The Oryx of the Aardvark Girl

While we wait for BARDS: Of The Shimmering Seraphs to finish physical production, in the meantime we are forging ahead with a new crop of songs for the next album. The next album will serve as a continuation of the oracle deck concept, featuring songs about "objects" - the first of which be this little song about the magical horn of the elusive and beautiful Aardvark Girl. It is also about a recently discovered strange dwarf planet at the farthest reaches of our solar system. Gǃkúnǁʼhòmdímà was discovered on 19 Oct 2007 at the Palomar observatory in California, at 9:09 UT. Gkunhomdima is a member of the extended scattered disc and is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). Its orbit is inclined 23° off the ecliptic and is quite elliptical. It was knocked out of a normal orbit early in the history of the solar system, probably as Neptune migrated outward to its current position, which gives the high inclination of Gkunhomdima’s orbit. However, there is no known orbital resonance with any other planetary body, except for its binary companion. Its ‘moon’, or secondary is called G!o’e !Hu (pronounced GOH ay KOO). Goeku means ‘horn’, or Oryx horn. And that takes us to a bit of mythology. Gǃkúnǁʼhòmdímà is also the Beautiful Aardvark Girl of Juǀʼhoan mythology, who sometimes appears in the stories of other San peoples as a python girl or elephant girl; she defends her people and punishes wrongdoers using gǁámígǁàmì spines [devil’s thorn plant], a rain-cloud full of hail, and her magical oryx horn. Drums and percussion, keyboards, backup vocals: R Thomas Guitars, Mandolin, Melodica, Bass, Lead vocals, backup vocals: PS Perkins LYRICS: ------------------------------- Aardvark girl, come trumpet your horn Bellow your clarion call Summon your dark and impenetrable cloud And let your hailstones fall Are we just ants crawling around on the ground Are we just termites in a crumbling mound Scatter the poisoned thorns in their lane May they tread upon those in their path The stinging in their feet shall remind them They’ll be dead before their next bath Aardvark girl burrow down in your den The night will be ending soon The Oryx are gathered at the watering hole And your face is in the moon Are we just ants crawling around on the ground Are we just termites in a crumbling mound We are just ants crawling around on the ground We are just termites in a crumbling mound