I have written a number of songs that don’t appear in Kitty and Cadaver (though they may show up in the second book, when I get to it.)
This one, Sharp, was (like Copper Beaches) written as a sort of Sherlock filk song exploring John Watson’s youth and his relationships.
Sharp was based on the idea that as a teenager he had walked in on his sister Harry cutting a girlfriend’s name into her arm.
(In my head, they are a very dysfunctional family, after his mother’s death and their father’s and Harry’s ensuing depression and alcoholism.)
.
Sharp
Red ink,
black letters,
parchment skin
Is this the only way you know to let love in?
Strange joy
Blessed pain
Ecstacy
Is it only when the love hurts
that you think it’s real?
See it to believe it, carve it on your heart
Leave a message from your arteries
And the love just falls apart
And the memories are sharp
So sharp
You can’t use my hand or heart
So cut me out.
Etch a name into the bone
Not hers, not yours, but ours alone
Let these words be written
“I could not stand to listen”
You’re the one who’s leaving
You have cut away the ties
And the neatest slice is bleeding
Goodbye, goodbye
the red ink writes
Red ink,
black letters,
parchment skin
Is this the only way you know to let love in?
And the memories are sharp
So sharp
You can’t use my hand or heart
So cut me out.
They’re not necessarily kind lyrics. They’re the words of an angry young man whose family is falling apart and he can’t work out how to keep them together and functional. Especially as neither his father nor sister seems to want him to.
Of course, one of the wonderful things about filk, fandom and music, is that other people may come along and play in your sandpit. A fellow Sherlock fan was inspired to play with the lyric, come up with her own melody and record it for her Soundcloud account. (She’s also done her own version of another filk I wrote, Battlefield).
Here is my own version, sung a capella.
At Continuum 11 this year, Ann Poore performed a version of it (and her take on Gretel’s Lullaby and Down as well) during a filk singing session.
(By the way, if you’re interested in filk – which is basically the fan version of folk music – Ann and I have started the Melbourne Filkers group on Facebook and we’re hoping to find others to join us to develop a local singing scene.)
And here is the score for my version:
- Download the Sharp score as a PDF
- Listen to other songs from Kitty and Cadaver sung by Jess Harris (and find links to other scores) on the Kitty and Cadaver song page.
- The picture of Kitty was done by Nath Holden. See moreof his gorgeous art and tattoo work on his website.
And as always, if you’re moved to try your own version of it, I’d love to hear it.