For space is wide and good friends are too few.
When the tithe came callin’, where were you?
When the tithe comes callin’, there is nothing you can do.
Haul away, haul away, haul away
Do I really know what’s going on in this song? No, because I haven’t read Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland novels, which are what this album is based on. Do I mind? No, because a creepy sea shanty is still a creepy sea shanty!
“Glashtyn Shanty,” by S. J. Tucker
Call the storm on thunder’s wings
Falling stone and broken things
Black swan tore the temple down
Black swan tore the temple down
What’s it about? No idea! Fairy tales, probably. “Black Swan Blues,” by S.J. Tucker
When we eat the sun will it taste like mouse?
We swear by the dust we shall soon find out!
“The Kingdom of Mice, a war song,” by S.J. Tucker
It seems like a goofy little song, but…it’s not. It’s terrifying.
Lyrics and chords available here.
“Love changes us all, makes us broken, makes us brave, makes us deny ourselves and our very breath, makes us refuse to listen when our hearts tell us that the time has come to move on, to break the surface. “Neptune” is the story of what can happen after you’ve drowned yourself willingly in someone else’s hopes and dreams, and you find that saltwater and shadows no longer sustain you. “Neptune” is the story of what can happen when you’ve lived in sin with a god for long enough that the respective piles of dirty laundry and broken promises have started to really get on your nerves.“ – from S.J. Tucker’s Bandcamp
“Neptune, by S.J. Tucker
We don’t often get fancy-ass music videos round these parts.
Seventh sons and golden ball daughters
Can take their own lives to hand
I have been to the city of Marrow
And I have come out again.
Fear not the wind of wasting
Its howling is not for you
It’s only an echo now within
The hearts of those just passing through
Couldn’t tell you what it’s about, exactly, but I like it. “City of Marrow,” by S.J. Tucker. Lyrics and chords available here.
My amber cage had an amber lock
and the girl had an amber key
and a manticore was bound and sold
in the city in the trees.
This is just so pretty. “Manticore’s Lullaby,” by S. J. Tucker. Chords and lyrics available here.
My friend bids me come and see
the ravens in the library
setting quiet pages free.
“Ravens in the Library,” by S. J. Tucker. It’s just about what it says on the tin, but what it says on the tin is pretty neat.
Lyrics and chords available here
Sun up, sun down the shadows hide me down in
Wonderland, Wonderland, nobody knows the way,
but if you find it in your dreams, you can
find it at your dayjob
somewhere south of Hell
“Cheshire Kitten (We’re all mad here),” by S. J. Tucker
Lyrics and chords available here.
S. J. Tucker, “Follow Me Down”
Lyrics available and song for purchase here
S. J. Tucker’s “Firebird’s Child”
Song for purchase and lyrics here