Song Lyrics
- April's Lament
- The Big One
- Board And Twine
- Chosen
- Circles in the Grain
- Filk Hoggin'
- Gypsy Troop
- Out in the Darkness
- Shepherd Moon
April's Lament Sept 2009
Inspired by the song Frozen April by Philip Mills
We set off from earth in a cold sleep berth and dreamed of life to come
We’d find ourselves at our journey’s end with a distant different sun
And down we lay to sleep away the endless days and nights
To wake once more on a virgin shore with a thousand virgin sights.
So many slept while a few still kept a guard over our sleep
But something happened, I don’t know what, and we’re lost in the blackest deeps
The few awake knew that things were wrong, so they woke us to learn more
But we cannot tell why we’re going to hell, and I’m sick down to my core .
My dear old friend, you came to spend your days in guarding me
Though you’re ancient now, I can’t say how we’ll ever be set free
I can’t save you and I can’t save me and no one here knows why
There is no force that can change our course; there’s nothing left to try.
Instrumental
I wish I’d known ‘for I left my home what I know now that I’m here
Hopelessness was just a word, not something I could fear
When I see death’s face and feel his embrace I’ll give a happy happy sigh.
As I grow old in the cruel cold, how I wish you’d let me die.
The Big One Feb 2011
Metal detectors humming
Dragged across the ground
Checking all the strewn fields
Listening for a sound.
Search the earth wide over
For treasures large and small
Carbonaceous chondrites
Iron and nickel balls
Seeds from distant planets
Time travellers from space
Ancient impact craters
A faint magnetic trace
Cosmic stained glass window
Shades of olivine
Stardust’s oldest matter
Think of where they’ve been
Some day we’ll find the big one
A signal loud and strong
Still we’ll keep on digging
For meteorites not meteor wrongs.
Seeds from distant planets
Time travellers from space
Ancient impact craters
A faint magnetic trace
A faint magnetic trace
A faint magnetic trace
Board and Twine June 2008
Tom's follower to his own Circles in the Grain
Well Cousin Bob and I, we loaded up the truck
With boards and beer and twine
and lamps to light things up.
We headed down the road just as the sun went down
We thought we’d have some fun and bring attention to our town.
Chorus:
Circles in the grain don’t look up in the air
We’ll stomp those suckers down without any care.
Circles in the grain we’ll be famous in our town
When all our kin folk see all
those circles on the ground.
We drove for thirteen miles in the dark late that night
Bob pointed to a field glowing in the blue moonlight
So we parked the truck, drank some beer
and loaded up our things
And headed to the field that night to make concentric rings.
Chorus
We flopped our boards on to the ground tied up with binder twine
And walked around in circles while listening to John Prine.
The morning sun was rising as we pulled back into town
We laughted about the fun we’d had and those circles on the ground.
Chorus
Ma an’ Pa woke us with news they'd just heard
Something happened late last night it seemed quite absurd
Something had made circles it was marvelous to see!
But beer had had the best of us - we’d spelled out B O B!
Chorus x2
Chosen September 2009
I did not know that I was chosen
Only that my life was hell
Fallen from a former glory
Shamed and tortured as I fell
Bruised and bleeding I returned home
They saw my scars they thought they knew
Thought me evil, hateful lecher
Hated me but never knew
That the Goddess tests her creatures
To destruction and beyond.
Brings them back to suffer worse pain
Till they swear they can’t go on
But I did her every bidding
And I passed her every test
So she used me as her vessel
And I served her to my best
Was I lucky, was I honoured
That she chose me for her tool
If she needs another champion
She can choose another fool.
Circles in the Grain 1992
Tom's first ever filk song
Mysterious circles that come from above
Might be a greeting from some celestial dove
Alien farmers in a strange unknown craft
Spinning and separating wheat from the chaff
Chorus
Circles in the grain going round and round
Nocturnal revolutions down on the ground
Circles in the grain lok up in the air
If you look tomorrow will they still be there
Turbulent forces from a dark starry sky
Tiny balls of wind from an atmospheric eye
Leaving their artwork for all those to see
A complex set of symbols on a grassy sea
Chorus
Instrumental break
Stonehenge stands in all it’s mystical glory
A circular design and never ending story
Perhaps its creators were once thought insane
When they worshipped all those circles in the grain
Chorus (2x)
Circles in the grain (3x)
Filk Hoggin' Feb 2013
I’m a filker, love my drama
I love dragons, and Tolkien too
I’ve a great song - it’s written in Elvish
Though I’m hoarse I’ll sing it for you.
It’s a long song, I’ll sing every chorus
I’m just learning to play my guitar
And I’m a bad boy, ‘cause I don’t have a capo
I’m not sure how this song should start
And I’m filk, filk hogging
Yeah I’m filk, filk hogging.
And the vampire song I’ve just written
Will follow your songs about space
And all the singers sitting in the back row
Can not break in - never open a case.
And I’m filk, filk hogging
Yeah I’m filk, filk hogging.
I wanna sing all the songs in my binder
And tomorrow I’ll sing them again
I wanna filk hog into the morning
Never leave room for a bard to break in
And I’m filk, filk hogging
Yeah I’m filk, filk hogging.
This parody’s longer than the original song was
That’s typical for a filker to do
And the scansion’s gone right out the window
And the rhyme scheme is muddled up too.
And I’m filk, filk hogging
Yeah I’m filk, filk hogging.
Gypsy Troop Feb 2011
Written during FAWM 2011
If you travel by night you’ll come upon the gypsys
Camped in their wagons near the edge of town
They travel through the countryside selling their treasures
Tinkers, horsemen, and ladies of renown.
Gather round the fire as the gypsy troop dances
Shadows on the grass from the flickering flame
Wood smoke wafts with the slightest of breezes
Listen to the violins calling your name.
The withered old woman will tell you your fortune
Using her cards or her bright crystal ball
Has she some magic or is she just a student
Of people and love and life and all.
Gather round the fire as the gypsy troop dances
Shadows on the grass from the flickering flame
Wood smoke wafts with the slightest of breezes
Listen to the violins calling your name.
The townsfolk fear the gypsies and their music
The shiny bright bells and the folklore and the songs
They fear that their children’s hearts will be stolen
To vanish in the darkness as gypsy tag-a-longs!
Gather round the fire as the gypsy troop dances
Shadows on the grass from the flickering flame
Wood smoke wafts with the slightest of breezes
Listen to the violins calling your name.
But while they are here let’s rejoice in their laughter
Buy the best horse that you ever have seen
Don’t worry about tomorrow or the sadness that’s coming
Remember only wistful longing stays where they’ve been.
Gather round the fire as the gypsy troop dances
Shadows on the grass from the flickering flame
Wood smoke wafts with the slightest of breezes
Listen to the violins calling your name.
Gather round the fire as the gypsy troop dances
Shadows on the grass from the flickering flame
Wood smoke wafts with the slightest of breezes
Listen to the violins calling your name.
Listen to the violins calling your name.
Note: This song was not intended to offend anyone with its use of the word "gypsy". The plight of the Roma people is real and shameful, and it is very sad that there are cruel and hateful people everywhere. If you feel strongly about the song, please let me know. -Sue
Out In the Darkness Feb 2011
Space is dark and cold and empty
When you’re lost and all alone
I miss my friends, my home, my father
The points of light don’t point me home.
Sliding through the twisting passage
Like a leaf drawn down a drain
I felt elation at my journey
It was later that I felt the pain
I’ve made friends out in the darkness
Learned to trust them with my life
Learned respect for those around me
I could take one for my wife
We used to wonder was there life there
Out beyond the space we knew
Now I know, but I can’t tell them
That our wildest dreams were true
I’ve made friends out in the darkness
Learned to trust them with my life
Learned respect for those around me
I could take one for my wife
As I slip between the stars here
I will make this life my own
New worlds full of light and wonder
But how I long to go back home
I may never find my home.
Shepherd Moon 2006
“Shepherd Moon” - a satellite which constrains the extent of a planetary ring through gravitational forces.
Shepherd moon
Like a watchdog round the flock
You guide the course
Of the rings forever changing
Shepherd moon
Shepherd moon
Shepherd moon
Sparkling rings
Bits of ice too vast to count.
A mystery
Where you came from why you stayed
Sparkling rings
Sparkling rings
Sparkling rings
We sent a tiny ship around
The dark side of the planet
To answer all our questions
But it found us even more.
Instrumental
Saturn calls
Beauty in the starlit heavens
We will come
To search for frozen clues
Saturn calls
Saturn calls
Saturn calls.
Shepherd moon
Like a watchdog round the flock
You guide the course
Of the rings forever changing
Shepherd moon
Shepherd moon
Shepherd moon