For space is wide and good friends are too few.
Catnyp came to life one night
Along with all the Pages
Paper dolls with flat and inky smiles
The Pages bring the books to you
Day and night, two by two
But Catnyp tells the mice just what to find…
“Catnyp” by Cheshire Moon. Because while all libraries are magical, the New York Public Library is particularly so.
[for those unfamiliar, Catnyp is the Catalog of the New York Public Library]
Lyrics available here.
I come from six feet under.
Where sulfur flows and demons blunder.
Can’t you hear, hear the hell mouth thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.
“Six Feet Under,” a very catchy Buffy the Vampire Slayer parody from Jeff and Maya Bohnoff.
I seek the Witch of the Wood, Lady of Forest and Glen
Dark things howl at the gate threatening women and men.
“Witch of the Wood” by Dr. Mary Crowell, performed by Three Weird Sisters (the combined talents of Mary Crowell, Brenda Sutton, and Teresa Powell).
I stand here grinning
Under an orange October sky
A straw man rooted to the earth.
The sun is going down
Red light on fields of brown
The autumn fires burn.
“Scarecrow” by Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff, a song for the season.
Prying my switchblade cold out of my fingers’ hold,
Pause to take stock, reflect, and rue.
Look on the damage done here by a single one;
What do you think a full pack will do?
“The Least of My Kind,” a werewolf’s warning written by Catherine Faber and performed here by Three Weird Sisters.
Deep within the forest dark,
Lies a beast with baleful bark!
Feasting on an infant’s soul,
Cross its path and pay the toll!
“Gruagach!” a warning from Alexander James Adams.
Lyrics available here.
Step by step, we walk in the darkness!
Wink and blink, we squint at the light!
Black and blacker, loving our starkness!
Knock on your door on Halloween night!
“Undertakers from Hell” by Alexander James Adams. ‘Tis the season…
Oops, oops, extravagant curses,
Adding new verses to a tired old song
Oh well, you can’t be too picky
Magic is tricky and apt to go wrong.
“Oops” by Echo’s Children, a song written for a role-playing game. Almost all the verses detail events that actually happened over the course of the campaign.
All that is gold does not glitter
All who wander are not lost
The old that is strong does not wither
Deep roots are not touched by frost
So we [dog mod and brain mod] just discovered that Brooks Williams combined Tolkien’s verse with paraphrasing from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and the result is pretty catchy.
Lyrics available here.
(Full disclosure: when we first listened to this, the Christian aspect flew right over our heads and we went “huh, this sounds weirdly like religious music, wonder why?” We didn’t get it until we found lyrics with explanatory notes.)
Come One, Come all, to the carnival
Where embers and cinnamon play
Come in and wander, over and under
While paper birds sing in their cageThrough tents in stripes of black and white
You’ll find wonders both magic and strange
Be assured if you wish to return
We’re only a wish away
“Circus of Dreams” by Cheshire Moon, about, well, a circus of dreams.
Lyrics and chords available here.