Gepetto's Lament - Lyrics and Thoughts

Take the wood
Take the knife
Set the blade and carve away all the pain and sadness


Cut it out
Sand it down
Build it to perfection
Arms, legs, fingers, toes
Carve it a brand new face, eyes, ears, and nose

    This, my new creation child, one lacking sin
    His, a new emotion wild, what lies within?

        No mortality or affliction
        No cause for discontent
        No doubt, no artifice, no lonely fears
        Gifted wit, wisdom and charm
        Simple little child, little one who could do nobody harm

Instumental 4 bars

Take the string
Tie it off
Articulate the joints
Fingers move with intent

    This, my new creation child, one lacking sin
    His, a new emotion wild, what lies within?

Pause in music:
Heartless life is not to live, so I machine the beating clock,
placed within turns sap to blood, animating wooden block
But I forgot a conscience clear so will he to man or monster steer?


Instrumental 8 bars

    This, my new creation child, one lacking sin
    His, a new emotion wild, what lies within?

        No morality, no affection
        No cause for discontent
        No doubt, no artifice, no lonely fears
        Only wit, wiles and charm
        Simple little child, little one who could only ever harm


So it speaks

So it lies



Thoughts:

Nathan: Gepetto's Lament is the first song that I wrote specifically for Narratives. I'd written the instrumentals already and had started on the music for Beast but that was all before I realized that there was a themed album that could be made.

I immediately came up with the electronic drum groove, banjo and bass parts. That took me all of an hour or so. I figured that there would be some breaks and a chorus or two but the basic groove that happens during the verse really set the tone for what was to come. I was surprised at how easy the words came. Like in Frog and Toad, I just started riffing on words while listening to the play back.

The words told a story that I've always felt very close to my heart: Unintended Consequences. Even the best of us can really foul things up at times. I've made plenty of mistakes in my life - and a lot of them were a result of miscommunication, confusion, and good intentions that went awry. I picture Gepetto as a nice old man who just wanted to make something beautiful all the while not realizing that even the best of things need to have a firm grounding in reality.

At the end of the song we reach that moment when Gepetto realizes that his creation isn't perfect. Just like life. I like to think that after the song is over, his creation has some adventures and then turns out basically decent. Y'know, just like in the movie.



Alyssa: This is the first song I worked on for the album.  Nathan knew I wrote a lot of poetry and asked me to look at some lyrics he had come up with for this song.  After getting over the shock of Nathan adding lyrics to his songs, I looked them over.  I got a good sense of the idea he was trying to convey, but it was all a bit clumsy.  I tried to preserve the emotion and intent behind Nathan’s words, but sharpen and refine them so that each emotion and idea was crystallized and more poignant.  What would happen if you built a child without a conscious? One that acted on pure emotion in the moment.  Gepetto loves him despite the flaws but is also terrified of what he had created.  In the end Gepetto loses control over his creation, as all parents do.