FAWM: "Echidna in Her Cave"

Echidna in Her Cave

There is no demo for this song.

Liner Notes

The skirmish prompt was to start a line with “When I Was…”

Today I learned about the mythological character Echidna. So she was on my mind.

This was first titled “Mother of Monsters,” but I’ve changed it.

I’ve been sick. My voice is coming back. But I’m currently in the hallway of a music school, outside my son’s tap class, so can only give you lyrics on my phone. More one day! #mythology

Lyrics

When did they begin to hate me,
Twist my beauty into rage,
Say that I was somehow nymph and snake?
When did I become a story,
That could neither die nor age
Given children monstrous and depraved?

When I was Echidna in her cave
But when was I Echidna in her cave?

All the fears I’ve given birth to
All the crimes they framed me for
All the monsters they could name, and more
Poison in a claw or tooth,
Woman, yes, and myth therefore
Womb within a womb, dark and impure

When I was Echidna in her cave
But when was I Echidna in her cave?

Hydra and Chimera
Cerberus and Spinx
Issues of my blood and body
Mother of these monstrous things

Sow and dog and dragon
Lion, eagle, beast
Crawl or fly or slide out of me
Bitten apples, bloody fleece

Rock as ceiling, stone as floor, we
Bide our time and ruminate
Bear our babies, bleed our wounds, and wait
When did men first write our story,
When did we awake?
When did we claw right out of her grave?

When we were Echidna in her cave
And when are we Echidna in her cave?

Comments

@janeg 19h

Structure is very strong. Hoping for music!

@tawny249 1w

Ooo. I want to hear this. Lots of really clever turns of phrase and references, and the structure is cool too. Nice questioning of the mythical woman and all the associated tropes. This would do SO well in a filk context, just saying.

@ragbag 1w

I imagine the cave to be as deep as these lyrics are. You paint a vivid picture here. :-)

@hmstreetteam 1w

I like the way each verse is a different level of questioning the narrative. It’s already an implausible story in verse 1, and then we go on from there.