[Genre: Epic world / Orchestral folk / Griot ballad] [Tempo: 75 BPM, builds to 90 BPM] [Key: D minor → F major at final chorus] [Intro – spoken, low drums, kora] He could have been king. He chose the shadow. [Verse 1 – solo voice, sparse percussion] From the fertile belt of the Sahel Where the grain grows tall and the horses run He held more souls than the emperor's bell But never reached for the golden one His father wed a duchess land A general's sword turned noble hand At fourteen he learned the steward's art At seventeen the blade became his heart [Chorus – full percussion, brass swell] Abulón, Abulón, shadow of the throne Stronger than a king but he stands alone He moves the world with a merchant's loan Abulón, Abulón, the power unknown [Verse 2 – steady groove, lower register] He sailed to save the colonies Where the Plate River runs wide and cold At nineteen, chains and iron knees To the Inca's mountain hold But a noble's cage is a gilded page He spoke, and the captors listened long At twenty-three he wed their blood And returned with a peace song [Chorus] Abulón, Abulón, shadow of the throne Stronger than a king but he stands alone He moves the world with a merchant's loan Abulón, Abulón, the power unknown [Verse 3 – tension rising, strings enter] Home to find his father's grave His mother caged behind stone wall Usurpers digging the ducal grave The emperor's court refused his call But Inca spears and Malian friends Broke the thieves at Monukae's gate He stood before the golden throne And made the vultures wait [Bridge – sudden silence, then low drums] The emperor saw a sharper mind Than any noble ever bred Five years as governor of Minorca Then I sign your lands, he said [Verse 4 – faster, marching rhythm] His firstborn son, a pirate's prize On the cold Cantabrian sea Pay the gold, the Irish laughed Abulón's reply was glee [Spoken over drums] I do not pay. I punish. A treasure ship with double the weight Then twenty-three hundred swords at night Cork burned down to the harbor stone The gold left burning in the light [Chorus – louder, brass dominant] Abulón, Abulón, shadow of the throne Stronger than a king but he stands alone He moves the world with a merchant's loan Abulón, Abulón, the power unknown [Verse 5 – slower, tragic turn] Old Carthage fell to Roman siege He broke their lines upon the land Chased their fleet to Sicily Two ports turned to sand He called on Egypt, called on Arabs Bound their ships into one fleet On the Aegean, fire found him His hull became his heat [Final Chorus – key change to F major, full choir] Abulón, Abulón, shadow on the wave No king was ever so proud a knave He left no throne but a world he gave Abulón, Abulón, beyond the grave [Outro – solo kora, fading drums] He could have been king. He chose the shadow. And the shadow chose him back.
