| The Greatest Story Ever Told | |
| Type: | Studio |
| Artist: | The Lawrence Arms |
| Cover: | The Lawrence Arms - The Greatest Story Ever Told cover.jpg |
| Released: | September 23, 2003 |
| Genre: | Punk rock |
| Length: | 33:11 |
| Label: | Fat Wreck Chords |
| Producer: | Matt Allison and The Lawrence Arms |
| Prev Title: | Apathy and Exhaustion |
| Prev Year: | 2002 |
| Next Title: | Cocktails & Dreams |
| Next Year: | 2005 |
The Greatest Story Ever Told is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band The Lawrence Arms, released in 2003 by Fat Wreck Chords. A concept album of sorts, it follows a linear storyline and has several songs which call back to or refer to others. The album includes extensive liner notes with footnotes to the lyrics that detail the many literary and pop culture references. Its title is a direct reference to the movie The Greatest Story Ever Told, a 1965 film about the life of Jesus.
According to bassist Brendan Kelly, the album's initial reception from Fat Wreck Chords and Fat Mike himself were overwhelmingly negative but changed into appreciation over time.[1]
In the liner notes and artwork the band members identify themselves under false names and as playing instruments not found on the album, specifically Gordon Shumway on vibraslap, Ivan Nikolayevich on harp and lyre, and Ferdinand Magellan on bassoon. The names are references to history, literature and pop culture:
They also fictitiously list several other famous figures as "additional musicians", including musician John Oates, actors Bronson Pinchot and Ian Ziering, poet Ezra Pound and former President Chester A. Arthur.
Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita is referred to several times: the album has a song called "Chapter 13: The Hero Appears", named after the same chapter in the book; its liner notes name one of the band members (corresponding to guitarist Chris McCaughan) as Ivan Nikolayevich; the song "A Wishful Puppeteer" includes the lyric "text to burn" in reference to Bulgakov's combustion of an early draft of the book and other works; and the liner notes' back page features the same quote from Faust that prefaces the novel.
In addition to the numerous historical, literary and cultural references made in the album's lyrics, the inside back cover of the liner notes bears a pair of quotations designed to illustrate the album's juxtaposition of "legitimate" literature and philosophy with American pop culture:
"Part of that Power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good."
-from Goethe's Faust (also prefaces The Master and Margarita, which as noted above is referenced elsewhere in the album)
"Is this true?"
"Yes, your honor, this man has no dick."
-Bill Murray in Ghostbusters
All songs written by The Lawrence Arms