From the recording Into the Wilderness

Eliza Delf: A conversation with the writer Angela Carter through the musical landscape of a baroque court. A playful, literary homage.
The song explores the line between jealousy and adoration, and the uneasy dynamic between youthful disciples and their more mature and celebrated idols.
Jon Loomes: Jealousy and adoration, I know them both well. “Mediocrity borrows, genius steals” as Stravinsky once said (although he may have nicked that idea off Picasso). Inspiration has to come from somewhere, and no man is an island. With this in mind we journey via the Galant style of Rameau and Couperin to the palace of Versailles where a now very old-fashioned J.S. Bach is having a keyboard duel to finally settle his long-standing beef with Keith Emerson. The queen is not amused.

Lyrics

IN THE COURT OF THE QUEEN OF STRANGENESS
You conjure wings and claws and fangs,
You see an odyssey, your cloven feet.
Eyes that have been open,
That have stared right at the sun.
Stares that have tried to hurt us,
I don’t just see a woman.

Come to court, they cry, and there you stand with a crown.
Bow down for the queen of strangeness.
A woman like me and a woman like you.
A woman like me and a woman like you.

Your king lives amongst the green,
I could love him if he let me.
Dancing in the circus, putting heads on your trophy shelf.
Words sparkle and slip from your lips,
I try to catch them, but they fall too quickly.

Come to court, they cry, and there you stand with a crown.
Bow down for the queen of strangeness.
A woman like me and a woman like you.
A woman like me and a woman like you.

[Repeat x 2]

© Eliza Delf 2022