"Your Days Are Numbered" original by Ted (Protestfest)

[Ted]

I wrote this one in 1987 when I got involved in the protests against Arizona's Governor Evan Mecham. It was the first time that my high school band got back together. We performed a bunch of "Rock Against Mecham" events.

If you were to read Mecham's Wikipedia page, it would explain some of the references in the lyrics, but here's a good start:

As governor, Mecham was plagued by controversy and became the first U.S. governor to simultaneously face removal from office through impeachment, a scheduled recall election, and a felony indictment. He was the first Arizona governor to be impeached.

Your Days Are Numbered
©1987, 2012 Ted Johnson

Me: bass, ukulele, keyboards, voice, MBR drums
You claimed victory. You must've felt like a looter at a riot scene.
You made some speech about a big u-turn.
Now you're going down your list of all the witches to burn.
Your plaid suit looks real cute, but your Bluebook price is going down, down, down, down.

Your days are numbered. A dark cloud
Is hanging over you and your crowd.
You can blackball your bad guys 'till you're blue in the face,
It won't whitewall your dark side. Your days are numbered.

You pace the showroom floor. I always wondered how they got those models through the door.
Clinging to your small circle of friends;
Just more incompetent foxes picked to guard the hens.
Your toupee looks okay, but your ship of rats is gonna drown, drown, drown, drown.

Your days are numbered. (etc.)

(Repeat first verse)

Living out your dream. Every time you tried, you got creamed.
Fantasies are always so extreme. You were the worst of three evils with a master scheme.
Are you trying to build a Deseret; no working women, no blacks, no gays.

Your days are numbered. (etc.)

[Hook]

It's a regular uketopia here at songcrafters! This is a great protest tune brother! I dig that bass breakdown at about 1:50 and I love the line "you were the worst of 3 evils". Well done.
Rock on!

[Oldrottenhead]

great recording ted and a greaty song too, uke sounds great something i appreciatecos i know how hard they are to record.

[Geir]

This must be the year of the UKE !!!!

Great recording Ted ! Love the bass !

[Krasi]

Yes, I also noticed it's becoming a fashion - I didn't even know what Uke is before lol...
But it is sounding great and that bass line is fantastic too!!

[Ted]

I love the line "you were the worst of 3 evils". Well done.

That's a reference to how Mecham won office in a three-way race with two other uninspiring candidates:

Mecham won the election with a 40% plurality while [Carolyn] Warner and [Bill] Schulz received 34% and 26% respectively.

This is a another demo recording for my reunited high school band, The Nutrients. When/if we perform this, it'll be with guitar, not uke. And it'll be with my trusty Ibanez (fretted, electric) bass, not with my fretless acoustic bass.

It's fun to make demos this way, because the live band versions remain a mystery until we get together. It's like hearing them fresh -- and being tempted to use the demo as a baseline of how the song "should" sound.

ORH: The uke is not only hard to record, it's hard to play well (for a bassist and guitarist like me). The reason the uke sounds slightly out of tune in this recording is because I'm gripping down on those strings with guitar pressure, making the uke go sharp. (Zooey Deschanel, I ain't.)

[Tony W]

Now that's a protest song. The only thing political I remember from High School was that Gopher from "The Love Boat" was an Iowan congressman.

[Geir]

). The reason the uke sounds slightly out of tune in this recording is because I'm gripping down on those strings with guitar pressure, making the uke go sharp. (Zooey Deschanel, I ain't.)

Damn those strong manly hands

[Ted]

Now that's a protest song. The only thing political I remember from High School was that Gopher from "The Love Boat" was an Iowan congressman.

I was out of high school a few years when I wrote this song.

Speaking of "The Love Boat" -- about the time I wrote this song, I met a great guitarist in the Phoenix area named Gavin McCloud, who had to follow all introductions with, "Really. That's my name."

[OsCKilO]

Now This IS Ted Johnson !

I love your Lyrics!!!


Superb Tune!!  That Bass is Like bubbling lava! And that uke is sweet as wine!