The stories behind Old Dan's Blueprint

• Liner Notes: Old Dan's Blueprint — Gritty southern rock guitars and soaring organ swells fuel this heartfelt tribute to depot bench wisdom.
• Old Dan's Blueprint and the Living Legacy of Shop Floor Mentorship — Handwritten troubleshooting margin notes bridge the gap between retired biomedical pioneers and the technicians of today.

Lyrics

Midnight in the basement shop

Stuck on board seven

Then I opened the blue binder

My hands were shaking and the clock was turning three

Tackling a dinosaur of clinical history

Discontinued thirty years, no tech support to call

Standing with my back against a cold brick wall

Found an old three ring binder behind a stack of crates

With coffee stains and service stamps from forgotten dates

Belonged to old Dan and ran the shop before

Before they took his nameplate off the office door

Flipped to page 82

And there in pencil blue

Were handwritten words that cut right on through

Hey kid, if you're reading this, you're probably stuck like me

Down, replace the motor, check, resist the 23

A little cartoon drawing of a smiling monkey wretch

Sitting right beside me on the lonely wooden bench

Oh, dance, blueprint notes in the margin line

Reaching through the years to tell me I'll be fine

Scratched and graphite on the yellow page

An old technician's wisdom on the modern stage

You might be gone, damn, but your spirit's alive

Teaching me how this violent will survive,

yeah Turn the page, let the music roar

Your hands are right here

On the deeper floor

On the deeper floor

I pulled the old resistor, tested it on the trace

Open circuit it did in a tiny little space

Soldered in a fresh one

Hit the power switch

Heard the solenoids engage without a single hitch

Read the final note written in the lower right

Good job, buddy, now go home for the night

Tears in my eyes as the bellows started to breathe

A gift of no mental took the time to leave a dance

Blueprint notes in the margin line

Reaching through the years to tell me I'll be fine

Scratched in graphite on the yellow page

And old technicians' wisdom on the modern stage

You might be gone then

But your spirit's alive

Teaching me how this bio -metal will survive,

yeah Turn the page, let the music roll

Your hands are right here

On the deeper floor, yeah

On the deeper floor, yeah

We pass the torch through paper and ink

We teach the next generation how to think I grabbed my own pen

And beneath this little rhyme I wrote

Worked like a charm

Dan, see you in time

Oh, Dan's blueprint notes in the margin line

Reaching through the years to tell me I'll be fine

Scratched in graphite on the yellow page

And old technicians' wisdom on the modern stage

You might be gone then, but your spirit's alive

Teaching me how this biome will survive

Yeah, turn the page, let the music roll

Your hands are right here

On the depot floor

Binder closed

Shell secure

Thanks Dad