'My Penance' acoustic demo is now available

I have finally finished the music to my previous lyrical post, My Penance. An acoustic demo of the song is now available at www.myspace.com/timlevanmiller. Feel free to listen while re-reading the lyrics on my previous post.

The song was inspired by a recent visit to Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. I was filled with different emotions after seeing the inside of the prison and hearing the various stories about the prison's history. My Penance is meant to be somber and reflective, mimicking the early visions the Eastern State Penitentiary architects had for their facility. The word Penitentiary was first used with Eastern State having been derived from the word Penance meaning 'one's feeling of remorse for one's wrongdoings.' I have tried to translate this emotional side of the word Penance with some of Eastern State's specific history into my song.

Enjoy.

My Penance

I recently visited Eastern State Penitentiary. It was a dark and mysterious place that sparked some different ideas and emotions within me. Below are the lyrics to a song that has developed from this first visit.

My Penance
-Tim LeVan Miller

A stone face structure
Vowed to end
A battled humanity
Full of sin.
Lonely men
Wasting days
Fulfilling
Their Punishment.
One hundred of them
Tried to escape.
Mr. Leo Callahan
The one to be free.
Now he's up all night
Setting fire
To strong persecutions
As he cries.

My Penance
My Resentments
My Patience
Has been tried.
My Penance
My Resentments
My Resentments
Have Died.

We fight the battles
Some wage war
Freeing society
From the dangerous sort.
But to kill a man
When presumption stands
Is a foretaste of victory
For the Damned.

My Penance
My Resentments
My Patience
Has been tried.
My Penance
My Resentments
My Resentments
Have Died.

We all are in the midst of war.

God Wouldn't Let Me Die To This Song

An acclaimed artist once stated that while driving in bad weather, she would only listen to bad pop radio. Her thought was 'God wouldn't let me die to this song.' Below is my interpretation of this statement:

I start to drive with the sun in my eyes
Up ahead tail lights swerve
Horns scream and fingers fly
My profane self has been exposed.
Wipers peel rain from my sight
Bring on the snow and ice.
I keep the terrible pop music cranked.
God wouldn't let me die to this song.