So here’s the story. A few years ago, some friends and I formed a rock band and after a long, long, LONG series of discussions in which what I considered to be some awesome band names got rejected, settled on the name Megatherium. Most of us had never played in public before, I didn’t know which end of a bass was which and knew next to nothing about music and music theory. We played Jonathan Coulton covers (badly) at the local con, we had a great time, then came back the next year, covering a bunch of werewolf, zombie and vampire songs (“Werewolves of London,” “I’m a Vampire,” “Zombie Me” and others). Then we lost our guitarist and our drummer went back to school, reducing his availability for lessons and practice. We played some original stuff at one more con, then kind of went on hiatus.

We didn’t stop of course, but given that performing was at that moment not feasible, my singer/ex-gf/bff Rhia and I decided to focus on learning to record music. I dropped a small bundle on a recording package, taught myself the basics and we went to town. The result is our first recording, “Sound of Wings,” a song that Rhia wrote about the hero of one of my many unpublished novels, and also (I suspect) about me, and just the thought of someone actually writing a song for me gets me all misty-eyed and sentimental. So here is our first recording — this is not the final version (it needs violin, drums and some reworking of the vocals, particularly the first chorus), but it’s a labor of love and devotion and friendship that makes me very happy. It’s not slick, it’s not professional, and it’s got all sorts of glitches and mistakes, but dammit, it’s our fucking song. Enjoy.

Sound_of_Wings

And (quick revision after the fact) here for the record, are the lyrics, proudly written by Rhiannon Louve:

SOUND OF WINGS

Who am I? Just a man

Grounded by life’s demands

Got no hopes, got no plan

Anymore

Who am I? Just a man

I don’t know where I stand

But I dream of a time

When I’ll soar

I’ve seen death, and I’ve seen pain

I’ve seen love and pain again

I’m still here, I’m still sane

But what for?

Take a breath, wear the chain

Weather passion’s wind and rain

Still I cry in my soul

I want more

CHORUS

Sound of wings

Through my dreams

Nothing’s ever as it seems

Make the shift, brave the rift

Here I roam

Take my face

And take my name

But to my soul you have no claim

I may burn, but I’ll return

To my home

BRIDGE

Here in darkness

Self I’m finding

By my power

Fear I’m binding

Through survival

Revelation

Through compassion

Transformation

Who am I? Just a man

Yet much more than I began

My whole world in my hand

And it sings

Who am I? Just a man

But I taste life and understand

My heart soars on the soft

Sound of wings

REPEAT CHORUS