Dark Star Origin

Part 1: Estella

Narrator:
Long ago when the sky was younger
Shone the guardian warden star

Chorus:
Estella

Narrator:
Gazing down on the Earth with envy
Longing for to walk among its many many wonders

One night shone on a sculpting master
Breathing life into marble slabs

Estella:
If you do this for alabaster
Surely you can shape a star into a mortal woman

Chorus:
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na

Part 2: Chip Away

Estella:
Sculptor, come chip away this light and this fire
So I may fare as a maiden or matron
I am a granter of wishes, name your desire
And I shall be your beneficent patron
A bell that turns into a boat?
The ability to speak with furniture?
A shoe that spills jewels on the floors?
Just speak your request and all this shall be yours

Sculptor:
I have no wish to sail on a magical bell
And I have no need for remunerative loafers
My chisels tell stories and what stories they tell
So why, why would I talk with dressers and sofas?

Estella:
How ‘bout a bassoon that controls the four winds?
A whistle that summons the ghost moths?

Sculptor:
I will not be tempted by trinkets for fools
And if I should sculpt you, it won’t be for jewels
Just leave me the dust I chip off with my tools
Leave me the dust I chip off with my tools Estella:
And do we have an accord? Do we have an accord?
Do we have an accord? Yes, we have an accord

Part 3: Scour and Chisel

Sculptor:
A five point star
Step in my abattoir
Scattering starchips on the floor
Scour and chisel
Rasp and grind, there’s
Four points left
I’ll gouge a mighty cleft
Luminous bits of charred debris
Scour and chisel
Rasp and grind, there’s
Three points now

Chorus:
Na na na na na na na na na na

Sculptor:
Radiant chunks of residue
Scour and chisel
Rasp and grind, til
Two points remain
The pain of art, the art of pain

Chorus:
Her light is all but gone

Sculptor:
Scour and chisel.
Rasp and grind, til
One, the last
Vestige of your cosmic past

Sculptor and chorus:
Mallets and calipers
Polish and glaze

Sculptor:
Scour and chisel
Rasp and grind and gaze

Chorus:
Gaze into the looking glass
Gaze into the looking glass

Part 4: Face and Form of Maiden

Narrator:
Now with face and form of maiden
She set off from the sculptor’s hearth

Estella:
I was with embers heavy-laden
But now I’m free for drink my fill in all the ways that humans will

Chorus:
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na

Part 5: Fifty Years

Estella:
Fifty years itinerant have passed
Fifty intrepid years since once recast
I have felt the slake of a stomach stuffed
I felt the ache of love rebuffed
I have come to care
That this life is so frail and unfucking fair
And it’s perfect in every conceivable way

My erstwhile confederate, the Sun
Shines infinite lumens down on everyone
But at night it burrows deep in the west
Beauty only exists when luminesced
How the shrouded yearn
All the graces of night beckon my return
Fifty years and I have to go back to the sky

Part 6: That I May Be Restored

Narrator:
Once a gleeful gadabout, the Star was sorely sad about her lot
Praying that the pretty pile of pulsing powder particles was not lost
Had the man who whittled her retained a little bit of her for then, friend
Even a percentage of a part of an appendage he could mend

Estella:
Sculptor, fetch thy sculpting tools
That I may be restored
My largesse is bountiful
Name thy reward

Sculptor:
I am old, I sculpt no more
My legacy’s my name
All the glory I have known
From your ashes came

Narrator:
He had spread her silt on every effigy he built ‘til it was gone
Spraying stellar dust on every statuette and bust and every bron-ze
Exhibiting his art in every topiary garden in Japan, and
Every city square and every town and county fair in all the land

Estella: Sculptor:
Sculptor, fetch they sculpting tools Look at thy form
That I may be restored Lifelike and smooth
My largess is bountiful You were my masterstroke
Name thy reward My greatest truth

Sculptor: Estella:
I am old, I sculpt no more Paint me with fire
My legacy’s my name This much you owe
All the glory I have known Was it not thy adze
From your ashes came Plundered my glow?

Estella:
Baneful sculptor, you’ve grown fat
On my celestial gift
So now I take your carving hands
Merciless and swift

Part 7: Temples and Galleries

Narrator:
She stepped back from the wounded carver
Mutilated and mangled and maligned

Estella:
I can be a warden nevermore
Nor a guardian for mankind

Narrator:
Shamefaced, she fled realm of mortals
Took her place in the Western sky
Knowing not her ichor flickered on
Brightening the world by and by

For in temples and galleries
Sacred gardens and castles and pilgrimage sites
The world over, those sculptures gave wonder and light

Narrator and Estella: Sculptor:
For in temples and galleries And galleries their creations shined
Sacred gardens and castles and pilgrimage sites
The world over, those sculptures gave wonder and light

Narrator:
For in temples and galleries
Sacred gardens and castles and pilgrimage sites
The world over, those sculptures gave wonder and light

Jonathan Amaro-Barron - Sculptor
Lauren London - Estella Malcolm London - Chorus, additional guitar and music on "Fifty Years"
Scarlett London - Chorus