| My Black Velvet Band �2001 by Kayla Rigney I'm going to step out on a limb here and bring up the subject of music in the tunnels. Now, from series canon, we know Vincent (at least) loves classical music; but I got to wondering about what other kinds of music would be available to the tunnel dwellers. Suddenly music from my spent youth popped into my head... I bet the tunnel dwellers would love the kind of songs that are easily sung in groups or around a campfire. It makes sense to me that music that is easily learned and passed down would truly be the soundtrack of the tunnel world! They would sing traditional Irish songs like "Black Velvet Band": Her eyes they shown like the diamonds You'd think she was queen of the land... Yesterday, I watched my parents drive away and I feel like nothing will fill the hole in my heart. I'm always watching people I love drive away. I live "far from me friends and relations. They follow the black velvet band." That's what I get for living on a mountain! Like Vincent and the tunnels, my saving grace is my prison. Like Vincent, I, too, live underground. In a neat little town they call Belfast Apprentice to trade I was bound And many an hour's sweet happiness I spent in that neat little town. I think people in the tunnels have memories of their former lives -- memories that cannot be touched by or shared through anything but music! Songs like "Black Velvet Band" or "Goodnight, Irene" would have special, deeper meaning. Till bad misfortune came o'er me That caused me to stray from the land Far away from me friends and relations They follow the Black Velvet Band. And when they sang these memories, they would be telling the story of their lives... Next morning before judge and jury For a trial I had to appear And the judge, he says: "Me young fellow, the case against you is quite clear." So many of the tunnel residents can never return Above to their former lives; and those born Below carry the sweet burden of secrecy. I'd choose to live Below in an instant! It wouldn't be the first time I made a life-saving decision in a matter of hours... "And seven long years is your sentence You're going to Van Dieman's Land Far away from your friends and relations They follow the black velvet band." The soundtrack of the tunnel world is the soundtrack of our own world. It is full of memory and regret and grace and the joy that comes from having survived. My eyes may shine like the diamonds You'd think I was queen of the land. But my hair hangs over my shoulders Tied up with a black velvet band. 1 The proverbial black velvet band. We all wear one. We can't escape the bonds of connections and memory. If we are to survive -- as fans and as people -- we must embrace who we were and fall headlong who we are. Wear that black velvet band with pride, dammit! Don't stop and wonder whether the song is really about prostitution or about coal mining or morphine addiction... It's about life as you know it. Like the tunnel dwellers, I can never go home again. But like Vincent, I've earned the right to sing. And so have you. 1 Black Velvet Band (traditional) Hear the midi |