Swato's Choral Squids

[Swatopluk]

I'm singing a few tenor arias from Haendel's Messiah and while studying I thought that chutulification may work for them. Perhaps you can chutulify a number or two and I can sing them (I'll find an open minded pianist, the organist at the church I'll be singing may not be the best choice), record them and post them somewhere. In fact it may be interesting to Cthulify the whole thing (although that is a serious undertaking).

The HPLHS already cthulhufied the Hallelujah.
[youtube=425,350]ZZAoLnn4LF0[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZAoLnn4LF0
I thought about doing the rest but found the task too great.

Here's also a classic Händel imitation parodied by the same people
[youtube=425,350]ptP0OR-e7rI[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptP0OR-e7rI

[Swatopluk]

Asleep in the Deep
OT: Asleep in the Deep/Loudly the bell in the old tower rings
T:Arthur J. Lamb
M: Henry W. Petrie (1897)

Pitch-black the night but still onward ploughs
Alert the cultists' brig
However violent the stormwind blows
All sails are set in her rig
Up in the sky hides the moon his light
After strange aeons the stars are right
The waves do sway, the foam does spray
Up from the Deep now emerges R'lyeh

Refr.
Loudly the drums by/from the dark bayou boom
Ominous chants are announcing our doom
Mankind be scared! Mankind be scared
Cthulhu is stirring. Be scared! Be scared!
(Be scared! Be scared!)
An ancient foe lies asleep in the Deep
So be scared! Be scared!

Where is Cthulhu to rule once more?
There is no trace or sign
Where's the dark city on ancient shore
The throne of the Star Spawn divine?
Gone as if only a hideous dream
No more in fever the psychics scream
The Old One's gone to sleep again
The drums may still roll but it all was in vain

Refr.

[youtube=425,350]etdMM6VsBos[/youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etdMM6VsBos

[Swatopluk]

Dunwich Horror Carol
OT: Agincourt Carol
T/M: unknown

Wilbur went forth to Arkham town
His shape disguised in human gown
He as a scholar of renown
Asked that a book to him be shown

Refr.
I-ä Yog-Sothoth
I-ä Yog-Sothoth
Great Old One
Come here and help/save your earthborn son

The keeper said that could not be
For no sound reason he would see
That book that lives in infamy
And drives Man to insanity

Refr.

When Wilbur tried the book to take
A nightly entry he did make
But guard dog did his body break
Revealed his human guise as fake

Refr.

Cause Wilbur lied in Arkham dead
His vile twin brother stayed unfed
It thirsted much for blood so red
So down for/to Dunwich it did head

Refr.

Ewe on the green, pig in the sty
Cows in the shed were first to die
Then humans too were sucked all dry
Those left for help from Arkham cried

Refr.

Then Armitage a chant there sang
And suddenly the air all rang
A voice arose on Sent'nel Hill
"Oh Father help, I'm in peril!"

Refr.

But no help came, the chant went on
And soon the battle Man had won
The Dunwich Horror was all gone
So I can/must end now this my song

Refr.


[youtube=425,350]UK16e-Emrms[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK16e-Emrms

[Swatopluk]

The Fall of Cthulhu (a fragment)
OT: The Fall of Gil-Galad
T: J.R.R. Tolkien
M: Stephen Oliver(1981)

Cthulhu was the Star Spawn's prince
His mere name made all mortal wince
Hist vast realm was all vile and ick!
The islands in the Pacific

His wings were short his talons long
His body odour very strong
Around his mouth his hideous face
It sprouted wiggly tentacles

But long ago he went to sleep
For strange aeons down in the Deep
Into the sea sank Spawn of Star
With/In R'lyeh where the shoggoths are

[youtube=425,350]BquuEMC0ei8[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BquuEMC0ei8
The song is from the 1981 BBC radio adaptation of Tolkien's LOTR, not the Peter Jackson movies!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I imagine doing the whole thing may be hard, but what would you think of trying the first two numbers?

Accompagnato (Tenor or Soprano)
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplish'd, that her Iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
(Isaiah 40 : 1-3)
Air (Tenor or Soprano)
Ev'ry valley shall be exalted, and ev'ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.
(Isaiah 40 : 4)

[Swatopluk]

I may take another look at it, if I can find the CD and the piano excerpt.
But there are other songs to attend to that should have been done a year go
e.g.
Memory (from Cats)
Moonlight Shadowed
Moscow (Dschingis Khan)
Yes! We have no bananas
Foxy Foxtrot(Nico Haak)
etc.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Parts can be found at IMSLP and I can provide you with a copy from the recording I have, just let me know.

[Swatopluk]

I listened to about half an hour of the CDs. The problem is, the emphasis is totally on the music. Too little text repeated too often (and not rhymed either). That is parodist's hell. If you look at the Oh Cthulhu! I linked to, it's the performance that makes it interesting, the mere text is rather short. I did the opening chorus of Bach's christmas oratorio further up in the thread. That is rhymed but also only a handful of lines that have to fill about 8 minutes. You can also find my version of Händel's See the Conqu'ring Hero Cometh. That filled half a page only because I explicitly wrote all the repetitions (there are several chorus versions of that one but I had a certain one in mind).
Apart from that I rather stick to earworms. In the Messiah there is essentially only one and that has already been done by the HPLHS.
I have abandoned many an initially promising song because I was unable to find the right twist for the whole text.
maybe one day I will tackle the Coffee Cantata by Bach. Short, with relatively much text and with a plot.
---

Hey, We Do by Nightgaunt Fly
OT: Ja, mir san mit'm Radl da
T/M: not fully clear. Possibly derived from the gospel "Over in the gloryland"

Hey, we do by Nightgaunt fly (6x)

We like our corpses fresh
And we will make a dash
If somewhere is a burial
So, when we get the news
We won't make any fuss
Come on, let's hurry all

Hey, we do by Nightgaunt fly (6x)

Yes we are clearly ghouls
We need no digging tools
Tunneling it is our game
Any new churchyard soon
Gets by us honeycombed
We put all moles to shame

Hey, we do by Nightgaunt fly (6x)

And for posterity
With great dexterity
Pickmann our friend will paint us
Canvasses full of gore
Blithely he will ignore
If him the critics cuss

Hey, we do by Nightgaunt fly (6x)

But we don't like to go
Far on our feet and so
If we want change of area
We sound a special meep
Nightgaunts from sky then sweep
They are our carrier

Hey, we do by Nightgaunt fly (6x)

Carter on dreaming quest
Is now our special guest
Although he shares not our taste
We will to Kadath fly
Through dark and stormy sky
Over the vast Cold Waste

Hey, we do by Nightgaunt fly (6x)

[youtube=425,350]UuWmoaXCyMs[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuWmoaXCyMs

[Swatopluk]

Soon this our world will end
OT:Du bist das Licht der Welt
T/M: Helga Poppe
http://members.aon.at/ftoscher/Kirche/Kirchentxt/Du_bist_das_Licht_der_Welt.htm (text, score, midi)

Refr.
Soon this our world will end
And mankind's oldest foe('ll)
(will) Drive us around the bend
For in the ocean deep
Far from all mortal eyes
Does a Great Old One sleep
Look at the stars in the night
How pale their fire now burns
Soon again they will be right
And Great Cthulhu returns
Then our world will end

1.
That clearly is not dead which can eternal lie
And when strange aeons have passed then even Death may die
Can't you hear how from the dark the cultists' drums now boom
How their eldritch chants announce our doom

Refr.

2.
He will soon wake from sleep and reclaim his domain
As in day before Man's dawn He'll rule this Earth again
When the shoggoths are let loose and Deep Ones do advance
Mankind, just admit it, has no chance

Refr.

3.
All that is still alive will meet a gruesome fate
For after such long time his hunger will be great
Souls are his drink of choice and no end knows his thirst
Happy are those he'll devour first

Refr.

[youtube=425,350]FU4m6aoL8Gk[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU4m6aoL8Gk

[Swatopluk]

Song of the Andaman Cultist
OT: Song of the Indian Guest (from the opera Sadko)
T/M: N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov

The Southern Seas beneath their swaying waves
Hide cosmic horror in their lightless caves
In caverns deep
HE lies asleep
There almost forgotten / Far from any sunray
Stands R'lyeh all rotten / Stands the ancient R'lyeh
From his tomb Cthulhu / Therein lies Cthulhu
Sends foul nightmares to you
Wants the world to scour
Yet reduced to glower
Waiting for the hour
His return to power
Who of him is dreaming
Wakes up loudly screaming
The Southern Seas beneath their swaying waves
Hide cosmic horror in their lightless caves
In caverns deep
HE lies asleep

[youtube=425,350]x7KXsVfopUs[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7KXsVfopUs

[Swatopluk]

Spawned to be vile
OT: Born to be wild (Steppenwolf)

See the mortals running
When I rise from R'lyeh
Keen the world to conquer
And to bring death and decay
Iä cultists go make it happen
Wake the Old and the fight is won
Drive the world all insane again
Through the sight of the Spawn

I am oh so frightening
Tentacles and talons
Scales and stubby wings
And the goo (that) I spew in gallons
Iä cultists go make it happen
Wake the Old and the fight is won
Drive the world all insane again
Through the sight of the Spawn

Cthulhu full of guile
He was spawned, spawned to be vile
Noone can defy
He is never gonna die

Spawned to be vile
Spawned to be vile

[Swatopluk]

Title page for the next Choral Squids Songbook

[Swatopluk]

Age of the Great Old One
OT:Aquarius

When a ghoul is in each second house
And Yuggoth dark aligns with Mars
Then war engulfs this planet
For right are now the stars

This is the dawning of the age of the Great Old One
The Age of the Great Old One
The Great Old One
The Great Old One

Sacrifice and Disemboweling
Drums resounding, cultists howling
No more false blissful illusion
Bloody nightmares and confusion
Merciless abomination
And a time of devastation/And mind's final degradation

When a ghoul is in each second house
And Yuggoth dark aligns with Mars
Then war engulfs this planet
For right are now the stars

This is the dawning of the age of the Great Old One
The Age of the Great Old One
The Great Old One
The Great Old One
***

As our drums are beating through the night
We dance unto the dawn of day
To be the servants of the master/monster
The victims we all slay

We are the high priests of the cult of the Great Old One
The cult of the Great Old One

Sacrifice and Disemboweling
Drums resounding, cultists howling
Diabolic incantations
Right are now the constellations
Following preordained courses
Guided by the cosmic forces
Oh wake and come
You Great Old One

da capo al ***

[Swatopluk]

Shoggoth contectus icit tandem
OT: Todos contentos y yo tambien by Rainbirds (Album: In a different light)

Sleeping deep down in the sea
Longing to be free - it's true / so Ew!
Sending visions up that now haunt my dreams
Until I wake up from my frantic screams
The mem'ry of R'lyeh, city dank with slime
The sleeper in the deep is no friend of mine
Going mad
I'm going mad

Seeking return to the world
Is Cthulhu now - below
Sending visions up all the world to fright
That he'll wake up soon rise up to the light / cause the stars are right
That he'll wake up soon to destroy mankind
Shaking off the spells that no longer bind
Going mad
I'm going mad

Isn't it true
That by the bayou
Sharp knives enter hearts
Cut through sinews
Shoggoth contectus icit tandem¹
There's a word on all lips
Spelled 'FHTAGN!' (pronounce: fa-ta-gen)
Isn't it true
That by the bayou
Sharp knives enter hearts
Cut through sinews

Flying through the night with the ghouls
Nightgaunts are our tools - I drool
That's my vision now to avoid the light
No reason not to join the winning side
The only way when hope has turned to/all black
Soon perish will mankind now He's come back
Going mad
I'm going mad

Kneeling in front of the cloud²
Called the fertile goat - I gloat
To join the ancient cult of Shub-Niggurath
In order to survive on this Day of Wrath
Now that He woke up and the stars are right
And the world engulfed by eternal night
Going mad
I'm going mad

Isn't it true
That by the bayou
Sharp knives enter hearts
Cut through sinews
Shoggoth contectus icit tandem
There's a word on all lips
Spelled 'FHTAGN!' (pronounce: fa-ta-gen)

(repeat this refrain at libitum)

¹ The hidden shoggoth has struck at last
'Vetus immanis' (Great Old One) would better fit in the context but not in allusion to the OT
² In a letter Lovecraft described Shub-Niggurath as an "evil cloud-like entity"

[Swatopluk]

Now a pure squid song:

Squids wha hae
OT: Scots wha hae

Squids wha hae till now been mute
Just been whale and human food
Don the kilt grab pipes and flute
Sing our battle song
Now's the day and now's the hour
We'll no longer hide and cower
Noone hence shall us devour
Do us any wrong

Octopus and cuttlefish
Will no longer serve as dish
And for those who still so wish
Of our wrath beware
Let's together proudly hail
Never will our struggle fail
Calmar union shall prevail
Firmly we declare

We all share a common fate
Tentacles be ten or eight
Never counted they who ate
Us with sauce or fried
Pibroch sound through sea and reef
Man, you better do believe
Do us harm, you'll come to grief
By our rules abide

Vampire squids from hell now creep
Architeuthis in the deep
Wake the Kraken from his sleep
Squidkind will not yield
Rise now for the time is ripe
Tartan squids of any stripe
Lead our host the foe to wipe
Off the battlefield