Song Lyrics
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.
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
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)
Shepherd Moon
“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