Stories within music, some myths retold and new ones created...

Stories & Legends (with Legacy of Thought)

My grateful thanks to Roberto Sass (@dj-rubberman) for asking me to write something for his fantastic track, and also to Chris Held (@timeaway) for inviting me to join Legacy of Thought.  My first venture with the label has been the most enjoyable trip to Hell and back!  Please find lyrics below.

The track forms part of the "Nine Circles of Hell" album, on the LoT label.  The album concept is based on Dante Alighieri's Inferno and the underworld realms of Hades, and the nine circles that lie within it. 

Lyrics & Vocals - Helen Suzanne (@sleepingenius)
Music - Roberto Sass (@dj-rubberman)

Phlegethon, River of Flames

FIRE 

Look into my eyes
Deep into my soul
There the fire burns
Vanquishing control


Look into the river
Deep into its source
The fiery demon rising
Summoning its force

Feel the flow of water
Far beyond this hell
Your hope of resurrection
Drowning in its well

Let the fire consume you
Purify your heart
Sins of man within 
To flaming depths depart

Coiled within the maelstrom
Raging from its core
Two worlds fused in anguish
Till one exists no more


Passage of the Phlegethon
Converging with the Styx
With Thanatos and Erebus
Beneath the veil of Nyx

Hypnos in his wisdom
Eternity endures
In fiery retribution
This silent fate is yours

FIRE

Ancient tales
Foes of men
Sins of the human
Time and again

Feel the fire
Seize its light
Follow the darkness
Into the night

Blessed by the goddess
Cursed by her tears
There's no redemption
In life's souvenirs

Time is lost 
Bleak and true
The gateway to Hades
It waits for you

Just as love devours you 
Abandoning your mind
Strangled by its magnetism
Leaving sense behind...

From flesh and bone discarded
Conscience bears no grace
You sink below the precipice
That earth cannot replace

Feel the fire
Seize its light
Follow the darkness
Into the night

A coin between your lips
To bear your dying soul
The ferryman will guide you
And pay the river's toll

In finding your dystopia
Pursuing only power
Possession pays for nothing
In this your final hour

Reach out for the mantle
That wraps your earthly pain
The goddess sits beside you
To watch you die in vain

No chances left to plunder
Forgiveness takes its bow
From your unworthy shoulders
With penance to endow

Look into my eyes
Deep into my soul
There the fire burns
Let it take control

Written by Helen Suzanne 
For Phlegethon/River of Flames by Roberto Sass
© September 2016.

Other artists on the album:
@jcoke
@timeaway
@kiabeniki
@colin-stevens
@daturasonoris
@andawan
@ivan-black
@k37productions
@cat-friendly
@progeny-1-6177
@tuuligan
@mythprojects

Please visit: @legacy-of-thought
www.facebook.com/legacyofthought
twitter.com/legacyofthought
www.youtube.com/channel/UCMMxdVM6Yc5lMao_kVGYODw

www.junodownload.com/products/nine-…ll/3220046-02/
Also on amazon and spotify

Artwork by Roberto Sass
Released by: Legacy of Thought, 27 October 2016

'Phlegethon, River Of Flames' - Roberto Sass & Sleepingenius (LoT)

Track 12 on the "Route to Dakar" album from Legacy Thought , "The Jewel of Mauritania" is a story in a poem written (by me) especially for the project, together with the musical wizardry of Chris Held (Time Away). It's a bewitching tale of the desert, taking you to another place in another time, on an adventure never to forget...  

Music & mastering: @timeaway
Poetry & vocals: @sleepingenius

Lyrics (by Helen Suzanne/Sleepingenius): 

On feathered wing 
Where eagles roam...

Mauritania
Calls me home

Sunrise

Creeping shadows shifting 
In shapes across the land 
I watch the new day dawning
Like honey, drawn from sand

Dunes that rise like mountains
In metamorphic stance
To fool the eyes and senses
Of those who play with chance

Far on the horizon
I see a lone, black horse
It rears its legs in earnest
And begs me follow course

Dark as desert nightfall
Where secrets lie unfound
With flowing mane it calls me
To somewhere westward bound

Mauritania 
Calls me home

A glimpse of my reflection
Is captured in its eyes
The shimmering oasis
That hope and truth defies

With outstretched wing I answer
And soar above sun
With sand and sky below me
My journey has begun

Within the cloudless silence
I hear the call again
A distant city sprawling
Its name, Port-Étienne

One hundred years before me
The horse's fate began
Where through the streets and markets
A fleeting figure ran

Pursued by thieving strangers
Of foreign tongue and land
The jewel of the desert
Held tightly in his hand

When plucked from his existence
A vulture swooped from high
To snatch the desert jewel
And steal it from the sky

Where once the figure stumbled
Now magic would prevail
And thus his cloak was rendered
A rippling, black tail

Mauritania
Calls me home

And so it fled the city
In dark equine disguise
The desert jewel now guarded
Within the horse's eyes

The call of Mauritania
Is now passed unto me
To find the jewel and finally
By nightfall set it free

The bustle of the city
Is choked by clouds of sand
I rest awhile upon a branch
And so peruse the land

Then somewhere in the distance
I hear a horse's bray
It calls me further westward
To rest in Arguin Bay

My path must be to follow
The long Atlantic shore
Where none have braved the ocean
Of those who went before

And so the black horse canters
Toward a watery grave
The jewel gleaming brightly
My destiny to save

The white mare of the ocean
Embraces now her steed
Upon the sparkling waters
The desert jewel is freed

And so just like the vulture
I spread my wings on high
The desert jewel to capture
And return it to the sky

Sunset

Creeping shadows shifting 
In shapes across the land
The desert sun is melting
Like honey in the hand

Dunes that rise like mountains
Hail the twilight's glow
The secret of the jewel
Is but for one to know

And as the darkness deepens
My flight from shores afar
Relights the desert jewel
Within a shooting star

The call of Mauritania
May bid me now goodbye
But always I'll remember
As I glide across the sky

Mauritania
Calls me home

"The Jewel of Mauritania"
By Helen Suzanne © October 2016 (All Rights Reserved)
For Chris Held/Legacy of Thought "Route to Dakar".

Original Artwork by Roberto Sass: www.facebook.com/roberto.sass.5

The links:
www.facebook.com/legacyofthought
twitter.com/legacyofthought
www.youtube.com/channel/UCMMxdVM6Yc5lMao_kVGYODw
www.beatport.com/label/legacy-of-thought/56466
www.junodownload.com/labels/Legacy+…ught/releases/

Also on itunes, amazon and spotify

Other artists on the "Route to Dakar" album by @legacy-of-thought:
jCoke: @jcoke
Time Away: @timeaway
Roberto Sass: @dj-rubberman
Nocturnal Rose: @kiabeniki
Colin Stevens: @colin-stevens
Der Bischof: @daturasonoris
Andawan: @andawan
Sleepingenius: @sleepingenius
Progeny-1: @progeny-1-617773258
Tuuligan: @tuuligan
Orbital Hum: @orbital-hum
Northstar11: @northstar11

'The Jewel Of Mauritania (Route to Dakar)' - Time Away & Sleepingenius (LoT)

As part of Legacy of Thought's latest album, "The Dead Painters Society Collection", "Boy on the White Horse" was inspired by the painting by Norwegian artist, Theodor Severin Kittelsen (1857-1914), which illustrates the legend of Nøkken.  

Nøkken is a river-dwelling monster, who shape-shifts in order to lure his victims into the water.  In children's fairy tales, Nøkken most often takes the form of a beautiful white horse, an image often reflected in other tales from Germanic mythology and folklore, such as Nix and Kelpie.

The hauntingly beautiful soundtrack was created by my dear friend, Alexander Hallberg, to which I added my poetry and vocals to retell the story of Nøkken.

Music: @booback
Poetry & vocals: @sleepingenius

Lyrics :
(by Sleepingenius © 2017)

Children in the meadow
Playing in the sun
Laughing by the river
So happily they run

Water lilies floating 
Near the river's hollow
There the white horse grazes
Inviting them to follow

Wherever I may be
Your spirit calls to me
Forever lead me on
Until all hope is gone

Lead me to the river
Tempted by the flowers
And sounds of haunting music
With mesmerising powers

A light upon the water
Glowing 'neath a pool
Draws me with its promise
My judgement thus to fool

To me the handsome stranger
From tales of ancient Norse
To children, in another guise -
A magical white horse

Spirit of the water
Tell me your desire
Show me why you linger 
Trapped within the mire

Seizing the unwary
You cast your charming lure
To feast upon your victim's soul
Innocent and pure

A needle to the water
While calling out your name
Nøkken, Nix or Kelpie
Your history the same

Or can I grasp your bridle?
While speaking out my riddle
Too late to flee the charming form
Playing harp and fiddle

But now I see the monster
Burning in your eyes
The golden glow is hailing
Will o' the wisp to rise

Take me to the river
From the light of day
Such beauty in the darkness
Leading me astray

Wherever I may be
Your spirit calls to me

Lights upon the water
Glowing in the night
Drawn by fate's illusion
Unto my destined plight

Forever lead me on
Until all hope is gone

Helpless I surrender
My soul is yours to keep
My heart to drown eternally
In your waters deep

The album:
Release date: 09-03-2017 on Legacy of Thought label:

Dead Painters Society Collection is the combination of different musical views inspired and motivated by paintings from different expressive artists, from different eras and artistic movements.
The compilation is a collective and heartfelt effort from composers of the Legacy of Thought Label touched by the art of many remarkable painters from the past.


The tracks:
1- AndAWan - Black Belt (Archibald Motley)
2- Time Away - Tableau 1 (Piet Mondrian)
3- Der Bischof - The Sin (Franz Von Stuck)
4- jCoke - Gagnefkulla (Anders Zorn)
5- AndAWan - Blind Man in Belsen (Alan Moore)
6- Der Bischof - The Ninth Wave (Ivan Aivazovsky)
7- Tuuligan - Sunrise (Claude Monet)
8- Nyx Orchid - Water Serpents II (Klimt)
9- Orbital Hum - The Persistence of Memory (Salvador Dali)
10- AndAWan - Spaceflight (Robert T. McCall)
11- Tolubai - Window out of the Pond (Friedensreich Hundertwasser)
12- Colin Stevens - Guernica (Picasso)
13- Ivan Black - Fall (Bridget Riley)
14- Nocturnal RoSe - The Flight (Salvador Dali)
15- Sleepingenius & Alexander Hallberg- Boy on the White Horse (Theodor Kittelsen)
16- Progeny-1 - Scotland Forever! (Lady Butler)
17- Der Bischof - The Garden of Earthly Delights (Hieronymus Bosch)

'Boy On The White Horse (Theodor Kittelsen)' - Alexander Hallberg & Sleepingenius (LoT)

Sleepingenius: The creativity within, awakened by moments of inspiration...

Despite the name, I don't claim to be any type of genius!  Over time, Sleepingenius has simply become my "trademark", and all my writing is copyrighted to Sleepingenius Creative Enterprises.  It is simply an avatar that I created several years ago, whilst scribbling away into the night.  Similarly, "theHelenigma" became my Twitter avatar, as a humorous reflection of how we are perceived by those who don't really know us.  

When I started writing poetry and lyrics here in 2012, it was purely to fulfil a creative need to touch something beyond the boundaries of everyday living.  I never expected to sing my words as well as speak them, but if you like what you hear, then I am very grateful to be able to share it with you, and I respect everyone here who shares their talent and time.  

I was delighted to join the Legacy of Thought label in 2016,  and become part of its rapidly increasing catalogue of electronic music tracks and albums, together with several of my Soundcloud friends and peers.  

I truly appreciate having the opportunity to work with an ever-growing list of wonderfully talented musicians, some of whom have become very dear friends.  Please take a little time to listen to their work when you can...

https://soundcloud.com/northstar11
https://soundcloud.com/timeaway
https://soundcloud.com/dj-rubberman
https://soundcloud.com/christian-welde
https://soundcloud.com/tolubai
https://soundcloud.com/nickrdavies
https://soundcloud.com/kenny-mitchell-28
https://soundcloud.com/dan-t-3
https://soundcloud.com/rock-flexible
http://soundcloud.com/ted-morgan
http://soundcloud.com/ascoltadi
http://soundcloud.com/countersilence
http://soundcloud.com/k37productions
http://soundcloud.com/edhaydon
http://soundcloud.com/oystein-jorgensen
http://soundcloud.com/oliversadie 
http://soundcloud.com/andreas-akwara
http://soundcloud.com/booback
http://soundcloud.com/absorption 
http://soundcloud.com/oxfordambient

Thank you :)