Comments on: Open Letter http://caedmonscall.net The officially unofficial fan site of Caedmon's Call. Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:44:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Chris Hubbs http://caedmonscall.net/song-vault/guild-1/open-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-19896 Chris Hubbs Thu, 24 May 2007 00:21:11 +0000 http://caedmonscall.net/song-vault/guild-1/open-letter/#comment-19896 Derek wrote this song before the band decided to sign with a label. They were meeting with several record companies to discuss contracts. This tune came out of one particularly unpleasant meeting. He felt disillusioned with the music industry as a whole, and this song was written through that perspective. 'Open Letter' has become somewhat of an underground favorite of guild members, though Derek has openly admitted that he is not fond of the song anymore. I (Megan) still think this tune is one of the great Caedmon’s treasures. "Well, I'm finding the green cleared from my eyes I am young and I am deep within the woods"...Derek uses the analogy of being lost in the woods as to how he felt in the 'new territory' of dealing with record labels. After this one meeting, he began to finally see clearly about the way many record labels were run. The reference to being young is an analogy to his inexperience in those dealings. "But I’m not so vain to think that I’m the first. The first to see and to turn their eyes away"...This represents the idea of not wanting to become signed or be a part of a record label. He's not claiming to be the first person to ever take this stance, but at the same time he admits it's 'not a popular approach'. "It's not as though this truck's been up on blocks for years in my front yard waiting for the fuel of you to make it go"...The truck represents Caedmon’s Call. Derek is saying that they had been successful so far, without the help of a label ('the fuel of you'). Derek wrote this song before the band decided to sign with a label. They were meeting with several record companies to discuss contracts. This tune came out of one particularly unpleasant meeting. He felt disillusioned with the music industry as a whole, and this song was written through that perspective. ‘Open Letter’ has become somewhat of an underground favorite of guild members, though Derek has openly admitted that he is not fond of the song anymore. I (Megan) still think this tune is one of the great Caedmon’s treasures.

“Well, I’m finding the green cleared from my eyes I am young and I am deep within the woods”…Derek uses the analogy of being lost in the woods as to how he felt in the ‘new territory’ of dealing with record labels. After this one meeting, he began to finally see clearly about the way many record labels were run. The reference to being young is an analogy to his inexperience in those dealings.

“But I’m not so vain to think that I’m the first. The first to see and to turn their eyes away”…This represents the idea of not wanting to become signed or be a part of a record label. He’s not claiming to be the first person to ever take this stance, but at the same time he admits it’s ‘not a popular approach’.

“It’s not as though this truck’s been up on blocks for years in my front yard waiting for the fuel of you to make it go”…The truck represents Caedmon’s Call. Derek is saying that they had been successful so far, without the help of a label (‘the fuel of you’).

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