It could be said that the roots of Daniel Amos began to grow out of Jubal's Last Band, an acoustic quartet consisting of Taylor, Kenny Paxton, Chuck Starnes and Steve Baxter, who spent their time performing for Bible study groups and at coffee shops throughout Southern California. In 1974, JLB recorded a demo tape together and eventually lost Starnes and Paxton. Bassist Marty Dieckmeyer and guitarist Jerry Chamberlain were brought in to fill the empty spots. Sometime in the middle of 1975, Jubal's Last Band (minus Baxter) auditioned for Maranatha! Music and Calvary Chapel in hopes of signing a recording and performance contract. Another band at the meeting, led by Darrell Mansfield, had a similar name - Jubal. The two bands decided to change their names to avoid confusion. Mansfield renamed his band Gentle Faith (taken from the name of co-band member Henry Cutrona's earlier band), and Jubal's Last Band became Daniel Amos.
Daniel Amos succeeded in landing a recording and performance contract, and quickly recorded their first song for the label in 1975, Taylor's Ain't Gonna Fight It. A full album, produced by Al Perkins, followed. The band released their first, eponymous album in 1976 (produced by Al Perkins) and enlisted Ed McTaggart on drums. Previously, McTaggart had been the drummer for Bill Sprouse Jr.'s The Road Home.
By 1977, the band had begun to shed their country sound, with the album Shotgun Angel, which took some fans by surprise. Shotgun Angel was half country and half rock-opera. The 'Side 2' of the LP featured lush orchestrations and a string of rock songs linked together in a way that was reminiscent of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The band even made a number of concert performances at this time with a full orchestra backing them.
By 1978 the band had recorded their first entirely rock effort, Horrendous Disc, with help from newly added percussionist, Alex MacDougall, and keyboardist Mark Cook. MacDougall is a well respected percussionist that has toured with Loggins and Messina, Leon Russell and The Beach Boys, among others. Cook had been the keyboardist for the Warner Brothers band Spring Canyon. Also around this time, the band began to tour with singer/songwriter Randy Stonehill. DA would perform their own set and serve as Stonehill's backing band on the tour. That tour, known as the "Amos n' Randy Tour," became legendary for DA and Stonehill fans.
Although Horrendous Disc was recorded for Maranatha! Music, the label ended up dropping it because of a major change in the focus of the label. The label decided to stop releasing albums by rock and roll acts and wanted to focus on praise music. The band shopped the new record around to several labels, including Warner Brothers, but settled on Larry Norman's Solid Rock Records. Solid Rock ended up delaying the release for nearly three years and the album was not seen on record store shelves until a week before the release of the band's newly recorded fourth album ¡Alarma! in 1981. ¡Alarma! was the first of a four part series of albums entitled The ¡Alarma! Chronicles, which also included the albums Doppelgänger, Vox Humana, and Fearful Symmetry. The band raised eyebrows on the tour that followed each release, by presenting a full multimedia event complete with video screens sychronized to the music, something that was unusual in the early 1980s for any band. By the end of the series, new band members Tim Chandler and Greg Flesch joined the band to fill vacant positions previously held by Dieckmeyer and Chamberlain. Keyboardist Rob Watson would also occasionally join the band in the studio or on the road.
The band released Darn Floor - Big Bite in 1987, which to this day many fans consider to be one of their best albums. They began a followup in 1988 but abandoned it in favor of a chance to do something different. Many of the band members became The Swirling Eddies for a string of releases through the early 1990s. In 1990, D.A. would form their own independent record label, Stunt Records, with help from friend Tom Gulotta. One of the first albums released by Stunt was the half comedy, half rarities and best of compilation from Dr. Edward Daniel Taylor, The Prickly Heat Telethon of Love. Over the years that followed, Stunt became the primary source for new DA material, including the live albums, Live Bootleg '82 and Preachers From Outer Space!. Jason and Eric Townsend, producers of When Worlds Collide: A Tribute to Daniel Amos, would join the Stunt Records organization in 1999 to help with promotion and production work.
In addition to recording several albums by The Swirling Eddies, the members of DA returned in 1991 with Kalhöun. 1993's MotorCycle followed, which also marked the return of Chamberlain, who would hang around long enough for two additional DA releases in the 1990s, BibleLand in 1994 and Songs of the Heart in 1995. Songs of the Heart was a concept album that followed the fictional couple, Bud & Irma Ackendorf, on a trip down the historic Route 66. The concept was explored in greater detail in the 2002 3 CD "book set" entitled When Everyone Wore Hats. That collection not only included the entire 1995 album, but also the entire album reworked as an acoustic band, three new songs, an interview of Taylor by Starflyer59's Jason Martin, photos, expanded liner notes and a newly written short story by Taylor.
In 1999, the band released all four parts of The ¡Alarma! Chronicles on CD packaged together in a 200 page hardcover book which featured color photos, interviews and the entire ¡Alarma! Chronicles story. The book collection, which is certainly an unusual release in the music world, received a lot of praise from music critics.
In 2001, DA released what many critics called their best album to date, Mr. Buechner's Dream, named after author Frederick Buechner. The album also pays tribute to Walker Percy, T. S. Eliot, G. K. Chesterton, Flannery O'Connor, Lewis Carroll, Dorothy L. Sayers, and other authors that have inspired DA's lyrics for years. The album was released on Stunt Records, with distribution by longtime friend Dan Michaels' label Galaxy21 Music.
In early 2004, Stunt Records began the long and difficult task of digging through the vast DA archives and remastering most of the back catalog for rerelease. The first release in the series, a 30th Anniversary Deluxe edition of the band's first album, Daniel Amos, was released in June 2006. The 2 disc special edition included an expanded booklet of never before seen photos, additional liner notes and an entire extra disc of bonus material including early demos and live recordings from the pre-DA years. Work began on the next reissue in the series immediately following its release.
Man in the Moon
Daniel Amos Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You know he's on the rise
There's something in his eyes I've never seen before
There's some kind of magic here
He's so full of surprises
He'll hypnotize like the lull of a lullaby
Carry me home in my dreams
Give up my world
Now it's all too absurd
What was happened to me?
Man in the moon
I was shooting for a star much higher
Man in the moon
There's no life nowhere near
I'm dying to get out of here
Lord, don't leave me high and dry
Let me fly
Oh, the moon is a yellow man
Eclipsed inside his cage
Concealed from public rage
Faith of our father
Well, I can't smile anymore
Oh, end this masquerade
Let the nightmare fade
Kill the gilded calf
I see someone in my dreams
Who was born to die and rise to redeem
So pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
Will this upstart ever stop?
I'm the man in the moon
Lord, don't leave me here
The lyrics of Daniel Amos's song Man In The Moon express a longing for escape and redemption, both from the mundane reality of life and from the religious and societal constructs that keep us in mental cages. The singer sees Mr. Moon, a symbol of hope and wonder, and is drawn to him because he represents a departure from the ordinary. The night sky, typically dark and comforting, is alive with the possibilities of magic and mystery. The mention of lullabies and dreams shows that the singer is in a transitional phase, moving between reality and fantasy.
The chorus of the song expresses a sense of frustration with the limitations of life. The singer is "shooting for a star much higher" but is thwarted by the "Man in the Moon" who is revealed to be a "yellow man eclipsed inside his cage." The metaphor of the man in the moon implies that the highest aspirations of humanity are limited by the structures that we have built around ourselves. The singer is "dying to get out of here" but is constrained by his circumstances. The song ends with a plea - "Lord, don't leave me here" - that expresses a deep fear of being trapped forever.
Line by Line Meaning
I saw Mr. Moon last night
I observed the moon last night.
You know he's on the rise
The moon is in the process of increasing in size.
There's something in his eyes I've never seen before
The moon seems to have a new quality or characteristic that I have not witnessed before.
There's some kind of magic here
There is a sense of enchantment or mystery surrounding the moon.
He's so full of surprises
The moon is unpredictable and constantly changing.
He'll hypnotize like the lull of a lullaby
The moon can captivate and mesmerize in the same way a lullaby can.
Carry me home in my dreams
Take me to my home in my sleeping state.
Nothing's the way that it seems
Things are not always as they appear to be.
Give up my world
Abandon my current reality.
Now it's all too absurd
Everything feels nonsensical or ridiculous.
What was happened to me?
What has occurred to me?
Man in the moon
A metaphorical representation of the moon as a man or person.
I was shooting for a star much higher
I was hoping for something better or greater than what I have now.
There's no life nowhere near
There is no sign of life or activity in this place.
I'm dying to get out of here
I desperately want to leave this location or situation.
Lord, don't leave me high and dry
Please do not abandon or desert me in a difficult situation.
Let me fly
Allow me to move freely or escape this situation.
Oh, the moon is a yellow man
A personification of the moon as a yellow or golden-colored man.
Eclipsed inside his cage
The moon is obscured or hidden within its own boundaries.
Concealed from public rage
The moon is kept hidden from the public's anger or hostility.
Faith of our father
A reference to a religious belief system passed down through generations.
Well, I can't smile anymore
I am unable to express happiness or contentment.
Oh, end this masquerade
Stop pretending or putting on a false persona.
Let the nightmare fade
Allow the terrible experience to diminish or disappear.
Kill the gilded calf
Put an end to the false idol or object of worship.
I see someone in my dreams
There is a person or presence I envision while I am sleeping.
Who was born to die and rise to redeem
The person has a purpose of dying and then being reborn to save or redeem others.
So pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
Do not be misled by someone concealing their true intentions or actions.
Will this upstart ever stop?
Will this person who has recently risen to power or prominence ever cease?
I'm the man in the moon
A declaration that the singer is the figurative representation of the moon as a man or person.
Lord, don't leave me here
A request to not be abandoned or left alone in a particular location.
Contributed by Jasmine M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.