Acerca de
Mountain Myths
I was asked by a "Reggie Lafleur" (Art-preneur) to do an artist-in-residence in Nelson B.C., at the Big Yellow House project, explaining it was an artists-helping- artists scene and wanted to create some opportunities to support new work.
So I did! During October/November 2022 I spent a month researching and working on this show.
I wanted to highlight a voice of the land among a variety of stories.
7 original songs and images tell the stories in a unique way.
The show runs just under 25 minutes.
Special Thanks: to: Incoming Theatre Festival for presenting it, Lauren Jerke for Dramaturgy and Directing, Casey Colwill (caseylcolwill@gmail.com) for voicing Gretchen, Jeni Luther(@jeniloothair - Instagram) for the visual designs, as well as Robin Brownright, and Yolannah Diakiw. Images and film clips from The Pre-linger Archives and other photo's from Lost Kootenay (facebook page.)
Mini Glossary:
Tynemouth:- a Brideship that sailed 100 days from The UK to Victoria, B.C, in 1862. :
Sandon- a silver mining town in the Kootenays that is now another ghost town left in the wake of the gold and mining rush.
Here's the list of song charts, short descriptions and the lyrics for each...
Gold dust ( I was inspired by all the different types gold diggers and snake oil salesmen that chase them on what seems to be an endless merry -go-round)
Gold dust
Am C
Mail order bride
Em
miles from home
Am
Leaning on a fencepost
Em
looking down a gravel road
Am C
Over graves
Em
Muddy boots and muddy trails
Am
bridges rising
F Dm
under steaming rails
C G Am Em
Out for gold
F G Dm Em
Out for gold
C G Am Em
dust creeps in
F G Dm Em Am
Like a riders ghost
Am C
Threats and threads
Em
Picking holes
Am
Snake oil salesmen
F G
Silver tongues of coal
Chorus Dm Em A7
G A D
Bm
**Instrumental Break**
E7
Chorus riff in Bm F#7
Bm D
men erode
F#m
Drilling hills to the bone
Bm
Poison water
G A
Sleeping in the snow
Bm D
grandfather clock
F#m
6 bells and in the field
Bm G A
Tilling crops for someone else to steal, who’s
D A Bm F#m
Out for gold
G A Em F#m
Out for gold
D A Bm F#m
dust creeps in
G A F#7
Like a riders ghost
The last water dragon - My friend Yolannah was telling me about people who have drowned in Kootenay Lake but their bodies were never recovered. There is some mystery around it and this song was inspired thinking about the ones lost in the endless deep.
Capo 2 - drop D
Am
Gold and skeletons
Em Am
In the endless deep
F
Get the boat on the water
G
And down below
F
to the caves, glittering so
G
that you dive in low
Am F G
Oh the depth, way it turns, turns and curves and sways
Am Dm G
always upside down when you lost your way
Am
To the gold and skeletons
Em Am
In the endless deep
F
All the boats washed ashore
g
brothers long ago
Down with the last water dragon
And his lair of gold…
Am F G
Oh the depth, way it turns, turns and curves and sways
Am Dm G
always upside down when you lost your way
Am
Gold and skeletons
Em Am
In the endless deep
Dm G
lost ones in the lake
Dm G
lost ones in the lake
Em Am
Miles below ivory peaks
Am
Gold and skeletons
Em Am
In the endless deep
Am
Gold and skeletons
Em Am
In the endless deep
All for Gold _ I was reading the auto-biography of Nancy Greene ( an Olympic Skier from Rossland) and I was inspired by what she said about the Olympics between the 1964 and the 1968 and how they'd changed for the worse.
Dm/f
made the sacred a circus
Dollars for soul
made the sacred a circus
All for the gold
C G
Spectacle of winners and losers at war
Dm/f
made the sacred a circus
Dollars for gold
C
a name you can hold
Gm
In your mind like a medal (candle)
C
and a name you can hold
Bb
In your heart like gold
Dm
They made the sacred a circus
Dollars for soul
They made the sacred a circus
All for the gold
Spectacle of winners and losers at war
They made the sacred a circus
All for the gold
C
First out on steep run
Gm
carousel of champions
C
Put on a good one
Bb
Sell out the stands
High Plateau (I went to an event called the 'Dance of the Ancestors' while I was in Nelson and had a strange experience of being danced at one point.) I wrote a poem about it which morphed into this song
Chorus
danced
I was sung
In the hills
pine and honey
I was wrung
By the storm
I was danced
By the memory
I was sung
Oh the river
Cooling to the bones
squealing in
To a burning rush
High plateau
Where old hymns echo
fading into the dusk
Chorus
High plateau
Where old hymns echo
fading into dusk
Old shadows
folds of the moon
age old wounds
man and son
Chorus
High plateau
Where old hymns echo
fading into dusk
Shadow and the Flame ( mob mentality and the damage there in - always interesting to write a song like this while imagining life back in the gold rush days)
Ma waits sleeping by the hearth
for Percy and the Wagon
Gold letters on brown leather book
Fallen on her chest
Shadow and the flame
Ashes and the rain
down at the coach stop
he dried out by the fire
Wagon wheel broke in the ditch
Damn horse thru a shoe
Shadow and the flame
Ashes and the rain
Hannah doles the evening stew
Tends to all the fires
Since her parents left her there
When she was a child
Shadow and the flame
Ashes and the rain
By the next sunrise
Hannahs body black and
blue found dead and torn
One thing they knew
She was last seen in the barn
helping re-shoe a horse
Sportsmen raised their torches
Carrying their pitchforks
chased down Percys wagon
Left the Vultures his remains
Shadow and the flame
Ashes and the rain
While Ma waited miles away
No tea no flour no sugar
Fainted at the news that came
and never did recover
Shadow and the flame
Ashes and the rain
The culprit got away
took a lantern
down the miners trail
back to working on his claim
no one could recall his name
Shadow and the flame
Ashes and the rain
A shadow in the flame
Ashes in the rain
Miner's Ghost ( musing on the ones who hole up in the hills dreaming of their payday come what may)
Been a long dry season
the hills rust and bone
oh we're all hoping to see you
before the end of season comes
been climbing all these hillsides
cross the old river bridge
got a new claim for digging
going to make my riches yet
while they all go down to dance hall
all join in on the song
they'll find their share of heartwarming
when the end of season comes
for tonight I'll light up my campfire
sing a high lonesome song
oh we're all waiting for something
when that end of season comes
Battle song- I wrote this one thinking about the choices one makes to create their own way, Little everyday things, big reno's or big changes., picking your battles...
Battle Song
Maybe the soulshine
Will finally come back
Over the empty bank
Plans that have gone bad
There by the gravel
Off to the side
forgotten ballads
And a lost desire
Under the dust
of a torn down wall
And a paint chip trail
Going down the hall
Sunrise wish of the dawn
Rewrite your battle song
Sunrise wish of the dawn
Rewrite your battle song
tea in the shade
Pen the songs to sing
And out in the fields
plant your offering
Soft glare of headlights
On a tear stained face
Living to pay for
the time that you waste
Sunrise wish of the dawn
Rewrite your battle song
Sunrise wish of the dawn
Rewrite your battle song
Under the dust
of a torn down wall
And a paint chip trail
down the hall
Soft glare of headlights
On a tear stained face
Living to pay for
the time that you waste
Sunrise wish of the dawn
Rewrite your battle song
Sunrise wish of the dawn
Rewrite your battle song
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