Oracle (The Owls See Everything)

from Samples by Heather Aubrey Lloyd

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about

"Oracle" has since been adopted by Heather's band, ilyAIMY, (versions available here on bandcamp on ilyAIMY's quarantine-released live album or 2013's "Another Life/Another Live"). The Great Owl from The Secret of NIMH loomed large when Heather searched childhood memories for all-powerful owls. Interesting, she thought in retrospect, that so many of her childhood movies and books like NIMH and The Neverending Story pitted their child or halfling heroes against not an enemy, but an oracle ... as finicky and likely to kill a small creature asking for enlightenment as to help the poor thing. Oracle is a fantastical protest song about the nature of power, part fairy tale and part slam poem, set atop a feverish finger-picked guitar.

Footnotes:

The Great Owl Scene from The Secret of NIMH:
youtu.be/CCAiKsLLprU

The first Southern Oracle Gate Scene from The Neverending Story:
youtu.be/I_vzG5nYk1I

This came out right as "Samples" was wrapping, or Heather might have written it about this owl story, "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" ... even darker than the Secret of NIMH:
youtu.be/0c5gYg3adeI

lyrics

I come to you, humble and willing,
brave stepping over the bones of my brethren
I wouldn't come here if I wasn't desperate,
but I am too small, I cannot lift this.

One cement block can hold all I love
each moment sinking deep in the mud
and I would do everything in my power
but I am too small, and so is the hour.

And will I never be great
because I refuse to be cruel
will I always be afraid
will I always need
an oracle?

They said you were great, and they were not lying,
but why is greatness so terrifying
great and terrible ... always in pairs
we come to an oracle, trembling and scared

And will I never be great
because I refuse to be cruel
will I always be afraid
will I always need
an oracle?

I do not steal like the rats in the rosebushes
I do not kill like the owl in the forest
I do not lie like the leaders of fortresses
so will I die with the kind and the powerless?
I do not steal like the rats in the rosebushes
I do not kill like the owl in the forest
I do not lie like the leaders of fortresses
so I will die with the kind and the powerless.

And I say that I will never be great
because I refuse to be cruel
and I will always be a little afraid
I will always be little,
but I would rather be little
than ever be
an oracle.

credits

from Samples, released August 1, 2010

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Heather Aubrey Lloyd image

Heather Aubrey Lloyd Baltimore, Maryland

Recovering reporter turned songwriter, Heather Aubrey Lloyd also co-fronts Baltimore’s ilyAIMY. Her 2017 solo release, “A Message in the Mess,” spotlights Lloyd’s emotive alto and a polished departure from her band’s alt-folk grit. Awards from the likes of No Depression Magazine, Telluride Troubadour, National Women’s Music Fest, etc. soon followed. Lloyd will release new music in late 2020. ... more

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