Song Challenge! Part 4

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 06 Feb 00 - 05:39 PM

Well, Amos didn't let the moss grow on him while the 'Cat was down. He sent me another entry for the Challenge!, a charming song all about ectoplasmic ecstasy entitled 'Before The Ball.' Go check out this newest winner of the Golden Cow Chip with Shamrock Crest on the SONG CHALLENGE! WINNERS page. And I've also changed a couple of the illustrations, too!

-- Áine

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 05:58 PM

I have doggerel in the sausage machine but the power's off while I am out catering to my daughter's needs for corsages -- and Friso needs antibiotics at the vet's and so on and so forth; I think I like virtual existence better! (sigh)

Soon,

A

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 05:58 PM

I have doggerel in the sausage machine but the power's off while I am out catering to my daughter's needs for corsages -- and Friso needs antibiotics at the vet's and so on and so forth; I think I like virtual existence better! (sigh)

Soon,

A

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Mbo
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 02:40 PM

Thanks for that, Áine! It gives me hope!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 01:00 PM

Mbo, darlin', come over here to Mama and sit down. Let me tell you a little story:

The reason I thought this challenge story would be fun is that I met my dear hubby by answering his advert in the personals. We met on St. Patrick's Day (yes, very appropos!) and it was love at first sight -- I saw a fella in the parking lot of the restaurant and *knew* that was HIM, and he saw me in the same parking lot and he *knew* that I was HER. We got married five months later. In our first year of marriage, he lost his job, I got pregnant, and our house nearly burned down. If we didn't have the ability to laugh at the absurdity of life, we couldn't have made it this far (13 years in August). Being able to find humour where no one else can, is, in my very humble opinion, the *only* way to make a good relationship better and make it last for a very long time -- maybe even forever. So, there you go, dear Mbo. Life's a hoot -- so hoot right along with it and you'll be a much happier, healthier person!

-- Áine

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Mbo
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 12:08 PM

I don't know Áine, this isn't the kind of thing I can take humorously. It's far too important to make fun of.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 11:35 AM

Ok guys, enough of making everyone get all 'gerflekht'!! Let's pick up the pace and 'throw off the winding sheet' (yet another vague reference to another thread...) and write something funny. Put on your Arnold Schwartzenegger hats and let's see something that rhymes with 'I'll be back' or 'Hasta la vista, baby'. It's a double dog dare now . . . be there or be square!! I want to see a bonafide Golden Cow Chip with Shamrock Crest winner.

Ready, set, now WRITE! -- Áine (who has no choice, she's run out of tissues!)

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Mbo
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 11:21 AM

**Sigh** What a great poem/song, Amos. I think I'm going to memorize it.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 09:17 AM

Well, that's a relief. Thought I'd get bounced for being an ofay mouuse in poiple tights.

Sure, Annie Machree, take it away.

A

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 08:56 AM

Dear Liz,

Me thinks thou protest too much! No one who bakes like you do could be so unromantic -- food is the spur to action and the balm for cares, and a good cook is a person with a warm heart and smart hands. So, peshaw to your call for cynicism, my good woman, *we* know you liked Amos' poem!

-- Áine

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 08:43 AM

Dear Amos,

I am breathless, and therefore, speechless, after reading your poem. Mere adjectives cannot do it justice, so I won't try to apply them. Know that I felt your words move and heard your thoughts speaking. I would be very proud to include your poem in the Songbook, with your kind permission. Very well done, my friend.

-- Áine

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 02:48 AM

OOOhhhhh, Puuuleeeeese, where has the cynicism gone? If you were going to be hitched to a person you had never seen before, wouldn't you be a little cynical? When it happened over here in the UK (there was the small matter of a £500,000 house and luxury lifestyle attached) they were seperated after less than 6 months! Besides, I can't cope with all that mushy stuff at this time on a Saturday, when I'm supposed to be finding my car tax forms......!

LTS, who is about as romantic as your average stone.....

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: JenEllen
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 01:58 AM

Aw fellas, you make the ladies laugh, you make the ladies cry.....Aine, can I please have a tissue?

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 01:23 AM

The Night Before We Met

 
 

(This song does not have a tune; not, anyway, one which can be played on a guitar or banjo.

The song is not sung as the voice sings; it is not heard as the ear hears.

 It is a song from a different place, a dimension, if you will, where you, and I, and our friends reside, where we hear each other singing when the damp weight of our bodies slumps in safely stored piles across the dark land,

This is a song from the dimensions where we speak to those we love, no matter the hour, distance, or delicacy of thought

In that place, there are no false songs.  No voice is ever misheard there. The nature of the place and its occupants is too close to truth itself, in fact, for sorry alterations and confusions to take up residence there.

The amplified coarse complexities of  carnate life give way, there,  to the simple clarion behind all noises; the kindest knowing note there is to hear: the love and attention which  emanates from one being to another with no questions possible.)
 
 

Male thought (Gerhard):

Is it not you that I have heard in the nights most quiet passage?
Is it not you who has sent to me a light to guide me?
Is it not the truth you have sent me, simply and of no question?
Is this not love, before all other forms are made?

Female thought (Martina):

I have been speaking to you, in the night's gentlest rising.
I have sent to you hope, which will be a path for you.
I have sent you all the truth I am, as a gift to give you
From this I would see you make all the forms of living.

Chorus:

I have not seen your face, or ever shared breathing with you
We have not striven together. How then is it that I know you?
I have never touched your shape,  in the world's mad whirling hours
I understand we are joined in other places; we are lovers.

Male thought (Gerhard):

Among  the forms where living is, would I presume?
IWhere time is measuring each breath, what would I dare think?
I would be confounded a hundred times before I could say a thought aloud!
Delicate tendrils ­ the life-fires in me ­ shatter by the second there.

Female thought (Martina):

Man without name, show me the forms where they lie broken.
These I will take away; new ones will you create.
We are sharing fire now, a truth I know, and you will discover.
Come ye, I know you are hearing every word!

Chorus: (Together)

I have not seen your face, or ever shared breathing with you
We have not striven together. How then is it that I know you?
I have never touched your shape,  in the world's mad whirling hours
I understand we are joined in other places; now, we are lovers.
 

Male thought (Gerhard):

I send you clear fire; it will always warm you
Will you take it in and return it redoubled so?
Answers tonight are instants, but there
I will answer you if it takes forever.

Female thought (Martina):

I see the white diamond waters of you reaching;
Here, I return them ten times over.
By the light spray of their crashing discoveries
You will know me knowing you, once forever.

Chorus: (Together)

I have not seen your face, or ever shared breathing with you
We have not striven together. How then is it that I know you?
I have never touched your shape,  in the world's mad whirling hours
I understand we are joined in other places; now, we are lovers.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 05 Feb 00 - 01:20 AM

Prelude:

It is a mystery how it came to pass that this man
and this woman knew
That their paths were, in fact crossed, and not
some crude ricochet in the madding world .

To answer this question you will have to step with me briefly
Beyond the normal frames of our confortable lives
And just outside the space of space, the time of time

But if you will do so, you will have the answer
And, I promise, you will be right back

Though you may never be the same again!

If you have the courage to accept this quick step outside
The song next here will open the passage there

A

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:59 PM

Perhaps . . . well, I would have felt *really* bad after I'd knocked that fella on his bum, if I'd gotten half the chance, that is . . .

-- Áine

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:55 PM

Aw, AIne, you're such a romantic your own self -- for all your fire and passion, a sparrow could stop you dead in your tracks just by winking at you right. Maybe your song should have been called, "I'm as Texan as My Irish Heart Will Let Me Be" :>)

A

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:43 PM

Title received, noted, and posted. Good job!

OK, the rest of you wonderful CHALLENGE!RS -- let's get to work -- I'm hoping someone comes up with a funny one -- this kid just gets to me somehow . . .

-- Áine (reaching for yet another tissue)

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Mbo
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:24 PM

I think I'll call it "Love Unexpected."

--Mbo

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:23 PM

Dearest Amos,

Two observations:

1) No one is even suggesting that your Golden Cow Chip(s) be repossessed -- that is, unless you have been participating in cow chip tossing contests, which is strictly against the rules . . .

2) Those were some beautiful reflections on the highest state of human (bi-pedal) existence -- now, go sit down somewhere quiet and make all that rhyme!

An Chlabóg Rua, Áine

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:21 PM

I have until Saturday night, right? Or Sunday? I really want some time to think about this business.

You guys keep me grinning, I must allow!

A

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:13 PM

Well Mbo, if that isn't a winner of the Golden Cow Chip with Harp Ribbon, I don't know what is! Well done, indeed. Give me a title so I can finish putting on the SONG CHALLENGE! WINNERS page, please.

-- Áine (looking for another tissue)

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Mbo
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:12 PM

Amen to that, brother Amos!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:03 PM

Stump??? STUMP??? I don't see any stump around here. I was just working on a CD index preparation, and taking my lady to dinner after a long week. Sheeshe! Turn your back for five minutes and they want their cowpie back...no, no stumping.

No, I am just reflecting on the mysteries of love in its many disguises, and how it shows up like groundwater, often where you least expect it. Sometimes it pops up in the middle of the desert. You can't order it up, or fool yourself about it, because it can be lethal so to do.

You can learn its ways one day and have it fool you the next.

It is the most constant element in the universe when it is genuine, but has dashed more hopes than fool's gold itself.

It is a deep-running, metastasizing miracle, is what it is, and I (like every male biped before me) am just deeply perplexed by it. We didn't have it back on Mars, where I come from :>)...

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 10:57 PM

Dang, Mbo, you sure are a Romantic, no mistake. Nicely done.

A

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Mbo
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 10:55 PM

Yikes, this one strikes a little close to home.

I thought it such a foolish thing, but I just could not resist
It was certainly the most uncommon way to find the love I'd missed
So I put myself into it, though quite a joke to me
But I never dreamed in a million years how serious it would be

They said they'd found the girl for me, and how it made me smile
For there hadn't been one on my face for such a long long while
They told me a little about her, that she was beautiful to see
And though I'd never met her, I felt she was the one for me

So what had started as a joke had now become quite real
I'd found I was in love with her--how bright it made me feel
She became my inspiration--she was why I'd worked so long
And I knew down in my heart the way I felt could not be wrong

They let me speak to her just once, and oh! for pity's sake
I could not get the words out, and my hands began to shake
"Will you...will you marry me?" I then heard myself say
And when she said "Yes" I felt the sun smile down on me that day

And so before the masses, sightless they bring us now
They perform the ceremony, we seal it with a vow
We then were given back our sight--and the sight of her made me sing
I took her trembling hand in mine and then slipped on the ring

I took her in, for all she was, her beauty and her mind
And she said she'd felt the same way about me all the time
Then I said "So here we are, with a love no one can sever
After such an agonizing wait, I've come home to you forever."


--Mbo

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 10:45 PM

Gee Whiz, everybody! Is it just because it's Friday night, or did I actually stump you all? Or are you just exhausted from Challenges 1-3?

-- Áine

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 08:52 PM

Sounds like the makings of a Greek Tragedy there.

"Oedipus, Schmedipus - what does it matter, so long as he loves his mother!"

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 08:01 PM

Oh, Mbo get angry, Mbo get mad!
Give her the toughest song that she's ever had!
Cuz your a Real Man, really A He Man!
Mbo Show the CHallenge GIrl what you can do! Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!

SInce it's in Las Vegas maybe you should style it on Your CHeatin Heart...

Subject: RE: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Mbo
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 07:56 PM

My Lord, this is not the sort of thing my aching heart can take right now! But let me think about it....

--Mbo

Subject: SONG CHALLENGE! Part 4
From: Áine
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 07:49 PM

OK, SONG CHALLENGE!RS, here's the newest challenge, just in time for your weekend. Put on your best "Terminator" accent and go for it!!! Let's write these happy folks (volks) a song they can sing on their anniversaries to come:

Gerhard Spitz and Martina Steindorf, both of Germany, were married in a Las Vegas casino recently in a "masked wedding." The pair were the winners of a radio contest in Germany where listeners matched the most compatible and most popular couple. The couple had only spoken once before the wedding, when the groom proposed to the bride on-air before they were flown to Las Vegas for their wedding. At the ceremony, the couple were masked until they were pronounced husband and wife. The groom then kissed the shaking bride, saying "It's fate that we are joined." The happy kids honeymooned in California, where the groom said "We're going to get acquainted."

-- Áine