"Second Crusade" genre: Progressive Rock
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	A driving bass line pushes this upbeat tune that gives you a nagging feeling that it's upbeat, but something's "wrong". There's a contradiction between the beat and the minor melody. Time to listen to the words!
	CD: Second Millennium Credits: Lyrics and music composed by Bill McClarty, who also did the vocals. 5 string bass played by Billy Herb Bob, Sweet William on guitar, Wild Willy on drums and Herby Bob on keyboards. Recordings were done at Billy Joy's Digital Studios in Olympia Washington, who also did the engineering and mixing.
	Story Behind the Song The Crusades came about partly as a fearful reaction to the mid-eleventh century expansion of the Seljuk Turks, and partly as a result of the desire of the 11th, 12th and 13th century popes to expand political and religious power. Though created at the pope's behest, and serving as an erstwhile military arm of the papacy, crusading armies were organized and financed by their individual leaders. There were five major armies, made up of noblemen, in the first crusade, primarily from France. Armies for the next four crusades were drawn together from all the major European countries, and were comprised of noblemen, townspeople and even peasants. Many crusaders were motivated by greed, hoping to seize land and commercial opportunities, others were motivated by religious zeal. Most of them sought adventure, and practically all believed that participation would guarantee their personal salvation or wealth. On the whole, the crusades were a failure. The First Crusade succeeded in capturing a number of lands, and holding them for a while. But by the end of the Fifth and final crusade, practically all gains had been given up. The most enduring effects of the crusades was a bolstering of the Italian commerce in the coastal cities, and the development of systems of direct taxation, created by the experiments of the papacy and European monarchs when trying to raise the financing for the crusading armies. These direct taxation systems had long reaching consequences for the fiscal structure of European governments. From the present, a perspective distant in time from the original crusades, they might be regarded as a part of a common phenomena, despite the fact they were spread over three centures. With that in mind it seemed appropriate to title this song Second Crusade, and use that label for the current American military action in the mideast, using the events of 9-11, whether real or contived. I see little discernible difference between the blatant naked power/land grab excursions ordered by THE POPE, and the current blatant political/economic (can you say oil?)excursion ordered by THE BUSH. These four Second Millennium songs the first ones I wrote and recorded during my transistion from acoustic to electric guitar. I digitally recorded voice, guitars and bass using a Soundblaster! Live audio card and Cakewalk Home Studio 9 software. My funbling unfamiliarity with the software, learning how to use the midi interface for drums and keyboard as well as some of the synthesizer effects and writing songs that were initially beyond my ability to play insured that all four of these songs required more hours than I remember, and more takes than seemingly possible. Lyrics SECOND CRUSADE © 2003 Bill McClarty Billy Mac Music – All rights reserved Will you blindly follow and lust for war? Is your greed too strong to ignore? You sold your freedom, there’s no reprieve, Someone else told you what to believe. You’ll have no fortune and gain no fame, If you don’t know the rules of the game. If you finally learn, it will be too late, Someone else has sealed your fate. Patriotism’s cried, and the trumpets sound, A tune that’s used just to confound; And lead us all to a terrible fate, Can we be saved, or is it too late? Greedy souls have crafted their plan They care not for their fellow man. They boldly speak the deadly lie, As they lead us down the path to die. Saying they must ring Freedom’s bell, They’ll make our life a living hell.. We’ve none to blame, the fault’s our own. So we reap the bitter fruit they’ve sown. They use God and country in their call, But they hide the truth from one and all Our trust and faith has been betrayed, Now we’ll sleep in the bed they’ve made. As they wage the war in the Middle-East Abusing power, on death they feast.. They call for blessings from our Lord, To lay waste to the heathen horde. With wealth and power, they still crave more, They casually use the engines of war They’ve planned events with an evil skill, Caring nothing for those they kill. There cannot be a peace to last, If we ignore the hidden past, And just go along for an easy ride While we lose the power to decide.

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