solarbird | this has been a difficult week

It’s been a difficult week. I don’t talk about those, much, because that’s how you lose followers, but, well. There are a bunch of reasons, but talking about that has done me far more harm than good in the recent past, so there you aren’t.

I had a song recorded that I wanted to release to you guys this month. It’s a cover, sort of; one where I rewrote the traditional music the artist I’m covering used, but kept their (original) lyrics. But the copyright holder isn’t answering my mail. Maybe January.

So I’m going to do something I don’t usually do, since it seems a day for that. You’re getting a preview – lyrics to one of the new songs I’ve been writing.

The supervillains of CRIME and the Forces of Evil were superheroes, once. We lost; our world inverted, fell to villainy, who got to declare the new good. There’s nothing actually mystical about that – it wasn’t some sort of magic wand. As a rule, people follow authority.

Most of the old heroes switched right over, and are still thought of as heroes. “Thought You Knew” is written to one of them, in fact; the first song written after the fall.

We didn’t. Those of us who refused to yield, well – here we are. The new supervillains.

I’ve been writing the song about where we lost, or, at least, where the loss became inevitable. I haven’t played it out, yet – it has edits today – but I probably will, in February. And it seems fitting – with Congressional approval of the indefinite suspension of right to trial, and SOPA, the new Internet corporate censorship bill – to post it now.

“Scene from a Starship on Fire” (Working title only)
(C) 2009-2011 Dara Korra’ti/CRIME and the Forces of Evil
(There are bits I wrote in 2009, but didn’t finish; this is how I write.)

From the forthcoming album, Din of Thieves

intro rhythmic, like a siren, or alarm

What the hell?
What the hell are you doing?
Where the hell have you been?
Have you seen this disaster?
I don’t know where to begin

There’s a moment when I look at you and see the world ending
There’s a moment when I look at you and hope that you choke
There’s a moment when I think of you and run like the devil
There’s a moment when I look at you and simply cannot joke

What the hell?
What the hell are you doing?
What the hell does that mean?
Don’t you know what you’ve started?
Are you a part of this scene?

In the second that you turned around I knew it was over
In the second that you turned around I knew you were gone
In the second that you thought of it I blanched at the insight
In the second that you shifted weight the weapons were drawn

What the hell?
What the hell are you doing?
What’s got into your brain?
How could you do this on purpose?
Are you completely insane?

In the smallest crack of madness lurks a simple unwinding
In the smallest crack of crazy I see light in your eyes
In the smallest slip of costume there’s a clarity moment
In the smallest careless instant I see through your disguise

What the hell?
What the fuck were you hiding?
Just what have you become?
You know full well where this takes you?
You aren’t the first to succumb

Watching you change as though turned on a nickel the
Moulding takes shape as you’re spun on the stone
Is there even a thought that you’ll naught but betray me
Do you need, do you want, will you reap what you’ve sown?
Spinning so slowly as your angles assuage you
The steel and the sharpness stand in by your side
The cast of your shadows changes slowly to ember
But this time I’m ready; I know now that you lied

What the hell?
What the hell were you making?
Why have you gone for your knife?
Don’t you know I don’t love you?
But you do not own my life
What the hell?
What the fuck were you thinking?
We made a pretty good team
You made an awful decision
Only now
do I see it’s part of the scheme
What the hell?

Lifeboats, everyone;
Abandon ship.