End of the Line

[billroper]

This lovely little chord progression showed up in my guitar's in basket about two weeks ago and said, "You should do something with me!"

Well, yes, I should. Would you mind letting me know what the song is about?

"That's for me to know and for you to find out."

Big help.

I threw words at the chords. They bounced off. I briefly considered using it in the musical, but it didn't really fit. I threw more words at the chords.

And then I realized that the song was a response to "It's All Right". Or as catalana occasionally says in introducing her lovely response, "Half Past Eternity", "No, it's not!"

Yeah, not really. :)

Words and Music: Bill Roper
Copyright 2011

End of the Line

(Chorus)
I’m chasing after starlight, I’m diving through the black.
I’ve learned to love the space between, but it never loves me back.
So I’m waiting for the time when I’ll feel fine
At the end of the line.

I’ve gone halfway to anywhere.
I’m hanging in the void,
Renewing an old love affair
That’s keeping me employed.
And home should be before me
And distant stars behind.
The equations all ignore me
With solutions undefined.

We’re lost between dimensions
On a jump gone wild and free.
Got to hold us in suspension
Till computer finds the key,
For I am more than pilot –
I am fuel to feed the drive.
Through a sky gone ultraviolet,
I must get us home alive.

(Bridge)
The pain is like my oldest friend
I did not want to see.
Will the program reach its end
Before sleep sets me free?
To fall with no solution
Means the ship is surely lost.
There’s no hope for substitution –
I’m the one to pay the cost.

The computer’s whining madly.
The solution’s gone to hide.
“It’s all right,” she told me sadly
And I know the damned thing lied.
I’m the pilot of this starship
In a universe of pain.
As long as I can keep my grip,
It’s here we will remain.

(Chorus twice)

At the end of the line.
At the end of the line.

Comments

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

(shiver)
"The Burning of the Brain" by Cordwainer Smith echoes.

[billroper]

There are definitely some elements of that universe that I remember when I go back and look at it again, but the basic mechanics of star flight are different in the universe I'm playing with.

Pain, though, seems to be a constant. :)

[archangelbeth]

*goes yipe a bit*

And have you read the Grimspace books by Ann(e?) Aguire?

[billroper]

I haven't, but I went and pinged them when you mentioned them here. It looks interesting (although the website doesn't need to talk to me... :) ).

[archangelbeth]

I haven't seen the website -- I just started pickin' them off the shelves. They're fairly entertaining, thus far! And have some interesting parallels with the song. O:> (For most grimspace pilots, there's a time when their bodies may come back, but that's if they, and the ship, are lucky...)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I like both songs! I can almost hear you singing them.

Will you be at OVFF?

[billroper]

Thanks!

Yup, I'll definitely be at OVFF. See you there!