Poem/Song: Being a Tailor

27 June 2017

Andrew Makery, Personal, Poetry, textiles , , , , , , , Leave a comment

This spring (or early winter, really), I learned a new song from the folks in a band called Windbourne.  It’s called “Being a Pirate is All Fun and Games…” by Don Freed. (Words here, and him singing it is here.)

I love making up words to songs. And tonight as I worked on a sewing project, I kept losing tools. The pin cushion, the scissors, the tailor’s chalk, and so on.  I wound up composing a song to the tune of “Being a Pirate”.

Being a tailor is all fun and games, until somebody loses his chalk.
He hunts high; he hunts low, “ye gods! where did it go?!
the house elves are planning to balk!”
There is fabric to mark, there are seams still to sew,
Now Facebook is starting to talk!
Being a tailor is all fun and games until somebody loses his chalk.

Being a tailor is all fun and games, until somebody loses the pins.
He throws up his hands, all in ruins his plans,
he debates drinking all of the gins.
He scans all the tables, he cries to the gables,
“this is punishing all of my sins!”
Being a tailor is all fun and games until somebody loses the pins.

But… it’s …
all part of being a tailor, (a tailor! A tailor!)
you can’t be a tailor with all of your to–oo–lls!
It’s all part of being a tailor; (a tailor! A tailor!)
you can’t be a tailor with all of your tools!

Being a tailor is all fun and games, until somebody loses the shears.
He sighs to the roof and he feels like a goof,
and it grows his collection of tears.
He checks all around him and then it astounds him:
like magic, the scissor appears!
Being a tailor is all fun and games until somebody loses the shears.

Feel free to sing it while you’re waltzing around your sewing room.

Song from SpiritFire

17 July 2012

Andrew Magic & Spirituality, Philosophy, Poetry , , , , Leave a comment

I describe the process of writing new chants for the fire circle at SpiritFire rather like this:

I hear the symbolism and sense of the circle as words in my left ear.
And I hear the rhythms of the drums as a pattern in my right ear.
And there’s a whhe oifhwo ughewoufhw eoufhefhefhe in my brain.
And a chant comes out of my mouth.

It’s not at all a clear process what happens between steps 1&2, and 4, but it happens.

The result this year was the following SONG. I come up with short, one or two-line chants fairly regularly, but this was the first fully-formed song I’ve created this way:

The Mountain Will Follow You Home

The Mountain will follow you home, gents and ladies
The mountain will follow you home (best believe it) 2x

You fed it like a puppy you stroked it like a cat,
And there’s nothing at all that is wrong with that;

But the mountain will follow you home (if you let it)
The mountain will follow you home (just accept it) 2x

When you look in the mirror when you leave this place
I bet you’ll see the fire in your face

Because the mountain will follow you home (like a puppy)
The mountain will follow you home (tail a-waggin’) 2x

Your friends are all a gossip over cups of tea,
She’s acting like she’s grooving on eternity…

Because the mountain will follow you home (like a puppy)
The mountain will follow you home (tail a-waggin’) 2x

I didn’t get to do all of it in circle, but I got to do some of it, and it was wonderful and fun. Ten years ago in the “feedback” session of the first SpiritFire, I noted how many ‘pagan’ chants seemed to be dirge like, and I think I accepted the challenge and mission from some muse to fix that… And I think that I’ve been succeeding in that process slowly but surely. Now maybe it’s time to figure out some ways to put the chants and songs out there for people to enjoy and use.

Experiment: Holy art Thou

16 May 2012

Andrew Art and Design, Media , , , , , , , 3 Comments

There’s a text in the Golden Dawn rituals that’s always struck me.  It seems to be based, in part, on a Corpus Hermeticum text from the first through third centuries AD, and it goes like this:

Holy art thou, Lord of the Universe,
Holy art thou whom nature hath not formed,
Holy art thou, vast and mighty one,
Lord of the Light and of the Darkness.

This song has been rattling around in my head for a few days, so I recorded it, and now you have access to it through my Tumblr account.  Enjoy, and I hope it’s useful to me.  Mostly, I’m hoping that recording it, and putting it out there, will make it possible for me to go back to doing things like writing exams and reviewing homework.

Update: I hadn’t realized this until just now, but this is my two thousand six hundredth post (2,600 posts!). And a couple of days of visitors like the last two, and I’ll hit 50,000 readers/visitors during all-time visits, about two weeks earlier than I expected…

Lovely Game!

1 December 2008

Andrew Gaming, Personal , , , 4 Comments

A friend of mine introduced me to this new game: Play Auditorium. It’s delightfully addicting. I like it.

Birdsong Techno

17 March 2007

Andrew Art and Design, Media , , 2 Comments

A techno song composed entirely of bird songs.