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CYNTHIA CARLE Pioneer

IT WAS ASIA’S LOSS WHEN THEY TRUDGED ACROSS

THAT LAND BRIDGE EONS AGO

THEY WERE FROZEN STIFF BUT THEY KNEW THAT IF

THEY STOPPED THEY WOULD DROP IN THE SNOW

SO ON THEY WENT THOUGH NEARLY SPENT

HEADING SOUTH FOR THE WARMTH AND THE SUN

WHERE A LIFE OF EASE AND COCONUT TREES

AWAITED THEM EVERY ONE

TEN MILES ON IT BEGAN TO DAWN

THEY WERE ONE MIGRATOR SHY

SO BACK THEY TROD, THERE HE WAS, BY GOD

WITH HIS WIFE AND A GLEAM IN HIS EYE

LET’S GO, THEY CRIED, HELL NO, HE REPLIED

WHILE HIS WIFE THREW A RIGHTEOUS FIT

YOU BELIEVE THIS CLOWN? HE WANTS TO GO DOWN

AS THE FATHER OF THE INUIT

WHO WAS THAT MAN WHO SAW THE TUNDRA

AND SAID THIS LOOKS GOOD, I’M STOPPING HERE

I’LL SLEEP ON ICE AND EAT THIS BLUBBER?

WHO WAS THAT MAN? A PIONEER

A PIONEER, A PIONEER

NOT AFRAID OF A NEW FRONTIER

HE’LL BOLDLY GO WHERE OTHERS FEAR TO TREAD

THE ANCIENT SCOTS WERE A QUIET LOT

AS THEY WENT ABOUT THEIR LABOR

UP IN THE HILLS IT WAS DEATHLY STILL

EXCEPT FOR THE THUMP OF THE CABER

THEN ONE DAY IN THE MONTH OF MAY

WHEN THE SHEEP WERE KILLED AND CUT UP

ONE CURIOUS LAD SAID, WHAT’S THAT, DAD?

IT’S A SHEEP BLADDER, TAKE IT AND SHUT UP

HE SAT RIGHT THERE AND BLEW IT FULL OF AIR

WHICH SCREAMED AS IT WAS LET OUT

AND SWEET WAS THE SOUND AS ANY HE’D FOUND

FOR HE DIDN’T VERY OFTEN GET OUT

HE PLAYED ALL DAY TILL THE NEIGHBORS RAN AWAY

AND THE ARMY SAID LET’S COMMANDEER IT

FOR MEN WILL FLY INTO BATTLE AND DIE

LIKE DOGS SO THEY DON’T HAVE TO HEAR IT

WHO WAS THAT BOY WHO SQUEEZED THAT BLADDER

AND CALLED IT BAGPIPES AND PLAYED FOR ALL TO HEAR?

THOUGH SOME SAID STOP, OH GOD PLEASE STOP IT

HE PLAYED RIGHT ON, HE WAS A PIONEER

A PIONEER, A PIONEER

NOT AFRAID OF A NEW FRONTIER

HE’LL BOLDLY GO WHERE OTHERS FEAR TO TREAD

THERE ARE STRANGE THINGS SOLD FOR AMERICAN GOLD

IN THE INDONESIAN ISLES

CIGARETTE BOATS AND SEX WITH GOATS

AND CHEAP CERAMIC TILES

BUT STRANGEST OF ALL IS THE COFFEE THEY CALL

THE KOPI LUWAK BRAND

600 A POUND AND THERE’S NOT MUCH AROUND

IT’S A TALE OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND

THE BEANS, YOU SEE, HAVE ALL BEEN PRE-

-CONSUMED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

THEY’VE PASSED DOWN THROUGH SMALL ANIMALS WHO

DON’T KNOW OF THIS ODD EMPLOYMENT

AND BEFORE IT’S PACKED AND THEN FAST-TRACKED

TO THE CREAM OF THE HUMAN SPECIES

EACH LITTLE BEAN IS CAREFULLY GLEANED

FROM STEAMING WEASEL FECES

OH BRAVE ARE WE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE

WE RUN RIGHT OUT AND BUY IT

BUT THE REAL HERO IS THAT JAVA JOE

WHO FIRST DECIDED TO TRY IT

WHO WAS THAT MAN? THAT VISIONARY

WHO SAW THE BEAN AND FELT NO FEAR?

WHERE OTHERS SAW A PILE OF WEASEL SHIT

ONE DARED TO SEE A NEW FRONTIER

WHO WAS THAT MAN? FOR IT WAS NO WOMAN

WHO STEPPED IN SOMETHING AND SAID OH BOY LOOK HERE

WAS HE OUT OF HIS MIND? OR OUT OF COFFEE?

EITHER WAY, HE WAS A PIONEER

A PIONEER, A PIONEER

NOT AFRAID OF A NEW FRONTIER

HE’LL BOLDLY GO WHERE OTHERS FEAR TO TREAD

Credits:

words and music by Cynthia Carle

David Lucky is a songwriter whose profile in The Huffington Post labeled him the "Hollywood Hidden Gem". A devotee of songwriters ranging from Irving Berlin to Randy Newman, Mr. Lucky's "sandpaper-dipped-in-honey" voice and unique blend of humor and poignancy have made him an L.A. favorite in clubs such as Largo at The Coronet Theatre, and The Gardenia. Most recently, he co-wrote a song with music icon Fiona Apple for the new Apple TV show “Central Park.” David Lucky's music is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

CYNTHIA CARLE is a songwriter, screenwriter, actor and choreographer. She’s sung her own songs in Los Angeles at Comedy Central Stage's Sit 'n Spin, MBar, Wine and Song, Genghis Cohen, McCabe’s, Vitello’s, Lyric Hyperion, Bob Stane’s Coffee Gallery, Molly Malone's, Room 5, Talking Stick, Witzend, at the West Bank in New York, at Don Quixote in Santa Cruz, and in Paul Provenza’s ¡Satiristas! in Las Vegas. Her screenwriting credits include The Sixth Man, a Touchstone picture starring Marlon Wayans, and YouWish! for which she was a Humanitas Award finalist. Trained as an actor at Carnegie Mellon University, she’s acted on Broadway, Off-Broadway, at regional theaters including the Guthrie, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Trinity Square Rep and the Mark Taper Forum and in films including Louis Malle’s Alamo Bay. In Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator the Musical (LA, NYMF, Edinburgh Fringe) she played Dr. Harrod and also received a Best Choreography nomination from LA Weekly.

She’s co-star and co-creator, with music partner Mark Nutter, of the dark comic musical revue Christmas Smackdown, with productions in LA, at iO Chicago and at the Laurie Beechman in NY. She and Nutter have also teamed up for an absurdist, dark comic musical revue called Dr. Dung Beetle’s House of Dreams. She’s also just finishing a dark comic novel and is currently exploring the idea of writing something that is neither dark nor comic.