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Sword of Aquarius

from Drakus by James Murray

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about

This song has three parts:
I. Days of Old
II. Forbidden Swamp
III. Fallen Gods

The first part is the oldest and was written in 1998. It wasn't part of the original 20 minute Drakus Suite, but at one point it was considered a part of the longer 30 minute Drakus Suite before I abandoned it and split up all the sections into their own separate songs. Days of Old was written as a medieval drinking song. You can imagine vikings in a bar waving their drinks back and forth to the strumming.

The lyrics have gone through a series of changes, eventually circling back to something closer to how it was originally written. The line "He came down from the heavens with a white hot blazing sword cleaving through the necks of the immortals!" was the first thing I came up with when I started singing over the chords and it became the whole basis for the song. The sword-bearer was originally male, but most of the Aquarians in my life have been women so I eventually changed it to "She came down from the heavens".

It should be noted that the sword-bearer is herself an immortal beheading the rest of the immortals until she is the last, so there is definitely a highlander theme going on, although I hadn't even realized that until much later. The lyrics remind me of being a teenage fantasy and science fiction nerd again and I still chuckle to myself when I sing it. Originally there was a line "Jesus was the first to fall, followed closely by Zeus. Thor and Odin's efforts were in vain". This line was eventually dropped because I felt it was just too over the top but I recently put it back in in a slightly different form because, why not? This song should be over the top.

Fallen Gods was originally called "When Aquarius Broke Through the Wall" and I started writing it in 2006. For a long time it was just a chord progression with no lyrics and I had intended it to be its own separate song. But the epic sound of it fit so well with the theme of Days of Old so I decided to combine them into one song. It needed a transition though, so I wrote Forbidden Swamp, an instrumental that developed over time the more I played it live. The prophetic "hidden poem" in Forbidden Swamp wasn't written until very recently when I started deciding on the track listing for the album and needed to solidify the theme and narrative.

The idea behind the song originally was that the age of religion was ending and the age of science was replacing it. The age of science is what Aquarius represented: "the science of her sword". From an album perspective this was a battle of ideologies, the old way vs. the new way. And in desperation the losing side summoned forth a new dragon that had been exiled to the forbidden swamp to defeat the Aquarians. The dragon wins but it's a Pyrrhic victory. For as the Prophet had warned, dragons can't be controlled and the victors wind up having to fight the monster they had created.

I started recording this song in 2011. The 2011 version is shorter, with a much less climactic Forbidden Swamp section, the lyrics are different and the Fallen Gods section is played much more slowly and with out the amazing "Shredder Dave" solo that was added in this current version. An old high school friend who only wishes to be referred to as "Bilbo Dragons" played drums on the old 2011 recording and his drums can still be heard here on the first two sections.

Anjipan based her original cover art primarily on the 2011 demo of this song when I commissioned her to do some art for the launch of my bandcamp page. The original artwork depicted a trinity, a horse, a dragon and a woman, with the dragon being slain by her sword. Anjipan said that the woman was a muse that inspired my musical ideas. I saw the slaying the dragon as representing the accomplishment of a great task, like completing this album. When the album was finished I commissioned her to create a new gatefold sleeve design for a possible vinyl release of the album. This artwork depicts the battle after the Drakus forces have returned from the Forbidden swamp with their dragons. They are counter-attacking the Aquarians who have already "broken through the wall" and taken over the castle. A water spirit could be seen arising from the sea supporting the Aquarians.

It should be noted that anjipan's art style focuses primarily on the female form, so all of the human-like characters in her art depictions are ladies. The gender of the characters in the music was never important to me and it was my hope that anyone could relate to this music whether they be male or female. But I do think women look better, and I like the way she paints them so I prefer an all female cast in the illustrations.

lyrics

I. Days of Old

She came down from the heavens with a white hot blazing sword
cleaving through the necks of the immortals. All the wounds were cauterized, never to be repaired. Zeus' and Odin's efforts were in vain.

Oh how it was in those days of old, remember how we how we lived as one ... Oh ...

Remember all the magic ... the fiery dragons high ... remember how it felt to never die. When she finally passed away, the last immortal sigh, the age of mortal man had begun.

Oh how it was in those days of old, remember how we basked in the sun. Oh how I miss those days.

II. The Forbidden Swamp

Within the forbidden swamp so deep
The ancient egg of Drakus is located
And those who seek its power will keep
fighting the monsters that they had created
with tribal fear and resentment they sold
their soul for a weapon but never they’ll learn
A dragon cannot be controlled
And those who’ve tried to wield one have all burned
burned
burned

III. Fallen Gods

She came down from the heavens with a white hot blazing sword when Aquarius broke through the wall. Jesus was the first to fall. He sacrificed himself to save us all when Aquarius broke through the wall. Oh...

The Science of her sword drove us back into the sea. We had no more route to escape when Aquarius broke through the wall. The sky fell like tears on the fallen gods below. In desperation we called him. That's when our dragon was launched to the sky. Oh .....

credits

from Drakus, released April 17, 2018
James Murray - vocals, guitars, trumpets, bass, banjo, keyboards, percussion
Bilbo Dragons - drums
Bongo John - battle drums, cymbal swells
"Shredder" Dave Ryan - lead guitar on "Fallen Gods"
Wind Sound sample by Alan Howarth

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about

James Murray

I'm a musician from Long Island influenced mainly by folk singer songwriters of the 60s and 70s as well as Progressive Rock, Jam Rock, and Jazz

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