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Angels and Demons

from Song Fu and Stuff by Dr. Lindyke

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Dave writes: I've acquired a digital drum set and was getting used to it. While playing around with a military cadence on the snare I noticed my DVD case of Angels and Demons. This lead to the cliche' of an angel on the right shoulder and a demon on the left. Tying it back to the military cadence, I thought of the two of them actually at war, with the soldier himself as their battlefield. This is a metaphor for the terrible things a person may have to do in a war versus the noble cause he's fighting for. Belief in the cause doesn't necessarily make acts of war easier on your conscience, and therein lies the conflict.

This is also an allusion to C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, and to my own time in the military. Finally, I was fiddling around with that cadence in the first place because I was... as a bit of practice... trying to meet some of the older Song Fu challenges; in this case, "write a march".

That's a lot to fit into a tiny little cadence.

BTW, I know I can not be the first person to have come up with this metaphor, but a Google search for "soldier is a battlefield" came up with 5 hits, none of them relevant. So I'm laying claim to an original thought, or at least an independent one.

lyrics

Angels & Demons
dfl - 07 Feb 2010
=============
Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!
Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!

Angel on my shoulder!
(Angel on my shoulder!)
Demon on the other!
(Demon on the other!)
Ain't no one to catch me
(Ain't no one to catch me)
In case I fall
(In case I fall)

Angel on my shoulder!
(Angel on my shoulder!)
Demon on the other!
(Demon on the other!)
Ain't no one to catch me
(Ain't no one to catch me)
In case I fall
(In case I fall)

The Bible tells me, boy you shall not kill!
(But I've been doin' a lot of killin' still!)
Sometimes even angels have to take up swords!
(To stem the tide of the demon hordes!)

Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!
Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!

An angel and a demon
(An angel and a demon!)
Are warring on my shoulders!
(Are warring on my shoulders!)
The soldier in the middle...
(The soldier in the middle...)
Their battlefield.
(Their battlefield)

Company! HALT!

credits

from Song Fu and Stuff, track released February 8, 2010
Dave Leigh - music & lyrics, lead vocal, snare drum, hand claps (heel beat)
Dave Wade - troop response
William Leigh - troop response
Michael Leigh - troop response
Photo credit - iStockphoto.com

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Dr. Lindyke Union

"Dr. Lindyke" is the nom de plume of William Hoover and Dave Leigh. William writes lyrics; Dave writes music. Though we write a lot, neither of us are really performers, and we LOVE it when people cover our songs. Please do.

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