M.c.P wrote :-

An excerpt from the second act of Gemclod: The Musical

Leperfish has reigned for the better part of his term as overseer, a time full of event and interest. His capping of the magma tube has cost dwarven lives from incompetence and creatures emerging from the depths of the caves surrounding it. In the meantime, external invasions threaten the safety of the entire fortress. In this increasingly tense situation, our perspective shifts to a group of dwarves carousing in the Great Hall. There is an air of unrest among the group, but one dwarf stands and breaks into song, aimed no doubt at the distant overseer's office on a ledge high above the Hall.


You Crafty, Crafty Dwarf



music by Sirocco
text by Kenning

A version sung by M.c.P:


Just music:


An 8-bit version:


Karaoke:





Oh Leperfish you spend your day
In writing chits that none obey
Your beardhair all is turning grey
You crafty, crafty dwarf.

Your woman swings her mighty blade
And slays whichever foes invade
The mighty Famous Palisade
You crafty, crafty dwarf.

Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What did you find beneath the stone?
Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What has the magma's glowing shown?

Your dearest friend the architect
Is often known to interject
And make remarks you don't expect
You crafty, crafty dwarf.

The cat you had our brothers chase
Was nothing more than grave disgrace
The soldiers couldn't stay apace
You crafty, crafty dwarf.

Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What did you find beneath the stone?
Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What has the magma's glowing shown?

You had the miners excavate,
The cave where lavas percolate
You wanted to investigate
You crafty, crafty dwarf.

You sealed up all the punctured rock
And had the miners take a walk
Now all of them refuse to talk
You crafty, crafty dwarf.

Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What did you find beneath the stone?
Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What has the magma's glowing shown?

Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What lies beneath our mountain halls?
Oh Leperfish, you crafty dwarf,
What hides behind the cavern walls?



Sirocco wrote :-

You Crafty, Crafty Dwarf

Key: G
Metre: 4/4
Overseer: Leperfish

This song's kinda strange. Even now I'm not sure how to classify it. I was really stuck as to what to go for when writing Leperfish's theme because - to me at least - his year was rather similar in tone to Markus' and I didn't want to retread old ground. Kenning came to the rescue though and wrote some very amusing lyrics. To write music that matched the words I'd need to write something that sounded 'mischievous'. But what does mischievous music sound like? This song is the end result of that line of thinking.




Kenning wrote :-

I've always liked iambic tetrameter loads more than pentameter, especially for nonsense. Here, again, I leaned towards simplicity and repetition, because I wanted it to sound sing-y. I built this one around the "You crafty, crafty dwarf" line. I'm particularly fond of the "architect/interject/don't expect" rhymes.

Thematically this is where I first decided that the songs I wrote about overseers would be for the most part mocking. I was trying to give a voice to all the dwarfs in the fortress that were mining and hauling and crafting, but who we never heard from. I imagined that they all sort of resented the overseers, and thought they were at best ridiculous. Of course this bit of verse is all about the adamantine, which was pretty prescient of me, considering the Bad Munki debacle.