Oceanstone's Theory

[bnewman]

This song sets out one of the foundational myths of the Storytellers' World, an original fantasy setting. Zoe Mulford's original song, "The Street That Wasn't There", could practically be set in that world already, which is one reason why the first verse is so little changed. The identity of Professor Oceanstone (or, if you think that's too easy, why his name is "Oceanstone") is left as an exercise.

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto: "The Street That Wasn't There" by Zoe Mulford

listen to this song

/ C Am7 Am F / C Am7 F G / 1st / F G - C /

 

Oh, the scribes that make the road maps, they work with great precision

To register the changes since the previous edition

They chart out the coordinates of every park and square

And, to prove which guild prepared it, they add a street that isn't there

 

So spoke Professor Oceanstone, with a twinkle of desire

A nonexistent street would be a nice place to retire

But to steer well clear of paradox, the changes must be small

So the wider world won't notice the discrepancy at all

 

It would take some kind of chutzpah to conceal a larger change

A city or a country, an entire mountain range

That was once believed impassable, 'til the railways came along

I've studied many maps, he said; this map — our world — is wrong!

 

/ G - F CG / - - F G / F C G Am / F G - C /

 

You may remember your classical mythology

How'd our world get from how it was to how it seems to be?

These threads are not unbroken — you can see where they've been spliced

Our world is just a fairy tale whose end was written twice

 

From classical mythology comes the tale of Vel and Ked

Who invented scripts for writing down what once was sung or said

Vel wrote down when and who and why, Ked where and what and how

The same six simple questions scribes still study here and now

 

Vel served the noble houses, and Ked served the guilds of trade

The scribal schools they started were where history was made

But they could not agree on anything, and it wasn't long before

The Velai and the Kedai overturned the world in war

 

In one awful final battle, they paid the bitter cost

The best of both sides perished and their secret arts were lost

'Til the last of their descendants — one of Ked and one of Vel —

Decided this disaster wouldn't be the tale they'd tell

 

You may remember your classical mythology...

 

To avert the great catastrophe required a change of scene —

The war could not have happened if the mountains lay between

I see now how they did it, muttered Oceanstone, and laughed

Our world is not another world, it's just a second draft!

 

Philology, cartography, they'll both be overturned

If I can just find certain proof of what I think I've learned

If only archaeologists look here, or here, or here

I'm too old for new adventures — so your assignment should be clear

 

And that is where you'll find us now, grad students in the field

Rechecking our Professor's notes to see what they might yield

And translating old inscriptions on the loss of paradise

To prove our world's a fairy tale whose end was written twice