Another project. Woohoo! This one I actually sort of half have results to show, and I will be able to sort of give status updates more frequently. It is also much less serious than my Haiti ambitions, and has much less of a basis in reality.
It is difficult to explain exactly where the idea came from, because it has it's genesis in about a million different lines of thinking, but one day I wondered how Newfoundland would fare in a Robot Apocalypse. I began to speculate how that war against robots would go globally, and then on a much smaller scale, how events would unfold in my home here in Newfoundland. After pondering how the war would be won or lost, I wondered what our folk culture would look like if humanity were to survive such a Robot Apocalypse.
So I decided to assemble A Folk History of the Robot Apocalypse. I intend it to be a series of folk-style songs from during and after the Robot Apocalypse War, as they would be preformed twenty or so years after the war ends. I hope to get ten or more songs together, invent a historian character to play, and present the songs and a brief and entertaining lecture on the Robot Apocalypse War in a recording (or god willing a live show) some day, if I can convince some of my more folks-esque musician friends to go along with it.
To that end, I present to you the lyrics for the first of potentially a dozen songs. It doesn't have a name yet, and I'm not entirely satisfied with how some lines flow, or how the narrative carries through the song, but it might very well be as far as the penultimate draft. I have a tune worked out, which I'm not quite able to render here. I also have some notes on the geography of the lyrics, for those who might not be familiar.
=====
When the robots came to Water Street[1], I was at home with my wife
Praise God that I did love her so, for I know it saved my life.
I was a bookshop keeper, and as my store burned to the ground
We gathered up our children and we fled that doom-ed town.
Now we didn't know quite where to go, so we headed for Torbay[2].
We met many others there: folks trying to get away.
As the city burned we cried and yearned, and feared a fresh attack.
I knew just then that though hearts might rend, we could not go back.
Near Cape St. Francis [3] at the sea, our exodus was ended,
No place to run, we gathered our guns to keep ourselves defended.
We planned our hopeless battle and prepared our hearts to die
Not one had hope on those rocky slopes as the robot foe grew nigh.
When the fighting started some men did die, but most lived on 'till morning
When dust was settled, we'd killed the metal, but from behind was raised a warning.
A ship was coming quickly! Into the tree line we did steal.
But on that ship so ill equipped was our savior, Captain Steel!
A raft came ashore with six or more men of flesh and blood.
When we saw there was no threat, our relief broke like a flood.
They'd come to save us poor depraved townies who were rout.
We got aboard, one hundred 'n four, and sailed on St. Jones Without[4].
We arrived and unloaded our terror corroded, but some sought to stay on.
Captain Steel needed men to crew his ship, for the threat had not yet gone.
We knew from those we'd leave behind that we'd be sorely missed.
But for the good of all, we'd hear the call, and shoulder such noble risk.
The work was hard to fight the foe who wanted neither food or sleep,
And when well laid plans did often fail, the price of it was steep.
Friends did die and boats did sink, and still we ventured onward,
The alternative was far to grim to let us be deterred.
For seven years I did sail with Steel in his war on robot-kind.
Faced with the choice again, I'd dare not change my mind!
It nigh took my life and caused me strife, and my soul might well be damned
But I'd never let those metal fiends take our Newfoundland!
=====
Notes:
1 - Historical street in St. John's, a very very old commercial district
2 - A small community just outside of St. John's
3 - The absolute tip of the peninsula, if you head North West out of St. John's (past Torbay)
4 - A seaside community that was abandoned a few decades ago. One of the major themes I hope to work into the Folk History is the reversal of Resettlement.
It is difficult to explain exactly where the idea came from, because it has it's genesis in about a million different lines of thinking, but one day I wondered how Newfoundland would fare in a Robot Apocalypse. I began to speculate how that war against robots would go globally, and then on a much smaller scale, how events would unfold in my home here in Newfoundland. After pondering how the war would be won or lost, I wondered what our folk culture would look like if humanity were to survive such a Robot Apocalypse.
So I decided to assemble A Folk History of the Robot Apocalypse. I intend it to be a series of folk-style songs from during and after the Robot Apocalypse War, as they would be preformed twenty or so years after the war ends. I hope to get ten or more songs together, invent a historian character to play, and present the songs and a brief and entertaining lecture on the Robot Apocalypse War in a recording (or god willing a live show) some day, if I can convince some of my more folks-esque musician friends to go along with it.
To that end, I present to you the lyrics for the first of potentially a dozen songs. It doesn't have a name yet, and I'm not entirely satisfied with how some lines flow, or how the narrative carries through the song, but it might very well be as far as the penultimate draft. I have a tune worked out, which I'm not quite able to render here. I also have some notes on the geography of the lyrics, for those who might not be familiar.
=====
When the robots came to Water Street[1], I was at home with my wife
Praise God that I did love her so, for I know it saved my life.
I was a bookshop keeper, and as my store burned to the ground
We gathered up our children and we fled that doom-ed town.
Now we didn't know quite where to go, so we headed for Torbay[2].
We met many others there: folks trying to get away.
As the city burned we cried and yearned, and feared a fresh attack.
I knew just then that though hearts might rend, we could not go back.
Near Cape St. Francis [3] at the sea, our exodus was ended,
No place to run, we gathered our guns to keep ourselves defended.
We planned our hopeless battle and prepared our hearts to die
Not one had hope on those rocky slopes as the robot foe grew nigh.
When the fighting started some men did die, but most lived on 'till morning
When dust was settled, we'd killed the metal, but from behind was raised a warning.
A ship was coming quickly! Into the tree line we did steal.
But on that ship so ill equipped was our savior, Captain Steel!
A raft came ashore with six or more men of flesh and blood.
When we saw there was no threat, our relief broke like a flood.
They'd come to save us poor depraved townies who were rout.
We got aboard, one hundred 'n four, and sailed on St. Jones Without[4].
We arrived and unloaded our terror corroded, but some sought to stay on.
Captain Steel needed men to crew his ship, for the threat had not yet gone.
We knew from those we'd leave behind that we'd be sorely missed.
But for the good of all, we'd hear the call, and shoulder such noble risk.
The work was hard to fight the foe who wanted neither food or sleep,
And when well laid plans did often fail, the price of it was steep.
Friends did die and boats did sink, and still we ventured onward,
The alternative was far to grim to let us be deterred.
For seven years I did sail with Steel in his war on robot-kind.
Faced with the choice again, I'd dare not change my mind!
It nigh took my life and caused me strife, and my soul might well be damned
But I'd never let those metal fiends take our Newfoundland!
=====
Notes:
1 - Historical street in St. John's, a very very old commercial district
2 - A small community just outside of St. John's
3 - The absolute tip of the peninsula, if you head North West out of St. John's (past Torbay)
4 - A seaside community that was abandoned a few decades ago. One of the major themes I hope to work into the Folk History is the reversal of Resettlement.