Orlando Fanworks: Song “Moondog Kingdom” by Megmakes

So you might remember Meg sent us a song once before for a fanworks challenge (“Longing Song“), and this time she brought us one in response to the Orlando challenge. She writes:

“For this most recent fanworks call, I have a song for you. “Moondog Kingdom” is a song about an M3 (plus a few of their inner circle) trip to the Magic Kingdom in an A/U where at the end of the 1989 tour, instead of everything going fully to hell, everyone just goes to Disney World instead. (Also in this A/U Splash Mountain exists in 1989. Apparently it wasn’t actually built until 1992. But that’s what imagination is for – tweaking theme park history to suit your silly songwriting needs!)

“Thank you for making this call for fanworks. In the immediate few days after the Pulse shooting, I was reeling mentally, and when I saw this call it gave me something to focus on. (My deal: I’m a fellow “B” in the QUILTBAG, and I was born in 1987, so I came of age and did my coming out in a time where things – while not perfect or nearly safe enough for everyone – have been getting steadily better and in many ways have been better than I know they were for people before me. This was the first time something of this magnitude of anti-LGBT hatred has happened during my lifetime where I’ve actually been at an age to take it in and it just…hit. Hard.) My brain was basically a circuit of shock and grief and anger and upset-ness for a little while, and I knew it would take a few days for it to stop running that way, but I knew that when it did I would have this to look forward to working on. And when I finally did get to work on this, it was healing, as intended, and it was just fun. I always enjoy writing songs for DGC. :)”

You should be able to play the song in the WordPress embedded MP3 player:

or download from your browser by clicking here: “Moondog Kingdom”

Cecilia wrote Meg to say she cried upon hearing the song, when she got to the bit about fireworks.

Meg wrote: “Aw, sorry you cried at the fireworks part! What’s funny is, I wasn’t even sure about putting that in there. At first I was like, ooh, would Daron and Ziggy be kind of skittish about watching fireworks, seeing as they were all too recently up-painfully-close-and-personal with them? (since “Moondog Kingdom” takes places directly post-1989 tour). Is this kinda bad taste? And then I was like, well, if they’re far enough away, it’s probably fine. And then I was like, I dunno, would anybody really care enough about the fireworks to stick around that late? Well, but fireworks are cool. And it’s a nice way to end the day. How many times do you get to go to Disney World, why not spend the whole day there, ‘til the very last activity? Sure, let’s have them do that. Gives them something else to do.

“And then I read the Orlando posts (I am still laughably uncaught up, but have been known to read current happenings every now and again in the meantime, and I definitely was curious about his actual trip to Disney) and it was just like, Oh. I ended up being really glad I gave the fireworks a mention. And had I known, would’ve written more about them, haha! Also, holy cow, what an endearing detail. I love that Daron cries at fireworks. I just, I dunno, just good for him. I enjoy how sometimes the story will just be cruising along (no pun intended ;)), and then all of a sudden he’ll reveal this incredibly pure fact about himself and I’m just like…Dude. You have such a sweet heart sometimes and it is beautiful. And it makes me want to punch everyone in the face who ever tried (and especially if they succeeded!) to make you feel like shit about it. Sensitivity is a good thing. You just keep being you, Daron.”

She also added the following, which Daron and Bart highly appreciate because nerding out about making music is their jam:
“Also, my apologies (and you can include this in the post too if you want, heh), for the sudden volume change at the end of “Moondog Kingdom”. I had to re-record the end because my next-door-neighbor decided that when I was recording what ended up being the best of the original takes for that part it would be a good time to open his notoriously creaky door so that that could be recorded too. Sigh. The re-record was a great take, so I just kept it and moved onto editing the rest of the song, and then didn’t come across the volume change until it was too late into the night to try to re-re-record anything. I was hoping Garageband would be able to even it out in the final mixdown, but, nope. So yeah, pardon that. ( production notes nobody actually asked for, haha.)”

She also sent ANOTHER awesome song but we’ll post that next week, OK?

And here are the lyrics.

Moondog Kingdom
by megmakes

A (silly) fan song for Daron’s Guitar Chronicles by Cecilia Tan

M-o-o… Oh, man, they’ve been through a lot
n-d-o-g… Gee, I mean this tour alone has been something
T-h-r-e-e…

Moondog 3 and company
After all the shit they’ve dealt with
They deserve a nice day at Disney

When a gerb burns your hand and eye
You’ve more than earned a Mickey ice cream
Daron should be well fed on those and some churros
He’d probably forget to eat otherwise anyway, you know

Loyal sherpas also deserve a treat
Give Colin all the Dole whips he can eat
They may be made of pineapple instead of leather
But they’re still a kind of whip in which he could find pleasure

Carynne could do with a Jungle Cruise
Relax and let someone else handle all the moves
Of leading a small herd through the turns of a tour
She’d suffer the corny jokes too ‘cause she’s a good sport

Moondog 3 and company
After all the shit they’ve dealt with
They deserve a nice day at Disney

Bart and his intellectual bent
Would enjoy the Hall of Presidents and
Carousel of Progress – so basically he’d dig
Animatronics – and most of Tomorrowland

Chris would be a Mountain man
Space, Splash, and Thunder would be his jam
Rollercoasters turn out to be more fun to ride
When they’re not just racing inside your own mind

Ziggy could outshine any princess
But today he’ll shirk the spotlight nonetheless
Trade it for fun in the dark of the Haunted Mansion
And maybe a spin on the Tea Cups, he seems a likely Alice fan

Courtney, loyal sibling and M3 fan,
Would probably join along on whatever she can
It’s all good to her, be it thrill rides or chill desserts
She’s easygoing and would be up for fun of all sorts

Moondog 3 and company
After all the shit they’ve dealt with
They deserve a nice day at Disney

And everybody likes Pirates of the Caribbean
Because who doesn’t like Pirates of the the Caribbean?

Speaking of boats: “it’s a small world” proves better as a ride
Than as a thought Daron probably had those few times
He and his recent sex partners were all in the same limo
With his little sister too and everyone knew each other
Two kinds of memorable, but Daron’d surely prefer one over the other

And what Magic Kingdom trip would be complete
Without a parade or two watched on Main Street
And Cinderella’s Castle all lit up at night
(You’re damn right they stayed until it was night)
For the evening finale fireworks display?
(You’d think it might be Too Soon for some
But, it’s different when they can’t go off in your face
And you can watch them from very, very, far, far away)
If you’re going to Disney, you may as well get the absolute full day’s worth
Especially if you can end it so perfectly, ‘cause

Moondog 3 and company
After all the shit they’ve dealt with
They deserve a nice day at Disney

Yeah, Moondog 3 and company
After all the shit they’ve dealt with
They deserve a nice day at Disney