New Song

I missed the last couple of Alice Days, what with one thing and another, but I have some new songs to put up; I will start with the most recent.

I wrote a song for the OVFF song contest (theme: "Ringmaster") For some reason I always end up doing these things at the last minute, and I went to bed Friday night with about four verses of something I thought was pretty good, and at 7:00am Saturday morning I woke up, threw them out, and started completely over.

Peter Alway helped me make the tune more interesting--in that just having him present made me think of accidentals I wouldn't ordinarily have considered (I can always count on Peter for these little things.) That didn't come up when I entered the song contest, because I hadn't written the tune yet, and I was so flustered when I went up to perform it that I neglected to mention it, so I would like to correct those oversights now.

I called it "No Ringmaster" but I think I'm going to change that name.

I'm very pleased with how it came out. Here it is:

The Atheist's Anthem (formerly No Ringmaster)
lyrics by Catherine Faber 2011
melody by Catherine Faber 2011 (key D dorian mostly)
mp3 here
a capella mp3 here

      D                    G
Some call it despair or accuse me of pride
       F          G            C            D
In perceiving no purpose laid down from outside
     D                          G          C
The world that I see calls for hope and resolve,
         D         C            D          C           D
Full of good to rejoice in, and evils and problems to solve.

          D                  G            D
   There isn't a Ringmaster―life's not a toy.
                D        C                     D
   But there's surely a pageant of wonder and joy.
      D            C              G             D
   I bring what I hope for, when push comes to shove:
    D            C           D           C            D
   Truth and compassion and justice and laughter and love.

Look up, or look down, to the heavens aglow--
So vast even photons seem lazy and slow.
From the dust of beginnings comes all that we are,
Atoms first forged in the death of the heart of a star.

Born of an urge that's not easily stilled,
Ravens are tool-users, bowerbirds build.
As our engineering grows tiny or great,
What will we build or become, in our drive to create?

For wrongs to be righted, for evil to fall
The hands will be ours, if it happens at all.
By our eyes and our minds is the universe known;
If you want purpose, then pick one and make it your own!

People seemed to enjoy it, and it pleased me very much that several people mentioned to me afterward how much they liked it.