Whew! That was close to the deadline! Welcome to my SGTVII Quarter Finals entry - an original song based around the first five books of the Percy Jackson series, which I was absolutely obsessed with in elementary and early middle school. Even years after I read the books, one character always stood out to me: Luke Castellan, who I found to be one of the most engaging villains in any middle grade novel I’d read. So, a few years back, right when I first started recording my own songs, I wrote one about Luke from Annabeth’s perspective as she watched his descent into villainy and eventual redemption. Now, the original recording was absolutely terrible, as was some of the instrumentation, but I thought I’d give it another go. Shockingly, the melody and drum grooves are almost entirely intact! In this track, the piano and ukulele were performed by me! Hopefully I can start to normalize real instruments in my recordings. Lyrics: I still remember I think it was September That you told me we were a family I still remember You said it’d be forever And you told us that you’d never leave What happened to your friendly ways? What happened to your azure gaze? You took a quest But not your own The scars are deep Now you’re alone King Midas may be dead But it’s like he touched your face That fearsome feature that you now embrace Your heart is stone Like the titans of old Like that empty you With the eyes of gold You’ve fallen so far Through many a scar you told us Everything would be okay You’ve fallen so far And through this whole I thought There was good in you That ends today I’m done with thinking this is fine Right here is where I draw the line And I’m not scared I’m not alone Nothing can break Your heart of stone King Midas may be dead But it’s like he touched your face That fearsome feature that you now embrace Where are you now? I can see through the lies Of that empty you With the golden eyes Open your eyes Open your eyes Open your eyes for me Show me you’re there Show me you’re there Show me you’re there and free Open your eyes Open your eyes Open your eyes for me I see you there I see you there You’ll be free King Midas may be dead But it’s like he touched your face Now pull me closer in this last embrace You’re finally free of the deadly hold Of that empty you With the eyes of gold Your eyes of gold Your eyes of gold
A note: Yes, I’m aware that this animatic doesn’t exactly follow the books. I changed some events to make them more dramatic, easier to draw, etc. So I don’t want any nit-picky comments on that front, okay? Inspiration: Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan Song, lyrics, accompaniment tracks, vocals, piano, ukulele, mixing, art, code: Me Synthesized with flat Recorded with bandlab
