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MacGoldfinger: a murder ballad

by Veronica Barron

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about

I was given a randomly assigned Shakespeare/James Bond mashup title and asked to write a new song. The resulting tune is not exactly a Bond-style song—it came out as more of an Americana murder ballad about class privilege, systemic injustice, and murder. (Whoops.)

If you'd like to hear a whole album of Boston-local Bond/Bard mashup songs, check out the "From Denmark, With Love" album here: www.vaqueroplayground.com/fdwlalbum.html

Music, lyrics, and vocals: Veronica Barron
Guitar: Max Newman
Bass: Anthony Leva
Drums: Raky Sastri
Fiddle: David Delaney

(c) 2013 Veronica Barron

lyrics

LYRICS:
I once knew a man
He earned the bread it took to feed his hungry body with his body and his hands
and
all the while his heart beat beat with red blood

Across the way, a second man
You could tell that gold had often passed right through his hands
and
I believe it seeped seeped into his blood

CHORUS:
Oh, the blood, the blood, you can't wash away the blood
The blood, the blood, you can't wash away the blood

Well, each worked his land
Some years they both did well; some years the weather made it hell for any man
any man
but the golden man seemed to glow with gold

Oh! The way that he’d stand,
He seemed to occupy the volume of his body in a way that held command
and
I believe his arteries and veins, they flowed with gold instead of blood and

CHORUS

One night the red-blooded man
After his crops had failed, well, he let out an anguished wail, and oh, it ran
deeper than
deeper than his teeth skin marrow or blood

He went to the golden man
said everything you do, I do it too, but all my soil turns to sand
and
I believe your life's seen nothing but gold

CHORUS

Thus replied the golden man:
I work real hard, the same as you, though I've been lucky to receive a hand
and
I've been given gifts where you've received loans.

Everybody shakes my hand,
But my fathers fathers got their gold they bought and sold things that were not theirs to command
and
when I think I'm sick, sick down to my bones

CHORUS

Replied the red-blooded man
I thought that I could be someday the same as you; I see now that I can't
I can't.
But I also see that neither can you

And although he had never planned
To take another's life, he gave a cry and took his knife into his hand
and
And his blade was sharp sharp swift as it was true.

CHORUS

Oh, the blood on his hands
The golden man lay dead and his poor neighbor cradled his head into his hands
and
He began to weep weep sorrowful moans.

He cried, oh, brother man
I never envied you the lot you drew, the only thing I wanted that you had
that you had
Was the golden glow ran down to your bones.
Was the golden glow that seemed to flow in you as naturally as blood and

CHORUS X2

Oh my friends, oh my friends
I don't know what to say o-of the way injustice digs inside a man
a man
deeper than his teeth skin marrow or blood

But I do understand
From this sad tale sing, it seems that justice ain't a thing you can demand
demand
Though you can feel it deep deep down in your blood.

credits

released May 1, 2013
Photo credit: Daniel Chodusov under CC license
(creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/)

license

all rights reserved

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about

Veronica Barron image

Veronica Barron Cambridge, Massachusetts

Sound Shadows is a collaborative of Veronica Barron (theater artist, puppeteer, storyteller, singer), Julia Friend (banjo player, singer, visual artist), and Rebecca McGowan (Irish and percussive dancer).

Knitting together dance and music, visual imagery and song, light and shadow, Sound Shadows draws details into relief and shows the unseen. ... more

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