Ballad of a Canadian Superhero

by Bri-anne Swan

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1.
04:48
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2.
03:29
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3.
03:29
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4.
04:31
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5.
08:44
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credits

released December 9, 2011

Engineered and Produced by Mitch "King Kong" Girio at Slaughterhouse 754 in Toronto, Ontario. www.mitchgirio.com

Tracks 1, 2 & 4 feature members of The Outlanders. www.outlanders.ca

Track 3 features Alex McMaster and Andrea deBoer of blueVenus. www.bluevenusmusic.com

All songs (except Track 5) written by Bri-anne Swan (SOCAN). www.bri-anneswan.com

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Bri-anne Swan Toronto, Ontario

The music you'd hear if Joan Baez and Regina Spektor met up with Gordon Lightfoot in the forest for a mug of hot chocolate.

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Track Name: We All Fall Down
The cold it could chase me in circles
Steal my eyes from the verses I saw
As we jump off of London Bridge
And get lost in the fog
But the water can't hold us forever
I'd rather be eaten than drown
We sneeze and we shake
Then we all fall down

So we throw all our cards on the table
Counting birds on the wires
While all the king's horses and all the king's men
Keep drawing their lines in the sand

Then we all fall down
Yes, we all fall down

Never bargained for this broken window
Or for Little Boy Blue as a friend
So we pick our our pails and we march up that hill
As we wait for the rainstorm to end
And it might be contrary to Mary
But I'd rather be eaten than drown
We sneeze and we shake
Then we all fall down

So we throw all our cards on the table
Counting birds on the wires
While all the king's horses and all the king's men
Keep drawing their lines in the sand

Then we all fall down
Yes, we all fall down
Track Name: Ballad of a Canadian Superhero
I wake up with the dawn
I pour my decaf coffee
Slip my boots and spandex on
Then sit down
Switch on the CBC
And learn what evil is to be found
Across this land
Needing just a superhero's hand
But there's never any sign of grave danger here at home

Rescue kids and their bears
But mostly I save kitties
'Cause damsels in distress are scarce
And that's why
I'm one good day away
From standing in the pogey line
With all my friends
Not really how I thought this job would end
Watching reruns of Degrassi in slippers waiting word

The Cold War
Was good times
Saving maple syrup lovers
From certain nuclear demise
Then the FLQ
But I could have zapped Trudeau
For pushing that whole Charter thing through
And still I'm here
But what I've left to do is now unclear
So my capes are frayed and tattered and I cannot buy more

But I won't pack it in
Despite more than forty years
I've tried to help the Leafs to win
So this day
I'm trading tights for ties
Campaigning for Elizabeth May
I've weighed the flaws
But a superhero's lost without a cause
And I'm told there's lots of work in Alberta's oil sands
Track Name: I Will Go
The weight on my chest leaves me rocking
While the fire in my head leaves me cold
Warming scars from my breast I'd be set for a quest
As we search for small bears in the snow

But you and I could be safe for another day
Still I'll go with you and the chance for a right to play
With you I will go

In the cave by myself I was lonely
Though the shadows I thought were my friends
With my back to the light we went out the the starry night
And I danced on toes I'd never used before

But you and I could be safe for another day
Still I'll go with you and the chance for a right to play
With you I will go
Track Name: The Valley
Driving through a desert storm
So very many miles from home
My engine gave and I was lost for certain
Then in a flash the beasts they came
With eagle's face and lion's mane
A fortune teller's nightmare winged in shadows
I knew the ground we stood on now was hallowed

A man sat high upon a throne
Of sapphire blue and diamond stone
He gave instructions I could just decipher
"You've read the books they've so revered
Now eat the pages you have feared
And taste the honey, free from expectation
Your parents tempting fate for generations"

We'll sing songs of love then let the rubies fall
Make heat from the ice and find we can't forestall
The meanings that are chained to mortal walls
And fall with gusts of wind
Until our hopes have thinned

I sank into the desert sand
Scorched shattered bodies filled the land
Consumed by storms of greed and rampant wanting
He moved amongst the rocks and stones
Pushed breath into those loose dry bones
But I gulped the dust in deep for fear of treason
The valley was too hot this late in season

We'll sing songs of love then let the rubies fall
Make heat from the ice and find we can't forestall
The meanings that are chained to mortal walls
And fall with gusts of wind
Until our hopes have thinned

Then just as quickly as they came
The man and beasts dissolved away
They evanesced to sky without a warning
But people's wills are short and weak
I never did go back to speak
Or tell another soul there of our junction
Much safer being blind in our dysfunction

We'll sing songs of love then let the rubies fall
Make heat from the ice and find we can't forestall
The meanings that are chained to mortal walls
And fall with gusts of wind
Until our hopes have thinned

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