Songs After Sword

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These songs span the time period from the end of The Sword of Shannara through Andrea's choice to gather the Second Druid Council.

Perhaps it seems odd to use "romantic" love songs to describe a parent/child relationship. When I first heard this song on the radio, however, I was working in a newspaper office, training to take over the print shop when the regular girl went on maternity leave. And she said this song always made her think of her baby. So somebody else thought of this first!

Eternal Flame -- by The Bangles

Close your eyes, give me your hand,
(darling).
Do you feel my heart beating?
Do you understand?
Do you feel the same?
Am I only dreaming;
Is this burning an eternal flame?

I believe it's meant to be,
(darling).
I watch you when you are sleeping;
You belong with me.
Do you feel the same?
Am I only dreaming,
Or is this burning an eternal flame?

Say my name;
Sun shines through the rain.
Oh, life was so lonely,
Then you come and ease the pain.
I don't want to lose this feeling.

Close your eyes, give me your hand,
(darling).
Do you feel my heart beating?
Do you understand?
Do you feel the same?
Am I only dreaming;
Or is this burning an eternal flame?

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Another song that, if you ignore the "romantic" references, works quite well.

At the Beginning -- by Lynn Ahrens/Stephen Flaherty
from the soundtrack of the animated film Anastasia

We were strangers, starting out on a journey,
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through.
Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you.

No one told me I was going to find you.
Unexpected, what you did to my heart.
When I lost hope, you were there to remind me
This is the start.

And life is a road and I wanna keep going,
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing.
Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey.
I'll be there when the world stops turning,
I'll be there when the storm is through.
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you.

We were strangers, on a crazy adventure,
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true.
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future,
At the beginning with you.

Chorus

Knew there was somebody, somewhere,
Like me alone in the dark.
Now I know my dream will live on.
I've been waiting so long.
Nothing's gonna tear us apart.

Chorus

Life is a road and I wanna keep going,
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing on...
Starting out on our journey.
Life is a road and I wanna keep going,
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing.
In the end I want to be standing
At the beginning with you...

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I saw Disney's Sleeping Beauty about 7 times when I was 13--which is a lot in the days before videos. This song has always made me think of Andrea and David, who did in fact meet first in the "dream" of the limbo world when both were made true Druids: Andrea by her father, and David by Bremen, who chose to return to life rather than continue on into death.

Once Upon a Dream -- by Fain/Lawrence
from Disney's Sleeping Beauty

I know you,
I walked with you
Once upon a dream.
I know you,
The gleam in your eyes
Is so familiar a gleam.
Yet I know it's true
That visions are seldom all they seem.
But if I know you,
I know what you'll do:
You'll love me at once
The way you did once
Upon a dream.

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This song is about a parent wanting to protect their child, but ultimately being unable to do anything but equip them to survive on their own, a fitting image for Allanon and Andrea.

Night Vision -- by Suzanne Vega
as performed by Suzanne Vega on Solitude Standing

By day give thanks,
By night beware;
Half the world in sweetness;
The other in fear.

When the darkness takes you
With her hand across your face,
Don't give in too quickly;
Find the thing she's erased.

Find the line, find the shape
Through the grain.
Find the outline, and things will
Tell you their name.

The table. The guitar.
The empty glass.
All will blend together when
Daylight has passed.

Find the line, find the shape
Through the grain.
Find the outline, things will
Tell you their name.

Now I watch you falling into sleep,
Watch your fist uncurl against the sheet,
Watch your lips fall open and your eyes dim;
Blind faith.

I would shelter you
And keep you in light.
But I can only teach you
Night vision,
Night wision,
Night vision.

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I like this song because it is a father's lullaby.

All Through The Night -- traditional Welsh lullaby

Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee
All through the night.
Guardian angels God will send thee
All through the night.
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber steeping,
I my loved ones watch am keeping
All through the night.

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When I imagine Allanon playing the organ at the Keep, (and in the Alternate Shannara Universe, there is an organ, and he has the skill to play it), I always think of this piece.

Tocatta and Fugue in D minor -- by Johann Sebastian Bach

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Allanon's death when she was barely 20 years old left Andrea wandering in a miserable mental haze for a long time. This song, from the wonderful movie The Slipper and the Rose, is the one Cinderella sings as she visits her parents' grave. Here's a great Slipper and the Rose site.

Once I Was Loved -- by Richard M. Sherman/Robert B. Sherman
from the soundtrack of The Slipper and the Rose

Once I was loved,
I knew I was loved.
I flew through my days
In fanciful ways,
Secure and sure there'd always be
Endless love for me.

Gone is that love.
My fanciful dove
Has tears in her eyes,
She no longer flies.
And yet, my heart will not despair
For it's there,
Just a memory away.
Once I was loved, so always come what may,
Love's happy memory
Ever will be loving me.

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The Phantom of the Opera is a fabulous musical, and I love the music from it in general. But I especially like this song. Like Christine, Andrea has never really gotten over her father's death. Finally Andrea decides that she must stop moping and take the lead of the remaining Druids, going to Valg Island (in the Eastern Sea) to learn magic from the Gnome Wizards there like her father and grandfather before her.

from Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again -- by Charles Hart/Andrew Lloyd Webber
from the Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera

You were once my one companion.
You were all that mattered.
You were once a friend and father.
Then my world was shattered.

Wishing you were somehow here again.
Wishing you were somehow near.
Sometimes it seemed,
If I just dreamed,
Somehow you would be here.

Wishing I could hear your voice again.
Knowing that I never would.
Dreaming of you won't help me to do
All that you dreamed I could.

Passing bells and sculpted angels,
Cold and monumental,
Seem, for you, the wrong companions;
You were warm and gentle.

Too many years, fighting back tears.
Why can't the past just die?

Wishing you were somehow here again.
Knowing we must say goodbye.
Try to forgive. Teach me to live.
Give me the strength to try.

No more memories. No more silent tears.
No more gazing accross the wasted years.
Help me say goodbye.

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More than other, this song is Andrea's...

On My Father's Wings -- by Carole Bayer Sager/David Foster
from the soundtrack of the animated film Quest for Camelot

If you were with me now,
I'd find myself in you.
If you were with me now...
You're the only one who knew
All the things we planned to do.

I want to live my life
The way you said I would.
With courage as my light,
Fighting for what's right
Like you made me believe I could.

And I will fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been.
There is so much I've never seen.
And I can feel his heartbeat still,
And I will do great things
On my father's wings.

This world I'll never see.
My dreams that just won't be.
This horse's stride,
With one days ride,
Will have covered more
Distance than me.

But I will fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been.
There is so much I've never seen.
And I can feel his heartbeat still,
And I will do great things
On my father's wings.

Someday, with his spirit to guide me
And his memory beside me,
I will be free to...

Fly on my father's wings,
To places I have never been.
There is so much I've never seen.
And I can feel his heartbeat still,
And I will do great things
On my father's wings.
On my father's wings.

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