The Night Country

for february 2010, fireball wrote a bunch of words and sent them out to farflung folks to put them to music. seventeen songs came back from that venture. fireball added a little bit to many of the songs, with mixed results. here is information about the songs.

back to the FAWM 2010 songlist

bells of zurich

      words by fireball
      music and performance by ryan woodard
      zurich, switzerland
      guitars and backing vocals added by fireball

Dark trees along the Feuerplatz loomed higher
As I staggered from church to bar to home
Too much wine - dreams of Thornton Wilder
Too much time - in the Schweiz alone

      That night I could hear the Zurich bells
      Louder than they'd ever rung before
      Strung-out-wondered for whom the bowl tells
      Hungover-woke-up ringing on the floor

I ran from the sound down to the station
Took the next bullet train to Berlin
There were spires in every village that we sped through
There were angel gypsies playing violins

      That night I could hear the bells of Zurich
      Splinterworking deep into my dream
      Though I'd put a long day's journey in between us
      Still haunted by her churchbells all agleam

I left the Old World, headed for the tropics
Thought the twelve-hour flight might bring a little peace
Still I stumbled bleary-eyed into Sao Paolo
Half-naked demons screaming Portuguese

      That night I could hear the Zurich bells
      from the heights of the Eldorado tower
      Dostoevsky twisted into broken German
      Ringing life away hour on hour

demon bell solo

After years hoofing the furthest of the backroads
Running from the shores of the Zürichsee
To escape the pain of that infernal tolling
I knew that they would never go away

      Every night I could hear the bells of Zurich
      play 'Another Wagon Song' for me
      More painful than a solo by Lars Ulrich
      Telling me that running wouldn't set me free

s. scott spring lars ulrich solo

I returned to the country that had cursed me
To the stage on which it fell apart back then
I apologized profusely to the wounded
Swore I would never sing the sailor song again

      That night I could hear the Zurich bells
      Like a reverie-breaking reveille wakes the day
      That night I could hear the bells of Zurich
      And that morning I heard them fade away

back to the FAWM 2010 songlist