For Annika

[bnewman]

Elvis Costello's "Veronica" is strangely peppy for a song about dementia. This parody is also about a woman who has left behind the memories that go with a name, a name that rhymes with "Veronica" — and indeed more of the vowel patterning of the original song has been preserved than is typical of my parodies.

listen to this song

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto: "Veronica" by Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney

 

/ CF CG / / / FG C4C /

 

Is it all in that cybernetic head of yours?

What goes on in that place in the dark?

Well there once was a girl and I could have sworn

That her name was Annika

 

But they gave her the error-free mind of a drone

And a silicon tool in her eye

These days I'm afraid she's not even sure

If her name was Annika

 

/: Dm DmM7 / Dm7 G :/ F - / F#dim7 - / GF EmG / /

 

In her repose she rests her hands and eyes

Bionic parts re-energize

And wonders how the captain knows

That name she shed so long ago

For Annika?  For Annika?

 

Will the doctor's kindness rewire her brain?

Can a drone trade a frown for a smile?

Will you wake from the dream of a raven's black wings

Reaching out for Annika?

 

Well it was all of seventeen years ago

She was only a sweet little kid

When a young couple flew on a ship into space

With a daughter named Annika

 

/ Am Fm - / Bb - C - / Am - Fm - / Bb - !! /

 

They were Federation scientists

They rashly chose to spy upon the Borg

And searched among the drones in vast bleak cubes

But they never made it out again...

 

In her repose...

 

Bionic, she stands in her dimly-lit lair

And she stands very quiet and still

And they call her a name she knew once on a time

As if that were the key to her free will

 

But she used to have the error-free mind of a drone

With a silicon tool in her eye

She says: You can call me Seven of Nine

I'm a long way from Annika

 

In her repose...

Oh, for Annika?