Atheist Advent 2011

Trouble out in the channel...

For pictures, chat and videos, come to

www.atheistadvent.com

Thank the Chickens

When the goose had made my feather bed / He sat back down in his cosy nest

Give him half an hour and he’ll feel better

He only needs to grow back all his feathers

Thank you goosey for my feather bed

I looked all round the factory / Searching for the goose who laid that duvet for me

I’d really like to shake him by the flipper

For keeping me so warm in frosty weather

Thank you goosey for my feather bed

And when I’m done I’ll thank the pig who laid this bacon

When I’m done, I’ll thank the chickens

When I’m done, I’ll thank the cow who popped this steak

I hope it’s not important what they’re missing

The farms are filled with brids and bees / Lamb donor retirees

Playing by the river with their grandkids

Gambling [or gamboling] not for matchsticks but for giblets

That’s the scene that plays around in my head

So thank you goosey for my feather bed

The Long-Playing Earth

The stylus of the night / Is swinging round the long-playing Earth

And music and lamplight / Spring up wherever it falls

Stylus of darkness / Stylus of the stars

Where will you fall?

The clouds will be my covers / Colder than a stolen throne

And the dagger moon will watch me / Until the day returns

Stylus of darkness / Stylus of the stars

Where will you fall?

And when the day returns I take my hand from off my eyes and watch the eastern windows

But the passage of the night has left everything unchanged

Stylus of darkness / Stylus of the stars

Where will you fall?

A brief hello message, after a year of inscrutable recordings.

This is the first song of Atheist Advent 2011. For the next twenty-four days I will write and record a song each day. This is the first, entitled, Conference of the Cows.

Come over to www.atheistadvent.com to see videos and tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you.

Recorded during a practice for the the Edge of the Folk concert, Clements Hall, York, Sat Sept 24. Lyn Geddes sings 'Rocking the Cradle' (trad., arr Geddes)

With permission of the band Reason Breeds Monsters - by which I mean, my own permission, since most of the band is on a cycling holiday - here is a version of an Atheist Advent 2010 song arranged for several instruments. For more info, songs, pictures, and a logo made on GIMP, see:

http://www.reverbnation.com/reasonbreedsmonsters

and there's occasional action over here:

http://www.atheistadvent.com/

Song written for Atheist Advent 2009 and recorded in this version, 2010. As I upload this, we're far from the Season of the Wolf. Heat waves in Europe, strikes in Greece, strikes in Britain, and under my window the kids from the estate look at the strawberries we planted and I hear them debating when they will be ready; no group of bishops and professors could have more gravitas.

The wolves don't go hungry, but many others do.

The final song of Atheist Advent 2010. Lord of Misrule.

Atheist Advent song for Christmas Day 2010