Music by Bill Olson

The theme music to my video interview with two African journalists.

A short and sparkly piece.

Lyrics

Music and lyrics by Thomas Gataker; arrangement © 2000 Bill Olson.

An air from Gataker's comic operetta "The Jealous Clown: or The Lucky Mistake, an Opera in One Act," published in 1730 London.

A short and lively piece.

This was originally an experiment with short duration notes.

Lyrics

I originally wrote this song in October 1987 in St. Paul's Como Park. It's the theme for my TV pilot and radio drama series about artists struggling in the Twin Cities.

Flowers and Sumac � 2000 Bill Olson

Lyrics
One day in the summer of 1987, I was walking through a country field near Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Everything I saw I put into this song. As I walked along, I committed the melody and lyrics to memory.

Geneva Anthem (from Abandoned Journeys.) � 1999 Bill Olson

The Sociasterideus Anthem tells of the tragic events that lead to the creation of the Sociesterideus. Abandoned Journeys tells how it happened and who the people were. This music is the national anthem of the Geneva Republic, a financially strapped empire facing its last chapter before it falls.

Good-Bye My Lady Love

Lyrics

By Jos. E. Howard, Arr. by Al La Rue. Published 1895. Midi sequencing by Bill Olson.

Lyrics
I originally wrote this in 1980 as the theme to my short story "Home Again," which will be incorporated into its sequel, the novella Abandoned Journeys. I wrote the story and the song when the first "Star Wars" movie was seen as a glorification of space war. "Home Again" says war in space won't be fun and games.

I originally wrote this love song while a love-sick hormone-intoxicated teenager at Central Junior High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

This military march is inspired by the novel The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell.

This cheerful piece is also the theme of my video "Lost Language, Rediscovered Kin."

This is a sad ode to the United States flag, which I love dearly, but whose meaning will be lost if a Constitutional amendment preventing flag desecration is adopted.

Lyrics
This is a folk song about a most unfortunate traveler.

This is the theme for my upcoming series chronicling my 1997 voyage through Mexico.

Wisconsin dairy farmers face a doubtful future and a difficult present. They slave to make ends meet as legislators from other states, armed with a Depression-era federal law, force them to their knees. But in the end, if they can, they keep working at what they love to do.

Lyrics

This is the song Major Zairlyk Delethskull sings to his dog, Moon, in Molto Vivace. Here, he plays it on the recorder he received as a gift from Kilyenna.

A dark, rhythmic battle between the forces of generosity and selfishness.

"Fighting On" -- Opus 1 adapted to function as the theme to my documentary.

Lyrics
I first wrote this in about 1974 as a teenager. It's the song David MacLinister sings to his girlfriend Joanne to convince her that he loves her and she should fly away from Earth with him on the space ship Orlander.

The short but sensitive theme to my proposed radio drama series.

The haunting incidental music of my video helecopter ride.

An expression of reciprocal love.

Lyrics
The national anthem of a tyrannical theocracy 1,000 years in the future. This music is very close and personal to the central character, Zairlyk Delethskull, a lieutenant in my story "Encore" and a major in Molto Vivace. The lyrics tell how the Geneva Republic's warship Leviathan becomes the focal point of tragic events (in Abandoned Journeys) that lead to the creation of the Sociasterideus -- the social union under God.

Version 2. I originally wrote this while a teenager in junior high school.

The unicorn trots through fields, feeling the breeze through her mane.

A short but lively piece.