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Ballad of an Albino

from The Going Away by Helen Dorothy

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about

Dagur Kari’s bleak yet moving Icelandic film, ‘Noi the Albino’, inspired this icy epic.

lyrics

Ballad of an Albino
© Helen Dorothy (2006)

Far in the north
Where the day spends the night searching for its morning
A young man lives
In an icy world that he wished he wasn’t born in
His skin is pale
As pale as the snow that thickens all around him
And his eyes are pale
As pale as the northern lights that flicker around
There’s nothing for Noi to see
Except the vast expanse of ice that was once the sea

Noi reaches up
And he reaches out
And no-one seems to see him
Or know what he’s about
Noi disappears down
And he reaches in
And in his mind he tries to find
A place to start again

He drives a car
That he stole from the street on the corner by the food-store
But he doesn’t get far
The car is out of gas and there’s nowhere he can get more
He should be at school
But he likes to hang out in the basement of his grandma’s house
He’s nobody’s fool
And he pictures the northern lights that flicker around
There’s nothing for Noi to do
Except argue with his gran and her drinking crew

Noi reaches up
And he reaches out
And noone seems to see him
Or know what he’s about
Noi disappears down
And he reaches in
And in his mind he tries to find
A place to start again

Then one day the whole town shook with a rumble and a roar
The mountainside crumbled and slipped into the fjord
The snow buried power-lines, and cars and houses too
And Noi was in the basement and he knew, he knew, he knew….

In passing time
Noi sleeps, he wakes, he listens and he calls out
They come just in time
Men with shovels who clear the doors and pull him out
His skin is pale
As pale as the snow that buries the entire town
And his eyes are pale
As pale as the northen lights that flicker around
There’s nothing for Noi to feel
Except the heat in his throat as he swallows a decent meal

So Noi heads south to a land of colour and heat
He doesn’t know what he’ll do or who he’ll even meet
Maybe he’ll head for a metropolis, or maybe not
But he’ll get a job, and he’ll meet some friends
And he’ll be happy with his lot

Noi reaches up
And he reaches out
Now everywhere they notice him
And ask what he’s about
Noi doesn’t go down
And he won’t go in
No, he’s up and out, to laugh aloud
And start his life all over again
And he’s reaching out
Now everywhere they notice him
And ask what he’s about
Noi doesn’t go down
And he won’t go in
No, he’s up and out, to scream and shout
In a place where his life can begin

credits

from The Going Away, released April 1, 2009
Helen Dorothy - vocals, acoustic guitar
Fiona Smythe - violin

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Helen Dorothy New Zealand

Helen Dorothy is “an acoustic folk artist in an honest sense” (NZ Musician, 2009). She writes "beautifully-crafted, intelligent songs rich in memorable imagery" (fRoots Magazine, Jan 2014).

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