Still more songs
Jun. 27th, 2008 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bnewmanThere are still a few songs to post from Contata. The next two songs, I wrote before Contata but held in reserve so that they would be a surprise:
The theme of the Contata song contest was לחיים (l'chayyim), which means "to life", so I wrote a Jewish song about genetic engineering. You may not know this, but Israel's thriving biotech sector goes way back. This song is about the very first Israeli biotech company — in fact, about the first Israeli biotech hostile takeover. It's a quirky tale of love, betrayal, genetic engineering, cattle rustling, and betrayal that's been handed down in my family for oh, about 3,500 years. I've taken the liberty of setting it to an appropriate-seeming tune, and here it is: "Sheep with Stripes" (mp3). And, by the way, Eyal reminds me that a ketunet passim really is just striped, and that "coat of many colors" is a 16th-century English innovation.
So, my concert at Contata followed the Tom Smith benefit concert, which finished up with Christine Lavin leading us all in a rousing rendition of Tom Paxton's "Peace Will Come", with both Toms listening in by cellphone. Yes, Tom Paxton was (virtually speaking) right there... fortunately or unfortunately, however, neither Tom was on the phone to hear the debut of "Stars on Our Heads", a filk of a similarly inspiring song that Tom Paxton co-wrote with Mark Elliott. I think both Toms would have been amused.
Now, it seems that every time there's a filk convention in New Jersey, someone has to sing "The Rolling Mills of New Jersey", which is a sort of ode to the mess that we've made of the place, as if that were New Jersey's fault. It's funny, sure, but some of my best friends are environmentalists who also happen to be proud to be from New Jersey, and they're kinda sick of it. So, in the wee hours of Sunday morning when I should have been asleep, I wrote an antidote: "The Living Earth of New Jersey". It's not all serious, though — the best antidote to a bad joke is a good one. See if you can catch the references.
The theme of the Contata song contest was לחיים (l'chayyim), which means "to life", so I wrote a Jewish song about genetic engineering. You may not know this, but Israel's thriving biotech sector goes way back. This song is about the very first Israeli biotech company — in fact, about the first Israeli biotech hostile takeover. It's a quirky tale of love, betrayal, genetic engineering, cattle rustling, and betrayal that's been handed down in my family for oh, about 3,500 years. I've taken the liberty of setting it to an appropriate-seeming tune, and here it is: "Sheep with Stripes" (mp3). And, by the way, Eyal reminds me that a ketunet passim really is just striped, and that "coat of many colors" is a 16th-century English innovation.
So, my concert at Contata followed the Tom Smith benefit concert, which finished up with Christine Lavin leading us all in a rousing rendition of Tom Paxton's "Peace Will Come", with both Toms listening in by cellphone. Yes, Tom Paxton was (virtually speaking) right there... fortunately or unfortunately, however, neither Tom was on the phone to hear the debut of "Stars on Our Heads", a filk of a similarly inspiring song that Tom Paxton co-wrote with Mark Elliott. I think both Toms would have been amused.
Now, it seems that every time there's a filk convention in New Jersey, someone has to sing "The Rolling Mills of New Jersey", which is a sort of ode to the mess that we've made of the place, as if that were New Jersey's fault. It's funny, sure, but some of my best friends are environmentalists who also happen to be proud to be from New Jersey, and they're kinda sick of it. So, in the wee hours of Sunday morning when I should have been asleep, I wrote an antidote: "The Living Earth of New Jersey". It's not all serious, though — the best antidote to a bad joke is a good one. See if you can catch the references.
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Date: 2008-10-03 09:08 pm (UTC)1. Beyond the Far Horizon
2. Terra Incognita
3. Pfnakapfna
4. The Holy Mountain
5. Rolling On
6. It's Mario!
7. Desert Rain
8. Starseer
9. Crouching Tiger, Jedi Master
10. Glass Half Full of the Sea
11. Watcher
12. Three Bright Jewels
13. The Storytellers' Hymn
14. Secret of Mana
15. Metroid and the Mother Brain (fast version)
16. S.O.S.
17. Wait for the Sun to Be Born
18. The Galactica Overture
19. Falcon's Nest
20. A Long Way from Home
21. Under His Hat, He Had Things
22. The Garden
23. Shechinah
24. Altar of Fire
25. Go Forth by Night
26. I Am Just a Song
27. The Creation of Eä
28. Sing a Different Tune
29. When You Call
30. Hymn for a Festival of Sandcastles
... and, i guess, any other song besides "Metroid and the Mother Brain" that you've changed since, like, the summer of 2005 would also be in its old version, i haven't actually been keeping track, but i must say i do particularly like the version of "Metroid and the Mother Brain" that's already on this CD (along with, let's see, "Beyond the Far Horizon" "Pfnakapfna" "Desert Rain" "A Long Way from Home" "Go Forth by Night" and most especially "Shechinah"). the whole thing is called "30 Stories". and i'd certainly be honored if you look past the, i suppose, arbitrariness of the construction of the whole thing and make it into a *real* ("real"?) virtual album. or at least find something to use as cover art!