Advanced Choice Workshop Songwriting: "A Path With No End" By Andrew Scott
It was hard to find the thread of my song, I struggled for days to find the meaning that would unlock me. Working with my workshop family I was supported in discovering that my song was about the voice we all have inside that puts us down and tells us that we are weak, lazy, unworthy of love.
A Path With No End
Hey stranger on my path,
Listen to my story.
It is a story that is real,
Even though it never happened.
I was shipwrecked on an island,
With a coolie from my ship.
We lit fires to be rescued
But we soon knew it was hopeless.
That island was our home,
The only home we’d ever know.
Both longing to be rescued,
But the truth was so relentless.
So we soon got settled in,
And started making us a life.
I was instantly the leader,
I was instantly the guide,
I was instantly the judge,
I was instantly the courts,
I always found him guilty,
He never measured up at all.
After all he was a coolie,
And I had degrees galore.
I had to put him in his place,
When his mind went overboard.
I was teaching him to do things,
But he always fell so short
To my highest expectations
That he never could uphold.
And we lived there years and years
And that island was our world,
But the coolie didn’t get it,
He was impossible to fix
He was lazy he was stupid,
He was careless not much fun.
I was king and I was jury,
And I always let him know.
He was all my social circle
And he looked at me with awe,
But I still saw in him a coolie,
Not really cool at all.
As the years went by forever
In our island paradise,
I would feel it as a prison,
Stuck with a friend I didn’t like.
And one day I saw him sleeping,
In his hammock on the beach,
And I screamed that he was lazy,
Not responsible at all.
Listen carefully oh stranger
To the story that is real,
Even though it never happened,
You have lived it just like me.
He’s too thin and he’s too skinny,
But he doesn’t train at all.
He is dumb and he is lazy,
Good for nothing if all told.
Hey stranger on my path,
Listen to my story.
It is my life story,
Even though I didn’t know.
So I screamed and yelled and Shouted,
At the useless being I saw.
Cause I felt our path together,
On this island was a joke.
After years and years of hearing
All my judgement with no sound,
He stood up this time and told me
What I had to learn and know.
Oh my king I do respect you,
And I'm doing what I’m told.
But I beg you once to tell me
What’s your option on this score?
Can you choose another coolie
On this island that we live?
I would gladly give my place
To the one you choose for you.
Where’s this person that would make You feel content and satisfied?
Would me leaving make you happy?
Would you rather be alone?
Would another make you happier?
I’m in you I need to know.
Is there one that isn’t lazy?
And one that is more strong?
Do you have the strength to send Me off this island forever more?
Do you have another option
Or am I all you’ve got?
Listen stranger to my story,
For you live it deep inside.
You as well live with a coolie,
Who you find not cool at all.
We all live on our own island
That could be our paradise,
With a coolie living under,
Trying to do all that he’s told.
Yet we rave and rant and bicker,
Discontented to our core.
Can you find a better coolie
Than the one that is your own?
Listen stranger to my story,
I’m the coolie that I love.
So I stood there real astounded,
Looking at my coolie’s eyes.
I had taught him how to do things,
But he taught me how to love.
Hey stranger on my path,
Come and visit us at will.
On our little beach and island
Where we both sit on our thrones.
Side by side and both together,
Holding hands and smiling now.
Hey stranger on my path,
Come visit us at will.
Bring with you as guest of honor,
Sit your coolie on his throne.
Carry with you all your island,
Guests of honor, one and all.
Its a path there is no end to,
Make our islands paradise.
Hey stranger on my path,
Hear a story I’ve been told,
Even though it never happened,
It is happening for all.
