Transcendence

[bnewman]

A duet for Ravna and Pham from A Fire Upon the Deep.

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto "The Ocean" by Dar Williams

( G - Em - / A - D - - - )

 

/ G - Em - - - / A - D - / G - Em - / A - Bm G / A Bm / 1st /

 

I was raised on a world in the heart of Beyond

And all through my years, I was warned, I was warned of Transcendence

We knew it was risky

 

Out in the Transcend, minds expand, minds can blend

But who knows how they'll bend?

You might become something you wouldn't know

 

/ A - D - / G - A - / - - F#m /

 

Oh, that's what Transcendence can do to a body

And that's when I came to this town

This town is a song about you

 

/ G A Bm G / A Bm G A / Bm G A Em - / A - D ... /

 

You don't know how human you are

You don't know how much I adore you

You are a welcoming back from Transcendence

 

I went down to the ocean today

With my HUDs and net links, I sat down to think by the ocean

But disaster struck quickly

 

Oh, the Blight shouted: What are you trying to find

I don't care, I'm not kind

I have swallowed your planets, polluted their meme-space!

 

Oh, it's ashes to ashes, Blight rotting this town

But the Blight still can't strike at this ship

Oh, this ship is a song about you

 

You don't know how human you are

You don't know how much I adore you

You are a welcoming back from Transcendence

 

/ G - A Bm / / / / G - Em - / A - D - /

 

The Network is screaming, the rumors are flying

Fanatics are scheming, my people are dying

I just want to cry, I don't want to be brave

But the galaxy's frying and no one can save it

No one except you, and me, and our friends...

 

But the friends that we trusted so well

Are the ones that get swallowed up whole

 

I have a good and I have an evil

Does that god in your head really mean you feel nothing?

Please, let me welcome you back from Transcendence—

 

I didn't lock them away.

I wanted to find out if you were more man, or Power

So, about our companions...

 

I brought them to you, look at me, look at them

With their salt up the stem

But you frowned when I smiled, and you continued to blame them

 

You said: This is no time for human compassion

You said: Don't you know we're at war!

Yeah, human compassion's what I'm fighting for—

 

You don't know how precious you are

Dancing around with your little minds twinkling

I am the one who lives with Transcendence

 

That's what I'm becoming, you know

And it's too late for me to turn back

 

/ " / " /[1. Bm G A D :/[2. Bm G A Bm / G A Bm Em - / A - D ... /

 

At the end of the day, at the edge of the Slowness

Walk to the ocean, rise up by our bootstraps

Wade in our workboots, try to finish the job

 

You don't know how precious / human you are 

I am the one who lives with Transcendence 

You don't know how / I am the one

You don't know how / I am the one