All songs
copyrighted
by David Rood
except as noted.
After The Fall
Story
Well, it's just that I wanted to write a song that told this story. I might observe that it's exceedingly difficult to describe a theremin in trochaic tetrameter.
Lyrics
[C] The curfew has fallen under [Bb] neath the full Moon
[F] We quickly find the path out [G] across the dunes
[am] Go underground and [dm] shed our cloaks
[G] And with them go the rules and [G7] all the jokes
It’s youth and it’s power and it’s simply the best
A little bit of storm and a whole lot of sex
Our hands bled as we dug through the rubble
But this chamber full of relics was well worth the trouble
Chorus:
[C] Our grandparent’s eyes saw the [dm] fall of the world
[G] And the burden fell on our [am] parent’s shoulders
[F] The rules fell on us with a [E] heavy hand
[am] We have youth and ideas and we’ll [G] make a strand
[Ab] And we call our [Bb] music [C] The Rise
It was just a year ago that N!xau found
The artifact that made music inside our heads
We met in secret; it was our drug
But we used it too much and now it is dead
Still we remembered the sound and where it was found
Again and again we returned to that place
We found devices and a cavern in steel
You could see the same idea on every face
(chorus)
Someone knew the code, and the door opened wide
Ilsa had done the forbidden tonight
Everybody stopped when she brought someone in
Not a kid like us, but a white-bearded man
We challenged her and we threatened him
And though he didn’t resist I could see his eyes blaze
Then he told us stories and an ancient name
From the Golden Age for the music we played
[break]
Keith beat the patterns of thump and crash
Kurshid’s box screamed the closer he went to the wall
Luis blew low notes on a long piece of pipe
Kiko’s voice carried over it all
Well the old man told us of Segregation
The Cold War, corporations, and McCarthyism
Then he spoke of trains and the music they made
And cars, long hair and a night called Saturday
Then he told us of free love, expanded consciousness
And how the whole world could be at peace
Then he pointed to us and all our skins
And said dancing was the only missing piece
(chorus)
And Ilsa’s great uncle said, "Rock and roll never dies!"
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