Stories Behind the Songs: “Vibrations”
“Vibrations” was written well before Transposition was even a gleam in my eye; it was originally written in January, 2000, and conceived as a long jam song a la Neil Young. But I could never get the arrangement of the middle section to gel the way I wanted it, so I put the song aside. Years later, when mapping out the songs needed to tell the story of Transposition, I realized that, with a little alteration to the words after the guitar solo, it would be a perfect fit.
I had always envisioned that the vocals would be three-part harmony, which I love. Even though, strictly speaking, it would make more sense in the story to have Jack sing it alone, I stuck to this idea for the recording. I rationalized it by envisioning that Jack is imagining himself as a rock star in a band, and that the other singers, while figments of his imagination, are ghostly versions of his future band members.