They raid your liquor cabinet, though they’re not of age to drink
They’re staging tango competitions in the kitchen sink
They’re critiquing your new painting (your perspective’s off, they say)
And they’re analyzing your décor for optimal feng shui
“Eight-Legged Blues,” by special-edition four-member Vixy & Tony (Michelle Dockrey, Tony Fabris, Betsy Tinney, and Sunnie Larsen)
The part of the spiders is credited to Betsy’s cello, Raven.
I usually prefer to get studio recordings when I can, if only to make it more likely that all the words will be intelligible but…this one is special. They set out to create a geek anthem, and boy did they ever.
Michelle Dockrey said this about writing this song:
Background: this was commissioned by Tony, who wanted a geek anthem. I got partway through writing it and found myself blocked. Thinking of all the things still wrong, and things that were going on at the time both in and out of fandom– harrassment, backlash over representation, lack of protections still for so many– I just didn’t see how I could write a song about how much it got better.
I confessed this tearfully to Tony, who said, essentially, “write it the way you see it.”
“We Are Who We Are,” by Vixy & Tony, lead vocals by Michelle Dockrey with Tony Fabris on guitar, Betsy Tinney on cello, Sunnie Larsen on violin, and the attendants of FilkCONtinental 2014…as themselves. Lyrics and more information here
I’ll show you heights of stone and steel, a city brave and bold
That the rainfall turns to silver and the sunset turns to gold
Nestled down in velvet mountains and water’s satin foam
Where alchemy is everyday routine
And of all the jewels I’ve seen
Emerald green is the color of my home
I love a song that paints a fantasy picture of a real place. “Emerald Green,” a song for the Pacific Northwest, by Vixy & Tony
Popped into my head when I was trying to write something entirely else. I liked the idea of some immortal, shape-changing creature and her view of our quaint cultural conventions.
Good, old-fashioned shapeshifting feminism.
Lyrics and chords available here