All songs
copyrighted
by David Rood
except as noted.
My Starship
3/10/01 & 5/5/01Lyrics co-written with FarSide (Steven Boyd)
Story
Often my main motivation for writing a song is hearing a song I like. I'll feel the thrill of a good song and think, "I wanna do that too."This is an attempt to capture the same kind of mood as Brenda Sutton's "Dumb Dumb Dorothy" and Gwen Knighton's "Cinderella in the City", not that they have the same mood.
I'll have to say, this song being done, I kind of regret complaining about the languishing space program--that issue has been done to death, and if we want a space program, well, it's up to us as a people to do it. Guess that's a topic for another song.
To play this song, I use a modified drop-D tuning: drop the low E string, leave A alone, and capo 2 the DGBE strings for DAEAC#F#. What can I say--I like pedal points.
Lyrics
[D] After schooltime her dreams were full of magic and [A] mystery, [D]
Knights in armor and medieval history..
[A] And then the counsellors asked her what she wanted to be--
[G/A] First woman on the moon, or else back to fourteen-oh-three [D]
Now her days are full of the old grind--the same old dragons she always faces
Coworkers and silly deadlines, traffic jams and noisy neighbours
And when it gets to be too much, She just counts the hours
Until she can go home to greet her cats and books and pretty flowers
[A] Oh she's a princess in a [G/A] rented tower [D/A]
[A] I'll be her knight in shining--[G/A] shirt and tie [D/A]
[A] She says, "Where's my fairy-tale [G/A] prince to wake me with a kiss?" [D/A]
[A] I say, "Where's my trusty alien [G/A] sidekick and my [emin/A] starship?" [D]
I wanted to be an astronaut, or maybe just be President
My kingdom is twenty square feet; each day I wonder where my dreams went
Seems to me that I could seek my fortune out among the stars
But the only infinity I see is in this galaxy of cars
Now on my belt in place of a communicator and working phaser
I carry a remote door opener and an alphanumeric pager
I put my arms into a coat; credit cards gird my loins
Defend her honor against the Homeowner's Association
Oh she's a princess in a rented tower
I'll be her knight in shining--shirt and tie
She says, "Where's my fairy-tale prince to wake me with a kiss?"
I say, "Where's my trusty alien sidekick and my starship?"
On the day that I was born, three astronauts reached out to touch the Moon
And we knew as we grew we'd stand on Mars and the stars very soon
What happened to the promises? Where's the beauty that was born in pain?
Out-of-work graduate students and singers are the keepers of the flame
Twelve thousand years of civilisation has had its princesses
And long and longer time before the lives of children were filled with kisses
Yet the more we learn shows us there's more in life that could be magic
One mundane life within a thousand generations would be tragic
Oh she's a princess in the clothes of her imagination
I'm her knight at the Con in shining Starfleet uniform
She says, "Where's my fairy-tale prince to wake me with a kiss?"
I say, "Where's my trusty alien sidekick and my starship?"
For years and years I flew a desk and explored the worlds of high finance
Long days, short nights, frustration's my reward; on Saturdays we dance
A hundred thousand of us sit in traffic wishing for transporters
Neither one of us would have to cook with a replicator in our quarters
But I have to say it all makes sense when I talk to my eight-year-old
She watches all her tv shows; she thinks that she can change the world
And I believe she can; I know she certainly made a difference
To these two tired dreamers living trapped within their white picket fence
Oh she's my princess in our mortgaged castle
I'm her father the King; my crown comes from a baseball team
She says, "I'm gonna be beautiful and marry a fairy-tale prince!"
I kiss her and say, "You'll need a sidekick and a starship."
Oh she's my princess in our mortgaged castle
The Queen is her valet when she goes to study Ballet
She says, "I'm gonna be beautiful and marry a fairy-tale prince!"
I kiss her and say, "I'll be your sidekick; my little starship."
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