Frail was the band's demo project, created
while the band members were students at
Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois. Only
1,500 copies of this "just for fun" album were
made, and they are long since sold out. Seven
of the songs from Frail were re-recorded for the
band's debut record on Essential Records, while
"Fade to Grey" and "Frail" were re-recorded for
their sophomore album, Much Afraid.
Liquid
Arms nailed down,
are you telling me something?
Eyes turned out,
are you looking for someone?
This is the one thing,
The one thing that I know.
Blood-stained brow,
are you dying for nothing?
Flesh and blood,
is it so elemental?
This is the one thing,
The one thing that I know.
Blood-stained brow,
He wasn't broken for nothing.
Arms nailed down,
He didn't die for nothing.
This is the one thing,
The one thing that I know.
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Jars of Clay (1995)
Copyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Boy On A String (Sunflower Song)
The marionetter has your number
Pulling your arms and legs till you can't stand
on your own
Dragging your conscience on the stage
and your heart gets rearranged
and you cannot tell your mentor from your
Maker
Look at the crowds bleeding with laughter
Over the way you entertain at beckon call
They don't see behind the lights, or the painted
backgrounds
They just like to see you fall
But you don't really mind
Cause you're just wasting time
You can't feel anything
You're a boy on a string
I feel a sadness like Gapetto
watching the life that he created run away
Seeing the puppeteer's intrusion,
and holding the remains of puppets that had
rotted away
One day the curtain will not open
And all of the crowds will go away
Someday those strings will choke you, but until
that day
But you don't really mind
Cause you're just wasting time
You can't feel anything
You're a boy on a string
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Jars of Clay (1995)
Copyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Art In Me
Images on the sidewalk speak of dream's
decent
Washed away by storms to graves of cynical
lament
Dirty canvases to call my own
Protest limericks carved by the old pay phone
In your picture book I'm trying hard to see
Turning endless pages of this tragedy
Sculpting every move you compose a symphony
You plead to everyone, "see the art in me"
Broken stained-glass windows, the fragments
ramble on
Tales of broken souls, an eternity's been won
As critics scorn the thoughts and works of
mortal man
My eyes are drawn to you in awe once again
In your picture book I'm trying hard to see
Turning endless pages of this tragedy
Sculpting every move you compose a symphony
You plead to everyone, "see the art in me"
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Jars of Clay (1995)
Copyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
He
Don't try to reach me, I'm already dead
The pain when it grips me, for things that I've
done
Well I try to make you proud, but for crying out
loud
Just give me a chance to hide away
Exhaustion takes over, will this someday be
over?
Chorus:
Fearful tears are running down
The pain you've laid don't speak a sound
Don't take my heart away from me
And they think I fell down
Daddy, don't you love me?
Then why do you hit me?
And Momma don't you love me
Then why do you hurt me?
Well I try to make you proud, but for crying out
loud
Just give me a chance to hide away
Exhaustion takes over, will this someday be
over?
[Chorus]
A teardrop falls from up in the heavens
Drowning the sorrow of angels on high
For the least of the hopeless, the helpless, the
loveless
My Jesus, His children, He holds in His eyes
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Jars of Clay (1995)
Copyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Fade to Grey
Oh it's not hard to know what you're thinking
As you look down on me now
Your trance of love is seeking
To turn this world around
But in this state of blind confusion
No god can pull me out
Then I see Your love is willing
To turn me inside out
Then I see you there with your arms open wide
And you're trying to embrace me
These lonely tears I cry they keep me in chains
And I wish they'd release me
Cold is the night but colder still is the heart
Made of stone turned from clay
And if you follow me
You'd see all the black, all the white fade to
grey
Spinning, twisted, ignorant bliss
Falling farther out of grace
Crawling closer to the dust
Won't you save me from myself
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Much Afraid (1997)
Copyright 1997 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Frail
(Instrumental)
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Much Afraid (1997)
Copyright 1997 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Like a Child
Dear God, surround me as I speak,
the bridges that I walk across are weak
Frustrations fill the void that I can't solely bear
Dear God, don't let me fall apart,
you've held me close to you
I have turned away and searched for answers I
can't understand
Chorus:
They say that I can move the mountains
And send them falling to the sea
They say that I can walk on water
If I would follow and believe
with faith like a child
Sometimes, when I feel miles away
and my eyes can't see your face
I wonder if I've grown to lose the recklessness
I walked in light of you
[Chorus]
Little girl:
"I've got joy like a fountain!"
"Be kind one to others"
"In Jesus Christ Your son"
They say that love can heal the broken
They say that hope can make you see
They say that faith can find a Savior
If you would follow and believe
with faith like a child
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Jars of Clay (1995)
Copyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Love Song For A Savior
In open fields of wild flowers,
she breathes the air and flies away
She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the
roses
in no simple language
Someday she'll understand the meaning of it all
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the
heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she'll trust Him and learn how to see
Him
Someday He'll call her and she will come
running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down
and she'll pray,
"I want to fall in love with You"
Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the
chains on their souls
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the
heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see
Him
Someday He'll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down
and we'll pray,
"I want to fall in love with You"
It seems too easy to call you "Savior",
Not close enough to call you "God"
So as I sit and think of words I can mention
to show my devotion
"I want to fall in love with You"
"my heart beats for You"
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Jars of Clay (1995)
Copyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Four Seven
We have this treasure
in earthen vessels
to show that this power
is from God, and not from us
Written by Jars of Clay
Re-Recorded for Jars of Clay (1995)
Copyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/
Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.