to purchase the right to publicly play a single song; instead organizations such as ASCAP and BMI sell blanket licenses that allow companies to play all the songs in their catalog. It would be infeasible for an individual person to purchase such a license, but there is a good chance that the venue where you might choose to play this has one. And if they do not, I wouldn't worry about it. (You would be in technical violation of copyright law, as are thousands of bars, coffeeshops, malls, and other business that are actually making money from it.)