Insight into the songs and lyrics of Ryan Star, in his own words.
The following information is taken from RStar.net and other articles on the net, which can be found on in our Article Database.
Songs from the Eye of the Elephant
Here Son
“Here son” is also what I would consider a song that reaches higher than my physical state. It is about our fleeting lives and moving on. It is about family and possessions. It is about tyrants and greatness. Like all of the songs are on the album it is a blueprint for what is to come next.
Lullabye Suicide
“Lullaby Suicide” stands out to me as the highlight in that regard. I created a cool music box type of sound and then just sat there and started singing. It sounded really cool to me so before I played anymore I hit record. I was already sitting at the recording equipment because I was working on another song. Four minutes later I had the song. I went back and changed two words when I realized what I was singing about and then added a moog for some cool bass effect. All that was then left to do was add the feminine touch. She sat there and I told her to just mimic what she heard. It is truly a lullaby.
Stage
Live Happy, Live With Anorexia
Those two songs [“Live Happy, Live with Anorexia” and “Jesus Was A Test Tube Baby"] and “The Scientist’s Canvas” are the songs that I feel closest to. “Live Happy, Live with Anorexia” it’s just a metaphor of starving yourself of love and not letting yourself fall in love. When you fall for someone and the two of you are together a piece of you is in that person. So, ultimately, when you leave that person or they leave you, you lose that piece of you that was in them and, therefore, if you starve yourself from that you’ll truly be yourself. It was a song of that nature, and it’s a love song described in lyrics like that. At the end of the day, it’s just a sappy love song.
Jesus Was a Test Tube Baby
“Jesus Was a Test Tube Baby” was a song written…I studied at a very science driven university. I was a philosophy major, so that song is basically about science versus God, art versus perfect, creation versus perfection…. It was just an idea. I thought maybe everything has been done before. For example, if Jesus was born today we would assume he was a test tube baby. I was just trying to show that we’ve seen all these things before, so instead of dwelling on those theories let’s just create new ones and make new ideas. Whether it’s religion or science or whatever, constantly creating is where genius can be found. I don’t think it is in pushing numbers around and making it work for you. I think it’s where someone has a good idea and they go with it. Whether it is good or bad just move with it. That is kind of where that song is from. Those were the hardest songs to make because we had such high expectations for them, and I’m proud they made the record.
I Don’t Know
“I Don’t Know.” It was tough for me to sit and write because I knew exactly what I wanted it to be about. I sat at the piano put a microphone up and recorded about 20 minutes of me just singing words and verses. At the end I went through it with a pen and paper and began to grab what I thought were the real words to the song. I felt like an archeologist sifting through dirt to find what I was looking for. At the end I had about five verses and when I played it for a few people that heard it, most of them cried. The hardest part was now cutting the five verses down to three.
Early & Unreleased Stage Music
The Frog Prince
“Frog Prince” was again a song that marked us as a great band. It was a piano based song that that just screamed our mission. “Ghost From December” also had the purest form of Stage in its soul. It was a song inspired by the beach. It was a song that sounded like the beach.
My Dependant Sweet
My Dependent Sweet is still one of my favorite songs. It was a song that I performed all of the instruments on like in my earlier 4-track days. “Beg You To Be Here” was a track that I wrote as I recorded it live. The only time I have ever played it is on the cd. It is truly the first track for “Songs From The Eye Of An Elephant” just a few years early. The band liked both songs a lot and was cool enough to call them their own.
Crazy When She Cries
“Crazy When She Cries” was an all-time favorite song of mine. There is only one line of lyrics in the whole song. This is what I believe makes it so hypnotizing. You are forced like when reading a book to let your mind wander and you fall deeper into your own thoughts. The music keeps growing like a wave and when it crashes it is one of my favorite Stage moments. As it goes, when Maverick started passing the cd out through the office and all of their contacts they removed this track from the demo. These are the early signs of a Label that truly doesn’t get it.
