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But it's a three-fer, which is new.
First, I promised a melody for Salt From A Dead Woman's Table by ysabetwordsmith.
Since she wrote the words I will just refer you to the link above. The a capella mp3 for Salt is here.
At the time I wrote it I had the first half of the poem and tweaked it fairly severely to bring it in at a length I thought my (science fiction convention) audience would tolerate. I have plans to try to condense the whole thing to perhaps twice as long as the current version, but I had a science fiction con last weekend and bookended this weekend with recording sessions and had maker fever really bad in the week between so I'm behind.
Next, I finished up a new song on the way to the con.
A Child of Enlightenment
lyrics by Cat Faber 2012
a capella mp3 here
The treasure alike of the bold, and the risk-averse
Science tells wonders, exceeded by none.
I love the vastness of time, and the universe;
Fantasy's lovely; I play it for fun.
Humanity's spirit our times have seen heighten
Meant fairness, compassion, and freedom avowed.
I am a Child of the Age of Enlightenment,
Curious, passionate, joyful and proud!
Our reason's imperfect, but fair in its storage
In logical thought old responses enmesh,
Due to our spirit's odd manner of origin,
Rising in stages from animal flesh.
All of our senses are partly conceptions,
Models constructed by part of the brain.
Enjoy your imaginings; test your perceptions;
The truth is a grail we can hope to attain.
Fantasy's fun to observe and to reckon,
To pounce on and stalk like a plume from a hat,
But geniune mysteries kindle and beckon,
As secretive scrabblings summon a cat.
Fie to the folks who may cry it as treason
Enlightenment's child, I will try to be fair,
But I trust observation and logic and reason:
Facts on the ground trumping castles in air.
And *next* I was reading about Steampunk and came across a comment to an essay that said (roughly) "We have bitten the apple of knowledge." And I noticed it scanned, and boom, the next song came pouring out over the next forty minutes or so, though I did go back and refine several verses and lines later. This song is a capella too--it just didn't seem worth struggling to balance voice and mando when I already had two other songs to record today (and did some recording this morning too.)
Song of the Makers
lyrics and melody by Catherine Faber 2012
a capella mp3 here
Dm Am
I have tasted the apple of knowledge
Dm Am
I have gnawed it right down to the core
Dm F Am C
And the seeds that I save, you may plant on my grave
F E
Because all I am craving is more! (MORE!)
F C Am
To discover, construct and explore.
Dm Am
Give me lever and fulcrum, the wedge and the wheel,
Dm Am
Give me fire, the gear, and the screw,
Dm Am G
Give me iron and copper and good honest brass
Am Dm E
And I'll give my best back to you
C G Am
Expanding the things you can do.
And now I am barred from the Garden
But the child who can walk doesn't crawl
I will stand, I will run; when my shovel is done,
I'll come tunneling under the wall.
I will fly without fearing the fall.
Knowledge has never come easy.
Creation itself has a cost.
Every offspring we gain, born of body or brain,
May be blessing, or bane, or just lost;
You won't know the line till you've crossed.
You must pull yourself up by your bootstraps
When your pedigree says you're a whelp.
Climbing out of despair isn't easy, or fair,
And no purebred will care how you yelp,
But a good block and tackle can help.
In leather or velvet or silver or oak,
In circuits or rhythm and tone
As we dream and we make for creation's sweet sake
So the apple we take for our own.
Maker, you aren't alone!
Whuf. And I'll try not to get so far behind again.
First, I promised a melody for Salt From A Dead Woman's Table by ysabetwordsmith.
Since she wrote the words I will just refer you to the link above. The a capella mp3 for Salt is here.
At the time I wrote it I had the first half of the poem and tweaked it fairly severely to bring it in at a length I thought my (science fiction convention) audience would tolerate. I have plans to try to condense the whole thing to perhaps twice as long as the current version, but I had a science fiction con last weekend and bookended this weekend with recording sessions and had maker fever really bad in the week between so I'm behind.
Next, I finished up a new song on the way to the con.
A Child of Enlightenment
lyrics by Cat Faber 2012
a capella mp3 here
The treasure alike of the bold, and the risk-averse
Science tells wonders, exceeded by none.
I love the vastness of time, and the universe;
Fantasy's lovely; I play it for fun.
Humanity's spirit our times have seen heighten
Meant fairness, compassion, and freedom avowed.
I am a Child of the Age of Enlightenment,
Curious, passionate, joyful and proud!
Our reason's imperfect, but fair in its storage
In logical thought old responses enmesh,
Due to our spirit's odd manner of origin,
Rising in stages from animal flesh.
All of our senses are partly conceptions,
Models constructed by part of the brain.
Enjoy your imaginings; test your perceptions;
The truth is a grail we can hope to attain.
Fantasy's fun to observe and to reckon,
To pounce on and stalk like a plume from a hat,
But geniune mysteries kindle and beckon,
As secretive scrabblings summon a cat.
Fie to the folks who may cry it as treason
Enlightenment's child, I will try to be fair,
But I trust observation and logic and reason:
Facts on the ground trumping castles in air.
And *next* I was reading about Steampunk and came across a comment to an essay that said (roughly) "We have bitten the apple of knowledge." And I noticed it scanned, and boom, the next song came pouring out over the next forty minutes or so, though I did go back and refine several verses and lines later. This song is a capella too--it just didn't seem worth struggling to balance voice and mando when I already had two other songs to record today (and did some recording this morning too.)
Song of the Makers
lyrics and melody by Catherine Faber 2012
a capella mp3 here
Dm Am
I have tasted the apple of knowledge
Dm Am
I have gnawed it right down to the core
Dm F Am C
And the seeds that I save, you may plant on my grave
F E
Because all I am craving is more! (MORE!)
F C Am
To discover, construct and explore.
Dm Am
Give me lever and fulcrum, the wedge and the wheel,
Dm Am
Give me fire, the gear, and the screw,
Dm Am G
Give me iron and copper and good honest brass
Am Dm E
And I'll give my best back to you
C G Am
Expanding the things you can do.
And now I am barred from the Garden
But the child who can walk doesn't crawl
I will stand, I will run; when my shovel is done,
I'll come tunneling under the wall.
I will fly without fearing the fall.
Knowledge has never come easy.
Creation itself has a cost.
Every offspring we gain, born of body or brain,
May be blessing, or bane, or just lost;
You won't know the line till you've crossed.
You must pull yourself up by your bootstraps
When your pedigree says you're a whelp.
Climbing out of despair isn't easy, or fair,
And no purebred will care how you yelp,
But a good block and tackle can help.
In leather or velvet or silver or oak,
In circuits or rhythm and tone
As we dream and we make for creation's sweet sake
So the apple we take for our own.
Maker, you aren't alone!
Whuf. And I'll try not to get so far behind again.
