From the recording Bold Enough To Say (2014)
Your own credo in "Forever and Ever, Amen" - "Through the virtues I've collected I will give myself for all" - emerges as the directive of this work, the great call to devotion and compassion that is the capitulate imperative of the divine love that illuminates us, connects us, moves through us, and of which we must become instruments. Your own work here consummately achieves this ideal, as you have achieved the very thing you cry, igniting the fading fires in our souls. Though your god is bigger than the words we use to describe it, you have yet expressed its beauty and power and necessity, its consummate realty, through the transformative alchemy of words and music. - Ethan
Written & Produced by Billy Webster
Lead Guitar by Carl Basler
Drums by Jesse Maynard
Recorded at Unfinished Storage Studio
(c) Shampoo Girl Music, 2014
Lyrics
Through the virtues I’ve collected, I will give myself for all
Through the gifts that I’ve perfected, I will heed the sirens’ call
When you come to the end of the story
are you sure that it’s really the end
when you sing of the blood and the glory
forever and ever, amen
When you sit by the fire and remember
the cries and the laughter of friends
are you sure that it wasn’t a daydream?
forever and ever, amen
Are you sure that it ends when you die?
Are you sure that you’re really alive?
Are you sure that you haven’t been half asleep
And dreaming most of your life?
When you come to the end of a memory
and you think, this is where I began
and the sights and the sounds that were random
appear to be part of the plan
And the girl over there with the long black hair
is the girl that you knew back in 1022
and the words that you say, that you just throw away
are the words that could usher in a brand new day
When you wake from the throes of a Technicolor dream
with the words that could make all the young girls scream
and the God that you see from the corner of your eyes
is a God of love and it’s no surprise
Through the virtues I’ve collected
I will give myself for all
Through the gifts that I’ve perfected,
I will heed the sirens’ call
Through the virtues I’ve collected
I will give myself for all
Through the gifts that I’ve perfected
I will heed the sirens’ call
Through the virtues I’ve collected
I will give myself for all
Through the gifts that I’ve perfected
I will heed the sirens’ call
Our father, our mother, our sister, and our brother
You made us, you shaped us, you named us, and you shamed us
Our fathers, with words or with silence
can inspire us, or do violence
Our mothers, shining with resilience
embrace us, with brilliance
And if I’m bold enough to say the words you gave me
then you know I’m gonna take it
gonna make it, not gonna fake it
‘Cause my God is, bigger than the words we use to
describe him, to describe her, to deny him, to deny her
to ignite the fading fire in our souls.