13. Valtias

10 hours ago by @knobbyneggins815

Liner Notes

#baroque #indierock #grief

tw: suicide

Possibly what inspired this whole album, this song existed in various forms (mainly half a verse) for quite awhile. I didn't know what to do with it, or where to take it, but I knew it had to exist, eventually.

A lifetime ago in high school I had a dear friend who I had a bond that I've rarely had with people: the Creative Bond. I keep my thoughts to myself, and I don't like sharing all this artsy fartsy stuff with people if I know they're not "Into That". He was.

Our favourite band was Coheed & Cambria (the inspo for the first line in this song from their song "The Light & The Glass), we were wannabe writers, we were into all the movies that teenage guys were into who wanted to feel like they were enlightened. We hung out in different circles, but got along really well; I cast him in one act plays and he'd invite me to parties with country folk and car guys. It was one of those things where we could go a long time without talking, but when we did, it'd be a whole night of nonsense and bs and cracking jokes.

Long story short, at one point before graduation he handed me a few chapters of a story called Valtias, a fantasy/sci-fi story about a slowly-crumbling kingdom struggling under the weight of an approaching future that did not need them. At the time I didn't really think anything of it, but that idea now makes a lot of sense.

After high school, he went to college, I retreated into a hole, and we grew apart. In 2018 he took his own life.

I've went back to those chapters a lot, because I can see a call for help in them. Honestly, and it's the most selfish thing, but I look at him as a What If, and it breaks my heart that I never tried to contact him for years.

Anyways, this song has existed in fragments for a long time and I owed him a piece that could bring his world to life, even for just a moment. I miss him dearly, and I wish I could have told him how important he was.

Thanks for listening

Lyrics

Verse 1:
"Slowly the
Pen touches paper",
So goes that
Song that we sung.

You'd print out the words
On coffee-stained paper,
And we'd scream them from
The top of our lungs.

The glow from your
Old computer
Was the only thing that
Lit up the room.

Deep in the night,
Between all the walls,
The poems we'd write,
The nursery rhymes we'd
Make fun of.

Pre-Chorus 1:
That was a long,
Long time ago.
All of those pages of memories
Chapters now lost to the ages.

The things that we know,
They all disappear
When it's our time
To go.

Chorus:
So I say
Valtias,
King of All,
Have you found a home?

I promised I
Would shed no tears
When the sun was gone.

Yet here I am, weeping,
Cloaked in the shadows,
Draped in the colours
That felled you in battle

Oh, Valtias,
Friend of mine,
You mattered.

Verse 2:
It took me awhile
Just to find them,
In a closet at
My mother's house,

But those first couple chapters
You gave me to read,
They're all I've got left
Of you now.

I'll be branded a victim
Of cowardice,
But one day,
I hope courage abides.

I'll visit your family,
And talk about your life,
How you were so sharp and funny,
And we'll never let your story die.

Pre-Chorus 2:
We've all got a long
Road left to go.
One step at a time forward,
And the hum of the engine at night

Is all that we know,
When the Quiet Drive Back
Takes us closer to home.

So I say
Valtias,
King of All,
Have you found a home?

I promised I
Would shed no tears
When the sun was gone.

Yet here I am, weeping,
Cloaked in the shadows,
Draped in the colours
That felled you in battle

Oh, Valtias,
Old friend of mine,
You matter.

Outro:
I'm not afraid of The End.
I'm afraid of not leaving a trace.
All the frayed papers in weathered journals,
Forgotten files on old laptops,
Memos on cracked phones,
They'll be all that's left of me.

But then I return to Valtias,
And I remember that
Kingdoms can linger
Long after they're gone.

We had our moment,
We drifted apart,
And from time to time,
You'll be on my mind.

I promise,
I'll never let your story die.

I'll never let your story die.

I'll meet you in the House On The Hill.

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