Leona Orange - Tapes of My Shining Early Life

From the age of 5 to 14 Leona Orange wrote over 500 songs before quitting for three years and attaining a record deal at eighteen. Included on this double cassette are 25 of these - 2 from each year but for her fourteenth (her last year of writing songs until another four years had passed, from which we include the entire seven she wrote that year). The earliest, Bird in the House, written at five explores the paranoid childhood fear (that continued throughout her adult life) of birds caught in unfamiliar places, among other less clear themes. These Tapes were released just after the release of her first album - Lips

Six sample songs for the profile:

Bird In The House

A bird flew in,
we have trapped him
let him, let him escape
His feathered belly is empty
he doesn't know the sound
of his wings not on the open air
he doesn't know our family
and our home for him isn't anywhere
(Chorus)
Bird in the house
He is not free
I heard him, he's close
(Repeat Chorus)

(Age Five)


I'm Magic

Ever see the space between people
Ever look closely at your sister or brother
Ever feel carefully the air round--Weeeeeeeeeee
or chop at it to form, like a hatchet
I'm magic
Ever watch beauty go by
Ever hear someone and know why
Ever wish the ground was the sky
it's because you're tragic
and I'm magic
You can drown or float on the sea
but she won't share the truth of her mysteries
wheeeeeeeeeeee
if you see one of her crabs--grab it!
I'm magic

(Age Five)


I Forgot Why People Die

I was confused at reddened eyes
I could not make use of black or sties
I forgot why people die
An older man was saying why
He took me on his lap and sighed
I didn't listen to his lie
I forgot why people die
Saint Michael had it all right
but he never should have saw the light
they eat a lot, especially rye
I forgot why people die

(Age Six)


Such Idiots Are Men

Such idiots are men
I've spoken to them
They couldn't carry a verse
by their carrying hearse
They couldn't connect a theory
without a connecting worry
They would have a hard time planting a kiss
as genuine as they could piss
such idiots are men
but I haven't really gotten to know them
only boys
and their precious toys

(Age Eleven)


I Met A Merry Lady

I met a merry lady
as welcome as the day
she spoke without a maybe
or a some would say
Her poise was positively pure
her manner fine, demure
you would swear it was your mother
if you did not know her
We rhymed away on topics
but beneath there was much more
her charm I could not posit
and what so seemed showed sure
I met a merry lady
as welcome as the day
it does vary maybe
some would say a cure

(Age Twelve)


(When You're Not Here) You're In My Mind

I realize it's not very kind
only
When you're not here, you're in my mind
I can't hear, you're not blind
we are in a terrible bind
I've got it terrifically timed
only
When you're not here, you're in my mind
I'm a believer in existential lines
only
When you're not here, you're in my mind
I thought you'd gone, you stood behind
When you're not here, you're in my mind

(Age Fourteen)

Leona Orange - Lips

Leona Orange, an 18 year old singer/songwriter prodigy, began playing the piano at age 2 and had mastered various string and wind instruments by the age of 4. Her first song, written at five, is included on the Tapes of My Shining Early Life and we mention it to show the progression from divinely intuitive to the master craftswoman heard on her debut album - Lips. Leona's only comment provided to us regarding her album was, "...The bullet that was meant for you blasted off a lover..."

Two sample songs for the profile:

I've Been Angry

You are younger than your eyes
I see you in darker years
I'm far stronger and I rise
I am smarter than these tears

(Chorus)

Maybe you think I'm weak because of
lean and hungry looks
maybe I've had enough
I've been angry since you took...
I've been angry since you took...

My voice is deep from these lips
Choice can seep from these hips
I can talk along a longer kiss
while behind your kind I make a fist

(Repeat Chorus)


My Old Love For You

I found
my old love
for you
beneath a broken chair
Whatever it had been holding up
would not balance fair
I found my old love for you
beneath an awful laugh the kind
you kept for strangers that made
the party pass why I found myself
laughing so echoed back the hollow
guest I found my old love for you
and I thought it new Perhaps
I found it in our son who loves
to look like you

Leona Orange - I Was Lying Down

Leona Orange's second album I Was Lying Down was huge in Europe but had a paltry showing in her native Canada. Reportedly she fled her home country and spent three years in isolation since its release. The next anyone heard from her was her third album Monastic Bitch.

Two samples for the profile:

Could Could Could

I was making an offering
to those whose lives ring
with every wonderful thing
I was making a choice
between my heart and my voice
but a thought would not let me sing

(Chorus)

Could Could Could
Should Should Should
In every way or any day
I could
I was jumping out a window
I was undressing for an old man
I was stretching the bow
with the arrow in my hand
I was saying please
when I really meant gimme
I was on my knees
when I should have been praying

(Repeat Chorus)


Marie

Marie was a French girl
she told me it in French
She held her gaze so lightly
I haven't seen her since
But in the hours I knew her
she talked with such delight
her eyes were wide as diamonds
when they mine the light
She kissed her love in Montreal
She took un chance terrible
but I'm not much for French
Marie was a French girl
as lovely as a wench
she dressed in clothes unlikely
I haven't seen her since

Leona Orange - Monastic Bitch

Leona Orange's Monastic Bitch marked her return to music and the public eye--missing for three years she returned to commercial success. Considering herself a "sellout" and citing the song "Moments Are Memories" as proof of her loss of lyrical and musical integrity, and continuing her past distinction of singing the songs once and once only for her albums, 1999 marked her abondonment of music in general. Reportedly taking up Behavioral Pathology and/or Native Medicinal Healing, the latter because of her noted wanderings with shaman of Mojave legend Caterwaul the former because of her frequent (often harassing) letters to Forensic Pathologist and Professor of Behavioral Studies at UCLA Dr. James Burnside. At 23 Leona Orange remains lost to all family, friends, fans, and media to this day.

Two samples for the profile:

Monastic Bitch

Those who I encourage
the ones I leave behind
the first are left discouraged
the second in my mind

I would not be rich
I would not be beautiful
I would be a monastic bitch
To hell with you all!

Nothing I learn
teaches me when I'm lusting
Things burn
Life is rushing
But despair will correct me
when I'm lonely
when I'm gone
I'll be the only

I would not be a snitch
And for love risk it all
I would be a monastic bitch
To hell with you all!


Moments Are Memories

I was searching through my past
rummaging through the faces
sometimes I forget to ask
where they've been
The only time anything's clearer
is when I see something in your eyes
moments are memories
in disguise
A simple way to say
did you know it turned out that way
did you guess til the turn of the day
An end to regret
not yet
not yet
Frequently the depths of your sighs
lead me to wondering
why moments are memories
in disguise

Mike MacDonald Productions ©1998