Artist
Album
“The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, the stage musical
Lyrics
Instrumental Intro
(REFRAIN)
You will know his name
by his golden mane
And by the kindness in his eyes,
terrible and wise.
He’s lord of everything.
Aslan is the lion king of Narnia.
(VERSE 1)
There’s a sound coming down
from the mountain
To the dales and the moors below,
It’s the song of a bravehearted lion
In a fabled land so long ago.
(R. 2)
No other name in Narnia
Can burn like a flame
as a bright morning Star.
With the power to rule
that no other can claim
In Narnia, no other name.
(V. 2)
Through the breeze in the trees
of the Woodland,
Hear it whispering on the wind.
Ev’ry creature who lives in the goodland
Knows the lion’s fame that has no end.
(R. 3)
Aslan knows us, Aslan shows us
There is no better friend.
As he started, truth imparted,
Lion-hearted, true to the end.
Instrumental break
Aslan is the king of Narnia!
(R. 4) No other name / Aslan knows us,
in Narnia / Aslan shows us
Can burn like a flame / There is nowhere
As a bright morning Star. / You’ll find such a friend.
With the power to rule / As he started
That no other can claim / Truth imparted,
In Narnia, / Lion-hearted,
No other name. / True to the end.
(V. 3)
As the heir to the throne he descended
From the Emp’ror-Beyond-the-Sea,
And the king of all kings has intended
That he share with us his royalty.
(REFRAIN)
You will know his name by his golden mane
And by the kindness in his eyes, terrible and wise.
He’s lord of everything.
Aslan is the lion king of Narnia.
Instrumental Tag
Behind the Song
The ASLAN song grew out of a simple little melody I composed for the DAWN TREADER musical – what’s now the opening refrain (Refrain 1). In the show, this opening chorus was a leitmotif – a recurring musical theme associated with a particular person, place or object – in this case: Aslan. Whenever Aslan appeared, or his presence was felt by the characters, this haunting little 8-bar theme would accompany him. I recently expanded the theme into a full song, adding three verses (V 1, 2 and 3), a bridge (instrumental break), and two counterpoint melodies (R2, R3 and R4) to the chorus.
Last summer (2007), I had no lyrics for the piece other than the opening words of the first chorus. I was planning on recording the song as an instrumental. But on Thursday morning (7/26), I was inspired to craft the lyrics for the rest of the song, and by Thursday night the lyrics were finished. I laid down the track on Friday night, and Briana and I recorded it the next day (7/28).
Note: In the original stage production, Edmund sang just the chorus – “You will know his name by his golden mane, and by the kindness in his eyes, terrible and wise. He’s lord of everything, Aslan is the Lion King of Narnia.” – what’s now Refrain 1. The full-length demo you’re hearing is sung by Lucy (as voiced by Briana). I have imagined ASLAN now being sung by the full cast – the chorus voices singing background on each of the refrains, Lucy carrying the main lead, and joined by Reepicheep, Edmund and Caspian on the verses and in the “partner song”, where all of the melodies weave together (R. 4).
Briana gave the beautiful vocal rendition on this demo recording. I performed the orchestral track on my Kurzweil synth in my studio — Studio By The Pond.
Copyright
1983, 2008 Kevin M. Norberg, Invisible Camel Publishing, ASCAP
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