Ron
I thought this was the hardest to write as it’s Lee Harvey Oswald’s song and the more I dug into his personal life the more I saw he was a cruel bastard. He had two young daughters at the time of the Kennedy assassination and after that day he never saw them again. They are still alive today and they will occasionally grant anonymous interviews where they recount how they’ve gone to great lengths to prevent the people in their lives from knowing they are Oswald’s daughters. Oswald was an abusive and unloving man and writing a love song from his perspective seemed impossible. In all of these songs I rather fictionalized the hearts of these characters and I probably had to do that the most here. The phrase “heat without light” is lifted from a Flannery O’Connor short story.
Bruce
This one was a lot of fun watching it develop in rehearsals. When we first started learning it, I don't think that we had a drummer so it was nice during the recording that I got to finally feel where I was anchoring the bass to.
Chris
This song tends to be my least favorite on the EP, but it's still one I enjoy nonetheless. The drum parts I came up with were fairly creative for how unskilled I was at the time, and the bridge was something I had a hand in originally arranging. This song was one that we really built from the ground up, all structured around Ron's creative lead electric part. I got the chance to try my hand at mixing this song; thankfully, Seth didn't have too many corrections to make on my behalf. My favorite instrument I got to play for it was the 12-string acoustic. Drums were a close second.
Seth
This is probably my favorite song of the bunch. Lucy Hale is maybe the best song on the EP, but this song gets to the core idea behind the project: love songs from the perspective of a presidential assassin. There’s a creepy element to that and it comes through best in this song. Getting into the more personal mundane thoughts of Lee Harvey Oswald might be a little creepy, but it’s a little special at the same time. The whole heat without light image just draws you in. There are so many weird and beautiful sounds when we perform this song, and you can hear those on the recording.
lyrics
They caught me inside the theater
In a cheap double feature
It’s a sad cry of battle
Movies bend like forever
Through beat up projectors
Humming over my shoulder
You were home with your mother
She learned from the anchor
Like everyone else
Her tears smelled like cigarettes
On a black and white TV set
Through rabbit ear signals
Now I feel heat without light (x3)
I’m sorry you changed your name
And hid from the cameras
You were beautiful girls
I never got to explain
Why it all happened
Why I let you down
Now I feel heat without light (x3)
I left some money on the table
For you and your sister
I hope you are fine
The grass needs cut every weekend
If I can’t be there
It’ll just have to grow
credits
from Assassins EP,
track released November 16, 2010
Ron Freeman: lead vocals, electric & baritone guitar
Chris Vogt: drums, synth, electric & 12 string guitar
Seth Ellsworth: violin, electric guitar
Bruce Kline: bass
Mike Skamfer: electric guitar
Savannah Kocher: harmony vocal
Sharon Udoh: keyboards, vocals
Bill Pratt: pedal steel guitar, mandolin, calliope
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