"Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain," Delenn says to him. "Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff, we are the universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective."
And, oh, I shed tears, because I instantly recognized part of the inspiration for Lloyd Landa's "I Am Stardust", which Urban Tapestry has been singing for several years now and which I knew had been inspired by "Babylon 5", but, again, I didn't know the context (and may still not know the entire context), except that it's based on Minbari philosophy.
I'm every mote of dust
In a ray of summer sun
Every shining point of light
In the winter night above
I'm inside the very heart of you
Yet galaxies away
I am stardust, stardust,
Looking for a home.
- "I Am Stardust" by Lloyd Landa
For folks like
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
gentlehobbit and others who may read this who aren't filkers, Lloyd Landa was a brilliantly talented Toronto-area filker who we lost very suddenly to heart failure five years ago. He and his music partner, Karen Linsley, had begun to sing "I Am Stardust", but hadn't recorded it yet. The song took on special emotional meaning to a lot of filkers after Lloyd's loss. Debbie, Jodi and I were extremely honoured that Karen gave us permission to begin performing the song and then put a live recording of the song on our most recent CD.You can find a small clip of our recording here: I Am Stardust
It simply means a lot to me to begin to understand the origins of Lloyd's song better.
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:I Am Stardust- Lloyd Landa
Comments
About a year and a half after Lloyd's death, Karen came to the Bay Area to attend Consonance. (Thanks to all the anonymous fans who made her appearance as a fan fun guest possible!) I told her at that time how I felt about the song, and Karen replied that in a way the song did indeed reflect Lloyd's philosophy of life and death.
The song does have extraordinary poetic messages on many levels.
And I still miss Lloyd, his keyboard chops, and his banter.
It was rather like discovering the Beatles in the early 70's. I may have been sitting concretely listening to those songs for the first time, but it's like I already knew them all, because living through the 60's at all meant you had absorbed the Beatles- the songs were woven into the culture whether you were paying attention or not.
Babylon 5 seems to be a similar phenomenon in fannish culture. Being absorbed, even if I wasn't paying attention.
And now this. I have been watching B5 over and ober again and didn't catch this little detail!
Thanks for opening our eyes!
*hugs*
I always thought the song beautiful, but it will mean even more to me now. Thanks, Allison.
*hugs*
*hugs you*
It's only through your journal, really, that I learned of filk and began to pay attention whenever I heard the topic come up, or came across it unexpectedly. I have to say, I'm so glad that you introduced me to it. After listening to just the sample that you linked, I'm just dying to hear more (of both that song and your cd!). Thanks for sharing.
Gratuitous plug- You can go here to find more sounds clips from our CD "Sushi and High Tea" and info on how to buy it on-line:
Sushi and High Tea
"I Am Stardust" is such a gorgeous song and already has strong emotional associations for me because of Lloyd, but now I appreciate the song even more. Thanks so much for posting this, Allison.
I'm not sure that B5 is necessarily the inspiration for lovely song "Stardust", though it could be. You should ask Karen next time you talk to her I'd love to know just out of curiosity.
Surely it is not a unique idea. Lots of holistic phsyicists wrote about it in books like The Dancing Wu Li Masters and The Tao of Physics. I never really got it until I was reading a textbook for a "Physics for Elementary Teachers" class as an undergrad. This book had clearly been written by an ex-hippie who just LOVED physics. It was really a joy to read and made me enjoy learning physics but the part that rocked me was the chapter that explained atomic physics. I can't begin to do it justice but it said similar things (and a goofy bit about how when you scratch the itch on your nose you may be scratching atoms that once were part of Charlie Chaplin's nose!) I talked to Michael Kube-McDowell about this on a long drive home from a rehearsal in Indianapolis once. Everyone else was asleep. He explained to me the idea behind Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock":
"We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden"
I count that whole experience as one of the few real moments of "spiritual enlightenment" or "religious experiences" in my life.
It made me stop and say "Look, we really ARE all one, we really do have to somehow figure out a way to work together and save this beautiful tired old planet of ours."
I'm glad you are enjoying B5. I'm not typically a "fan girl" as you know, but this series really had many very moving moments in it I thought and some genuine thought provoking scenes. (I'll never forget the dilemma with the alien kid who is dying!!)
Hugs
I'm sure, though, as so many have said in this comment board, that the meanings of the song are hugely diverse and profound and the ideas go far beyond the series. That's why it's touched so many of us, even those of us, like me, who were totally unfamiliar with the original source inspiration.
And I agree with you that B5 has some extraordinarily moving moments in it, thought-provoking and profound. It's one of those heady series where just when you think it's as good as it can be, it just goes ahead and gets better. And having said that, I'm only part way through season 2 and John tells me that seasons 3 and 4 are even better.