LARRY NORMAN
a discography
 

 

 

 

 

The annotated lyrics booklet which belongs to "Something New Under The Son"

This booklet could be ordered through the "Something New Under The Son" LP (US version only). It was written and annotated in 1981. I added some annotations too, below some of the pages.

 

  • "Contrary to the opinions of some reviewers, this album..." shows that the annotations were made after the release of "Something New Under The Son" and the first reviews.
  • The album titles of the second cycle of seven (albums #8-14) are given, called "phase two of my music".

  • Some details here about the first cycle of seven albums, plus "Something New Under The Son" (album #8).

  • Here "Something New Under The Son" is called "Album number eight in a series of fourteen different statements...".
  • The song listing includes "The Tune", which was originally intended for inclusion on "Something New Under The Son" (it should have been a double album).

  • "Orpans From Eden" is mentioned a couple of times in the annotations. The theme of this unreleased album obviously has something to do with God being a Father to his children.
  • "Orphans From Eden" is not from the series of 14 albums, but it was most likely recorded (in 1974), with Larry's sister Kristy Beth.

  • Some details here about "89 Is Really 99" are given in the second annotation. It's referring to the song "Nightmare" on "So Long Ago The Garden", where Larry Norman sings "... and said exactly 89 words to me". This was actually 94 but the uncensored version of "Nightmare" contains 99 words ("We sleep till he arrives" were the missing words). The words "89 is really 99" are sung in "Leaving The Past Behind" (see next page of the booklet) and can also be found on the back cover of "The Story Of The Tune"; the words also refer to the difference between all songs until "In Another Land" (89; the first cycle) and all songs until "Something New Under The Son" (99; the last of the released albums).
  • If you wish to count the words in "Nightmare" for yourself, note that abbreviated words like 's and 'll and 've should not be counted.

  • The Song "Leaving The Past Behind" contains several clues; see the previous page for the meaning of the words "89 is really 99".
  • "Island In The Sky Is Number Nine" is a clear reference to the second album is the second cycle of albums. The album remains unreleased, and is probably unrecorded but for a few songs. All we know now is that "Deep Blue" was released; it's on the "Barking At The Ants" album, where it says the song is from "Island In The Sky". It was actually recorded in 1976 though.
  • The last line refers to "City Of The Lost Angels", album #10, like the annotation indicates.

  • "Larry Norman's 97th Nightmare" is indeed the 97th song in these two times seven cycles, when counting the corrected number of songs of each release.

  • Interesting last page of the booklet, mentioning several forthcoming albums, including "Island In The Sky".
  • "Barking At The Ants" was released, "On Tour" not yet, both are from 1981. It may indicate that the booklet before the annotations was also written in 1981, as these albums are listed in what seems to be the original print of the booklet.