SONG:
ARTIST: Squid Pro Crow.
SOURCE: Based on “Exotic creatures discovered living at deep-sea vent in Indian Ocean”, Guardian, 28 Dec 2011, as used in the post “Creatures of the Dragon Vent”.
ABSTRACT: This song was a result of a thing that I found over at The Long Winters message board, where the stalwart fans had discovered John Roderick named as a special guest at the song-a-month Song Fu 2012 challenge, for which John Hodgman had devised the prompt, “Write a song about bioluminescence in any style you wish.” Song a month? Biological phenomenon? How could I possibly pass that up?
Besides, I was already thinking about the Dragon Vent, where the sun never shines and where yeti crabs raise their hairy claws in salute of whatever nutrient-rich islands of super-heated water rise in the lightless black.
Somehow, this came out as a kind of pop-punk-lo-fi thing, despite the fact that I set out with thoughts of eeriness and alien beeps and “things that sound like far away.” I also wanted a bridge that had the idea of signaling and longing and the lure of distant lights, and so I thought of my Squid Pro Crow friend and colleague, Kate Horowitz. And she delivered words that were exactly right.
For the rest, well, there were alien beeps and electric guitars with very rusty strings and some cassette-recorder vocals. And a line stolen from Auden. And a chemical reaction that generates light without heat.
Lyrics:
Sunlight
Fade away
We never need your alien heat.It’s an icy green
The only light that you’ve seen
This ignition inside my veins
My nerves on fire
Fiberoptic wire
Shows an affirming flameDeep-sea vent
Make these shadows boil
Lift these islands. Rise like the night.It’s an icy green
The only light that you’ve seen
This ignition inside my veins
My nerves on fire
Fiberoptic wire
Shows an affirming flameYeti crabs
Raise your hairy claws
Salute these living stars. Salute these living starsIt’s an icy green
The only light that you’ve seen
This ignition inside my veins
My nerves on fire
Fiberoptic wire
Shows an affirming flameBRIDGE:
At the sight of you
the heart steel strikes the skin flint.
My kindled body glows.Your own desire flashes
like a string of Christmas lights.
You don’t care who knows.It’s an icy green
The only light that you’ve seen
This ignition inside my veins
My nerves on fire
Fiberoptic wire
Shows an affirming flame