It's All Right

[billroper]

I wrote this song on the way to Worldcon, so I actually got to sing it there.

Words and Music: Bill Roper
Copyright 2004

It’s All Right

When you’re rocking in the cradle and your world turns outside in
And you’re looking for the answers, but there’s no way you can win,
And the pounding of the starlight is a rhythm in your brain,
It’s a long way to tomorrow and you think you’ll go insane.

(Chorus)
It’s all right. It’s all right.
It’s all right. It’s all right.


You can reach across the nighttime, you can sail across the deep.
You can dive into the darkness, but you cannot go to sleep.
In the space between the moments, in the space between your fear,
I am reaching out to touch you and remind you I am here.

(Chorus)

(Bridge)
I will hold you in the cradle.
I will rock you with my mind,
For as long as I am able
To protect you to the other side of time.

(Chorus)

In the space between the systems, in the space where terrors dwell,
All safely locked away in your own private little hell.
Your mind the price of passage for the others on the ship –
The pilot left unshielded on this interstellar trip.

(Chorus)

In the constants of creation, past where time and space grow thin,
A human mind provides the fuel for the hyperspatial djinn.
But a mind that’s artificial gives no power and feels no pain,
So I am here to fight the fear and help to keep you sane.

(Chorus) (Bridge) (Chorus twice)

It’s all right.

Comments

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Interesting lyrics. I look forward to hearing it.

Is it inspired by some other work or wholly your creation?

[billroper]

I think it's wholly my creation, but when you've read as many short SF stories as I have, it's hard to be sure that you haven't cribbed something from somewhere. (I'm hoping I haven't though, since I think there's actually just about enough plot there to actually write a story for the first time in twenty-plus years...)

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I like. I wish I'd heard it!

[dbcooper.livejournal.com]

Someday, I hope to hear it too. Once I manage to get this whole employment thing licked, maybe I'll be able to attend a convention where you're playing...

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

You've either walked the walk of insomnia and/or soul pain to write that. You certainly caught the essence of both, and the importance of a lifeline.

Bravo.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Very very nice. Wanna hear!

[shannachie.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful! I am looking forward to hearing it.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

This is lovely! It puts me in mind of some of the short fiction of Cordwainer Smith.

[billroper]

Thanks! That's good company to be in...