“Amnesty”
by The Royal Family Starring Sunlight Atomic Save The World
2009 song
"Amnesty" is a heavy and snarling garage rock song, and one of the final pieces of music that Sky Saxon gave us before leaving this Earth. It was released on a vinyl single in 2009. And yes, “Amensty” is a shameless ripoff of the riff from Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd’s classic “Lucifer Sam”. It was credited, in usual Sky fashion, to an unwieldy and unique artist: The Royal Family Starring Sunlight Atomic Save The World.
The song "Amnesty" is credited to songwriters Saxon/Atomic/Jefe. It was in fact recorded in 2008, and while the details aren’t listed on the label, Atomic is presumably Tom “Atomic” Azevedo, Sky’s guitar-playing Dragonslayers cohort. Maybe Jefe is Syd; he is the boss of psychedelia after all. (Or maybe, actually, it’s Mike “Jefe” Gaborno of the band Agent Orange…?)
Anyway, "Amnesty" rides along on an electrified buzzsaw version of the “Lucifer Sam” riff, decorated by an echoey little keyboard figure. While this flagrant copyright infringement rages in the background, Sky grabs a mic and yells as loud as he can about some fearsome foofaraw whose meaning is challenging to pin down. Along the lines of his usual fire-and-brimstone anger, he demands to know if America’s flag and people are still standing, what with all the… apocalypse and whatnot.
Sky tips his cap to his own copy of "Amnesty" (photo from the Austin Chronicle).
Whatever; it’s just great to hear him still keeping the faith. "Amnesty" was recorded when Sky Saxon was about 71 years old. He summons a power that garage band singers a quarter of his age can’t muster. The general thrust of the track is that it’s a cry to the heavens for mercy for the unrighteous. Please give them amnesty, Ya Ho Wha – they know not what they do.
Actually, while the musical fireworks are mesmerizing on "Amnesty", Sky Saxon’s vocals are mixed pretty low, which is why it’s so hard to makeup exactly what he’s saying. I’d call this a strike against the song, but it’s not one that detracts from its overall power.
The flip side of the "Amnesty" single is the equally fantastic "Halt". As of this writing, "Amnesty" has never been released anywhere besides this vinyl single on Moonshake Records. Copies shouldn’t be too hard to track down, though it wasn’t, as you can imagine, exactly pressed in huge quantities.
"Amnesty" is prime Sky though; whoever the band is, the performance simply works. It’s awesome; find it.
