Back in 2008, doing a ”Thing-a-Week” was all the rage. D.J. was writing weekly through a project that he called Monkey, Monster or Spaceman. Debs, who had painstakingly written her first songs in February 2007 and then wrote absolutely nothing for the rest of the year decided to launch “Monday’s Music”, with the goal of writing and recording one song every week in 2008. This was way easier said than done. D.J. got tired of her lamenting about the creative process and offered to help her by writing her some lyrics.
lyrics
It was Graduation Day at the Wizardry School,
The students stood, waiting a-shiver
For the Beastmaster and the familiars he’d brought,
None knew just what he might deliver:
To an earnest young lass at the head of the class
He provided a young pseudodragon;
To another, a bat; one proud boy a black cat,
Then a white wolf with his tail a-waggin’
He cried: “Ho, hee, now listen to me,
A familiar’s much more than a friend –
Fur, feather, or scale,
To the tip of your tale,
They’re the ones you stick with to the end.“
As he moved to the midst of the Wizardry list
The familiars were more variegated:
Griffin, serpent and roc, raven (“nevermore”), weasel
or hawk,
Child and creature were interrelated,
He cried, “La, lee, now listen to me,
You’ll be closer than husband and wife –
From the legs of your frog
To the hair of your dog,
You’ve a match for the rest of your life.“
Near the end of the line he was heard to opine,
“I’d not known the class size had inflated,”
He turned for these mages to the furthermost cages
Where the strangest bestiary awaited:
A young boy with red hair he led to an Owlbear,
To another he handed an Illithid,
Delver, Flail Snail and Grick, Monkey Bee and Mimic,
Giant Beaver and a small Shocking Lizard,
He cried, “Woe is me, now you cubs let me be!
‘Tis these beasts you’ll be bound to for aye,
You may find as you grow,
Best the tentacle you know,
Now you’re joined ’til the day that you die.“
On that Graduation Day at the Wizardry School,
Then they gathered the class in a round,
Each one clutching, or clutched by, a familiar their own,
And the chimes for the combat did sound:
(EPIC BATTLE SEQUENCE)
At the end rose a rube on a Gelatinous Cube,
Splashed with crimson and green and vermillion,
And as he rode away to the last light of day
They all said, “His was the Most Familiar.”
credits
from Songs in the Key of Geek,
released April 13, 2012
Lyrics by D.J. Sylvis
Music by Debs
Performed by Debs & Errol
Beastmaster Combatants: Alina Isaac, Chris Adams, D.J. Sylvis, Erik Didriksen, Judy Chung, Kristian Børresen & Grete Børresen Hope, Peter Watkinson, Susan Sergeant, Tamara Hecht.
supported by 6 fans who also own “Beastmaster's Cry (A Familiar Refrain)”
There are so many lovely songs on this double album, but E.S.B. helped me through my own troubles - with my change in career, with my divorce, and with ending a number of toxic friendships. kanashiiichigo