One of the Scariest Songs I Know
When it comes to Christian music that fits the ugly themes of Halloween, specifically fear and terror, two songs come to mind. I will let you in on one of those songs: “More Time,” written by persecuted Russian Christian, Valeri Barinov. It is performed in an English studio by the Dave Markee Band. The song appears on the album The Trumpet Call: a Rock Opera by Valeri Barinov.
Before we get into the song, here is some backstory on the Trumpet Call album, released by Fortress on both vinyl and cassette. The songs were originally written and recorded by Barinov, a Soviet exile, in the 1970s. He recorded the songs on a reel-to-reel tape. Those copies were smuggled copies into the Soviet Union where they were played, hidden, and used as both an encouragement to underground Christians and a witness to unbelievers. This music has a heroic origin and past. Eventually, one of the reels was given to a former bassist for Eric Clapton, Dave Markee. He was tasked with restoring the music. Markee, instead, re-recorded the tapes, creating the rock opera album in 1985.
“More Time” is the penultimate (second to last) song on the record.
Now, the song.
0:00 – 0:15
In an echoing chamber, you hear nothing but a ratchet wound quickly, then slowing down. Behind the ratchet is a clockish metronome that echoes with each tock-tock-tock. The beats get louder as it appears to be walking closer to the listener. Eventually, a “ting” can be heard in the background. The tings escalate into a higher and higher pitch, mixing with the approaching metronome. Within fifteen seconds, the listener is on edge, waiting for the mounting tension to break.
0:15 – 0:35
The tension breaks with the tocking of the echoed metronome turning into a rhythmic percussion – a series of tocks and clicks in different pitches, which combine to make a factory-like droning beat. This factory beat persists throughout the song. It is the counting of time and toil in the life of the song’s doomed protagonist.
Then the vocals kick in. The voice that appears doesn’t sing – it talks. It sounds halfway angry as it overpowers the persistent factory percussion in the background. The voice proclaims, in a prideful arrogance powered by a British brogue:
Still more time, yeah there’s more time! (the factory tocking continues)
Still more room, yeah there’s more room! (factory tocking continues)
Still more time, yeah there’s more time! (the factory beats on)
Still more room, yeah there’s more room! (still the factory is there, ever moving, working, churning)
0:36 – 0:55
There is a subtle change, as the vocals repeat the defiant statement again and again. The change is this: to each line, we add two muddy sounding “chugs,” mixed into the unstoppable background factory beat. It is a small change, but it moves the track forward. This isn’t mere repetition.
The singer is still talking, insisting that he must have more time and room. He is stuck in his belief, while there are subtle unseen changes to the rhythms around him. If only he had noticed.
Still more (chug) time, yeah there’s more (chug) time! (the factory tocking continues)
Still more (chug) room, yeah there’s more (chug) room! (persistent factory)
Still more (chug) time, yeah there’s more (chug) time! (the factory drones on)
Still more (chug) room, yeah there’s more (chug) room! (the factory beat persists)
0:56 – 1:15
There are more changes to the soundtrack surrounding the petulant speaker. This time a guitar, in a low toned but aggressively melodic growl, breaks in at the end of the first line. The guitar sneaks back into hiding after the second line – as if it is afraid the vocalist will notice it. Once convinced that its onslaught into the song is free from de-entrancing the singer, it rears its ugly head after lines three and four, moving the danger of the background noise into an intoxicating symphony of deadly aggression.
The background noise has escalated, grown, and progressed. It appears destined to crescendo and end. Yet the speaker continues to insist that he has more time and room. Does he not hear what is happening around him? Things are coming to a head, and he appears to be unaware.
Still more (chug) time, yeah there’s more (chug) time! (electric guitar with the persistent factory tocking)
Still more (chug) room, yeah there’s more (chug) room! (just the factory)
Still more (chug) time, yeah there’s more (chug) time! (the guitar reappears and the factory beats on)
Still more (chug) room, yeah there’s more (chug) room! (guitar and the factory persist)
1:16 – 1:35
Now things really start moving. A sound which is a mix between a ratchet and the release of steam (more factory noises?) interrupts, four times, into every line. The impression is that steam is gathering and is starting to leak out of a mechanism rather quickly.
Then we hear the most important sound of the song after the second line. Added to the now-persistent guitar is the sound of a singular bell. It is the kind of bell that you attach to a bicycle. The rider of a bike will ring it to warn others that he is approaching.
Yet the vocalist persists, like the frog who is unaware that the water he initially enjoyed has begun to slowly boil. The bell is rung but the person in danger’s way seems oblivious, if not annoyed. The singer is in a trance.
When the orator ends line three, a loud ratchet is heard, bleeding into line four. This sound isn’t rhythmic. It is random – completely unexpected and out of place. It just appears once – unmoved by the tocking of the factory percussion or the demands of the protagonist. It is not tied to the rhythm at all; it doesn’t fit the melodic line – it is chaos entering the song.
Still (shh) more (chug) time, (shh) yeah there’s (shh) more (chug) time! (shh) (electric guitar with the persistent factory tocking)
Still (shh) more (chug) room, (shh) yeah there’s (shh) more (chug) room! (shh) (aggression and factory)
Still (shh) more (chug) time, (shh) yeah there’s (shh) more (chug) time! (shh) (the guitar speaks and the factory continues)
*Ratchet starts churning, fading into the next line*
Still (shh) more (chug) room, (shh) yeah there’s (shh) more (chug) room! (shh) (guitar and the factory persist)
1:36 – 1:55
Mockery by the surrounding noises enters the fray. The blare of a woodwind instrument enters and plays long blasts that match the lines, now urgently spoken, by the orator. The horns match his pitch and cadence, yet they seem to mock his intensity. These woodwind blasts are part of the great imploding machine, now ridiculing the words of the helpless yet prideful speaker.
Still more time, yeah there’s more time! (the factory noises are joined by the mocking instrument)
Still more room, yeah there’s more room! (tocking of time, chaos, mockery)
When the voice gets to line three, repeating the belief that he has more time – there is now a tinge of desperation in his voice. His voice tries to detach itself from the mockery of the machine of time and its sovereign hand. He delivers his line at a higher pitch to shake it away from the mocking instrument. He begins to sound like he is in a heated argument that is reaching a fever pitch.
STILL MORE TIME, YEAH THERE’S MORE TIME! (background mockery, chaos, and tocking)
Then it breaks in line four. The speaker is losing the argument and he snaps. It is said that people may sometimes laugh so they won’t cry. That is how the speaker’s mind is broken by the ensuing noisy countdown.
HA HA Ha Ha ha ha ha ... (background mockery, clanking, and chaos persist)
1:56 – 2:12
In the first segment that isn’t a predictable 20 seconds long, the speaker is now in full panic. Now he is not insisting that he has more time, he is begging for more time. It is as if he realizes he has been lied to, he sees his impending doom, and he is doubling down on what he believed: He has all the time in the world. Yet, repeating a lie on the doorstep of destruction and judgment does not move the Creator from his sovereign will.
STILL MORE TIME! MORE TIME! (greater chaos and factory tocking)
I NEED MORE TIME! MORE ROOM! (greater noise)
Then horror strikes his voice. Not only has his worldview turned upside down and turned into his last-second plea, but his voice also begins to quake with sobbing at the terror of his predicament. He believed a lie and it is now time to pay the piper. He wasted his time, he wasn’t in control of his time, and now his precious time is almost gone.
MORE TIME! I NEED MORE ROOM … (sobbing and chaotic noises)
2:13 – 2:20
Back to mistaken belief in a last-ditch effort. The song’s chaotic noises have crescendoed and are coming to a melodic end. The stages of the song have taken the speaker from pride to anger, to terror, then to remorse. As his last hurrah, he will stand atop his lifelong belief about time and room and boldly proclaim:
STILL MORE TIME, YEAH THERE’S MORE TIME ... (a loud ratchet sounds as the noise ebbs)
MORE TIME! MORE TIME! (the orchestra of noise prolongs their last notes)
2:21 – 2:32
His end.
OH NO!!! (a bomb sounds in the background, bringing the noise to a conclusion like an orchestra conductor clasping his fingers with his arms extended to either side, signifying that the song is over)
Then, a weird wavy twang is heard intermixed with the conclusion. It transitions into the final movement of the song.
2:33 – 3:07
Here, there are only long notes played on a synthesizer. Calm, relaxing, contemplative, reflective. It is as if the musicians are giving us time to digest what just happened. More than that, they are giving us time to think about what our worldview consists of. Is it built on self-serving lies, or is it built on the truth of God?
The song bleeds into the final track on the album, which gently pleads a promise, set to softer music:
“He is coming, He is coming.”
How about you? Is your life pointed, positively, toward eternity, or are you burning up the life that has been gifted to you? Are you ignoring eternity as if it is not real? There is good news, it is not too late! Today – right now – can be the time that you stop the chaos and lies. You can line your life up with reality and eternity. Believe in Jesus, repent of your rebellion, and he will forgive you. Plug into a Bible believing church. Grow in grace. Then when the end comes, you will have peace, knowing that you have been given grace to redeem your time, you have been granted mercy to love God, and you have shared what you have received by loving others.
Come join us at Sojourn church, Sunday mornings at 10:15. I would love to see you here! Let’s spend the time that our Creator has temporarily lavished upon us together in faith!