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Not Over Yet
Nov. 23rd, 2016 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thniduNot Over Yet
Words and music ©2012 Mark Mandel
tied for first place, ConCertino 2012 song contest, theme “Not the End of the World”
(I'll post a link to an .mp3 here once I upload it. See notes for `backtick and underline.)
The calendar is truthful, the mirror cannot lie,
Old friends grow older day by day, as day by day do I.
My nerves and joints confirm it, but I will not call it curse,
For though `old age can be painful, the alternative is worse.
`I believe in miracles, uncommon though they be.
When `I was not yet twenty, one was granted me.
It lasted more than forty years, through joy and toil and pain,
And I'd `give up all I have to have her with me once again.
I've done a few important things a man can do and be:
A lover, friend, and father, a boss, an employee.
I'll never be a champion or a scholar of great fame,
But I `still can be a human, and worthy of the name.
NOTES (2016-11-24):
Underlined words in the choruses, or their rhythm, changes from verse to verse.
I use a backtick (non-combining grave accent) before a stressed syllable where the line's meter might otherwise lead to distortion. For instance, in line 4, a person reading it (perhaps to sing along) might think the first accent should be on "though", and only later in the line discover that it's not.
Line 8 is a tribute to Lazarus Long's line in Methuselah's Children: "But I can tell you this... here's one monkey who's going to keep on climbing, and looking around him to see what he can see, as long as the tree holds out." And you win a virtual cookie if you spot the other literary allusion.
In v.3, ll. 4–5, I've changed "person" to "human" and "treating all" to "treating those", which is how I've been singing it most of the time. Similarly, "wrapped" to "robed" in v.1, l.7; "or" to "and", v.3, l.1; "make" to "add", v.3, l.8.
Words and music ©2012 Mark Mandel
tied for first place, ConCertino 2012 song contest, theme “Not the End of the World”
(I'll post a link to an .mp3 here once I upload it. See notes for `backtick and underline.)
The calendar is truthful, the mirror cannot lie,
Old friends grow older day by day, as day by day do I.
My nerves and joints confirm it, but I will not call it curse,
For though `old age can be painful, the alternative is worse.
I cannot dance for hours, as I did at seventeen.
My memory is cracked in shards, with pieces lost between.
My memory is cracked in shards, with pieces lost between.
Yet grey though be the present, the future robed in doubt,
This monkey's gonna keep on climbin' while the tree holds out!
This monkey's gonna keep on climbin' while the tree holds out!
It isn't the end of the world.
The sun isn't gone when it's set.
I'm writing a new chapter every day
And the story's not over yet,
This story's not over yet.
The sun isn't gone when it's set.
I'm writing a new chapter every day
And the story's not over yet,
This story's not over yet.
`I believe in miracles, uncommon though they be.
When `I was not yet twenty, one was granted me.
It lasted more than forty years, through joy and toil and pain,
And I'd `give up all I have to have her with me once again.
The wound is deep but healing, and I do not heal alone,
With friends, companionship, and love that warm me to the bone.
With friends, companionship, and love that warm me to the bone.
For months I lay as paralyzed, my gait is limping still,
But `I will run and dance again: I want, I can, I will!
But `I will run and dance again: I want, I can, I will!
It isn't the end of the world.
The sun isn't gone when it's set.
I'm singing a new verse every day
And the song isn't over yet,
This song's not over yet.
The sun isn't gone when it's set.
I'm singing a new verse every day
And the song isn't over yet,
This song's not over yet.
I've done a few important things a man can do and be:
A lover, friend, and father, a boss, an employee.
I'll never be a champion or a scholar of great fame,
But I `still can be a human, and worthy of the name.
By treating those around me with compassion and with care,
By working to improve and save this world we all must share,
By working to improve and save this world we all must share,
By savoring each moment, no matter what it brings,
To add my contribution to the song existence sings.
To add my contribution to the song existence sings.
It isn't the end of the world.
The sun isn't gone when it's set.
I'm living a full life every day
And my life isn't over yet,
This life's not over yet!
The sun isn't gone when it's set.
I'm living a full life every day
And my life isn't over yet,
This life's not over yet!
NOTES (2016-11-24):
Underlined words in the choruses, or their rhythm, changes from verse to verse.
I use a backtick (non-combining grave accent) before a stressed syllable where the line's meter might otherwise lead to distortion. For instance, in line 4, a person reading it (perhaps to sing along) might think the first accent should be on "though", and only later in the line discover that it's not.
Line 8 is a tribute to Lazarus Long's line in Methuselah's Children: "But I can tell you this... here's one monkey who's going to keep on climbing, and looking around him to see what he can see, as long as the tree holds out." And you win a virtual cookie if you spot the other literary allusion.
In v.3, ll. 4–5, I've changed "person" to "human" and "treating all" to "treating those", which is how I've been singing it most of the time. Similarly, "wrapped" to "robed" in v.1, l.7; "or" to "and", v.3, l.1; "make" to "add", v.3, l.8.
