EARLY TRACKS

All The Man That I Need

When Princess Leia shot that hole 
And yelled the fly boys down 
They jumped right in
They jumped right in 
But Princess Leia got them trapped 
Inside the garbage chute
Between two walls
Between two walls 

I always wanted to be Princess Leia 
I thought 
Who wouldn’t want to be Princess Leia 
She was stronger than those boys 
Not afraid to raise her voice 
Oh I wanted to be Princess Leia 

A bushy brown-haired boy 
with long spindly legs 
Calls out your name 
Calls out your name
But 
You’re racing down the clouds 
and stars up in the sky 
The northern lights 
The northern lights 

You’d never think about Princess Leia
Why should 
You ever think about Princess Leia
she’s just one of the boys 
With high set squeaky voice
Never think about Princess Leia 

Down in that hole 
Glass walls all around
Bad boy up on top
And strong girl down below 
It’s just me in between 
These walls in between 
Oh oh oh 

Princess Leia come on back 
I wanna see 
I need to see
Just let me see
The blond and blue-eyed boy you 
always had in tow 
Is he the one for me ?
The one for me

Oh Leia my good friend 
I think I know 
By now I know 
Yes, I know
You’re both the one for me 
Yes I see 
You’re both for me 
You’re both for me 

So Princess Leia come on back
and rescue me 
Rescue me
Won’t you rescue me?

PRINCESS LEIA

Max is high 
Max is trying 
Max will find 
his way of flying 

The sky's already there inside of him 
Like the glow in his heart just guiding him

It flows with the beat 
down to his feet 
Back up to his mind 
where it will meet 
his eyes 

Max can hide 
Max is playing
Max can try 
his hand at staying  

the path’s already there inside of him 
like a line from his heart just guiding him 

He opens his eyes 
to look outside 
the smile on his lips 
says satisfied 
   
He reaches out with all he is 
to the turning pulsing world 
He joins himself to all that is 
and in a golden burst of light 
we see 

Max is high 
Max is trying
Max will find 
his way of flying

Songs For Max

MAX IS HIGH

It's a war zone on the inside
They've shipped me overseas
I'm struggling with the language
But your voice gives me some peace  

I'm a soldier on the inside 
On a mission in the night 
The names of the streets are mysteries 
But by your side, I know it's all right 

Господи помилуй
Господи отвечай 
My Good and Faithful servant 
Lift thine eyes into the sky!

And now that the battles over
Now it's twenty years ago 
The bombs of your love keep falling 
It's like I never ever really came home. 

Now my heart’s not on the inside 
Now my knees don’t run with blood
Now my voice rings out in freedom 
Now my war for you is done

Господи помилуй
Господи отвечай 
My Good and Faithful servant 
Lift thine eyes into the sky!

And now that the battles over
Now it's twenty years ago 
The bombs of your love keep falling 
It's like I never ever really came home. 

I'm still looking for you in the ruins 
( Господи помилуй)
Stil racing to meet you there
(Господи отвечай)
I still see your body moving 
( My Good and Faithful Servant)
Through the late summer city air 
(Lift thine Eyes into sky)

And now that the battles over
Now it's twenty years ago 
The bombs of your love keep falling 
It's like I never ever really came home.

Landscapes 

WARZONE ( Gospodi Pomilui )

The Canoe: trickle, flow, run

--For Louis Majeau 
and for the girl who came to be known as Marie Majeau…

Madweyaashka           ( one can hear the waves )
Ecoutez les vagues      ( listen to the waves )
a la mer                      ( to the sea)
Gichigami                   ( The Great Sea / Lake Superior )

trickle, 
flow,
run,
run on…. 

...to the Sea!
The rushing Sea
Gichigami!
The rushing Sea
Run to the Sea!
Gichigami...

In his nearly middle aged eyes, 
she’s a fearless wave, 
running on this Inland Sea, 
sweet as the sugar cane
he once tasted as a boy,
waiting on the quay for the boats from France.

As a young man he crossed this Sweet Sea,
paddling to the North.
Full of dreaming and boyhood’s hopes,
he raced from Montreal.
North and westward-west and north- 
every youthful hope drowned with the years,
But now she’s here: 
this fearless wave...

trickle,
flow,
run,
run on….

But who was she?
In her own eyes, 
who was she? 
In her own eyes,
before she was Marie?

In her girlhood what did her eyes see? 
What visions for her life? 
Did she gaze out on Gichigami 
with the same longing, 
as the others who had left 
following these men, paddling to the East? 

Was she given and did she just go?
Or was it all her choice?
And in the rushing of waves and years
did she keep her voice?
In that moment standing there
looking at this man- pale dirty skin and hair -
did she dare dream 
of you and me? 

Together they went           (Trickle,
To the rushing Sea              flow
They paddled North           Run…. etc. )
Then to the South again. 
Always together,     
through those rushing days.
Child after child, 
Year after year...
To the Sea,
To the rushing Sea!
wave after wave,
breath after breath….  

We race through the years     
Holding tightly                   
to our belief                             
to these stories
to these shores 
hoping that they will keep us safe
stop us from flowing into 
that endless Sea 

				( Do not fear the Sea… )

Madweyaashka….

d'eau 

THE CANOE (Trickle, Flow, Run)

Minnesota: Summer, 1984

Movement No. 1 

the earth gave up its flesh 
and the wound the giving left
was filled with water so fresh and clear

from the shore we both can see 
at least one hundred feet 
into the blue shifting deep 

I have no fear 
in this water with you near
you dive 
and your laughing eyes disappear 

I follow you down
down
I follow you down
into this wound which your love
has cut into my flesh

with you down here
I see everything so clearly 

looking up from below
the edges of the world glow 

my pale skin and your dark grin
shine brighter in the blue 
as we move my open wound
is cleansed and runs anew 

until every part of who I think I am 
bleeds away into 
this welcoming blue with you...

MINNESOTA : SUMMER, 1984

Walk through the world boy
You are who you are 
Don't let anyone change you 
Just follow your star

(switch left)

Turn into yourself boy 
found out who you are 
just a cluster of atoms
Dust from the stars 

( switch right switch left switch right switch left 
then switch it back again)

I am alive
I am here 
the only truth I'll ever know
the only story I'll tell
I could explode 
I could disappear 
In one breath I could be gone
and the light that you will see
the air that you will breathe 
will be all that is left of me

(switch left switch right)

Which way to the light?
let it go, you won't win this fight

look at the world boy
it is what it is
ain't no way to change it 
get used to this biz

(switch left)

Turn into the world, boy 
it is who you'll be
(take it take it take it)
only one way to change it
(you can't)
own what you see!

( switch right switch left switch right switch 
left then switch it back again)

I am alive
I am here 
the only truth I'll ever know
the only story I'll tell
I could explode 
I could disappear 
In half a breath I could be gone
and the light that you will see
the air that you will breathe 
will be all that is left of me

(switch left switch right)

Which way to the light?
let it go, you won't win this fight

WALK THROUGH THE WORLD BOY

IMAGINE

NATHAN WRIGHT is an interdisciplinary artist based in NYC. While he primarily focuses on theatre and songwriting, he is also a performer, vocalist, and visual creator. Great Lakes born and raised, Nathan grew up between the Minnesota North Shore of Lake Superior and the Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan (with a brief stint in Utah) The Inland Seas and the region are foundational to his work as an artist and his passion for protecting wild places everywhere. Learn more about him and his work via his Instagram [nathanwrite] and InAbsentiaTheatre.com