FAWM: "Time of Swords Raised (Demo)"

Time of Swords Raised (Demo)

Liner Notes

TIME OF SWORDS RAISED
#operatic #protest #war #end-times #sad #hope

Julie @jmpoet in a sleepless morning penned a "retrofitted" a poem which fits with the very scary times we're into (as a Chinese squadron runs live -firing and war-game exercises a short way southeast of Sydney as I type this, as the mess of Ukraine, Middle east, Taiwan...need I go on). I read it as a random #lyric-only zong, and was in tears at the end .

The poem and lyric fit the current times so well, sadly, and it's not just one familiar leader in place to fear, but at least three, plus a multiple of atomic-wielding (or nearly there) crazies. The necessity for armour, the raised sword heavy in the arms, the protection as all fails of one's nearest and dearest, all strike home.

I did request one lyric change, a single letter actually, so that the power of the lyric applies right across the board, embracing all the monsters now running free. Ukraine was in my mind particularly Other than that, the only changes to the original are repetitions the music demanded. As it does...

The music is about as far as I can take it for now. I had some problems with the voice (!) and got a bit lost in the mid-section. Post-FAWM, okay?

The original poem/lyric is here: https://write.fawm.org/songs/309956

Lyrics by & Copyright © 2025 Julie Arthur Music by & Copyright © 2025 TJ Fatchen All Rights Reserved APRA-AMCOS
Samples courtesy Garritan Personal Orchestra, Privia PX-360

Lyrics

TIME OF SWORDS RAISED
Lyrics by & Copyright © 2025 Julie Arthur Music by & Copyright © 2025 TJ Fatchen All Rights Reserved APRA-AMCOS

The quiet terror of
This new year
Familiar leaders in place again
So much to lose, to be lost, to fear.

My swords are too far
Away to swing
Too far away to swing
At the monsters,
These days are a dangerous thing.

CHORUS
This time of swords raised,
My friends,
I’m weary to hold the weight
Want to lay it down, hope for an end.
Lay it down, hope for an end.

I turn off the news halfway through,
My heart is broken,
My phone is a bomb about to go off,
It’s chimes tell me so many have spoken
I hope carrying my sword
To protect me and mine
Will not close my heart to love and kindness,
We must get around the armor,
We must get around the armor we carry to survive.

CHORUS
This time of swords raised,
My friends,
I’m weary to hold the weight
Want to lay it down, hope for an end.
Lay it down, hope for an end.

[When,] IF, this all becomes a distant memory,
I will lay my sword down
Rest my weary arms
When, if, this all becomes a distant memory,
I will lay my sword down
Rest my weary arms
Will have hope to have found
That I’ve healed from these wounds
Time will have made beautiful scars
Days of decency will bloom afresh,
And we can all lay down our arms.

CHORUS
This time of swords raised,
My friends,
I’m weary to hold the weight
Want to lay it down, hope for an end.
Lay it down, hope for an end.

I hope a healing will have taken place
Reconciling the spirits of the monsters of today.
The beauty of the sweet hereafter,
Friend, you and I could both say:

CHORUS
This time of swords raised,
My friends,
I’m weary to hold the weight,
My friends.
Want to lay it down, hope for an end.
Want to lay it down, hope for an end.

When the fight is over, let’s lay our swords down,
And join hands instead.

Comments

@jmpoet 1d

@ryuu @wynia @mikeb @blindkiwi
Thank you all for your lyrics feedback! It’s some pretty serious stuff, I know. Tim just did such a fantastic job with the music and vocals, it’s chilling really when it all came together. I appreciate you all listening and being in the thick of it with me.

@blindkiwi 1d

Dark sounds, dark content, dark clouds gathering. How long before we are all just dark matter. Well written Julie and well delivered Tim 🕶

@mikeb 1d

A very somber look at our current world. Piano and strings sound paint a musical background dark and moody.

@wynia 1d

This dirge, this lament, wow, the music fits the words perfectly! Such an epic picture painted in my mind and captures so much of how I feel about everything going on right now too

@ryuu 1d

Wow. This is so tender, thoughtful and sincere, and the sorrow in this song is so poignant. The weariness is a feeling I relate to a lot.

@billwhite51 1d

the music is epic and your delivery of the lyrics as intimate as leonard cohen. it is a tender as well as sorrowful performance, with a world view quite unlike the myopic american paranoids who cant see beyond their own noses. your song is that of global disaster engineered by a three-headed beast with tentacles reaching into every nook and cranny of the planet.

@jmpoet 1d

@timfatchen Thanks for the collab! You’ve taken my words and have done the unbelievable with them. My first listen had me sobbing. I wish this could gets into the ears of the people of Ukraine.