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diff --git a/album/your-majesty.yaml b/album/your-majesty.yaml new file mode 100644 index 00000000..50c23cbf --- /dev/null +++ b/album/your-majesty.yaml @@ -0,0 +1,784 @@ +Album: Your Majesty +Artists: +- Michael Guy Bowman +Cover Artists: +- Alice Hu +Date: August 9, 2024 +Date Added: August 9, 2024 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/your-majesty +Color: '#deb24e' +Groups: +- Michael Guy Bowman +- Beyond +Art Tags: +- Bowman +Additional Files: +- Title: Album booklet + Description: >- + Stylized booklet featuring lyrics for all tracks, and artworks by [[artist:alice-hu]]; included with the album download on Bandcamp. +Commentary: |- + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Bandcamp about blurb](https://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/your-majesty) / album booklet) + + When the future is uncertain it can be easy to romanticize the past. In fairy tales we imagine that the world was once a more beautiful place where magic explained the mysteries of life. The probing tools of science were once the simmering cauldrons of alchemy. We trusted our leaders completely as the righteous defenders of a higher order which placed ourselves at the center of the universe. + + We are tempted to return to this mythic era. The epic tales of old generations bewilder us with stories of glorious quests and lives of adventure. All of it seems to be disappearing just beyond the horizon of a new world that has become petrified with frightful complexity. We treasure the artifacts that remain from simpler times, believing in vain that they might unlock hidden entrances to unspoiled realms. + + Though the arrow of time pushes us ceaselessly beyond the dominion of our half-remembered past, we hold onto a belief that we are meant for something more than the cold reality that we face - too obvious, too impersonal. We imagine this is only a dark age between the reign of two great kingdoms, the next greater than the first. It is a seductive belief, and potentially dangerous. + + And yet, occasionally, we must indulge these fantasies. We romanticize the past because we remember once that we were able to romanticize the future. To permit legendary origins is to hope for a destiny beyond our crude surroundings. We have the choice to see life as a brief epitaph or as the unfolding chapters of a grand saga. Which way will you turn? + + <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (Bowmantown Discord, 8/11/2024) + + > how exactly do you decide on like, the musical style of an album? + + This time around I wanted to focus on working just with acoustic guitar and vocals at a couple of open mics, so I based the arrangements on that + And the strongest ideas that emerged early on were sort of fantasy based + + So I was conscious of that both as an intent for writing and a guideline for what I picked to refine + + And in the end it felt like [[track:your-majesty|"Your Majesty"]] the song was the centerpiece because it's about heroism which unifies the images on the album + + Like the colorful characters you might find on an epic adventure + + I think I'm sort of conscious of what does and doesn't go together on all of these and picking which ideas to develop is a bit strategic +--- +Track: Julia Verne +Duration: 3:36 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/julia-verne +- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuM7VFAJHWw +Lyrics: |- + Long ago we used to lie + Beneath the summer evening sky + The moon and mars and all the stars + Were in our eyes + You made a wish and it came true + But what it was I never knew + Until one night I saw your light + Was up there too + + Julia Verne - she's on a journey to the stars + Leaving behind these worldly binds + For something new + Julia Verne - will you return to mend these scars? + I've got to hope, my telescope's + Always on you, on you + + I found the note beside the bed + The strangest thing I've ever read + "I've got to go, that's all I know" + Was all it said + So off it went, a loaded gun + To shoot you right around the sun + Are you insane? I can't explain + The things you've done + + Julia Verne - she's on a journey to the stars + Leaving behind these worldly binds + For something new + Julia Verne - will you return to mend these scars? + I've got to hope, my telescope's + Always on you, on you + On you + + How many nights and days + Since last we parted ways + It must be hard to count them out in space + Lay down your landing gear (Ooh, la la la la) + You know I'm still right here (Ooh, la la la la) + Forever wondering why you disappeared (Ooh-ooh-ooh) + + But if I could I'd take a ride + Across the great cosmic divide + And maybe then I'd once again + Be at your side + For if it's true that what you've found + Way out there where there is no sound + Is worth it all, I'll never fall + Back to the ground + + Julia Verne - she's on a journey to the stars + Leaving behind these worldly binds + For something new + Julia Verne - will you return to mend these scars? + I've got to hope, my telescope's + Always on you, on you + On you (on you, on you, on you) + On you (on you, on you, on you, on you) +--- +Track: Vampire State +Duration: 3:07 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/vampire-state +Lyrics: |- + Come one, come all to the midnight ball + There's trouble brewing in the banquet hall + Take a leap through the line and you'll be just fine + I've seen your face all over the unwanted signs + Have a toast to your host who's got the least + He's secretly something of an awful beast (Oh) + With a bulletproof plan for the also-rans + And an awful lot of time upon his idle hands + + Everybody's going on about the end of the world + In fact they seem a little excited + It's a party and your pity's invited + Dinner and dessert provided + + Vampire State - home to all the miscreated + Where nightmares are related and dreams annihilated (Oh) + Vampire State - pierce the moonlight with your steeple + We're not your kind of people anymore + + Slow down, look around, take in all the sounds + Your cup ranneth over ‘til it nearly drowned + Take a few small sips, leave a few tall tips + And you can keep on dancing when the record skips + Don't you try to sneak out of any exit routes + ‘Cause the scent that you're dispensing is a sense of doubt (sense of doubt) + If you show off your back, you're just an easy snack + You must impress upon them that you're always on attack + + Everybody keeps talking while their mouths are full + But you know every word they're saying + And you get the feeling you'll be staying + It's an urge you can't resist obeying + + Vampire State - where the jawline meets the collar + It's a real hoot and holler of opulence and squalor (Oh) + Vampire State - rising over the horizon + You'll wish that you'd been wise enough to run + + High on that heathen tower (Oh), clock strikes the midnight hour (Oh) + Down from the belfry comes a cloud of wings (Cloud of wings) + Kaleidoscope of teeth and shadows underneath + Eclipsing all these wretched things (Oh, oh) + + But at the end of the night, if your cards are right + You might get out of there with only just a couple of bites + Keep your sleeves rolled down when you reach the ground + And no one else will have to know when you get back to town + + Everybody looks different in the light of the day (Oh, oh) + At the masquerade's adjourning (Oh, oh) + But when the midnight oil is burning + You know that you will be returning + + Vampire State - climb the hundred-story talon + A crimson Irwin Allen exploding by the gallon (Oh) + Vampire State - calling all the anti-saviors + Be on your worst behavior at the + Vampire State - dreaded fang as high as mountains + An oozing scarlet fountain a billion served and counting (Oh, oh) + Vampire State - where the wounds are freshly severed + You'll wish that you had never heard its name +--- +Track: Hermit of the Half Moon Rock +Duration: 3:44 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/hermit-of-the-half-moon-rock +Lyrics: |- + He stood on the top of the hill + He said "This isn't a drill - I'm gone" + "I'm headed up to the dome" + He put his life on his back + And headed out at the crack of dawn + To make himself right at home + + Out where the river shimmers in the night + And the stars speak words if you listen to them right + The crazy little creatures hidden out of sight + They come out and talk + To the Hermit of the Half Moon Rock + It's him and the hawk + Hauling up the vertical walk + Of the Half Moon Rock + Why don't you give him a knock? + Follow the trail of chalk + Up the Half Moon Rock + Up the Half Moon Rock + Up the Half Moon Rock + The Hermit of the Half Moon Rock + + He sewed the leaves in his dress (oh yes) + And if it was hot even less he wore + And sometimes nothing at all + The hawk was all that he had (all that he had) + And if he was lonely or sad, he'd roar + And echo through the canyon walls (Aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai!) + + And the mountain lion came running to the sound + While the whole hog herd would gather all around + The [[album:comfortable-bugs|comfortable bugs]] all living in the ground + Would raise a few stalks + For the Hermit of the Half Moon Rock + It's him and the hawk + Hauling up the vertical walk + Of the Half Moon Rock + Why don't you give him a knock? + Follow the trail of chalk + Up the Half Moon Rock + Up the Half Moon Rock + Up the Half Moon Rock + The Hermit of the Half Moon Rock + + He's got the ink on his hands (ah-ah-ah) + The beetles lend him a gland + For the testament he scrawls inside his cave + (Shooby dooby mm-bop, shooby dooby) + He carves it out with a tooth (ah-ah-ah) + He's on a mission for truth + In a world he does not know if he can save + (Shooby dooby mm-bop, shooby dooby) + + And he thinks he might be leaving + But he isn't ready yet (Oh yeah, yeah, yeah) + 'Cause under every stone there's a spirit to be met + Oh yeah + + And when he'd finally rest + There with the hawk in his nest, he'd pause + And think about who he was + Out in the world all alone + His life completely his own, his laws + Only written in the things he does + + But if the buffalo bunch could stand the monsoon + And the choir of crickets could learn to sing in tune + Could the prince of the primates rise pretty soon + And find his own flock? (Oh) + Oh the Hermit of the Half Moon Rock + It's him and the hawk + Hauling up the vertical walk + Of the Half Moon Rock + Why don't you give him a knock? + Follow the trail of chalk + Up the Half Moon Rock + Up the Half Moon Rock + Up the Half Moon Rock + The Hermit of the Half Moon Rock +--- +Track: Oracle +Duration: 3:11 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/oracle +Lyrics: |- + Oracle awaken + Tell me where to go + The course of life has taken + Everything I know + Show me a tomorrow + Free from all the sorrow + I will beg and borrow + Anything it takes to make it so + + Oracle astound me + Tell me what's to come + The world all around me + Leaves my body numb + Show me a horizon + I can fix my eyes on + Destiny, it lies on + Distant shores beyond where I came from + + Oracle imbue me + Purpose for my soul + Something's running through me + I cannot control + Read the constellations + Share your observations + I could conquer nations + If you'd only show me, oracle +--- +Track: Breakers of Dawn +Duration: 3:41 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/breakers-of-dawn +Lyrics: |- + Dawn calls to you + Rakes its ragged claws across the eastern sky + Day bursting through + All at once you're certain of the reason why + + The night and its terrible kingdom has finally gone + The nail of the crimson horizon has fallen upon + The breakers of dawn + The breakers of dawn + + Steel razors climb + Scatter 'cross the borderlines of no man's land + Cruel winds of time + Move the mounds of sacred grounds and shifting sands + + Where vultures and vipers lay waste to the lives of our spawn + Look to the few and the crazed who ride vengefully on + The breakers of dawn + The breakers of dawn + + They cannot be made, they can only be born + Proclaiming tomorrow has come with their horn + A power far greater than any could ever control + I know you have felt it for all of your days + The white-hot injection of turbulent rays + Which penetrates down to the depths of your undying soul + + Now turn the wheel + See yourself as seeing eye and as the seen + Break off the seal + Re-engage the light from where it's always been + + From fringes where faces of heroes and villains are drawn + We're graced to awake in a world which embraces their brawn + The breakers of dawn + The breakers of dawn +--- +Track: Your Majesty +Duration: 3:32 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/your-majesty +Lyrics: |- + Every corner of the city's lined with shadows + Every stranger in the street averts their eyes + All the people locked away behind the windows + They're all waiting for a hero to arise + All the men remember days when they were stronger + Every woman hides a dagger in her gown + But you won't cover up your faces any longer + On the day when I come riding into town + + So put a light on in your window, put your face against the glass + Don't you know that I'm your hero? Won't you whistle when I pass? + I'll move a mountain if you just rely on me + I'll be the one you want to call "Your Majesty" + + Every year it comes with trials and tribulations + And all the answers are revealed to next to none + But I recall a time of grand imaginations + Long before you learned to say "it can't be done" + There is a storm to come that none alone can weather + But if you'd like to learn I'll gladly show you how + And in the days ahead we all will band together + For your liberator walks among you now + + So raise a banner from the tower when you open up the gate + Don't you know this is your hour? I have come to bear the weight + I swear I'll set your body and your spirit free + I'll be the one you want to call "Your Majesty" + + Now is the reckoning of wretches and the meek + For the champion that you seek is at your door + I'll rectify a world of impotence and rage + And not only for an age but evermore + + In times of trouble we are torn in all directions + You may be dazzled by the roads you travel down + Do not beleaguer in the burden of selection + You'll be lighter when you learn to lay your crown + I've heard the wailing of your city in the distance + I know the strain you must endure to still believe + But I could steer a steady course with your assistance + Toward the things that only power can achieve + + So now awaken from your slumber, wipe the worry from your brow + Don't know I've got your number? Can't you hear me calling now? + I'll make you one with wonders none before could see + I'll be the one you want to call "Your Majesty" + I'll be the one you beg to call "Your Majesty" + I'll be the one you dare to call "Your Majesty" +--- +Track: When We Take The Sky +Duration: 3:47 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/when-we-take-the-sky +Lyrics: |- + There's love in the air + And I'm taking you there tonight + So let's hang like a key + Flying fancy and free from a kite + + The morning edition and trusted magicians + Say all the conditions are right + So up we'll be travellin' where they're unravellin' + Jupiter's javelin smite + + Climb up to the clouds + We're the few and the proud here tonight + (Tonight, tonight, tonight) + Indulging a dream + Like the smoke and the steam taking flight + (In flight, in flight, in flight) + + The evening papers can peer through the vapors + Which cover our capers from sight + (From sight, from sight, from sight) + Where static explodes from our five-finger nodes + Into plasmatic roads made of light + (Of light, of light, of light, hey) + + What a thing to behold + We'll be way up high + When we take the sky + + We've ridden the wheel + That hangs at our heels tonight + (Tonight, tonight, tonight) + There's dozens around + Who are holding the ground very tight + (Very tight, very tight, very tight) + + But cool are the cats who'll be hanging their hats + Way up here where the bats couldn't bite + (Couldn't bite, couldn't bite, couldn't bite) + Few mortals would dare to the mischief we share + In the throes of such hair-raising frights + (Such frights, such frights, such frights) + + So widen your eyelet + ‘Cause I am the pilot tonight + (Tonight, tonight, tonight) + And all those behind + May they pay me no mind, but they might + (They might, they might, they might) + + I've stolen away for an evening of play + And I wish I could stay at this height + (This height, this height, this height) + To linger the level where angels could revel + Or are these the devil's delights + (Delight, delight, delight, hey) + + What a thing to behold + We'll be way up high + When we take the sky + + At last we're descending + We're reaching the ending tonight + You're shook to your tail + And your lips are so pale, nearly white + + Let's go get some rest, it is all for the best + If the atmosphere's guests are polite + Again we could treasure a night of such pleasure + So long as the measure is slight +--- +Track: Overboard +Duration: 3:17 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/overboard +Lyrics: |- + Gentlemen, listen right now as I speak + I fear that this ship of ours has sprung a leak + The sea, she is coming to take us an inch at a time + It's roaring in faster than buckets can fill + I fear it's a matter of minutes until + From belly to mast we'll be deeper than any can climb + + And all of this now with the shore plain in sight + We might make it yet if the load could be light + But what sort of life do you think we'll afford + If we have to throw all that we have overboard? + + The gold in our coffers is weighing us down + We shan't spend a cent if we're certain to drown + And none can come with you at all in the life after this + So gather your treasures and cast them away + And if you are swift then I hope and I pray + We won't soon be up to our eyes in a watery kiss + + And if one among you at all hesitates + Remind them this is for the lives of their mates + But what sort of life do you think we'll afford + If we have to throw all that we have overboard? + + See now the spoils in motion + Straight to the heart of the ocean + Down in the drink, every glimmering piece + You watch as they sink while the waters increase + Just slow enough to renew life's intolerable lease + + At last we arrive clinging onto the sails + And leap to the dock when it finally fails + The ship where we spent seven months as we circled the globe + The price that we paid sure is awfully steep + Behind us the trail that shines in the deep + Could only be seen by an angler's most luminant lobe + + We came as we left now with only our lives + The glory is gone but the story survives + So what sort of life do you think we'll afford + Now we've had to throw all that we have overboard? + Yes what sort of life do you think we'll afford + Now we've had to throw all that we have overboard? +# Credits: +# Music by Michael Guy Bowman +# Drums by Bijan Eghtesady +# Accordion by Bonnie Maddox +--- +Track: Venus Fly +Duration: 3:16 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/venus-fly +Lyrics: |- + Little fly, don't you die so easy + I know you only live a day + Weathered by the winds so high and breezy + Don't you let this evening slip away + Little legs hatch from eggs each morning (ooh) + Silhouettes hardly ever change (ooh) + Stomach begs the musky dregs adorning (ooh) + For a taste of something new and strange (ooh) + + Oh, open up your eyes + Can't you see you're falling for the venus fly? + Oh, won't you tell me why + You keep living like you're never gonna die? + + Little speck, don't you wreck your wingspan + The beating of which gives to you your name + Keep in check below your neck for things can + So easily be plucked upon your frame + Spiders crawling forest walls you've thwarted (ooh) + You circumvent the snatch of froggy tongue (ooh) + The birds who call from perches tall you've shorted (ooh) + But on this fang you let yourself be hung? (ooh) + + Oh, open up your eyes + Can't you see you're falling for the venus fly? + Oh, won't you tell me why + You keep living like you're never gonna die? + Never gonna die + Don't you know that it's a lie? + You were only passing by, for a try, another high + Now the jaws will never pry + + "Come and play," you hear it say so sweetly + Nothing else had ever been so bold + But where you lay it's had its way discreetly + With all the rest who never grew so old + The same disease that lures the bees to pollen (ooh) + Pulls you where no free thing should involve (ooh) + In the squeeze of this the tease you've fallen (ooh) + Now to feel your body be dissolved (ooh) + + Oh, open up your eyes + Can't you see you're falling for the venus fly? + Oh, won't you tell me why + You keep living like you're never gonna die? + Never gonna die + Don't you know that it's a lie? + You were only passing by, for a try, another high + Now the jaws will never pry +--- +Track: Merry-Go-Round +Duration: 3:02 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/merry-go-round +Lyrics: |- + There is an ivory horse + Upon a platinum post + Down at the bumper car breaks + Of the roller coast + Where all the riders go on + In an exotic parade + You were there long ago + While the organ played + + And although you aren't sure when + You know you will be there again + Upon the merry-go-round + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round (Merry-go-round) + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round + + Out of the strollers they rise + Up to the saddles they crawl + To seize the world by the reins + Standing ten feet tall + I saw the mayor and his wife + Wearing their funny old hats + Sat in the carriage behind + With a herd of cats + + And they rose to the sound of the pipe + Which blows a peppermint stripe + Upon the merry-go-round + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round (Merry-go-round) + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round (Merry-go-round) + + Ah, merry-go-round (Merry-go-round) + Ah, merry-go-round + + Many a person's lost in the crowd of faces + But up on your horse you're the star of the rodeo + Many a year you'll wonder just where your place is + But when you're there in the round you're certainly bound to know + + For when the lights flicker off + And all the riders depart + They are sure to return + When the new day starts + And though the faces have changed + It's still the same bumpy ride + You've seen it all before + And from every side + + And it calls you to climb up the stairs + Where it all still waits for you there + Upon the merry-go-round + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round (Merry-go-round) + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round + Merry-go-round (Merry-go-round) + + Ah, merry-go-round (Merry-go-round) + Ah, merry-go-round +--- +Track: Charity Bizarre +Duration: 3:08 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/charity-bizarre +Lyrics: |- + Oh, here it goes - they're all in rows + All the madames and mademoiselles + Decked to the nines and hanging signs + From the cupboards and carousels + The old bric-a-brac is out on bail + But you know as I that what's for sale + Is more than what's above the bar + + Charity Bizarre + That's all you are + You steal their hearts + But you never take it far + Charity Bizarre + + Oh, look at that - the tails and spats + They are lining around the block + A tip of the brim and you know him + He's aware what you have in stock + It's all for a very worthy cause + And last that I heard there were no laws + On doors getting left ajar + + Charity Bizarre + That's all you are + You steal their hearts + But you never take it far + Charity Bizarre + + The wives and widows play so posh + But this is not the Sunday wash + The price is high but the talk is free + Underneath the canopy + The lines we keep so clean and clear + Are just a little jagged here + Where dollars line the lips of mason jars + + What have we here? The auctioneer + Strikes the podium gavel down + Out goes the maid and marmalade + With the newcomer in this town + The school on the hill will lay its stone + But lest that the rest should leave alone + I'm sure that two will share a car + + Charity Bizarre + That's all you are + You steal their hearts + But you never take it far + Charity Bizarre + + Charity Bizarre + That's all you are + You steal their hearts + But you never take it far + Charity Bizarre + Charity Bizarre +--- +Track: Mister Mirror +Duration: 5:12 +URLs: +- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/mister-mirror +Lyrics: |- + I have a secret power + That lets me change my face + Every bone in my body + Is replaced + + I've been the baker with his heavy hands + I've been the soldier in a foreign land + I've been every kind of person so very many times + I'm not sure who I was when this began + + I'm a copy, I'm a clone + I have no face of my own + And the mask I wear before you + Hides a fool who's all alone + You can call me Mister Mirror + Though I might not be a man + For the life that I am living + Is forever secondhand + + Secondhand + Won't you please understand? + + Oh it's a wild transformation + To move inside another person's skin + Still I remain in isolation + For the faces never fill the space within + + But if you'd like to see it + It isn't hard to do + Just reach over here and touch me + I'll be you + + Won't you let me draw you nearer + See yourself a little clearer + In the eyes of Mister Mirror + History's greatest disappearer + Bring to me the mouth and nose + The tensed brow, the fidget toes + The rib that aches, the heart that knows + The love and hate a lifetime chose + + I'll taste the sweet and bitter upon your tongue + I'll choke the smoke and glitter that glaze your lungs + I shall know you as no other ever has or ever will + Though I know that you could never do the same + + I'm a copy, I'm a clone + I have no face of my own + And the mask I wear before you + Hides a fool who's all alone + You can call me Mister Mirror + Though I might not be a man + For the life that I am living + Is forever secondhand + + Secondhand + Won't you please understand? + + I'm a copy, I'm a clone + I have no face of my own + And the mask I wear before you + Hides a fool who's all alone + You can call me Mister Mirror + Though I might not be a man + For the life that I am living + Is forever secondhand + + Secondhand + + So if you'd like to see it + You know what to do + Just reach over here and touch me + + Oh, won't you please just reach over here + And touch me |