Feyfire

[bnewman]

This song is a parody of, and my response to, "Chickasaw Mountain", Leslie Fish's tribute to Phil Ochs.  Phil was a brilliant singer/songwriter who lived and died with bipolar disorder, and Leslie's song imagines the madness that drove his meteoric rise and meteoric fall as the fruit of a terrible magical bargain.  It's a powerful and evocative song, but I doubt it's the story Phil himself would have told.  As a singer/songwriter who also lives with bipolar disorder and survived, it falls to me to tell my own story my own way.

lyrics by Benjamin Newman
ttto: "Chickasaw Mountain" by Leslie Fish

listen to this song

/ Am C D E / - E7 Am E / Am FC G CG / F G E - / - FG Am - /

 

High up on a mountain, or deep beneath the earth

You'll find a hallowed hollow where a lady tends a hearth

Name your desire, then look to the fire

Who knows, what you wish might come true

If only you see it through

 

/ Am FDm G E / Am G E - / - E7 Am - /

 

Be most wary, she's of the faery

And so is the fire that she keeps

And some such things are better left asleep

 

Now watch and you'll witness a world of wondrous things

Shapes the fire shows of the songs the lady sings

What comes of the vision, well, that's your decision

So treasure the truths that you learn

And remember that fire can burn

 

Once you've been there, that fire is in there

A certain strange light in the soul

And sometimes it gets hard to keep control

 

As the feyfire flickers, it turns even night to day

And some souls can't muster the will to turn away

As the vision grows stranger, so grows the danger

So gaze deep and long, but don't touch

You don't want to shine that much

 

Grasp it tighter, it burns that much brighter

Then it goes up in a flash

And everything it touches turns to ash

 

It's not safe for mortals to fan such fires themselves

That's far better left to the gods and to the elves

Still you can tend it if you befriend it

And promise to keep it with care

Be watchful and beware

 

Once you've learned how not to get burned

Don't let it blow out in the breeze

You'll be just as finished if you freeze

 

Those born to this burden, for better or for worse

Can turn to a blessing what others call a curse

I've been where you are, and I've made it this far

Bearing that fire in my hand

Trying to understand

 

Know what's in you and you can continue

Even when burnt to the bone

And you don't have to walk that way alone