Song picture
Away, be a stranger
Comment Share
Free download
...meanwhile, on Earth, things aren't quite going as planned... God: 'I know what to do! I'll send my amazing, wise, brilliant, beloved son for them to berate, abuse and crucify. That'll show 'em!'
singer songwriter musician uk acoustic guitar cubase reason sheffield bass guitar doncaster al stravinsky voxengo brian delaney
Artist picture
Touching, funny, serious, award-winning songs about life and love; all penned, played, arranged, sung, recorded and mixed by Al.
So he never existed... not really, as a real person. He made himself up one day in 1969 and lived a dual existence: half of him surviving on dead-end jobs, the other half believing that one day he would write at least one song that the world would remember. Now half of him is dead, and, as with all conjoined twins (without major surgery) that sentences both of them. It would be sad if it wasn't so pathetic. Fairy-tales always end this way... well not always, rarely... and this was rarely a fairy-tale; so there the similarities end: the ending was neither sad nor happy - it just... was. The enigmatic and tragic Jackson C Frank was a hero of his... now he emulates that frail and failed soul. Maybe in 40 years people will still say 'Al who?', much as they do today. That would be both a great epitaph, and a fitting legacy. Below is the page as he inexplicably and hurriedly left it: hot meal still on the table; knife and fork still in place and at the ready; the drink untouched in the bone china cup... ************************************************************* I now have an album: 'The sentence that I serve' available from CD baby. Click on this mini album cover to take you there: INVALID -- CDBABY INVALID INVALID INVALID INVALID for AL STRAVINSKY: The sentence that I serve -- It's on iTunes too, where the whole album or individual tracks can be downloaded in mp3 format: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=216015067 Thanks. I've been a professional musician for 24 years, and over 3000 gigs (I've stopped counting); always working, travelling, trying to make ends meet...nearly...if you could just hold these a minute please...er...thanks: my hands are now free so I can get on with actually (ironically) playing some music at last. I sing and play bass guitar and I play some acoustic/electric guitars also.
Song Info
Genre
Rock Folk Rock
Charts
#18,279 today Peak #229
#1,008 in subgenre Peak #28
Author
Al Stravinsky
Uploaded
December 13, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.0 MB 128 kbps 3:15
Story behind the song
I could never, not even as a small child, connect the beatific Christmas baby to the tortured and broken young man of Easter. There is no celebration for me: a child born, loved and raised, with one sole divine purpose: to be sacrificed, in order to somehow free humanity from the 'sin' that was programmed into us by his supposedly unearthly 'father' - some faulty, vengeful, often petty, sometimes glorious, omnipotent deity? Come now, Western man, is this the best we can do for Sunday morning entertainment? I see a wonderful, brilliant, brave, insightful, ultimately tragic man, betrayed by a civilisation which, even now, is unable to accept the simple words that he said: 'Be excellent to each other'. (Now, you zealots: turn the other cheek.)
Lyrics
Verse 1 Away in a manger no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus lays down his sweet head. The stars in the bright sky look down where he lay, The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. Verse 2 The cattle are lowing the baby awakes, He'll be raising the dead with the noise that he makes. Strangers come and go all through the long winter's night; Joseph gather up your family, slip away before light. Middle 8 Take the gold, ditch the frankincense, Take the donkey, leave the myrrh. Close your ears to all this mystical nonsense, To archangels, prophecies and heavenly choir. Take the boy and keep him safe From misguided men and gods alike; What sick mind could take this pure and perfect child And turn him into a sacrifice? Verse 3 You will watch him with wonder, he will learn, he will grow, But the lessons he'll teach us we already know. Mothers crying for dead children since the world was begun, So Mary, whisper these words to your beautiful son - Verse 4 'In 30 short years you'll be nailed to a tree, And although you will suffer no reason there'll be; Two millennia in the future things will still be as bad, So grow old, be a carpenter just like your dad.' Tacet final verse (You're not like me, O Father, and I'll tell you why: Sit there safely in heav'n, send your sole son to die. So this is the best plan your great mind can make: Crucify this poor boy to make good your mistake?)
Song Likes
On Playlists
Comments
Please sign up or log in to post a comment.