"Dreams of Flight" ("Feed the Birds")

So apparently the first thing I do is find a song that does a good job evoking a particular mood, and then thinking of what characters and situations it seems to "match." And where do you get lots of songs designed to set mood? Musicals, of course! Mary Poppins is one of my favorite Disney movies, and it wasn't hard to find a song I could use.

[Also, I've always had a little crush on Bert, and some of his reprises of Chim-Chim-Cheree are simply amazing - "Winds from th'east... mist blowin' in / Like somfin' is brewin' an' 'bout to begin..." GOOSEBUMPS, I tell you. And I might also ship Bert and Mary, like, A LOT.

ANYWAY. *grin* Tangent over, I promise.]

Yesterday I was out and didn't have my laptop, so I wrote this one out on paper, and I'm kind of hoping that I'll be able to figure out my scratch-marks to see where I thought of one thing and then changed it.

You can find the original at (youtube watch?v=XHrRxQVUFN4). My version is Vette, right before she meets up with the PC. It might also apply to Vette with the PC, if she isn't given her freedom! This is a lot more sentimental than we see her get, but I kind of think that's a facet of her personality that she keeps hidden – I really believe there's a strong underlying idealism and hopefulness, and a sense of justice.

When I open my eyes, there's a lingering dream
Flitting past, like a bird in the dawn
In the first light of day, it can easily seem
I am free – but the dream is soon gone.

I could go anywhere, do as I choose
Make a new life of my own
Perhaps there's a family that's waiting for me
And then I wouldn't be so alone

I survive, holding to dreams
Holding, holding, holding to dreams
I survive; that is my fate
For while I live, it's never too late

Though the truth must stay hidden from those who control me
I serve and I smile and obey
But when I say "master," that word is a promise
I'll make every one of them pay

So I wait, knowing someday
Someday, someday, I'll fly away
Like a bird, flying and free
Someday
Someday
That will be me

Very much started with the Disney-Cinderella idea of waking up and still half-dreaming, and of course Vette would be dreaming about freedom. The birds motif came later, when I was working on the last section – I still had issues with lines two and four all the way back at the beginning. My first thoughts were that before she really wakes up, she's forgotten that she's a slave, and so for those first few moments she thinks she's free before she remembers where she is and what's happened. For line 2 I had "that makes me forget what I am" or "that makes me forget I'm a slave" and I couldn't come up with a line 4 I liked that matched. So I kind of went, 'meh, screw it!' and went on to the rest! ;D

The second section is a little sad but not dismal, so in my head it played out that she's fully awake, but remembering her dream of freedom keeps her hope alive. So lines 3 and 4 there seem sad to us, because all she has is the hope of a family, but for Vette, that's better than nothing at all. The only changes I added were rhythm and pretty basic – "make" instead of "create," and line 4 didn't originally have the 'and' at the front.

Then in the third section, she reveals that her hope is what keeps her alive in a seemingly pointless existence. Pretty straightforward. I originally had 'clinging to dreams' but that conveyed desperation where I wanted patience.

The fourth section – which I guess is the bridge? – brings up the idea that freedom alone won't be enough; Vette wants justice, but knowing she isn't likely to get it, will settle for revenge. I originally had "grovel and serve and obey" but that seemed over the top. Line four was originally "I swear I will make them all pay," because I came up with that before line three, but then when I got it, "swear" seemed a bit repetitive coming right after "promise." So I adjusted line four.

The last chorus gave me trouble, because in the original, there's no rhyme at all, just repetition. It works there, because it's a lullaby, and the repetition is soothing and soporific. (I learned that word from the Peter Rabbit books!) But that wasn't what I was going for. Line 1 was originally "I watch birds, flying so free" and it has a big QUESTION MARK beside it, hahaha.

I tried a 1/3/2/4 rhyme scheme and it fought me quite a bit, so then I went for what I ended up with, the pair of couplets. In this case, having lots of choices for rhymes seemed to make it tougher. Did I want "Someday, someday, someday I'll be?" Or "Someday for me?" (NO.) "Someday, someday, I will be, too" brought in a whole different cartload of rhyme possibilities. Ugh! I'm still not completely happy with the last line – I like ending on a strong word like 'free' but I couldn't come up with a line that had 'free' at the end without 'be' in front of it and I don't like the immediacy of that rhyme. I think it's a distraction. But it's minor enough that I'm willing to let it go!

I liked the idea of Vette watching birds; they remind her of her resolve to escape. In my headcanon, she is not the sort to resign herself to a life of slavery! She will keep trying to get away until she succeeds, dies in the attempt, or her owners kill her for it. After I'd worked out the fourth verse, I got the idea to use the bird imagery as a parallel between the beginning and the end, so that the ending reflection would signal closure. I also liked that in the beginning, the bird connects more with the dream, like you're not sure if it's there or if it's just sort of a casual metaphor. And then at the end, though, the bird becomes a metaphor for her freedom. So the bird motif then connects with both dreaming and freedom, and thus unites the themes of the piece.