Our airship shanty!
I mean, really. If you're a steampunk band you kinda need to have your own airship shanty. It's like how every 80's hair metal band has that one power ballad. Personally, I'd rather have the airship shanty than the power ballad. :)
I kinda feel like I cheated on this one, though. There I was, a veritable Tom Sawyer with a fence to paint - I had an idea, and my friends all showed up and did most of the work for me!
First off, there was Alyssa who dropped some lyrics into my lap. We'd been discussing the various myths that resonated with us and the story of Ikarus was one that we both wanted to include. And as we were brainstorming the album we both knew that our airship shanty had to reference that story. And, of course, if you're going to write a story about an airship called The Ikarus you just know how it's going to go. The lyrics she sent are, in my most humble of opinions, absolutely perfect. She just nails it. I love the story. I love the unnamed captain who thirsts for glory. And the refrain is so much fun to sing!
I immediately recorded a demo that, thankfully, will never, ever see the light of day. It had too many guitars, was too fast, and totally F-ing metal. Think over the top heavy guitar madness.
I played it for Kate hoping that she'd be up for singing and she was all, "Ok. I think I can work with this. Let's see how the words flow." So we stepped into the studio and began poring over the lyrics to tidy up some of the syllable counts. It was just Kate, me, and my classical guitar (which is what was handy at the time). We fixed up the words and laid down a quick demo of her singing with me playing flamenco-esque rhythm on my guitar.
When we reviewed the recording we both knew instantly that that metal demo I recorded wasn't a thing and this new orchestration would totally work.
So I put down some guitar, ukulele, bass, and Kate's vocals. But at that point we decided we needed something else. At which point Kate tells me that she recently met this guy who played accordion and was pretty good.
And this is where I meet Evan Evanovich. Not only does he play accordion he also plays some pretty kickin' clarinet! There is a moment in the song where I was so enthused by how it was going I shouted out "It's alive!" a la Victor Fankenstein forgetting that the tape was still rolling. It only seemed natural to leave it in the mix. (http://youtu.be/QuoKNZjr8_U)
We sent the resulting mess to Tom Coyne. He's my secret weapon. He lives in a magical land of rock and roll recording studios and has a killer drum habit. A few days later I received his tracks and they were utterly perfect!
FYI: for this song I recorded 5 different guitar parts. Not one of them is in the song. In fact, there is no guitar in it at all. It is: voice, ukulele, bass, accordion, clarinet, and drums. The bass is all me, though. I think in another life I would have been a bassist.
Alyssa's two cents:
This
is one of my favorites and one of the best sets of lyrics I have done
for the album. Interestingly, this one took a really long time for me
to write. The chorus came quickly but the story took a long time to
reveal itself. I had this female captain
and I wanted to know why she would go ahead and fly that close to the
sun, bringing in the Ikarus myth….and the easy way out was some
heartbreak or some tragedy…but… I wanted a different story for a heroine
that did not involve a love story of any kind. Also…Ikarus was about
pride and folly. So I took our proud captain and made her wildly
over-confident after her very successful rise to glory. She was bold,
brave, proud, a little arrogant, and unable to see her own folly until
it was too late. In other words, she was human.
Then
Kate and Nathan took the story and infused it with its heart and soul.
Kate truly makes it come alive with her evocative vocals. The Spanish
guitar version is actually one of my favorite arrangements and I’d love
to see someone do a cover of this with some delicious Spanish guitar!
I shall tell you the tale of the good ship Ikarus
The pride of Alexander’s skies
She sailed round the world on the winds unfurled
O'er ocean and desert alike
Her captain was a lass of twenty and eight
Sun browned with star filled eyes
Stern in command, ready smile at hand
Adventure her only prize
So raise the wreck of the airship Ikarus
Her glory days long past
She flew phoenix bright toward the daystar light
And her captain would never look back (repeat)
With each tale of her strength and wits
Her fame spread like fire
Glory never feeds it creates bigger needs
Daring she rise ever higher
Alexander sent a challenge across the land
He would rule beyond Earth’s door
Whoever can bring him the Olympus gates
Shall history save in the stars
So raise the wreck of the airship Ikarus
Her glory days long past
She flew phoenix bright toward the daystar light
And her captain would never look back
She smiled, our lass, our captain so dear
“Tis us who can win this task
Raise sail to the wind, let the race begin,
Though no one will be in our class”
So strong our captain, so brave, so true
But glory had blinded us all
We raced on alone, a field of one
For the rest had wisely withdrawn
So raise the wreck of the airship Ikarus
Her glory days long past
She flew phoenix bright toward the daystar light
And her captain would never look back
No friend of the land, but a child of air
The captain she had but one goal
Meet Alexander’s quest, not one of, but the best
But pride always takes it's toll
No mortal may touch the godly realm
Lord Helios burns too bright
Our captain would not abandon her helm
Though blinded and seared by his might
Raise the wreck of the airship Ikarus
Her glory days long past
She flew phoenix bright toward the daystar light
And her captain would never look back
With wings aflame, she plummeted down
The sea quenched all her fire
Blackened in blue, she sank out of view
A watery grave for her pyre (repeat)
It’s all long ago, but the legend lives on
In the end she would not be denied
Though no long lived life, in death she'd survive
In the stars her fame would reside
So raise the wreck of the airship Ikarus
Her glory days long past
She flew phoenix bright toward the daystar light
And her captain would never looked back
And her captain would never looked back
And her captain would never looked back
