Fantastic City composed by Elisabeth 'Connie' Converse

I recently covered a piece composed by Elisabeth 'Connie‘ Converse. Connie was a musician, writer, activist and artist whose incredible music was virtually ignored during her lifetime, save for family and close friends. In 1974 at the age of 50, Connie packed up her VW bug and drove off, never to be heard or seen from again. Thankfully, due to some precious preserved recordings, her woefully under appreciated music lives on. I was deeply moved by this piece which I am performing here, originally written for an unfinished opera of hers entitled The Prodigal Nephew.
A terrific resource for discovering Connie‘s life and work is the book To Anyone Who Ever Asks‘ by Howard Fishman. It‘s through this book that I discovered the lyrics to Fantastic City. The only official recording made of it during Connie‘s was during a rehearsal for the aforementioned opera and remains unfinished. It can be heard on the collection called Musicks which is available for streaming and download. With my interpretation, I've attempted to fill out the missing parts as best I can.
I hope I’ve done justice to this amazing work, and that you enjoy it as much as I do.
Please discover Connie Converse. You‘ll be glad you did!
connieconverse.com
Extra special thanks to Gianluca Baldelli and George Nolte and. … for the use of their apartment and amazing grand piano for filming and recording. And thank you to Björn for filming.
FANTASTIC CITY
Stand across the river
And stare and stare at that fantastic city
See how the sun makes it shimmer
See how the sun makes it shine.
All the ships of Tarshish are howling in the bay, They are howling at the city- Can you hear what they say?
-Stay away, stay away.
You gotta watch it or you don't get what's coming to you
But then what's coming to you ain't worth a halleluia
Nobody lives in that fantastic city, They only eat and run
-And yet you never saw a town as pretty
Beneath the sun.
The corners are sharp, The edges are hard,
Ante up and draw your card;
The gutter is wide, The curbing is low,
And any street can be Skid Row, Any street can be Skid Row.
You gotta watch it or you don't get what's coming to you
But then what's coming to you ain't worth a halleluia
Nobody loves in that fantastic city, They only sleep and run
-And yet you never saw a town as pretty
Not one, not one.
The music is gay, The music is loud,
Ante up and draw a crowd;
The faces are hard, The fingers are cold
And if you're cheap enough, you're sold, If you're cheap enough, you're sold.FANTASTIC CITY
Stand across the river
And stare and stare at that fantastic city
See how the sun makes it shimmer
See how the sun makes it shine.
All the ships of Tarshish are howling in the bay, They are howling at the city- Can you hear what they say?
-Stay away, stay away.
You gotta watch it or you don't get what's coming to you
But then what's coming to you ain't worth a halleluia
Nobody lives in that fantastic city, They only eat and run
-And yet you never saw a town as pretty
Beneath the sun.
The corners are sharp, The edges are hard,
Ante up and draw your card;
The gutter is wide, The curbing is low,
And any street can be Skid Row, Any street can be Skid Row.
You gotta watch it or you don't get what's coming to you
But then what's coming to you ain't worth a halleluia
Nobody loves in that fantastic city, They only sleep and run
-And yet you never saw a town as pretty
Not one, not one.
The music is gay, The music is loud,
Ante up and draw a crowd;
The faces are hard, The fingers are cold
And if you're cheap enough, you're sold, If you're cheap enough, you're sold.