(with some notes by Don Sakers)
"Spirit" performed by John Denver (from Windsong)
The Grand Scheme is a science-fiction epic. "Spirit," with its astronomical allusions ("Between the Swan and Hercules, where even dark clouds glow") and appeal to classical mythology ("Apollo taught me to rhyme, Orpheus taught me to play") is the ideal traditional Invocation of the Muses.
"Nucleogenesis (Part 1)" performed by Vangelis (from Albedo 0.39)
In the ever-building complexities of this instrumental piece, I see the development of life in the Galaxy, starting with self-replicating molecules and eventually leading to Intelligence. Life is music, and music is life.
"Some Velvet Morning" performed by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood (from Fairy Tales & Fantasies)
This haunting song gave me my first glimpse of the Daamin . . . ethereal guardians of secret knowledge, irresistably attractive . . . and infinitely treacherous. ("Flowers are the things we know / Secrets are the things we grow / Learn from us / Very much / Look at us / But do not touch . . . . ") Although Daamin fur was so fine and so soft that it cried out to be stroked, they could not bear the touch of other races. In fact, an early treaty with Humans mandated a million Human deaths if ever Human touched Daamin.
"Synchronicity I" performed by The Police (from Synchronicity)
The Daamin spend most of their lives in what they call the Forever Dreams, a world of nonlinear causality. I imagine that the experience must be somewhat like the worldview expressed in this song.
"Fortune" composed by Carl Orff (from Carmina Burana)
At first, the Seven Races met in peace . . . but soon there was war. And the endless cycle, rise and fall, was begun.
"Duel and Death of Tybalt" composed by Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo & Juliet)
The Coruma created a war machine that was so efficient, it managed to unite the Core Races as the Pylistroph. Then the people of the Gathered Worlds put aside the things of war, and turned to peace. Or so they thought . . . .
"How Can I Keep From Singing" performed by Clam Chowder (from Special Order)
Of all the Elder Gods, the wisest and most beloved of Humans was Jaseni, the Troubadour.
"When All is Said and Done" performed by Abba (from The Visitors)
Timash, the Lover, always being pursued, always just beyond reach. Here I picture her meeting with Jaseni in some seedy space station bar where he's been performing and she's been dancing and flirting. As the last of the drunks passes out, the two sit at a back table, and she lets down her hair for a moment. They are, after all, many billions of years old . . . and they have "walked some strange and lonely treks."
"Feed the Birds" performed by Julie Andrews (from Mary Poppins)
That's her, sitting on the steps of St. Paul's: Maranna, the Mother Goddess, the Old Woman, the Bird Woman. In her pity she cares for every living thing that is small and helpless -- and to her, everything is small and helpless.
"Aubade" composed by Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet)
The Singing Stones are unique telepathic resonators, which concentrate all the thought and emotion in the Galaxy, and broadcast it as ineffable music that only living minds can hear. Perhaps it sounds like this.
"Mars" composed by Gustav Holst (from The Planets)
The Schism of the Hlutr and the Migration of the Daamin are the central events of Scattered Worlds history. The Daamin hero Ashli Sicne confounded the Gergathan, and led her people to freedom.
"Aireshire Lament" performed by Dan Fogelberg (from The Innocent Age)
The Daamin were lonely in the nearly-empty Scattered Worlds . . .
"I'm Going to Go Back There Some Day" performed by Gonzo (from The Muppet Movie)
. . . They longed to return to the Gathered Worlds.
"Late Lament" performed by The Moody Blues (from Days of Future Passed)
Most of all, they mourned the bright stars of the Galactic Core, and the knowledge that they would always be half-blind in the eternal night of the Scattered Worlds.
"Ammonia Avenue" by The Alan Parsons Project (from Ammonia Avenue)
"Gaudete" performed by Steeleye Span (from Portfolio)
"Ghosts" performed by Dan Fogelberg (from The Innocent Age)
"Safe in My Garden" performed by The Mamas and the Papas (from The Papas and the Mamas Presented by The Mamas and the Papas)
"Left of Center" performed by Suzanne Vega (from Pretty in Pink)
"Riders on the Storm" performed by The Doors (from L.A Woman)
"Thoughts on Strange Visitors" performed by Julia Ecklar and Anne Harlan Prather (from Space Heroes and Other Fools)
"Hazy Shade of Winter" performed by Simon and Garfunkel (from Bookends)
"I Let the Music Speak" performed by Abba (from The Visitors)
"Gemini" performed by The Alan Parsons Project (from Eye in the Sky)
"Soldiers" performed by Abba (from The Visitors)
"Marlene on the Wall" performed by Suzanne Vega (from Suzanne Vega)
"Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" performed by Luxon and Crowfut (from ??)
"Windmills" performed by Clam Chowder (from Leftovers)
"Holding Out for a Hero" performed by Bonnie Tyler (from Footloose)
"Babylon is Fallen" performed by Clam Chowder (from Leftovers)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" performed by Queen (from Queen)
"Faster Than the Speed of Night" performed by Bonnie Tyler (from Faster Than the Speed of Night)
"Teach Your Children" performed by Crosby, Stills, and Nash (from So Far)
"Done Too Soon" performed by Neil Diamond (from Greatest Hits)
"The Eagle and the Hawk" performed by John Denver (from An Evening With John Denver)
"Hope Eyrie" written by Leslie Fish (from Minus Ten and Counting)
"Dreamboat Annie" performed by Heart (from ??)
"Hymn to Breaking Strain" by Rudyard Kipling, performed by Leslie Fish (from The Undertaker's Horse)
"Fighting For Strangers" performed by Steeleye Span (from Steeleye Span)
"Between the Lines" performed by Janis Ian (from Stars)
"God Lives on Terra" performed by Julia Ecklar (from Divine Intervention)
"I Can Be Much Laughter" performed by Golden Bough (from Golden Bough)
"Blinded by the Light" performed by Manfred Mann (from The Roaring Silence)
"Dog and Butterfly" performed by Heart (from ??)
"Sweet Believer" performed by Cass Elliot (from Dream a Little Dream of Me)
"Wondrin' Where the Lions Are" performed by Bruce Cockburn (from Dancing in the Dragon's Jaw)
"Boys of Bedlam" performed by Steeleye Span (from Portfolio)
"Puit Amour" by Bronski Beat (from I Feel Love)
"Speak Low" performed by ?? (from One Touch of Venus)
"Alpha" performed by Vangelis (from Albedo 0.39)
"Memory" performed by Barbra Streisand (from Memories)
"Vienna" performed by Billy Joel (from Strangers)
"The Nexus" performed by Dan Fogelberg (from The Innocent Age)
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" performed by Bonnie Tyler (from ??)
"Mary Ellen Carter" performed by Stan Rogers (from Home in Halifax)
"All the Way Home" performed by Jon and Vangelis (from Friends of Mr. Cairo)
"Compass" performed by John and Vangelis (from Friends of Mr. Cairo)
"What Do You Want of Me?" performed by Joan Diener (from Man of LaMancha)
"Remember When the Music" performed by Harry Chapin (from The Gold Medal Collection)
"Venus in Ozone Heights" performed by ?? (from One Touch of Venus)
"Ride of the Valkyries" composed by Wagner
"'Tis a Gift to Be Simple/Lord of the Dance" performed by Luxon & Crofut (from ??)
"Concerto in D Minor" composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
"Inside of This/Outside of That" performed by Jon and Vangelis (from Friends of Mr. Cairo)
"Magic Store/Rainbow Connection" performed by the Muppets (from The Muppet Movie)
"Stars" performed by Irene Cara and the cast (from Fame)
"On the Way to the Sky" performed by Neil Diamond (from Greatest Hits)