Point taken! There have been opinions expressed that it's difficult to appreciate a song when you go in not even knowing the background or universe in which it's set. I have the framework of a narrative in my head, but that doesn't mean everyone shares it. So I think it's time to write the opening number. There are always things in an opening number that you won't fully understand until later, but you don't NEED to know anything else about the show at the time you hear it. Maybe you heard rumors about an alien invasion?
So what I'm doing is just introducing characters. A man with a sandwich board yelling about the end of the world plays a similar role to the same guy in "Watchmen", and with about as much relevance to the story.
A woman is excited about her place in the world and hopes nothing changes. A man is situationally depressed and wouldn't mind so much if the world blew up. And we get the POV of an alien on his way to attack, who doesn't really buy into the mission or care so much about the outcome or his crew. These three people will factor into future songs (Daniel sings "Your Name"), but all we know for now is the beginning perspectives, setting a launch point for their story arcs. What will happen?
So much fun musically. Of course the two main humans with opposite outlooks go together in counterpoint over the same harmonies, but with Daniel's more muddied to reflect despair. The Sandwich Board Man has a more subtle foreshadowing of the chromaticism in "Purple Dot", when the refugees' journey's end is nigh. Globron's section starts out with a military cadence (in 12, to represent the aliens' base-12 number system) but immediately falls into a more casual funk beat to show how he differs from his surroundings.
All sections add a characteristic instrument; then at the end when they overlay these instruments all come together with the voices to bring it all home. Does it work?
lyrics
EXT. CITY PARK COURTYARD - MIDDAY
A bustling center-city park, think Washington Square or Rittenhouse Square. A man with a sandwich board yells out his message while pedestrians walk in all directions.
SANDWICH BOARD MAN
The end is nigh!
The world is dying as we sing,
Angels crying to their kingdom in the sky:
The end is nigh!
AMANDA
What a perfect day, the kind that can wash away
Apathy and turn the double play
Of being seen and being liked. Hey, that’s me: so psyched, feelin’ cray-cray.
On this perfect day, nothing standing in my way.
Oh, “the end is nigh”? That tired cliché,
More like the end is “nah”. Get out now just because it’s time to shout:
Don’t hold the applause for me ‘cause I’m on top today!
ELIZABETH
Mandy!
AMANDA
Liz!
ELIZABETH
What are you doing out in the middle of the day?
AMANDA
Grabbing lunch. I wanted to see how things taste as a SENIOR DIRECTOR, BITCH!!!
ELIZABETH
No!
AMANDA
Yes!
ELIZABETH
No!
AMANDA
Yes!
ELIZABETH
No!
AMANDA
(annoyed) Yes.
ELIZABETH
That’s so awesome! And yes, matter of fact I would LOVE for you to buy me lunch and tell me all about it!
DANIEL
Someone told me that the world might end today.
Someone said that this could all just go away.
Sure, crazy crackpot spouting whatnot,
Still this dark thought prompting me to say:
I could handle if the world would end today.
I’m just saying that would kind of be ok.
It ended once when she left with a “just because”, so it isn’t like it never does.
Oh why in the world can’t the world just end today?
INT. SPACESHIP
Lights down on park scene, up on the navigation deck of a spaceship. Random beeping and lights blinking. An alien sits in front of a computer terminal.
GLOBRON
I didn’t sign up for this, literally.
Just another from-birth conscript, sittin’ pretty
On the nav deck, with all the stars that I’m viewin’.
Sergeant’s like, “Globron, mind what you’re doin’!”,
…[Sergeant] Globron, mind what you’re doin’!
Not entirely sure why we’re doin’ all this.
Eleventy-eleven and something light years, I got myself found in.
Eleventy-eleven and something light years, yeah, and countin’.
Peon’s log, stardate whatever the Glorp it is. Thank Gleeble we’re almost there. To sum up: cramped in a metal tube for eleventy-eleven light years. Check it out: that dude over there? Jerk. Girl behind the star chart? Big jerk. In fact, no, you know what all these people are jerks. The food is bland. This guy next to me has been listening to Glohop Rock on his headphones way too loud. I mean, if I can hear it through the headphones, it’s way too loud, right? I guess Gloegs is ok, he shared his copy of "The Golden Sextant", and that’s not nothing. The rest of them though? Jerks.
Eleventy-eleven and something light years of the same damn surroundin’.
Eleventy-eleven and something light years, yeah, and countin’.
EXT & INT SPLIT STAGE
Lights back up on park.
[AMANDA, DANIEL & GLOBRON]
What a perfect day, the kind that can wash away
…Someone told me that the world might end today.
……Eleventy-eleven and something
Apathy and turn the double play
…Someone said that this could all just go away.
Of being seen and being liked. Hey, that’s me: so psyched, feelin’ cray-cray.
…Sure, crazy crackpot spouting whatnot,
…Still this dark thought prompting me to say:
On this perfect day, nothing standing in my way.
…I could handle if the world would end today.
……Eleventy-eleven and something
Oh, “the end is nigh”? That tired cliché,
…I’m just saying that would kind of be ok.
More like the end is “nah”. Get out now just because it’s time to shout:
…It ended once when she left with a “just because”,
…So it isn’t like it never does.
Don’t hold the applause for me ‘cause I’m on top today!
…Oh why in the world can’t the world just end today?
……Eleventy-eleven and something light years
SANDWICH BOARD MAN
The end is nigh!
credits
from For Patron Ears Only,
released October 12, 2015
Zoe Gray as Amanda
Heather Gray as Elizabeth
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