SBM Act Three

The accompanying literature to Act Three of my 2018 instrumental project, Songs By Moonlight.

The project can be found at: https://africori.to/songsbymoonlight

Waves:

I feel like a cloud and it’s only been one hit. 

Nah bro I’m cool, I can’t even feel that shit. 

I’m just a bit airy, my head's kinda light

I know a lay down, so when did I take flight?

Did you say something? I can’t feel my face

Who gave me a helmet? Why am I in space

Or underwater, I think. I’m not even sure 

I’m floating, I see myself lying on the floor 

I must be tripping, I’m surfing on a wave 

I’m a hot air balloon, I’ll come down someday. 

Lost [Without You]: 

Where are you now that I need you

I don’t know how to proceed

You said you were breaking my shackles

Then how come I don’t feel so free

You said you were doing me a favour

But this isn’t the Favour I need

It’s like you’ve cut my heart out

But I’m too numb to bleed

I can’t do this alone

We were a team

You gave me direction

When I ran out of steam

You rekindled the flames

When I gave up on dreams

You were a greater part of me

Than I am myself, it seems. 

Neptune’s Tale:

The waves crested and the sea lashed out

Our ship tossed and bucked and swayed

Hardened sailors stiff and afraid

We prayed with hearts full of doubt. 

We went under and thought ourselves dead

Our eyes opened and beheld his huge form

This monster had saved us from the storm

And rested us on the ocean bed

He was no monster, just a lonely king

Neptune, the god of the seas

Happy to have found company

Even amongst us lower beings 

He offered to throw us a feast

A banquet of all we desired

We merried till we were spent and tired

And the time had come to return east

He bid us and thrust us onward

Back through the raging tides

He left us all a gift inside

We were all now gods on board

Teardrops of Venus:

The goddess of love stared into the pool where she watched her subjects. Her orderlies watched with her, fearing the results of her latest experiment with the hearts of humans. And when the mortal man shunned the advances of her faithful child, the tears streamed down her face and dripped into the swirling pool. Venus cried her eyes dry. She sobbed and rocked till she worked herself into a rampage. Fueled by spite, she swooped down on this heartless male specimen, assaulting him with emotional turmoil that would impress even the god of war. She played with his mind, determined to leave him an unloveable mess. Before she could maim him permanently, her orderlies sang out to her; a song to calm her down. The rage faded from her eyes. She returned to the arms of her servants, ready for her next experiment. 

From The Ashes:  

The mighty Phoenix withers and dies

A burning death that takes others along

A death of fire and brimstone

A harsh and explosive demise 

Until all is reduced to dust. 

And from the flames of the ruins

Like order out of chaos,

The Phoenix regains her fire

Piecing together what was destroyed

Creating anew from what was lost

The lessons from the past

Become the advice for the future

As the great bird rises

From the ashes. 

SBM Act Two

The accompanying literature to Act Two of my 2018 instrumental project, Songs By Moonlight.

The project can be found at: https://africori.to/songsbymoonlight

Sunshine:

Hints of orange, whispers of red

The sun has risen above my head

Spots of yellow, slivers of white

My mood has been bathed in its light

Clear skies so blue, clouds of bright gray

Be my guests the rest of today

For I know everything will be fine

As long as there’s a bit of sunshine. 

Heart Of The People:

Blood boiling. The way only a Nigerian’s blood can. I try not to think about the plights of the nation but when I do, it stirs me deep within. It breeds thoughts of revolution, fantasies of uprising, dreams of change. There’s the moments of quiet, where I have faith in my people. Where I believe things will improve. And then the rage climaxes and I fear the worst. I scream and curse, lambast and insult. And as quickly as it came, it diffuses. I return to reality; a reality in which I can do so little by myself so I do nothing at all. 

Down To The Islands: 

One of the Marley’s on in the background. Heads bopping and drinks flowing. Let’s get away to the hot sun and the wispy breeze that plays with my hair like it does with the palm trees. All I hear are the waves and the steel drums. All I want is the sand between my toes. 

Summer Haze:

It was summer when we first met. 

House party through a friend of a friend

Short skirt and a bralette

Don’t remember how we got to my bed. 

It was summer when we first fought

In the guest room at your girls crib

I coulda sworn I left my phone locked 

Don’t remember how you saw that pic. 

It was summer when you first cried

In the bathtub back at my place

You shoulda waited to hear my own side

And I shouldn’t have lied to your face

It was summer so it was just a phase 

Needed company for the hot nights

Try to think back but it’s all a haze

Didn’t even get to say our goodbyes 

Out Of Time: 

Can you hear my heart beating? 

Can you hear my lungs screaming?

Can you feel me holding on 

To what we used to have?

Can you see me reminiscing?

Can you see me grasping at straws? 

Can you tell me why

You’re letting it go?

Would you let me savor it a little longer

Before you take it all away. 

Brazilian Girl [Interlude]:

Down the streets of Rio, feathers of her costume all in my face. The street is alive and the festival is in full gear but all I see is her. And why would I look anywhere else... I let her lead me down the street with her backside waving at me... nowhere else I’d rather be. 

SBM Act One

The accompanying literature to Act One of my 2018 instrumental project, Songs By Moonlight.

The project can be found at: https://africori.to/songsbymoonlight

Adrift: 

Untethered. Unbound. 

Unrestricted and afloat. 

Lost in space but found in time. 

Slave to the winds and the freeness of mind. 

Approach the horizon. Release your being. 

Atoms break away as we burst into light. 

The echoes of our essence ring out. 

They fade but never die. 

Origin of Man:

Thunder rolling with the call of the wild 

The rivers gush, the birds take flight. 

The flowers wake up to the suyns warm light 

The majesty of nature beckons to man

New steps taken into this beautiful Eden

Humanity blossoms from Gaia’s cradle

To explore and conquer 

All corners of earth. 

Alien: 

Peering from above the clouds

So close but out of reach 

We are the same 

But are the same in different ways

I dance to a tune

That you are not used to 

But we both dance and feel it alike

So don’t look at me like I’m odd

Don’t treat me like I’m foreign

For all my oddities

Are found in you too 

Run [Murder]:

You know what you saw. He’s out there in that alley and he has a gun. Your heart beats insanely in your chest, your blood coursing like rapids through your veins. It takes everything you have to stop yourself from screaming. Sneak around him, use the darkness as your cover. Footsteps behind you. Your throat dries. You turn. And there he is. Your mind screams one thing. Run. In slow motion, you take off. Arms flailing. Heavy shoes hit the asphalt. There’s nobody around to help you. The first shot rings out. Somebody. Anybody. Help. The second shot. You’ve never run so fast. You don’t hear the third shot. You feel it. In your back. The ground comes up to meet you. You lay there, leaking life. You ran. You did your best. You failed. 

Burlesque [Interlude]: 

Smoke hangs in the air. She turns around and struts to the man on the chair, spotlight on her. She takes a long drag of her cigarette, turns her back to him and sits, unlacing her red bodice. It falls to the floor and she crosses her impossibly long legs. All eyes in the room follow the fishnets into black heels. From the seedy fellas at the back to the mob bosses and honchos in front; everyone is under the spell of her swaying hips. She grabs his tie in her teeth and pulls it loose, getting some dangerously red lipstick on it that she hoped his wife would notice. Then she turned to little old me and killed me with a wink.