HYMNS 101–103 · RISEN DOUGH RECORDS

The FRESH NOW Sign

1994 · Risen Dough Records · 3 tracks

Debut album. Recorded in the basement of New Covenant Baptist Church — three ceiling tiles were damaged. Mastered in Greensboro by an engineer named Marco who had also mastered two regional death metal records. Marco described the frequency response of Carol Ann's kick drum as "appropriate for the subject matter." Jimmy the Sister Glaze manager let them photograph the sign for the cover. He asked what the album was about. Gerald explained. Jimmy said he supposed that was one way to look at it.

1. 01The FRESH NOW Sign
   Words

   Four in the morning, Patterson Avenue
   Lot was empty, the engine still cooling down
   Frost on my windshield, hum of the neon
   I had been driving a long time alone
   I had been carrying a weight without a name
   I had been praying without knowing how
   Then the letters came on red in the window
   And the darkness was not the darkness now
   
   The light was on at four in the morning
   The light is always on for those who come
   Fresh now, the sign said, fresh now forever
   Daily bread, and I was not alone
   
   The conveyor was running, the glaze was falling
   The woman behind the counter knew my name
   She slid the box across before I asked her
   She said, you've had a night, and I said, I have
   I took the first one standing at the counter
   I closed my eyes the way my mother taught
   And the sugar on my fingers tasted like mercy
   And the warmth in my chest was what I had sought
   
   The light was on at four in the morning
   The light is always on for those who come
   Fresh now, the sign said, fresh now forever
   Daily bread, and I was not alone
   
   I pulled a napkin from the dispenser
   I wrote four lines with a borrowed pen
   I drove home as the steeple bells were ringing
   And I framed that napkin like a psalm
   
   There's a picture above my office doorway
   The paper is yellow, the ink still clear
   Reminds me every morning when I see it
   What the Lord is willing to do down here
   He fed Elijah under the juniper tree
   He gave manna to the hungry in the sand
   He met me in a parking lot in Winston-Salem
   At an hour when I could not stand
   
   The light was on at four in the morning
   The light was on
   The light is always on for those who come
   For those who come
   Fresh now, the sign said, fresh now forever
   Daily bread, and I was not alone
   
   Fresh now, forever
   Fresh now, forever
   Fresh now, forever
   The light was on

2. 02The Hole in the Middle
   Words

   She sits down behind the kit at seven-thirty
   She counts the first song in with her stick
   She keeps the tempo for an hour of music
   She does not often look up from the snare
   At the end of every show she stands up slowly
   Takes the tape off of her sticks and sets it down
   Picks a donut from the box beside the cymbals
   Eats it standing there before she packs the drums
   
   There is a hole in the middle of the donut
   And the hole is the reason the donut is whole
   The circle needs the quiet at the center
   The steady is the reason we are here
   
   She does not take a solo on this album
   She does not play a fill that isn't called
   She does not speak at practice unless asked to
   She does not rush and she does not linger long
   The songs go where the songs are going
   And she is the reason that they do
   Some things hold a band together
   By not asking anyone to know they do
   
   There is a hole in the middle of the donut
   And the hole is the reason the donut is whole
   The circle needs the quiet at the center
   The steady is the reason we are here
   
   Ray said without her the donut has no shape
   Gerald said this was the finest thing that Ray has ever said
   Ray said he was talking about drums
   We all said both
   
   There is a hole in the middle of the circle
   There is a quiet in the middle of the song
   There is a heartbeat that does not know it is holy
   And it keeps on keeping time until the morning comes
   There's a ring that holds the shape of the believing
   And the shape of the believing is the ring
   The hole in the middle of the donut is the donut
   The hole in the middle is the whole thing
   
   There is a hole in the middle of the donut
   And the hole is the reason the donut is whole
   The circle needs the quiet at the center
   The steady is the reason we are here
   The steady is the reason we are here
   
   The steady is the reason
   The steady is the reason
   The steady is the reason we are here

3. 03Pull In