Frostyland

Harvesting the Ephemeral

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Friday July 14, 2006

Song of the Day ... in Music

Today's Song of the Day is inspired by a signature in an email I received. The signature contained a quote from the poem "Kubla Khan, or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment." by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Being a huge Rush fan, I immediately recogized the quote. Rush had recorded "Xanadu" on their their 1977 album A Farewell to Kings, which was inspired by Kubla Kahn. Great song, and it's today's Song of the Day.

"To seek the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise..."

"I had heard the whispered tales of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops of eastern lands unknown
Time and Man alone
Searching for the lost Xanadu

Xanadu...

To stand within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise

A thousand years have come and gone but time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end, weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost
Xanadu

Xanadu...

Held within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honeydew
And drunk the milk of Paradise"