Album: The Violence Continuum (2002)

The MOBY DICK Trilogy


[Based on Herman Melville's Novel "The White Whale" aka "Moby Dick"]

[I.ÿOVERTURE]

[Music & Lyrics by Raul Ignacio Alvarez]

O' hear ye,
This tale of the sea,
Of years of old,
Hark ye well mates,
This sorid tale,
Of a Man and his quest,
On rail's of revenge,
Upon which his soul was grooved to run,
Great the pursuit,
Across oceans vast,
On all sides of land,
On all Earth,
A murderous vow,
Of insane oath,
To find and slay the White Whale,
O' Hark ye well,
The tale of Moby Dick,
Inside the sea,
Inside the sea...

[II. BLOOD OF THE SEA]

[Music & Lyrics by Raul Ignacio Alvarez]

[Verse 1:]
[Captain Ahab:]
Gather round ye men of the Peqoud,
Gather round me o' sons of the sea,
"What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?"
[Mr Starbuck:]
"Sing out for him, lower away, and after him!"
[Ahab:]
"And what tune is it ye pull to men?"
[Starbuck:]
"A dead whale or a stove boat, sir!"
[Ahab:]
Thy hearts of fire shall serve well,
In this great hunt for the White Whale!,

[Chorus 1:]
[Ahab:]
I will reap my hate,
Upon my dismemberer,
Lash that Whale's HEART, men!
SPILL HIS GORE!

[Verse 2:]
[Ahab:]
"Whosoever of ye raises me a white whale,
with wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw,
Whosoever of ye raises that White Whale,
with holes punctured in starboard fluke!"
Look ye, d'ya see this Spanish ounce of Gold, men
A sixteen dollar piece...d'ya see it?!
Whoesoever of ye raises that same White Whale,
He shall have this gold ounce!

[Anti-verse:]
[Ahab:]
"...I'll chase that white whale round Good Hope,
And round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom,
And round Perdition's flames before I give him up!",
THIS IS WHAT YE HAVE SHIPPED FOR MEN!

[Chorus 2:]
[Ahab:]
Chase that white whale,
On both sides of land,
And over all Earth,
'TILL HE SPOUTS BLACK BLOOD AND ROLLS FIN OUT!

[Anti-chorus:]
[Ahab]
Now, three to three ye stand,
Commend the murderous chalices...TOUCH THEM!
Now, drink and swear ye of the whale boat...
...DEATH TO MOBY DICK!...
[Crew of the Peqoud:]
DEATH TO MOBY DICK!!!

[Verse 3:]
[Ishmael narrating:]
Low and high seas we traversed our voyage, our sanity and will,
Endlessly chasing this mirage of a white whale, Years rolled by, many whales were killed,
Many ships were encountered and asked,
"HAST YE SEEN THE WHITE HEADED WHALE?!

[Verse 4:]
[Ahab now sermonises:]
My Harpooneers of this (indisoluble) league of the murderous chalice,
'Queeqeg', 'Tashtego', 'Daggoo',...my pagan kinsman,
Ahab is bound to thee,
Look up to the white flame that leads to the white whale!
Mark it well!!!
Look ye as I blow away all your fears, shipmates! -ALL OF IT!
[Ahab blows away the static light from his Harpoon]

[Verse 5:]
[Mr Starbuck pleads in fear and anger:]
Enough old man! No more witchcraft! The Angel's mob ye with warnings,
do ye not them?...The 'prophecy'-...
[Ahab interupts angrily:]
Prophecy?!
I'll give YE a prophecy!
MAY GOD HUNT US ALL, IF WE DO NOT HUNT MOBY DICK TO HIS DEATH!

[Verse 6:]
[Ahab reflects & speaks to himself:]

What is this master that forces me to do what in my heart I dare not do?
Oh! How tasks me! He heaps me!...
Oh...where are ye white eye's...
Show thy self! Give me a sign!

[III.ÿONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH]

[Music & Lyrics by Raul Ignacio Alvarez]

[Masthead:]
There she blows! - She blows, she blows!

[Ahab:]
Where away?

[Masthead:]
Death to leaward, it's him...the white whale!

[Ahab:]
QUICK MEN! PURSUIT COARSE, LOWER AWAY...AFTER HIM!!!

[Verse 1:]
[Ishamel narrating]
Charging away with three boats full of fury,
Moby Dick, jaws open, flies up from the depths,
Cruching Fedellah and his crew in his wake,
Stubb, Flask charge Moby Dick, as he to them,
Decca of Harpoons strike the white whale as he passes,
Entangled rope-web drags the two boats behind him,
Diving down fathoms, Moby Dick takes his victims,
Then upwards he breaches, lines snap, boats in pieces!
[Ahab screeming]
"MAY BLACK VOMIT WRENCH THEE!!!"

[Verse 2:]
[Ishmael narrating]
"Moby Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from Heaven"
[Ahab shouting]
"Aye, breach your last to the Sun, Moby Dick,thy hour and thy Harpoon are at hand!
"Towards thee I roll, thou all destroying but unconquering whale, To the last I grapple with thee!
From the Heart of hell I stab at thee, for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!"

[Verse 3:]
[Ishmael narrating]
"Then he pilled upon the whales white hump,
the sum of the rage and hate felt by his race from Adam down,
And then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it"
"Oh lonely death on lonely life"