(July 2018 "From the Archive") - "General Winter" (Unreleased Track from General Winter's Secret Museum)

Here it is! The lost “title track” of our first album! “General Winter” was one of the first songs The Tea Club ever worked on together when we formed the band back in the Fall of 2003. The lyrics tell a fantastical story of an ancient battle between a Spirit and a Samurai that me, Pat, and our original bass player Jim Berger came up with as teenagers. 

We did a homemade 4 track recording of this song in 2004, which at the time was titled “General Winter’s Boney Skull” and had slightly different lyrics. We also recorded it for our 2005 EP Love Your Enemy, changing the title to simply “General Winter”. This is the third and most proper recording of the song, which we recorded at Big Blue Meenie during the General Winter’s Secret Museum sessions. It was mixed for the album, but never mastered. (All 3 versions have their own strengths and weaknesses, and I’m sure the 2004 and 2005 versions will eventually see the light here on Patreon!)

Like many Tea Club songs, the lyrics are cryptic. Being that this is the 10 year anniversary, I wanted to shed some light on the details and fill in some gaps that aren’t apparent just from reading the lyrics. So I decided to comb through the original lyrics/ideas pages and was able to come up with a short story in the form of a fable to share with you all, as well as the song lyrics. (I think this could make a good comic book someday too!)

Here it is!

This is the story of General Winter.

There was once a mountain called Snow Head. It was the tallest and most dangerous mountain, not just because it was frozen, but because it was haunted by a Spirit. The Spirit was once known as General Winter, and many years ago, he was a mighty warrior and masterful thief. His greedy Spirit and his murderous Ghost army possessed the mountain and could open it up and swallow anyone who trespassed, collecting whatever valuables they had on their corpses and hoarding them inside the mountain.

A Samurai was brave enough to climb Snow Head Mountain. He was brave because of his deep desire for vengeance. When he was just a boy, his family had gotten lost in a terrible snowstorm and stumbled upon the dreaded mountain. General Winter and his ghost army opened the mountain and swallowed up his family, but the boy was able to escape and retreated to a nearby village of Samurai warriors. The boy trained to be a great Samurai and vowed to destroy the Spirit of the Mountain, and to get back the mystical family heirloom that General Winter stole that day, a pendant called The Pilot Star.

When the Samurai climbed to the top of Snow Head Mountain to wreak his vengeance upon General Winter, the mountain opened up and the Samurai jumped inside. He saw The Pilot Star amongst a vast collection of stolen treasures. The Samurai cried out and challenged General Winter to a battle. The Spirit, amused by the Samurai’s boldness, accepted the challenge, taking on the form of a man to face him.

However, the Samurai was now a powerful warrior, and General Winter was shocked to find himself easily bested in combat. So General Winter begged for mercy, revealing to the Samurai that, many generations ago, he was murdered by the very people who trained the Samurai, and telling him about their history of rivalry to try and make the Samurai feel pity on him. The Samurai showed no mercy, and instead declared that he would not only destroy General Winter and his Ghost Army, but also become the new ruler of Snow Head Mountain, keeping all of its stolen treasures for himself. He went to pick up The Pilot Star, happy with himself that he had avenged his family.

Suddenly, the heirloom shattered in the Samurai’s hands, and from its broken pieces emerged Four Angry Frogs. They scolded both the Samurai and the Spirits for their vengeful lusts. Both The Samurai and the Spirit argued that they had been wronged by the other, but the Frogs would not listen. Instead, they settled upon a final judgement, and summoned an all consuming purple mist which destroyed the Spirit, the Samurai, and Snow Head Mountain entirely.

SONG LYRICS

                       So the samurai stepped forward, said:

SAMURAI: “Stay strong"

                       A sinking hole

SAMURAI: “This is it now, don't get scared,

                        Stay strong

                       I look back where we were…"

                       Snow head mountain top

                       Great growing divide

SAMURAI: "I see the Pilot Star"

SPIRIT:       "Heaven sent snow to earth

                       Falling like bells

                       Sunlight fades

                       Leaving us here on our own"

SAMURAI: "Through the pantheon

                        For my family

                        Is it not the only way?”

_________________________________

                      And this is what the frogs had to say:

FROGS:       “There's nothing left to hide behind

                       It's all dead earth”

SAMURAI: “I stole back what they stole from us

                       We owed it to the past”

SPIRIT:         “He had no right,

                       But the wind was there to steal it back”

FROGS:       "You've planted a seed and it has flourished

                       But the leaves they fall and die unnoticed

                       Know the good you could have done in time spent fighting

                       Your traditions mean nothing to me

                       Your tree of hate it has withered

                       Now we flood you with a sea of righteousness”

                       Spirit and Samurai consumed in the purple mist

FROGS:        “Good day sirs”

This recording of “General Winter” was performed by:

Patrick McGowan - Vocals, Guitar, Bass

Dan McGowan - Guitar, Vocals

Kyle Minnick - Drums