The Call
Lyrics
Wish I hadn't crawled out of my hole.
Wish I'd stayed in bed and watched the whole world burn.
Wish someone else had fought in my stead.
This time tomorrow I could be worse than dead.
I could be the hero that failed us all.
I could be the one crumbled small.
When the world puts out the call.
I could lead us to fall.
I have left my shadows behind.
And seen the future in devil's eyes.
Laid out the coffin where i'd rest,
And felt the weight of it all pound in my chest.
I could be the hero that failed us all.
I could be the one crumbled small.
When the world puts out the call.
I could lead us to fall.
Did you think that a hero would rise?
Born from dust of this turning tied,
The walls are falling, and faster we'll fly,
Through the fire, the fire, we'll falter, we'll falter,
Under ashes thereafter we'll fall.
I could be the hero that saves us all.
I could be the one that stands tall.
When the world puts out the call.
I could lead us to...
The Story
The Call was written by Bardic Compass bass guitarist, sound engineer, and vocalist Artem about the anxiety of failing. The Call was Bardic Compass’ first D&D-inspired song, derived from a campaign where Artem’s character and party had to fight gods for the endgame.
We had rallied an army to fight against the undead horde of the keeper, the last of the sinister six of gods that we had been slaying because they changed the world in horrific ways in the future (time traveling angels came to us).
Verse 2 has a line for each party member - our paladin died fighting the Shadow, and the shadow had also infected and taken control of my character ("shadows behind"), our bard had been crafting a phylactery in case he died - it was a literal coffin ("coffin where I'd rest"), and our monk had her head cut off and made a deal with a devil to come back to help us in our fight against gods ("devil's eyes").