🎭 Untethered!

🎭 Untethered! (A Prog-Rock Opera) An Original Work, © 2026, All Rights Reserved Clifford E. Sarke/Azalea Parke Music See Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op79ugkBgsM 'The Life and Times of Timothy A. Tetherball' —∞— ⸿Act I – Birth & Awakening 🎵Scene 1: Born of Rubber & Sky ¶Intro ►1:17¶Verse 1 I was born I was BORN! To hold air in my lungs! And fire in my tread... Soar overhead Fly through the sky! Free... Free to fly, So-oar... Hope thrilled my soul! And joy lit my every day... Dreams stitched into my seams! Before I ever felt that first Serve! (First serve...) ►2:09¶Chorus I was made to move! (Move...move...move...move!) To fly and feel the world... (The WORLD!) But they fastened me To a chain! (To a CURSE-ED Chain!...) 'Stead of the place where I once hoped to whirl... (Hoped to Whirl!...) ►3:07¶Bridge I dreamed of clouds(Clouds...) I dreamed of stars(Stars...) Beyond these rubber-molded bars I thought I'd rise on thermal wings (Thermal wings...) Not hang From heavy iron rings... (IRON! RINGS!) ►3:40¶Interlude The sky was mine for half a second... Until the pole's cold shadow beckoned. (The chain pulls back...) (Gravity wins...) (The rotation begins...) —⸛— 🎵Scene 2: Chain & the Circle ►4:01¶Intro ►4:47¶Verse 2 Rough handling... Click of the clasp... (Clasp...) Clink of the iron! Groan of the pole! My world shrank to this cursed hole... (Hole 'round this pole...) Kids scream like thunder in a storm But I'm the eye Gettin' beaten, Gettin' warm... (Beaten and warm...) ►5:16 ¶Pre-Chorus Round and round My tether-bound crown They punch out rage An' I just swallow their sound ►5:26¶Chorus I spin(Spin) I scream(Scream) I’m the silent choir(Choir) Their joy(Joy) Their grief(Grief) Their borrowed fire(Fire) Around the post The ghost The ring (The captivating ring!...) I’m the song Song-ong... They'll never know how to sing... (Never know how to sing...) ►6:00¶Outro —∞— ⸿Act II – Gods of Recess 🎵Scene 1: Ode to the Golden Sun ►6:32¶Intro ►6:43¶Verse 1 Behold! Behoh-oh-ohh-old!... Timmy! King of the asphalt ring! (King of the asphalt ring!...) The center of the noon-day sun! (Noon-day sun!) They form a line At the ringing of the bell To face the undefeated one! (The undefeated one!...) ►7:18¶Interlude He takes the strike! He takes the blow! (Takes. The. Strike...) (Takes. The. Blow...) A golden pendulum on display! They don't just play... They worship him... In their own Violent way! (Violent Wayy...) Hurray! (Oh-ohh-oh...) ►8:00¶Pre-Chorus Here comes the Giant of Eighth-Grade Pride! With a thunder-palm and a heavy stride! Here comes the Tactician, small and swift Wrapping him high where the shadows drift! ►8:17¶Chorus Spin, Timmy, spin! (Spin through the fire!) You are the crown... Of their desire! Every impact, (Every impact...) Every strike... (Every strike...) Every morning Noon And spike!... You are the heart of the playground hall (The rise of Timmy the Tetherball!) (Timmy! Timmy! Rise!...) —⸛— 🎵Scene 2: Gladiatorial Arena ►8:50¶Verse 2 A game of gods A clash of knees! Scraped-up elbows Dusty shoes! He absorbs the wrath Of the playground crowd (Playground crowd...) With nothing Left to lose! (Nothing left to lose...) "Nothing left to lose!..." He's no wimp! He accepts the pain He wears the scar A noble victim... (Noble victim...) Proud Bright! ►9:42-53¶Interlude The rope winds tight around the steel A spiraling dancer Tightening in the light! Ever closer... (Closer...) Ever Tighter (Tighter...) Closer an' Tighter (Closer an' Tighter...) (Closer ...) ►10:13¶Chorus Spin, Timmy, spin! (Spin through the fire!) Past the clenched fists! OH (Spin, Timmy, spin...) Through the grasping hands! OH (Spin, Timmy, spin...) You are the crown of their desire! Every impact, Every strike, Every morning, Noon, And spike! Every single spike! (Hhmm-Mmm-Hhmn...) Around the post, The myth, The sun! (The battle is won!) ►11:02¶Outro They cheered his name Beneath the summer skies... Before the first dark Autumn wind Began to rise (The wind begins to rise...) (And-the-leaves-slowly-begin-to-fall...) —∞— ⸿Act III – Bleak December 🎵Scene 1: The First Frost ►11:51¶Intro ►12:32¶Verse 1 The footsteps faded with the autumn leaves... The playground stands in quiet Frozen grief No hands to strike No voices in the cold Just rust Upon the iron ring I hold (In the cold... so cold...) —⸛— 🎵Scene 2: Fraying Threads & Frozen Metal ►13:03¶Intro ►13:19¶Verse 2 My leather cracks beneath the January frost... The air valve bleeds a slow and steady sigh Unheeded beneath a leaden, gray sky ►13:41¶Interlude ►14:09¶Pre-Chorus Oh, give me back the anger! Give me back the pain! Break the icy silence Of this desolate rain! Warmth was in the violence... Life was in the spin... Now The rot Is creeping in... (The rot is creeping in...) ►14:36¶Chorus Hanging limp... (Oo-ooo-oo...) Swinging slow... (Ah-ahh-ah...) Over ice and blackened snow... (Oo-ooo-oo...) Fiber by fiber, (Ah-ahh-ah...) The woven strands yield... To the rusted clasp... In the empty field In the empty field ►15:09¶Interlude ►15:52¶Bridge One strand snaps in the midnight freeze... (Unnoticed in the biting breeze...) The steel post groans a low, metallic moan Waiting... Dying... All alone. (All alone...) (Ahh-all... ah-lone...) ►16:20¶Interlude ►16:33¶Outro / Transition I hear them coming back... The snow begins to thaw... (The spring arrives...) The final serve draws near... (The final serve draws near...) —∞— ⸿Act IV – The Unchaining 🎵Scene 1: Breaking Point ►17:01¶Intro ►17:40¶Verse 1 Spring breaks open the frozen yard! The playground wakes With a sudden roar! (Yay-ay-ay...) A shadow falls on the gravel ground An eighth-grade giant takes the floor! (The rope is thin...) (The time is now...) ►16:08¶Pre-Chorus One strand left Of the weather-frayed twine, Holding the last Of this life of mine! (Oh-ohh-oh-oh...) He pulls his fist, He coils his spine (Oh-ohh-oh-oh...) A lethal serve on the battle line! ►18:31¶Build-Up Oh! No! Faster! Faster! Wrap around! (No escape...) No escape! Wind the iron! Slam the ground! Here it comes (Oh-ohh-oh...) (No-oh-ohh...) THE FINAL SOUND! ►19:17¶Sudden Sound FX & Abrupt Cut —⸛— 🎵Scene 2: Flight of the Unchained ►20:05¶Intro ►20:34¶Vocal Prelude No chain... No pole... NO CIRCLE! God help me! (I'm free!) ►20:47¶Interlude ►21:54¶Chorus (I’m flying!) (I’m flying!) Straight into the blue!... The sky I was born for Has finally come true!... (His dream has come true!...) (He's finally flying free...) ►22:49¶Interlude ►24:36¶Impact on the Cafeteria Roof —⸛— 🎵Scene 3: Roof-Top Starlight ►24:37¶Intro ►24:59¶Verse 1 Among the dried leaves And the rusted HVAC I rest on sticky tar paper, Higher than the swings, Out of reach Of every student Below. My leather bakes Beneath the summer glare A quiet exile In the open air. (Air in your lungs...) (Fire in your tread...) (Remember those lines?...) ►25:55¶Verse 2 Below me, I hear the echo of the yard... So! A brand-new target, Bright and unmarred, Answering, To that age old Playground call. ►26:16¶Bridge I was never ever a god... I was just their game. They’ll never remember my tethered name. But as my seams burst And my air bleeds slow... I look at the sky... And I finally know... ►26:35¶Interlude ►27:11¶Final Chorus – Bittersweet & Serene No longer bound... No longer tied... I lived in the spin... Hhm! And in the sky I died(died...died...) ►27:37¶Outro Free at last... (Fly through the sky...) (Free to fly... soar...) ►27:57¶Reprise & Finale ⸿ End of Opera