'FLY AWAY (PROLOGUE) for violin (Nathan Cohen)
ATHENA'S SONG (Brian King)
Give praise to the Sky
Give praise to the Sea
Give praise to the Goddess of the Olive Tree
Give praise to the Sun
Give praise to the Rain
Bless this city in Her sacred name
HOUSE OF CARDS (Brian King)
Such a lovely day
Just one letter away from a lonely day
Such a fateful night
with a single sleight is a hateful night
Just one more card and the house falls down
Just one wrong word, just one wrong sound
And the house falls down
Such a loving hand
With a change of plan is a losing hand...
GHOST (Renee Dupuis)
I used to hope I’d see a ghost
Explore old homes and dim lit corners and dusty books that smell like attic
Alone at night with shaky hands
I’d hold a swinging pendulum waiting for a sight or sound
I thought I’d be a gracious host
I used to hope I’d see a ghost
I used to say I’d have no regrets
That life unfolds like a novella with notable things to tell of
And ordinary stories, too
Mistakes are worth the time it takes to live and grow and move along
My reservations the day we met
I used to say I’d have no regrets
I used to hope I’d see a ghost
But living ghosts stay tucked away in the dim lit corners of my brain
Where I don’t go and they should stay
I forgot you, I was close
But I don’t want to see your ghost
DEVIL VS. SCARECROW (Brian King)
Pray there ain't no sundown
Pray there ain't no moon
Pray there ain't no blood
Or they'll be coming back soon...
Pray there ain't no storm cloud
Pray there ain't no rain
Pray there ain't no flood
Or you'll be praying in vain
Don't be leaving no trace
Don't be leaving no crumbs
Better hide your face
'til the scarecrow comes
They're gonna black out the stars above
You better keep on running, keep on running
Set fire to the valley below
You better keep on running, keep on running
Better cover your head
Better cover you skin
You're gonna wind up dead
If that devil gets in...
THE WITNESS (Brian King/Nathan Cohen)
I do my best work when my hands are tied
Is that what you said?
Well, I don't trust the mouth of a man with wounded pride
Even when he's dead
Wanna go with the flow?
Well, the river is turning
Every rule that you know
I've been busy unlearning
This anger I feel won't be contained
It will be spoken, it will be named
For what is broken might not be healed
But revealed and reclaimed
I crossed the sky when you were learning to crawl
Did you forget?
How high you can fly now?
Have you practiced your fall?
We're placing bets
Well, they bow and they bend
To your unconditional violence
Tell me how you'll contend
With the women who won't be silenced
You think you've won the war
When we're just shaking the cage
We can do a whole lot more
With this kind of rage
HE WAS A CLOUD (Brian King)
He was a cloud
Magnetic like lightning
Soft and dangerous
Soft and dangerous
Soft and dangerous
Pure and frightening
Here comes Icarus
Wax and feathers
Gold sun dripping
Gold sun dripping
Gold sun dripping
I leave tomorrow
With a spoiled god
Sweet Dionysos
Dionysos
Dionysos
Smooth as glass
LEARNING TO DROWN (Brian King)
Can't do this anymore
What were we hoping for?
Keep pounding on a bolted door
Until our fists bleed
Can't read what's in your eyes
Can there be another compromise
When all we've left to sacrifice
Is everything we need?
Thought I understood what we had to do
Thought we were good with what we knew
The deeper we dive in
The faster we do down
Is that how we were taught to swim?
Trying to breathe
While learning to drown
How are we keeping score
Waging someone else's war
With the weapons we both swore
We'd never use
You say I'm losing faith
Well, who's left this world to waste?
How does that victory taste?
Is it better to lose?
Because we begin like every fool
Thinking we can win playing by the rules
INTO THE BLACK (Brian King)
I don't want to know what's real
And I don't want to know what's right
Take away this empty feeling
Let me slip into this deathless night
Follow the fire
Follow the flame
Follow desire
You know my name
There's a place that you can follow me
There's a place that you can go
All the grief that you can swallow down
All the sorrow you can know
Follow the fire (into the black)
Follow the flame (into the black)
Follow desire (into the black)
You know my name
You decide when you are ready
You decide how much you see
If you think your legs are steady
Come and stand in front of me
Don't worry your mind
Don't worry your head
Because I won't back down
No, I won't play dead
Who decides which dreams we bury?
Who decides who wins the game?
When you step aboard the ferry
Tell Charon that you know my name
FLY AWAY (Nathan Cohen/Brian King)
If you could fly away from this brittle shell that holds you
Your mama always told you this was home
If you could sail beyond the edges of the ocean
Where would you have the notion to roam
Can we outlast the spell that has been cast?
Will the story of their past become our own?
The world where the wind was born was always empty and dark
Prometheus he flew to the sun and stole a single spark
And when Pandora turned the key to open up the box
Amid the plagues and misery she learned what hope unlocks
If you could float beyond this world we're spinning on
Where would you watch the dawn when it breaks
If you found the strength to leave, would you forget to grieve
And breathe that breath you've been afraid to take
And when you feel you're free, who exactly will you be?
Is the mask you wear what gives you shape?
Before the the wind was here
Another voice appeared
Now I am the heir of hope and despair
Tender but also severe
If you could fly away from these brittle bones that hold you
Your mama always told you this was home
ON FIRE (Brian King)
We’ve been waiting for a long time
The right situation for the perfect wind to blow
We’ve been burning on the inside
Without ventilation, find another place
For the smoke to go
The temperature is rising from the floor below our feet
It started out so slow
I wouldn’t be surprised if we explode from all the heat
Because we’re on fire
Everybody’s on fire
If there’s any concern
All that we have to learn
Is how to burn higher
We had tried to keep it so cool
A sad cliche of what it means to play by rules
But then we started getting old school
With a single match, pyromaniacs
just need a little fuel
We tried to hide the smoldering, but why pretend at all?
It always felt so cruel
Been carrying the torch so long it’s time to let it fall
Because we're on fire...
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