While interviewing director Jeremy Catterton about his involvement in Fort Wilson Riot’s Idigaragua, he made the comment that the lyrics of the musical are so deep, so “highly poeticized, that upon first listening, you cannot comprehend all of it, at all.” After listening to the CD, talking with the members of the band, and watching a rehearsal, I couldn’t agree more.

Idigaragua is a complex tale, centered around a protagonist who endures many real and imagined ideological trials, the general jist of which I lay out in my feature this week. But to help listeners and show-goers understand the myriad philosophical meanings of this epic story, the band has given me permission to reprint the lyrics of the song Idigaragua in full.

Idigaragua
Words and music by Fort Wilson Riot
Ben Smith, Amy Hager, Jacob Mullis, Joe Goggins

I. The Birds Turn Violent

Idigaragua, Idigaragua
looking for a nest to call his home
Idigaragua cried the bird
The other birds turn to violence
leave him alone
Nadie me quiere, nadie me quiere
Cried the bird

A Journalist sat drinking in a foreign bar
and he got drunk off American liquor
but his ignorance was offensive
he arrived there late on a starry night
unknown with whom in the faint moonlight
Threats of violence turn him out

The bird turns violent

So he set to sea in an old rowboat
with no direction, flat on his back
kept company by the stars alone
but they faded away
they faded away
to the sun coming up to a brand new day

Brand new day

Idigaragua, Idigaragua
Cried the bird
Flying over head

II. The Geek Of Ciegozia

And suddenly he woke
to a difference of the boat
he had come to a halt
no longer afloat

There was confusion and commotion
there were dogs at his throat
tearing and biting his body torn apart

Somebody whistled and everything stopped
silence for a second that felt like an eternity

So they set upon him and tied him with ropes
then a man reached inside his head
and severed his tongue from his throat

Trained and bound and transported trans-continentally
like a carnival geek

“Ladies and gentlemen we’re proud to present
the Dancing Prancing Geek
native to the desolate shores of Ciegozia
where we caught this beast
now tamed and trained to dance
to the billboard top ten
ladies and gentlemen the Geek Of Ciegozia
let him set your minds a-spin”

The bird sings the tune to which he dances
Idigaragua
The bird sings the tune to which he dances
Idigaragua
Cries the bird

And suddenly he woke
Still stranded in the boat
and on the horizon
a dark ship approached

III.
A) A Debate, A Plank, A Plea

He was pulled gagged and bound
thrown on the planks of a pirates prow
he looked up with growing alarm
at the threatening gestures of the
dangerous crowd

“I say we kill him, make him walk the plank
feed him to the fishes
that should be his fate”

“I say we torture him lets have some fun
we’ll tear him to pieces
before this day is done”

He watched and listened
to the animated debate
as the pirates played out
what was to be his fate

“Put pins under his toe nails”
and hang him from the sails”
“Knock out his teeth”
“With a rusty bloody hammer”
“Pull out his hair”
“And wash his head in whiskey”
“Put a flame to his scalp”
“And watch his flesh melt”

“But brothers use care that we are not mistaken
he may be a person that should not be forsaken.
Remember the incident of late last summer
with the death of a stranger in a bar room struggle
The Prince of Ciegozia bringing the wrath of a nation
he chased us for months before we escaped damnation.”

“What?!
You sniveling coward
you yellow-bellied snitch.
You call yourself a pirate
where’s your blood thirsty itch?
When have we ever cared
for what the nation thinks?
Pirates will be pirates
whether sail or sink!”

“So what should we do with him?”

“I say we make him walk the plank!”

“Walk The Plank!”

“Any last words?”

“Curse you fools seeking destruction,
who have not considered a more useful option.
Do you know who I am? Do you know what I do?
I supply the world with what they deem to be true.
I’m a journalist, a man of papers
I write the words that dictate behaviors
It seems you need my help
in clearing your name
so spare my life and hear my claim.”

B) The Rape and Pillage Unparalleled

They plotted out the pillage
and their means to justify it
by spreading fictious motives across the land.
They preached for thwarting evil
and of the costly fight for freedom,
and thus the rape and pillage unparalleled began.
Facilitated by the journalists pen.

Idigaragua
Ven Con Migo

C) First Flight (The Journalists Lament)

Severed limbs, blood and vomit.
Cries for help smothered by violence.
Naked figures that once were human
Bludgeoned and raped in a rage of delusions.

Horrors not meant for this world.
Sitting in his terror unfurled.

“Who am I to mask such carnage
with a paper veil that leaves the guilty untarnished?
The words
I’ve said only mask the truth
this violence that my presence
has given proof
To deeds
before I’ve never seen performed
until on this boat where my words have
Pierced flesh
I must

Leave these men my former compatriots
before I aid any further violence.
While they sleep I’ll sneak away
Back to the sea where alone I will stay”

Over bodies and limbs he quietly snuck
sleeping pirates with knives
and bottles of rum
to a small row boat stashed on the deck
he lowered it down
with him on the back

Back to the sea he drifted away
as the sun broke to a brand new day
and the fog from the sea driven off by the sun
fled from the shore from which the bird beckoned.

IV
A) The Wordlessly Whispered Melody

Step to the jet-black sands
and follow the river winding
under the emerald canopy
where you can hide from pirate eyes
away from the rough tides

And drink from the crystal river
that shudders with ominous beauty
washing your mind free of carnage
and all your misdeeds

Then follow the river on till the path begins to sharpen
the wordless heavy whispers that plague us all so often
they’ll climb into your ears till the river begins to open up.

He saw her there bathing where
the river turned a still pool
her second skin shimmered in the
incandescent afternoon
The shuttered eyes the light lips
the wordlessly whispered melody

Their eyes met in an instant, the past caved into present
the future had a name that they never should have written
He’d follow her to death he’d give death a name, name it all

So she lead him past the rim of stone
that cradled the still pool
and she brought him to the village where
the nameless grew
He sensed a sort of peace there
a quietness for them to settle in

So he married her in the full moon
with blessings from the tribe
at long last to settle into a quiet life
and have a little family
a stable home for them to settle in

But his first son past away in the first light of his birthday
his second son perished in the second year of the plague
but his third she survived to become the apple of her daddy’s eye

And he swore he’d never lose
he’d never lose another baby
he swore, he swore he’d never lose
he’d never lose another baby
another sweet child

So he called the village elders
to tell them his ideas
he spoke of a world devoid of
suffering and tears

He said
“I will build a world of science
of medicine and rules
to rely on
I will build a world of
safety and prosperity

B) The Bird Was Silent

So they laid their plans

And he built their lives
from a complex frame
a structure built to carry them all
to old age

And the called for aid from foreign lands
to develop trade and create
a market demand

And as money came the economy boomed
the village prospered
and the population grew

But the bird was silent now
The bird was silent now

So their precious lands were sold
to foreign interests
to the tune of fear and cold sweat

And they funded schools
to teach their children
Civilized language and civilized rules

They privatized land
they privatized minds
they privatized wealth
they privatized life

But the bird was silent now
the bird was silent now
Or was his song a part of the sound

The world it seemed was changing
at an accelerated speed
growth it seemed moved
quicker than choice
The spread between poverty
and prosperity
seemed to grow in distance
with each protesting voice

But the journalist sat in his house on the hill
admiring his new civil world
deaf to the pleas
of his wife and family
his fists oh so slightly curled

C) A Gathering Noise

There was a noise
there was a gathering noise
there was this sense of regret
a desire to destroy

A channel of thought
that seemed to run through the land
a common loathing for this
civilized plan

The neighbors they gathered
in the still of the night
with farm tools and torches
and a thirst for a fight

They’d tear it all down
they’d tear it all down
come death oh come slaughter
they’d tear it all down

D) Second Flight (Leap In The Water)

He stepped thorough the jet black ash
Fleeing the path of destruction
trying to find his way back through
the world he’d built with a shattered heart
now violently torn apart

He made his way to the outskirts
Where he found the rim of stone
he struggled his way through
those once pristine ridges of majesty
now old and crumbling

Then he heard the roar of the water
from where the still pool had been
at the shores where he had seen her so many years ago
In a world that seemed full of promise
no hand was needed to mend
but oh how that hand had clutched
at that ever unneeded control

And as he stood at waters edge ­­
two sounds started to mingle:
The roar of the churning waters
and from behind cries bitter and strangled

So just leap in the water

V
A) A Shadow Ominous

He awoke
beneath a cover of cold rotting timber
Light leaking through the cracks

So he broke through
to find himself lost in a vast desert expanse
Off of the waters now

Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Where have you been?
Where are you going?

He set foot
with memories of real and civilized violence
Leaving not for heroics

For he’d seen approaching
the figure of a rider on the horizon
a shadow ominous of judgment
That seemed to say

Where have you been?
Where are you going?
What have you done to
justify your time?

Where have you been?
Where are you going?
What have you done to
justify your time?

B) An Imagined Civil State

I saw her there
shaping a wordless melody
Of purity and peace
Humming to the breeze
­­­
I took the tune
and shaped it as my own
Blind to the end
Of the goodness I intended

But what does it mean
to build a fortress around purity
if the end reflects the means?

What does it mean
to build a fortress around purity
if the end reflects the means?
And who do you blame
when those you love have been lost in the fray
of your imagined civil state?

I tried to build
a world in which to live
safe from the pain
of the chaos I had aided
I never meant this to end
I never meant this to end
I never meant for this end

But what does it mean
to build a fortress around purity
when the end reflects the means?
And who do you blame
when those you love have been lost in the fray
of your imagined civil state?

I never meant this to end
I never meant this to end
I never meant for this end
I never meant this to end

I never meant this to end
I never meant for this end
I never meant this to end
I never meant this to end

And slowly approached
a shadow ominous
As it stretched with the sinking sun

C) The Chaos I had Aided

Blood and Vomit
Rape, delusions
I played a part in a pillage unparalleled
aided the rape of innocence

What was the part I played?
You had to do it to save your own skin
How was I put in this place?
You burned your ethics to save your own skin
What was the part I played?
You were a victim and
had to fend for your own life
How was I put in this place?
You played the coward
how many lives is your own worth?

I played a part in a pillage unparalleled
aided the rape of innocence

I was turned into a tool of terror
Using words to dictate behaviors
I was turned into a tool of terror
pushing false motives with the point of a pen
I was turned into a tool of terror
Masking carnage with a paper veil

The night hid the shadow
but the shiver in his spine
kept him looking for a place to run and hide

D) A Distant Episode

Remember when you were taken
caged and tortured
stripped of your identity
Stripped of a voice
and forced to a dance
that was not of your choosing
Idigaragua

As his fears turned to despair
and all hope was diminished
his feet met a well traveled road
as a sign of some nearing solace

With each step he felt the weight
of the dread that he had chosen
Baring down on him
as if to discourage every step

A light loomed on the horizon
As he crested a ridge
peering over to see
a lonely town gravel streets
darkness lending him
a chance to escape
from the nights solitude
and the chilling presence
of the rider behind

E) A Conclusion Of Sorts (The Rules We Follow)

What a pathetic sight
A one road town
the entrance and exit of a bullet wound
Trough lined walkways
blanketed in last year’s dust
the cells of citizens long gone

Few buildings
abandoned by the look
empty windows doors hung on hinges
A steeple rose above
at the end of the exit wound
as if to pierce the false comfort of the moon

A gust of wind, a click of hooves
his racing heart, a birds screech
made him duck into the nearest door

Where two old men sat drinking
with a bottle of bourbon for two
They glanced into his face of horror
and then away without a care in the world
He sat at the table in the corner
From where to see the swing of the door
At a loss of what to do
as he listened to the approaching hooves

A swing of the door
the moment has come
A fated meeting a conclusion of sorts
He stepped into the light
to remove his hat
revealing a face sculpted from rock
Bleached white and hairless
something more then a man
and with the sound of spurs
he walked over and said

“Is this seat taken
as you know it always has been?
If you do not speak will you be recognized
Is that what you thought
Is that what you thought?
Don’t shrug don’t glance away
as if this could ever end
I’ve sung you to this place
I’ve sung you to this place
I’ve hummed you ‘long
your merry way”

“Together we’ve choked on endless possibilities
And yet you have the nerve to say
That you don’t even know me.
An insult that could only be cured
by a friendly drink
An insult that could only be cured
by a friendly drink.”

To the old men he went
To reach for the bottle
One man reached to stop him,
and was left with his hand pierced to the counter
And as one man fled
and the other man wailed
The rider returned with two glasses and a bottle

“Here we are again” he said
as he filled the glasses to the brim
“The past that was and the past that was not
differ only in memory.
A toast to the rules we follow.
If they have lead us here,
then what does that say about the rules.”

Idigaragua
Looking for a nest to call his home
Idigaragua
cried the bird.