The Lost Souls - lyrics from an album that never was
crossposted from Lee Edward McIlmoyle's blog
Good Afternoon and Happy Easter/Passover, Mackrophiles!
I’m cleaning up and editing some old music of mine for market, so I’m just gonna post you some very pretentious lyrics for a song that I have every intention of writing much better lyrics to in the not-too-distant future, for the Etcetera concept album, Steep Inclinations.
The song, recorded in 1997, was first called The Stand, and then The Last Stand (title I’m probably going to reuse), and finally The Grand Stand, but I finished writing the lyrics for it two years later, when the band was on hiatus, so I renamed it The Lost Souls. The lyrics have never been sung, but here they are for your amusement:
INTRO {Recite}
Carry this message to our mentors
Our path is gone; we’ve lost our way
Ask if there might be new directions
Go fast; we can’t afford to stay…
VERSE 1
Lost…
In this barren land
Sent out from Sheltering Arms
To make our way across the sand.
Taught to follow in sacred ways
Each provided with a path
To guide us to our proving grounds
Hone skills we’ll need to get us back.
VERSE 2
Cold…
Beneath an endless sky
Struck camp by glow of dusk
Hoped the stars would be our guide.
We pushed on into the desert nights
Left marks where we had been
Searching for signs of life
Found an uncharted ravine.
BRIDGE 1
Caves and springs and life abounded there
But there was a silence to that place
Tasted the fruits of that forgotten land
And overlooked a stranger’s face
VERSE 3
Caught…
By those who claimed this place
Survivors of a ruined home
And yet they offered us space.
Revelry could be heard that night
Drunk with delight to have found someone
But in the night, laughter turned to screams
And dawn revealed that some were gone.
VERSE 4
Trapped…
In this dark paradise
Preyed upon by villains
Who approach in friendly guise.
No trace of those we lost, no proof of wrong
Our new friends tried to make us stay
We broke for freedom in the wooded hills
None but I escaped that day.
INTERLUDE
That night I slept alone under the sky
I dreamt of faces in the sky
They told me of the plan to lure us here
A wicked scheme hatched from afar.
The faces revealed men hidden in the wastes
To ensure we don’t survive
Our mentors clueless to what happened here
False friends conspired to end our lives.
BRIDGE
Was it a dream, or did they speak to me?
Was it the truth? What did I really see?
Which way to go to find my way back home?
How can I stop those men alone?
VERSE 5
Light…
Revealed a secret trail
Outside to the burning sands
Against hot winds and baking sun.
The trail lead me to a secret road
Walled off and hidden in the dunes
It stretched for miles in all directions
I followed signs that showed the way.
VERSE 6
Home…
But the gates could not be seen
I found a door beneath the sand
That lead me underground.
A secret world of refugees concealed there
By brigands brought from the Outside
Kept quiet and forced to slave in fear
By foes above who cheat and lie.
BRIDGE 3
And in the end
The truth was finally made clear
Not everyone in the Sheltering Arms
Believed we had the right to be.
Went through a door into a tunnel
Led up to the world that I once knew
Found my mentors being stripped of rank
And secreted away to toil below…
REPRISE {Recital}
I ran into the teeming streets and cried out for all who would listen
To what had been done to my lost comrades, the young sent blindly to their fate.
I warned of what was being done to their children,
And to their unsuspecting brethren behind their backs.
My story shocked my audience, but before they could be swayed to act,
The Guardians of the Sheltering Arms arrived and took me away in chains,
To stand for sedition before the Tribunal of the Elders.
It became clear to me then that some there were guilty,
As they lied and denied and sowed doubt amongst their peers,
Who couldn’t decide how to handle my claims.
The people demanded a judgement be made, but the Elders stalled for time,
Devising plausible denials and dismissing the accusations
Of conspiracy to put their children in chains.
The guilty leaders, mentors of powerful houses, were brought to justice that day,
As the parents of the lost cried out…
VERSE 7
Enough…
Let’s have an end to all the lies
The secret’s out, the plan’s been twisted
By these greedy men for too long.
Time…
Has come to set things straight
We must recover our lost ones
To save our souls before it’s too late
Please forgive us for what we have done.
Whoa oh whoa.
© 1998, 2012 Lee Edward McIlmoyle
for Etcetera Thesis Music
from the upcoming Etcetera album, Steep Inclinations
Good Afternoon and Happy Easter/Passover, Mackrophiles!
I’m cleaning up and editing some old music of mine for market, so I’m just gonna post you some very pretentious lyrics for a song that I have every intention of writing much better lyrics to in the not-too-distant future, for the Etcetera concept album, Steep Inclinations.
The song, recorded in 1997, was first called The Stand, and then The Last Stand (title I’m probably going to reuse), and finally The Grand Stand, but I finished writing the lyrics for it two years later, when the band was on hiatus, so I renamed it The Lost Souls. The lyrics have never been sung, but here they are for your amusement:
INTRO {Recite}
Carry this message to our mentors
Our path is gone; we’ve lost our way
Ask if there might be new directions
Go fast; we can’t afford to stay…
VERSE 1
Lost…
In this barren land
Sent out from Sheltering Arms
To make our way across the sand.
Taught to follow in sacred ways
Each provided with a path
To guide us to our proving grounds
Hone skills we’ll need to get us back.
VERSE 2
Cold…
Beneath an endless sky
Struck camp by glow of dusk
Hoped the stars would be our guide.
We pushed on into the desert nights
Left marks where we had been
Searching for signs of life
Found an uncharted ravine.
BRIDGE 1
Caves and springs and life abounded there
But there was a silence to that place
Tasted the fruits of that forgotten land
And overlooked a stranger’s face
VERSE 3
Caught…
By those who claimed this place
Survivors of a ruined home
And yet they offered us space.
Revelry could be heard that night
Drunk with delight to have found someone
But in the night, laughter turned to screams
And dawn revealed that some were gone.
VERSE 4
Trapped…
In this dark paradise
Preyed upon by villains
Who approach in friendly guise.
No trace of those we lost, no proof of wrong
Our new friends tried to make us stay
We broke for freedom in the wooded hills
None but I escaped that day.
INTERLUDE
That night I slept alone under the sky
I dreamt of faces in the sky
They told me of the plan to lure us here
A wicked scheme hatched from afar.
The faces revealed men hidden in the wastes
To ensure we don’t survive
Our mentors clueless to what happened here
False friends conspired to end our lives.
BRIDGE
Was it a dream, or did they speak to me?
Was it the truth? What did I really see?
Which way to go to find my way back home?
How can I stop those men alone?
VERSE 5
Light…
Revealed a secret trail
Outside to the burning sands
Against hot winds and baking sun.
The trail lead me to a secret road
Walled off and hidden in the dunes
It stretched for miles in all directions
I followed signs that showed the way.
VERSE 6
Home…
But the gates could not be seen
I found a door beneath the sand
That lead me underground.
A secret world of refugees concealed there
By brigands brought from the Outside
Kept quiet and forced to slave in fear
By foes above who cheat and lie.
BRIDGE 3
And in the end
The truth was finally made clear
Not everyone in the Sheltering Arms
Believed we had the right to be.
Went through a door into a tunnel
Led up to the world that I once knew
Found my mentors being stripped of rank
And secreted away to toil below…
REPRISE {Recital}
I ran into the teeming streets and cried out for all who would listen
To what had been done to my lost comrades, the young sent blindly to their fate.
I warned of what was being done to their children,
And to their unsuspecting brethren behind their backs.
My story shocked my audience, but before they could be swayed to act,
The Guardians of the Sheltering Arms arrived and took me away in chains,
To stand for sedition before the Tribunal of the Elders.
It became clear to me then that some there were guilty,
As they lied and denied and sowed doubt amongst their peers,
Who couldn’t decide how to handle my claims.
The people demanded a judgement be made, but the Elders stalled for time,
Devising plausible denials and dismissing the accusations
Of conspiracy to put their children in chains.
The guilty leaders, mentors of powerful houses, were brought to justice that day,
As the parents of the lost cried out…
VERSE 7
Enough…
Let’s have an end to all the lies
The secret’s out, the plan’s been twisted
By these greedy men for too long.
Time…
Has come to set things straight
We must recover our lost ones
To save our souls before it’s too late
Please forgive us for what we have done.
Whoa oh whoa.
© 1998, 2012 Lee Edward McIlmoyle
for Etcetera Thesis Music
from the upcoming Etcetera album, Steep Inclinations