1. |
Roam
01:21
|
|||
First there were feathers...
then a whispered word
I knelt next to something
It was strange and it sang subversion I rose out of something
It was wild
like a resurrection
I failed to roam today I failed to roam...
|
||||
2. |
Language of the Birds
03:17
|
|||
It’s deeper than a fairytale in Europe and in Asia North and South America the Arctic and Australia
They walked with them in Dreamtime They softened and were led
Through the long call of creation
and the echoes of the dead
They learned the language of the water
They learned the language of the earth
They learned the language of the feathered ones How they could cure or curse
May be...maybe
So they called it out
And when they called it out
They shaped the message into words When they called it out
A symbiotic shout
Connected the last with the first When they called it out
The stories brought about
A wild wisdom wrapped in verse
But then a falling out
Division cutting out The language
The language of the birds
The language
The language of the birds...
What can cure can curse- but it could be the reverse What can cure can curse- but it could be the reverse
|
||||
3. |
||||
Is there anyone out there?
Once in awhile things line up just right the time, the speed, the light
and I hear a sound that will stick with me for the rest of my life
But those voices are everywhere
all the time- the more than human
Some say that if we could perceive
even a fraction of these conversations we’d never feel lonely again
We’d never feel lonely again
|
||||
4. |
||||
so much of us you can’t understand
even if you held us in your hand
a monomorphic anomaly
shades of black and brown is all you’d see
yes, your vision is poor and your heart is slow you're featherless- yet you think you know
what freedom is- so on you go
only yours- the tale worth telling
while I live on the wing and die on the wing
as one designed for flying to eat on the wing
to sleep on the wing
and while I sleep-
I’m dreaming
of parties where we feasted well
above deltas, lakes and through tails of storms much higher than the martins go
2000 strong- we soared and dove
to play on the wing
to mate on the wing
as ones designed for flying
we drop our feathers one by one
a slow renewal is preferred by some
a full moult would leave us too undone even we- those nearest to the sun
we pair for life- this you may know
but once we raise our young we go our separate ways- subsaharan days 10 months of 12 are travelling
to live on the wing
to thrive on the wing
as ones designed for flying to drink on the wing
to sleep on the wing
and while I sleep-
I’m dreaming
a unihemispheric sleep
fuelled by light and acetylcholine
a slow wave stream of things I’ve seen
and all the things worth having
I’ve lived longer now than most
I’m growing tired but I can boast
if all the miles were added up
I’d have been 6 times to the moon and back
I’ve lived on the wing
I’ll die on the wing
as one designed for flying I sing on the wing
I dream on the wing
and while I dream
I’m flying...
|
||||
5. |
Albatross
03:44
|
|||
a man with a message stumbled into town clutched at the arm of the first soul he found
his face was haggard and his eyes half crazed and his voice like a chilled growl from the grave
he said: I can’t go back to make the change
I see that angel fall- again and again
as the arrow from my crossbow tore through its chest can you see this albatross around my neck?
he said: will my fall down bring in a new light? will my fall down bring in a new light?
each drop of blood from that feathered coat was the beat of a drum- a musical note
then I was pierced by a force I had failed to see
as that creature’s story soaked into me
she said: will my fall down bring in a new light? will my fall down bring in a new light?
for 60 years she had soared with the winds around the Southern globe- again and again below 40 degrees where there is no law below 50 degrees where there is no god
she said: will my fall down bring in a new light? will my fall down bring in a new light?
200,000 years your kind have been
while 50 million marks the years we’ve seen
your time here is just a drop in the bucket
while mine is the ocean and the clouds above it
your kind try to harness everything
why must you be so reckless with the thirst you bring? when we lower our heads in disbelief
you think it’s cuz you’re a master-
but it’s cuz you’re a thief
she said: will my fall down bring in a new light? will my fall down bring in a new light?
some say those birds carry lost souls home
I still can’t explain my need to shoot it down but everyday since- her questions- cursed I am ‘what moves you to take just because you can ?’
|
||||
6. |
Prometheus, Please
04:51
|
|||
Prometheus, please- what were you thinking? Prometheus, please
As the flames know - grief can be deeper
If you take till you choke, yes, grief can be deeper
Ghosts in the forms of glaciers and seabirds
Calls from coral to coal: fire, you’ve done me wrong, why?
Prometheus, please- what were you thinking?
Prometheus, please
As the waves roll- lost languages keeper
As the vultures they coast on winds that are meagre
Fed by what’s left- not killers but seekers
Through our failed tests- fire- we’ve done you wrong, why?
Prometheus, please- what were you thinking?
Prometheus, please
Oh Prometheus, please- what were you thinking?
Yes, your gift could ease, but also bring suffering
When we took the lead- you know
We would take everything
Could you not see that
We’d fuel our own ending?
Fire-what were you thinking?
Fire-what were you thinking?
Prometheus, please (could it be easy?)
What were you thinking?
Prometheus, please (could you let deeper in?)
Prometheus, please (could you go easy?)
What were you thinking?
Prometheus, please (hear what we’re offering?)
As the flames roll
What were you thinking? As the flames know
As the waves roll
What were you thinking? As the flames know
Please...please...please...
|
||||
7. |
||||
‘one night as I went strolling out
I sat down by a white washed door
a tear comes roaming to my eye
when I thought of my poor mother dear’
|
||||
8. |
Rumble and Roar
02:55
|
|||
Beneath the birch trees and the dappled light
Blacker than the bears on a moonless night
Millions of years in the making if conditions were right
Call it coal- peat, heat and pressure
A new system ignites- alright
Dynamite, flash of light, rumble and roar
Life is tough, so dig it up, tunnel and bore
My father spoke to ravens and my mother to stones
That’s how I overheard their childhood secrets
Hunger and cold
Get back
Dynamite, flash of light, rumble and roar
Life is tough, so dig it up, tunnel and bore
Dynamite, flash of light, rumble and roar
Life is tough, so dig it up, tunnel and bore
Two Catholic mothers birthed 26 souls
No heat or running water
Just wood for the stove
When you give, give, give
You expect you might get
And if it weighs on your conscience
Then you pray to forget
Get back
Dynamite, flash of light, rumble and roar
Send them down in the ground- digging for more
Husbands and sons all black lunged and soar
But winters are long and hunger’s a whore
Get back
Dynamite, flash of light, rumble an roar
Life is tough, so dig it up, tunnel and bore
Dynamite, flash of light, rumble an roar
Life is tough, so dig it up, tunnel and bore
The end justifies the means
Is an argument that always left me queasy
Just like the sound of machinery has always made me uneasy
|
||||
9. |
Wind on Wings
05:01
|
|||
there’s a trick I learned as a child, when all of my difficult emotions lessened as I imagined how the press of cooling air might feel against a bird’s wings. But my deepest relief doesn’t come from imagining I can feel what the rook feels, know what the rook knows- instead, it’s slow delight in knowing I cannot * (shaped from pg 258 of Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald)
more ways to listen more ways to try more ways to witness more ways to fly...
|
||||
10. |
Four Chambered Heart
04:03
|
|||
it could have been their voices
like trails from a star
you know they have to sing through darkness
to hold course and avoid harm
could have been the ache of freedom
the push and pull of tired wings
could have been the warm pulse beating
twice the sugar through their veins
four chambered heart less efficient but more art
four chambered hearts
not born the way of mammals
hard shell chipped by trembling beak
but when the light and hunger hit you
you met a Mother’s need to feed
then the thought of flying
and a map that others owned
hundreds of millions of years trying
and the hollowing of bones
through those
four chambered hearts
we’re so different- but not this part
four chambered hearts
alright, alright
four chambered hearts
another vision- another spark
four chambered hearts
|
||||
11. |
Melody of One
03:36
|
|||
Snow floats around
a swirl of flakes that sting my skin
close my eyes and draw the iced air in
strange lifelines
a million whispers in this wind
I exhale a cloud
and the next tale begins
The roots are shallow on the taiga trees
because the soil is so thin
to survive the cold they alter themselves
with a thing called hardening
reminds me how I’ve cloaked me heart
and the different ways of living
of stone eyed souls trading glory for gold
because we’re void of our true story
Ice-fire-bone- birch antler- root- stone- church
Fur rippled like river water
over the muscles of the running mother
as her hooves pounded the ground
soon her muscle was meat
and her skin a sheet
and her soul horizon bound
Part of the river, part of the river
Marvelling over how much one is like another
The give and take as we shift into each other
The melody of
the melody of
One
|
||||
12. |
It's a Reckoning
04:20
|
|||
on and on and on the sparrow goes
on and on an on our histories linked- they follow but even they it seems will have to go
that tough and tiny sentinel
what will it take? it’s astonishing
what will it take? the growth- the vanishing
what will it take? such force- then nothing
what will it take?
consequence-commodity- dominion over all we see
take, take, take
take, take, take
take, take, take....take, take, take
she said: you have to be the voice for those that haven’t got one for the fading and the gone
it’s not solutions that you lack here
it’s the will to get them done
see me, feel me......
step by step through the footprint of our great acceleration
is the great cost- the great loss-
the silence- and the thinning
in just 50 years almost 70% of the planets wild vertebrates have disappeared fish, reptiles, mammals, birds, even that dear little sparrow that been following us into villages and cities for 10,000yrs
serpent, spectre, sparrow, spy
calling from the earth and sky
raise your voices- 'hit the brake
for hell is a truth that is learned too late'
chimera, griffin, shisa, sphinx
you are more lion than you think your pulse a puzzle with hidden links much deeper than convention
the scale is tipping- soon comes the jolt
the feather forced to drift and float
as the heart falls further toward the throat of the crocodile .... extinction
|
||||
13. |
Who Shall Bell the Cat?
01:06
|
|||
Who shall bell ?
Who shall bell ?
Who shall bell the cat? I wonder, is it you?
|
||||
14. |
||||
It made such a sweet sound
It was sun kissed like a seraph
as it fluttered to the ground
But in a flash- the cat upon it
Broke its wing and tossed it round
Blind thrill- no glory
That bird had come so far
From the heart of Scandinavia on its way to Africa
Now stone eyed and mute
A mangled lifeless toy
for some fat cat to enjoy
I thought about the wild things
The battles and the might have beens
Free will versus hard wiring
Are we a soul’s call for better
or just instinct grasping feathers?
Are we a soul’s call for better
or just instinct?
If science proves what prophets and the poets put in rhyme
Beyond the boundaries of our knowing and the limits of our time
Would we say the system’s broken?
Would we recognize our crimes?
Would we step outside our notions?
Would we cast aside our pride?
Are we a soul’s call for something better or just instinct grasping feathers?
Are we a soul’s call for better
or just instinct?
Her voice was such a sweet sound
The sun shone in her eyes- causing her to frown
She said: you know folks won’t save what they don’t love
and now that’s all I’m thinking of as...as I...
as I fall in love with everything
I fall in love with everything
I fall in love with everything
and the alarm bells are ringing
and the songbirds have stopped singing
|
||||
15. |
After the Rain
01:41
|
|||
The sun awakes another day
And I am given reasons
A feather found by mirrored ground
A song- a quenched thirst- freedom
Heart parched and broken like the clay
For each one now gone or leaving
My rage grew heavy like the rain
Now dry river beds are heaving
Washed past the race to know
The need to claim tomorrow
I call it back to me
All the pointless beauty
And I breath
Easy
Breath easy
Breath easy
Breath
|
||||
16. |
||||
17. |
Swallow, Dear Swallow
09:18
|
|||
She was a traveller- sharp tail and wings
Delayed from her voyage- by the gifts that love brings
Ignoring the cool and diminishing light
and the calls from the shadows- as her family took flight
Swallow dear swallow- don’t waste too much time
There’s a high price to freedom if the winds are not right
Swallow dear swallow she pushed and she tried
But fresh into her journey had to rest for the night
The roof tops were grey and dusted with snow.
All the sheltered spots taken by pigeons and sparrows
‘Over here’ cried a voice- she arced back to see
a glimmering statue with a tear on his cheek
Swallow dear swallow- you can stay here tonight ,
I’ll be your shelter and the view is alright
Swallow dear swallow fell in love at first sight
Nestled into his neck and asked- ‘why do you cry?’
It’s all that I see, lovely -such heart- that it breaks mine, lovely
I see them working through the night and the day
Trying to scrape out a living on the pennies they’re paid
Down there is a seamstress sowing ribbons and bows
While she and that child in the corner are so hungry and cold
Swallow dear swallow, shall we launch a plan?
Pluck out this ruby and fly fast as you can?
Down through her chimney- she can’t afford fire
This jewel red as her fingers should keep them safe for awhile
Soon back from the errand the bird shook a bit
From the joy in the giving and the effort of it
The statue was smiling- looked deep in her eyes
Said, perhaps we can do the same with these sapphires
the next couple of nights?
But how will you see, lovely?
Such heart- how you break mine lovely
But swallow dear swallow- she couldn’t resist
Without his beautiful eyes- she could still have his lips So swallow dear swallow delivered each prize
First to a young girl then a poet- saving their lives
Swallow dear swallow- it’s past time you should go
I feel that you’re shaking and winter is long
But swallow dear swallow had made up her mind
There’s no way she was leaving- when she could be his eyes
All that I see, lovely I’ll share with you now, my lovely
So over the city she fluttered and flew
Gathering stories and tips on where to bring his gold to
Many spirits where lifted with the help of their gifts
While statue’s finish grew dull and swallow grew thin
Now fly, my dear lovely - you’ll die if you stay here, lovely
Swallow dear swallow knew this was no lie
Rested on statue’s shoulder and whispered goodbye
Oh swallow dear swallow I’m glad that you’ve changed your mind
I know I’ve kept you too long from your path to sunshine
But she didn’t answer- just fell to his feet
And at that sickening sound- his heart skipped a beat
Then broke with such force it knocked them both toward the street
But the angels take pity on dreamers and fools
And the ones that share treasures they’ve stumbled into
A chorus of voices soon filled up the night
And a warm summer breeze bathed them in a strange light
It’s all that I see, lovely, such heart- that it breaks mine lovely
City workers took statue and the swallow they found
Tossed her into the rubbish, and melted him down
but his cracked heart stayed solid, so they threw it away
into the very same pail where dear swallow was laying
Swallow dear swallow, I’ll no longer weep
I know death is just the wise older brother of sleep
Swallow dear swallow- sweet lover of life
Let’s go sing with the angels of how hard we tried
|
Wendy McNeill Sweden
Widely recognized as an artist that makes 'dark twisted tales' and 'wise moving music' McNeill has been steadily gaining
acclaim for her poignant storytelling lyrics and captivating live shows, taking listeners on an emotional roller coaster with a spirit that is both playful and fierce.
file under: Folk Noir Her forthcoming album, First There Were Feathers’ will be released in spring 2023
... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Wendy McNeill, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp