Music Monday

Hello and welcome to the first ever Music Monday here on the ol' blog. I'm not sure this will be a super recurring sort of thing, but it's Monday, and I'm posting about music... so... there you have it. I've shared here and there little snippets about Kiernan Kane and the inspiration behind his character. Most of my inspiration for Kiernan came from a Gordon Lightfoot song.It's a song that I've always loved, but one evening when I was first writing King's Warrior, I was listening to music while typing up pages that I had handwritten earlier that morning, and this song started playing. I've always loved "bard" sorts of characters, and since I was in the middle of writing a fantasy tale, I was suddenly struck with the idea of a somewhat bumbling, humorous, at time ridiculous, minstrel character... but what if he was more than that? What if he didn't just make up stories about history... what if he'd lived through those stories, and that was what made his songs so poignant, so beautiful?And then Kiernan practically stepped out of my imagination and onto the pages.I didn't know at that moment everything about him. I didn't know exactly who he was or why he was there. But I knew from the first moment that he was more important than he seemed, and that he would have a central role in the story. I didn't know how central, but I did know he was much more than just a minstrel.Apparently I'm a little odd as a writer. I don't often write to music. My books don't have "playlists" as I write them. I do listen to a lot of music as I write, however, and as I've been editing Minstrel's Call, I've been listening to Gordon Lightfoot almost non-stop. His lilting, epic ballads are the feel I'm grasping after with this final book in the series. So, today's Music Monday song is, of course, The Minstrel of the Dawn.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWepDkLdamc

"Minstrel Of The Dawn"

The minstrel of the dawn is hereTo make you laugh and bend your earUp the steps you'll hear him climbAll full of thoughts, all full of rhymesListen to the pictures flowAcross the room into your mind they goListen to the stringsThey jangle and dangleWhile the old guitar rings

The minstrel of the dawn is heNot too wise but oh so freeHe'll talk of life out on the streetHe'll play it sad and say it sweetLook into his shining faceOf loneliness you'll always find a traceJust like me and youHe's tryin' to get into thingsMore happy than blue

A minstrel of the changin' tideHe'll ask for nothing but his prideJust sit him down upon that chairGo fetch some wine and set it thereListen to the pictures flowAcross the room into your mind they goListen to the stringsThey jangle and dangleWhile the old guitar rings

A minstrel of the dawn is nearJust like a step 'n fetchit hereHe's like an old time troubadorJust wanting life and nothing moreLook into his shining eyesAnd if you see a ghost don't be surprisedLike me and youHe's tryin' to get into thingsMore happy than blue

The minstrel boy will understandHe holds a promise in his handHe talks of better days aheadAnd by his words your fortune's readListen to the pictures flowAnd follow the fingers where they goListen to the stringsThey jangle and dangleWhile the old guitar rings

The minstrel of the dawn is goneI hope he'll call before too longAnd if you meet him you must beThe victim of his minstrelsyHe'll sing for you a songThe minstrel of the dawn

--Gordon Lightfoot