1. |
The Fire Monologue
03:08
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Have you ever heard a sound?
A quick crack in the night?
You tune in your ears to phase out the silence, expecting to hear it again
But you only grow in doubt
A doubt that you even heard a noise to begin with
But something else comes into play
A sense of presence
Like suddenly you're not alone
Well I'm hear to tell you that you did hear that sound
And you are not alone
There's a cause for those sounds, for those feelings
It's a story that goes back many years
Starting with a man, now a legend
No one ever knew his name
No one ever cared about knowing his name, at the time
But he has since come to be known by many titles
Some call him the "Painter and the Actor"
Others "The Wanderer"
Today you're more likely to hear folks refer to him as
"The Soul of the Night" or "Night Soul" for short
But no matter the name it all boils down to pretty tragic and somewhat common tale
An artist battling with an internal struggle
Always fighting who he was and what he wanted to be
Never quite being able to connect with the world
And the world often reciprocated those filed attempts
Now you're probably wondering how he got all those names or how he became a legend in the first place
Well the story starts with a fire
An old decrepit house, nearly forgotten by time itself, burned down on the outskirts of a town
Now its this town that our legend is supposedly from
At the time of the fire locals had said they thought the home was owned by a musician or an artist of some sort, but they weren't quite sure
Late at night they thought they heard music drifting from his property
But no one ever cared enough to go and ask, or see who lived there
The strange thing is, the only article that survived the fire was an old leather bound journal
It was filled with pages of scribblings, sketches and gibberish
Every now and then you could make out a word or a phrase
"Locked away"
"I want to be free"
"Sometimes I feel there are two different people inside me"
And one phrase was written over and over again, page after page
"The painter and the actor"
"The painter and the actor"
"The painter and the actor"...
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2. |
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Would you believe me if I were to tell you
There's two different men inside me
One is the painter who lives on his own
While the other desires to be free
And over the years I have favored the painter
Who's growing quite strong locked away
The other's an actor with eloquent speech
Who wants to break free every day
Can I be who I want to be
Knowing entirely who is inside of me
I dream dreams that take both of me
Working together in artistic harmony
High in my room just the painter alone
Churning out work by the page
Honing his craft in the heat of the lamp
With the actor off trapped in his cage
And little by little I belittle the actor
Rarely would I pay him mind
And slowly but surely without any practice
He soon forgot all of his lines
Can I be who I want to be
Knowing entirely who is inside of me
I dream dreams that take both of me
Working together in artistic harmony
If I were to change myself
Wouldn't I erase myself
Then we'd all just be the same thing
If I were to change my word
Say what you've already heard
Wouldn't we all be saying the same thing
Now in my later years wanting the public ears
I wish I had raised them both well
For the painter gave me meaning
And the breath that kept me breathing
But we all know the actor is what sells
Can I be who I want to be
Knowing entirely who is inside of me
I dream dreams that take both of me
Working together in artistic harmony
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3. |
The Television Monologue
01:40
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So the fire had caused him to leave
The flames pushed him to flee
And the smoke led him to see
He got out of that town that never let him in
And the Painter and the Actor went on to see so much and learn so much and live through so much he had so much to say
He just never knew how to say it
His fellow fellows being shipped off to war
The art and music scene changing faster than ever before
Poverty, poetry, helplessness, hopelessness
The fall of the age of philosophy and the rise of the age of technology
With things like the color TV
Marvels of the modern age, they'll have one in every home
But not everyone will have a home
And he saw all that
He saw society grow in so many fantastic way
But we still send our brother off to die
And we still called each other names
Sometimes he just wanted to grab the world
And shake it from the shoulders
Make it see what was truly important
And wasn't he a little right
It's been years since there were colors on the screen
But now with everything going on
Doesn't it seem like we're almost moving backwards
Into black and white again
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4. |
Black and White Again
06:15
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Years ago the technicolor TV would capture our reality
All the hues and all the many shades we experience each and every day
Lately things they don't seem of that kind
It seems as though we hit the rewind
Even though things weren't perfectly clear
They colors were there and we were getting near
Start the countdown again
All the way from ten
Then repeat this my friend cause we're back
In black and white again
Can it be that we're living the same day over the same way
Let me know my friend if there ever will come an end
To live in a world that is so damn unnerving
Seems so unswerving
Just to know that you'll wake up and be in show
That's black and white again
I've seen this rerun a million time
To my the jokes they just don't jive
All the characters with their hopes and dreads
I hear their theme songs playing in my head
Right when you think we might finally be done
That's when they go and draw a gun
Right when you think you've heard the final applause
That's when you see that we've been stuck on pause
Start the countdown again
All the way from ten
Then repeat this my friend cause we're back
In black and white again
Can it be that we're living the same day over the same way
Let me know my friend if there ever will come an end
To live in a world that is so damn unnerving
Seems so unswerving
Just to know that you'll wake up and be in show
That's black and white again
Black
Black and white
Black and white again
Start the countdown again
All the way from ten
Then repeat this my friend cause we're back
In black and white again
Can it be that we're living the same day over the same way
Let me know my friend if there ever will come an end
To live in a world that is so damn unnerving
Seems so unswerving
Just to know that you'll wake up and be in show
That's black and white again
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5. |
The Small Town Monologue
01:20
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Now this is where the story takes a bit of a turn
It's also the inspiration behind another one of our legends names
The Wanderer
The story goes the Painter and Actor went mad from this constant battle between his internal selves
Never producing the art he knew he had inside himself
In a world in which he felt he had no control
He roamed the country
Never truly finding a home
Then one day in a town not too different from the one our legend is from
A newspaper article was printed
In this article the reporter recounts a story about how a stranger had died in the night, and was found the next morning
After the article made its way around the town
Locals came out, saying they had seen the man
But never really bothered to ask who he was or what he needed
After all he was a drifter, a beggar, a wanderer
The more the reporter learned, the more she wanted to tell the strory
These are her words...
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6. |
The Wanderer
06:03
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In the stillness of the morning
A weathered weary wanderer came upon a town
By the look of his clothes and the number of holes I just knew it,
He was in trouble, as he struggled by the old general store
“Invite him inside,” the clerk he cried, “We’ll give him supplies”
Oh but “No,” said the owner, “I do not like his eyes”
“He does not look like us and in him we cannot trust”
So on that day
They waved away
A weathered weary wanderer
In the heat just after midday
A weathered weary wanderer walked on through the town
By the look in his eyes I could tell he was crying and hoping
Someone would help him
As he stands begging by the old counting house
“Let him inside,” the teller he cried, “We’ll give him a loan”
Oh but “No,” said the banker, “For he’s just skin and bones”
“He won’t pay off his debt and we need every cent”
So on that day
They waved away
A weathered weary wanderer
In the shadows of the evening
A weathered weary wanderer limped on through the town
By the look on his face and that staggered pace, oh is he bleeding?
Yes he’s bleeding, on the steps to the temple’s front door
“We’ll have him inside,” the masses cried, “And we’ll clean up his face”
Oh but “No,” cried the clergy, “We haven’t the space”
“And besides his head is wrapped and his spirit seems trapped”
So on that day
They waved away
A weathered weary wanderer
In the blackness of the night
A weathered weary wanderer fell down to the ground
With the moon overhead and the town in their beds he stopped breathing
And stopped needing, all the help that never came
The black of the sky seeped into his eyes and dust filled up his mouth
Oh and death came to claim him, doing what we could not do
The peaceful sleeps did aide him from a world so cold and cruel
And on that day
We waved away
A weathered weary wanderer…
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7. |
The Haunting Monologue
01:29
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But the story doesn't end with the death of the wanderer
Oh no
In fact, it is since his death that the life of this poor artist became of any interest
You see the town in which this stranger died was never quite the same since his passing
Sometimes at night half the town would be awoken by music
Weeping melodies that dripped with worry and warning
And they never could quite find the source of it
A few times huge murals would appear on the sides of downtown buildings
overnight, seemingly coming out of thin air
They depicted haunted images that seemed all too real and all too personal to each resident of the town
And every so often someone would come forward saying they saw a stranger in the middle of the night
Under the lamp post in the middle of the town square
And every story would be the same
He had a guitar around his shoulder and was tapping a pencil on the post
"Night Soul" they called him
And a legend he became
They would always know where to look
When over the air that pencil tapping came
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8. |
Night Soul
05:37
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Quietly beneath me
In this cold and empty lot
There's a mighty wind that some would say is giving all its got
So are we like that one lamp post
There amidst the black when I
Think of how our lives once was
When logic we had lacked
Suddenly below
In the hazing and the glow
Of that one lamp post there shined a ghost of a man I used to know
Please believe me and hear my words
I swear I tell no lies when I say
He looked upon my balcony and straight into my eyes
Looked upon my balcony and straight into my eyes
Why does he keep running
Why does he just steal away
No one gave him good loving
Or locked him in their shining rays
That's why he keeps running
That's while he just steal away
Can't you see now he has won
He's just a night soul in the sun now
He's just a night soul in the sun
He's just a night soul in the sun now
He's just a night soul in the sun
What seemed to last an hour
The clock moved just one tick
Then that ghost took flight into the night
And the flame died with one last lick
With his best friend around his shoulder
And a pencil in his hand
I wondered if I see this ghost in my lifetime again
Night can be a harsh beast
So dark and unreserved
Oh but so can be a young man's soul
Where anger is preserved
Cause in the dark the shapes can harm you
And shadows spin their webs
Like the thoughts that live inside our minds
Doubts within our heads
Thoughts that live inside our minds
Doubts within our heads
Why does he keep running
Why does he just steal away
No one gave him good loving
Or locked him in their shining rays
That's why he keeps running
That's while he just steal away
Can't you see now he has won
He's just a night soul in the sun now
He's just a night soul in the sun
He's just a night soul in the sun now
He's just a night soul in the sun
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Alexander Gallows Washington, D.C.
Alexander Gallows is a singer songwriter from Washington D.C. Wielding both acoustic and electric guitars while weaving thought-provoking lyrics, Gallows blends the many genres he finds inspiration in, creating his unique sound.
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