Mighty Messengers

We get a feeling, arise emotion
Never knowing where it comes from
Born in silence comes the voices
Of our conscience
Guardian angels, Mighty Messengers

Time is just a state of mind for Mighty Messengers
Mind is just a waste of time for Mighty Messengers

You can hear them tell you
“Nothing real can be threatened
Nothing unreal exists
Herein lies the peace of God.”

Guardian angels, Mighty Messengers

Time is just a state of mind for Mighty Messengers
Mind is just a waste of time for Mighty Messengers

Ma-a-a-a, Ma-a-a-a-ma-yay-yo
Ho-way-Ya-oh na-na-na
Dei-oh
Way-a Yo-ah-u way-a you-ah-o-ah
Wa-yo, Wa-you Ah.
Ra-la-la lay-lu-lay-lu-la
ra-la-la lay-lu-lay-lu-la
Ra-la-la
Ma-e-oh Dei-yo

And I un-do-sai
Way-yo Ah-
Dei-oh
The Lost Chord

Maybe in a million years you can see them
They’re something that you can’t hear but you
can feel them
Under who we think we are we are one with them
Look and see

Who do you think it is that is crying
When we are lost in fear they are dying,
But in all the things they do they keep trying
To show us through
I have now grown tall in the ways I have been shown
Away, all gone, you are. I’m, Indivisible I

Maybe in a million years you will see them
Maybe we will see them
They’re something you can’t fear but you’ll feel
them
Feel the way
Under who we think we are we are one of them

So if we think we are: we are wrong
Even in a million years, we’ll be wandering
Somewhere is all we are, yet we have each other
You and me – we must be in love

Fast Note People

Fast note people runnin’ where they want to go
See a world in triple time brutal to the slow
Consume the seeds of the outline, no time to grow
a melody
Take the overture and run and leave the symphony
Take the overture and run and leave the symphony

Fast notes come and they’re gone
The freeway and the streets are the staffs they’re
written on
The memory of them fades
More keep rushing by but so few reverberate
Fast notes who want it faster and faster
The speed is doubled and another flag is added

New flags mean faster living
The flags get heavy and the stems start to give in
Stems break fast notes stop cold
Miss one more change to become whole

Fast note people runnin’ faster all the time
Fast note polyrhythmic beings maybe you don’t
but I
So often get enchanted, enchanted by the speed
To take the overture and run and leave the
symphony
Take the overture and run but leave me the
symphony

And We are One

I’m over here, I see you
I’m very near, I feel you
I hold your hand, I’m with you
I understand, I know you

I’m in our bed, I hold you
It feels so good, I touch you
When I awake, I breathe you
I touch your face, I kiss you

And if I call, I’ll hear you
And if I fall, I’ll catch you
You are my all, I am you
And we are one

Never Forever

And in the end all the memories that you blend
Take their shape before your eyes start ascending
And what you see may or may not be
What you believed that it would be
When you were living

Never forever, the vast void under your mind
Eternity is what you’ll find
Never forever, beyond the great divide
Where all that was and will be is, is now.

No Pockets

It seems like everyday I walk my life away
Just don’t get it, no no. Nothing falls in place
I can’t find the pocket
I just can’t seem to sync up with logic I’m caught in the objects
I just can’t seem to find that pocket.

I wrecked my face trying to figure out time and space
But I just don’t get it, looking for the now in the wrong place.

I can’t find the pocket
I just can’t seem to sync up with logic
I’m an off light socket
I just can’t seem to find that pocket

All that you find when you see things falling down
In a way is a soon you never can take
’Cause all your time is gone

Runnin’ in place
Runnin’ to the next race
And I know I’m gonna get it Mama
So I could trick my fate

I can’t find the pocket
I’m lost in time and objects
I’m looking for a prophet
I’ll be fine when I find that pocket

The bulk of the music on Modern Primitive was either written or recorded in between my first solo record Flex-Able (1984) and my second solo record, Passion and Warfare (1990). Modern Primitive can be thought of as a companion CD for the 25th Anniversary release of Passion and Warfare. I was between the ages of 20-23 when I wrote and recorded Flex-Able, and between the ages of 27-29 when I wrote and recorded Passion and Warfare so the material on Modern Primitive was mostly written or recorded when I was between the ages of 23-26. And now, a 55-year-old Steve Vai is completing this material, hence the name Modern Primitive. Some of these tracks were earmarked for Passion and Warfare but for various reasons didn’t make it onto the record. I had started working as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa in 1978 (when I was 18 years old), and in 1980, I moved to California and started recording and touring with Frank until 1983ish. Enamored with Frank’s music, it’s obvious I was deeply inspired and influenced by him, especially the One Size Fits All era.

The music on Flex-Able is so vastly different from Passion and Warfare that one could wonder if the same guy actually made both records. Modern Primitive is the missing link between these two records. It’s sort of Cro-Magnon Vai. During this earlier period I had put together various bands. The Classified was a band I formed with Sue Mathis on keyboards and vocals, Stu Hamm on bass, Chris Frazier on drums and Tommy Mars on keyboards and vocals. I loved this band, and I wrote a ton of music for them. We did some great gigs, but unfortunately much of that material was never recorded—only a handful of tracks. I’ve had much of this music on the infinity shelf for over 30 years with the intention of one day completing it and releasing it, and that one day is here. Tada! Enjoy, Stev