Rachel says:
I was so excited to get to set these lyrics of Janet's to music it took me a long time to get out of my own way, but here it is!
First off, a note. This song gets big and high, so there are a few moments of feedback I tried to mitigate, but limited tech means, well, no limiter haha.
I've had to make friends with The Destroyer in my life. She's blazed in and out, it feels like multiple times, though she might just have been dancing around. And yet, she has always left me in a better place than when she came, so singing this felt like a prayer of thanks.
I went full on operatic partially because that's how Janet originally heard my voice, and because I know she loves female opera voices, and also because I felt that it served the story. The vocals needed to have the flexibility of recitative and soaring melody both. The piano resolutely refused to be in minor. In fact, there is only one minor chord in the whole thing, and a major chord in the bridge that doesn't belong to the key, but it wouldn't leave, or modulate, so it's there.
Thank you so much to Janet for her lyrics! I think I only tweaked some tenses and how many times some things got repeated.
Destroyer, Destroyer, Destroyer, Destroyer
Does the seed of each new creation
Not feed on the bones of what is now?
Does the seed of each new creation
Not feed on the bones of what is now?
On the bones of what is now?
On the bones of what is now?
Once upon a time
Into the frozen cold of an endless tundra
A peace so still and quiet
Even the howling wind could not break
I came
Destroyer, Destroyer, Destroyer, Destroyer
Does the seed of each new creation
Not feed on the bones of what is now?
Does the seed of each new creation
Not feed on the bones of what is now?
On the bones of what is now?
So small at first
A tiny jewel
Dug deep within the frozen heart
Sleeping, now biding
I waited
Destroyer, Destroyer, Destroyer
Does the seed of each new creation
Not feed on the bones of what is now?
On the bones...
With each flicker of warmth
My tendrils spread
First one place
And then another
Drinking deep of the dribbling damp I grew
There was no stopping me now
There was no denying me now
The seed began it all
And life once started abounds....
Destroyer!
Does the seed of each new creation
Not feed on the bones of what is now?
Does the seed of each new creation
Not feed on the bones of what is now?
On the bones of what is now?
On the bones of what is now?
Green now flourished across
The once stark white plain
Stirring in the chilling breeze
Alone and quiet no more
I thrive!
@ductapeguy Mar 2022
That is beautiful and haunting. Such a great collab. I just wish we could get back in the same circles again so that I could hear your wonderful voices.
@janetjulian Feb 2022
Wow!! I can’t say that’s what I expected to go with these lyrics, but the power and drama of it really blew me away, and both the voice and the piano drew me in and captured me as it unfolded. You really portrayed the story and as you say, I do adore a good operatic soprano. Thank you so much for really running with it!