It's Memorial Day, and this morning this old song started haunting my mind. It was written by my band in early 1982. We called ourselves The Raid from 1981-1984, but the same guys were Voyager from 1979-1980 and Everything But Anchovies from 1984 onwards. Same trio of Cold War kids, growing up under this threat of nuclear annihilation, practicing getting under our desks to kiss our asses goodbye. Tim and I would be 17 later that year, and would be required to go to the post office and register for the draft. I think that's where Tim's lyrics were coming from.

A lot of our early gigs, before we were old enough to be in bars, were at the Hidden Valley 4-H Camp outside of Watkins Glen, NY. We had help from parents driving us, our own home-made lighting system, a rented PA, and had a set of 24 songs or so, of which maybe only 4 were originals. Here's an example Hidden Valley set list from August 17, 1983 (all caps are originals):

Set 1Set 2
1 Every Breath You Take 13 Synchronicity II
2 Message In A Bottle14 CRAZY BABY
3 You Really Got Me15 Squeeze Box
4 Red Shoes16 Sunday Papers
5 London Calling17 Time Is On My Side
6 I Can't Explain18 I Need To Know
7 POOR MAN'S HELL19 Train In Vain
8 Rebel, Rebel20 Driven To Tears
9 On Your Radio21 SILENCE
10 MR. WHITE SHIRT22 Behind Blue Eyes
11 MORE THAN A MEMORY 23 Twist and Shout
12 Johnny B. Goode

This song was recorded in Moonfish Studios in Ithaca, NY, in the summer of 1983. The band was about to go on a hiatus as Andy and Tim started college, and we wanted to get a recording of the band at its most-rehearsed peak before an uncertain future. We recorded the guitar, bass, and drums live then overdubbed the vocals and the military snare intro and outro. This Moonfish tape of five songs ended up on the album The Raid.

Give it time... the fade in takes a while.

Thanks for listening!

Andy

More Than A Memory

You know
I really wouldn't care
If I never again 
Saw a plane flying through the air

You know 
I really wouldn't mind
If I never again
Had that thought cross my mind

If we could only be more than a memory
If I could only live long enough to see
You
In a different situation
One without the preparation
For things to be
And sights we'll never see

You know
It's really weird
That all the sounds we ever heard
Can be silenced

You know 
It's really strange
That the world can change in just one night
That's not all right

Will we be much more than a memory
Will there be no pain for you and me
We could be walking in the starlight
When someone, somewhere could say
"What a lovely night for a fight"


lyrics by Tim Odell on 1 February 1982 
music by The Raid
©1982 by The Raid