Behind the Mask

[billroper]

As you may have heard, I've been writing songs that fit together into a musical. I've got the scene setter, a plot mover from shortly before the climax of the show, the hero's song, and even a song for the villain of the piece.

daisy_knotwise (justifiably) complained, asking "Where's the heroine's song?" I tried explaining that I'm not exactly equipped to sing the heroine's song. This didn't fly. And, of course, women in filk frequently sing songs that are written for men.

There was the matter of actually writing the song. And three of the four songs above were written at Chambanacon or on the way there. (The fourth, which was the second to be written, I wrote at Concertino. So all of the songs have been written at cons.) So somewhere past Joliet, I turned off the radio and started this song, which I finished up at the con.

Please mentally capo this two octaves...

Words and Music: Bill Roper
Copyright 2005

Behind the Mask

I am learning day by day
And I’m stronger in each way
Than I was the day I met him.
Still he fears I might forget him.
I am left now to divine
What is going through his mind,
For he never says a word
And he thinks I haven’t heard.

(Chorus)
What is the man behind the mask?
Leaving me questions I can’t ask:
If I should stay or I should go.
Answers I think that I should know.
Daily, he’s cruel and he is kind
And he is always on my mind.
Wishing he didn’t have to hide
So I could see the man inside.

All I am learning has a cost
And I’m afraid of what he’s lost,
Of the mask he’s overlaid
To conceal the price he’s paid.
As he stands prepared to fight
To protect us from the night,
He becomes a thing to fear
And no one dares come near

(Chorus) To visit the man behind the mask.

(Bridge)
And I wish that I could show him,
But I’m not certain that I know him,
For the mask he wears is much more plain to see
Than what he thinks of me.

(Chorus)

Teaching me power and control.
Is it enough to make him whole?
Tracing the patterns of the spell.
Would he still notice if I fell?
Gold and silver in the air.
Does he remember how to care?
And what is it that I see
When I see him look at me?

(Chorus twice to coda)
So I could see the man inside.
So I could finally learn to see the man inside.

Comments

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

Cool! Well done.

I knew when I heard about the harem outfit that you were a man strong and confident enough to liberate your inner wench. Woman. Whatever.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Very interesting - I look forward to hearing it.

[khadagan.livejournal.com]

But...if you only write songs for this at Bana, when will we EVER get to hear the whole thing?

Seriously, though, thanks for sharing these with us at the filk. They're well worth hearing, and I look forward to having a chance to enjoy them all (even the ones that creep you out) several many times in the future.

Hugs -- Khadagan

[tak61.livejournal.com]

Okay. So when is this musical targeted for preformance - OVFF next year. Inquiring minds - especially those who don't go to many cons - want to know!

[billroper]

No particular target. There's plenty of writing left to be done on songs, let alone the actual book of the musical. Then there's that pesky bit of casting, staging, rehearsal... :)