So You Don't Get To Be A Saint
Aug. 15th, 2009 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
masterofmidgets6 Songs That Are Fannish, and 1 That's Just Good
1. Blackbird by Ellis
I drove a hundred miles down an hour down the mountainside
felt like a superhuman, felt like I could fly
I had a plane to catch, I had my seltbeat on
but it wouldn't have kept me safe if I'd fallen off
I've got rolls of tape stuck up in my head
got the wrong words mixed up in the things I said
but I meant the kindness and I meant holding you
we can be the ocean, so much bigger than this
When I talked tocolourofsaying about this song that she sent me, I told her that in my head there are two kinds of McShep songs. There are the songs where John tries to convince Rodney they should totally be in love, no really it will be awesome, and there are the songs where John tries to deal with that thing where Rodney keeps trying to propose to girls. This song is a little of both - it's about how awesome this thing is that they have, but also how they've let it get really off track and they should fix that. And it's just got this very...Sheppard vibe in it.
2. Wonderwall by Oasis (but the Cat Power version is way more awesome and you should check it out)
Today was gonna be the day
But they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do
About you now
And all the roads that lead to you were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
I don't know how
A long time ago I had this song on my playlist as an Edward/Alphonse song, which I guess shows it has a very sibling-ish tilt to it for me. But I don't think of it that way anymore, because it is the perfect song for Sam/Dean. Specifically, season three Sam/Dean - when Dean desperately wants Sam to find a way to get him out of his deal with the crossroads demon, but at the same time has resigned himself to Sam's failure and his own death and just wants to make his last goodbyes and get it over with. Not a happy song by any means.
3. Hurricane by Ellis
You and me are like a match and a flame
We get too close and we burn up everything
We are a hungry lion who has just seen it’s prey
We can’t help ourselves we get carried away
And it can’t be that good and it can’t be that bad
I want you to use me, I give all that have
I’m ready for you like I’m ready to breathe
I can hardly stand this, I’ll do anything
One of the things I love about the Reboot Trek is the antagonism between Kirk and Spock, because it makes a lot of sense to me that two such different people would have a lot of personal and professional friction early on in their relationship, before they have good reasons to trust each other. I love watching that relationship turn to grudging respect, and then to friendship (and eventually to romance). This song would be pretty early in their capital-r Relationship, when it's all dramatic and passionate and really loud.
4. The Brilliant Dance by Dashboard Confessional
So this is odd,
the painful realization that has all gone wrong.
And nobody cares at all,
and nobody cares at all.
So you buried all your lover's clothes
and burned the letters lover wrote,
but it doesn't make it any better.
Does it make it any better?
And the plaster dented from your fist
in the hall where you had your first kiss
reminds you that the memories will fade.
This song is all about that first time you fall in love and then it all goes bad and your heart gets broken and you're sure you'll never be able to fall in love again, which is why it fits in my head so well as a Dumbledore/Grindewald song. I mean, this is a man who was able to turn a brief summer romance into 60 years worth of tragedy and breast-beating. He does not do anything by halves. But it's sad, still, to think of all those lonely years wasted because he can't move on enough to dare to love anyone else.
5. Bullets by Tunng
Our blood and guts are out
We spread our bones across the table at night
We cut our fingers off
To give ourselves those little extra insights
We're catching bullets in our teeth
And though they try hard not to say how it's done
They always do
They spill the secret out six ways
And beg for our forgiveness
Just before dawn
And now we don't remember
Cable/Deadpool: a romance between a superpowerful telepathic mutant from a post-apocalyptic alternate future and wise-cracking trigger-happy mercenary with severe psychosis, disfiguring cancer and no respect for the fourth wall. Neither of them are particularly nice people, is my point here, and this isn't a particularly nice song (it sounds like it's written about assassins to be honest). But it's hard to ignore the love between the two of them, even if they mostly express it in horribly unhealthy ways.
6. Benediction by The Weakerthans
Megaphones in helicopters squeal “hey are you okay?
Searchlights circle, where we lost our way
All our accidents were purposeful and felt
Stripped of providence or any way to tell
But our intentions were intangible and sweet
Sick with simple math and shy discoveries
Piled up against our impending defeat.
I don't have the werewithal to do a whole Children of Earth fanmix, but I do have this one song that I think captures the miniseries as a whole pretty well. It's got a good sense of the defeatism and despair that is so prominent in the whole storyline - I really read CoE as saying "no matter how hard you try, it's never going to be enough to save everyone, not even the people you love." It was just such a hopeless thing for everyone involved. This is one of my favorite Weakerthans songs.
7. Au Fond du Temple Saint by Bizet (sung in my version by Roberto Alagna and Bryn Terfel)
Au fond du temple saint
Paré de fleurs et d'or,
Une femme apparaît!
Je crois la voir encore!
Une femme apparaît!
Je crois la voir encore!
La foule prosternée
La regarde, etonnée,
Et murmure tous bas:
Voyez, c'est la déesse!
Qui dans l'ombre se dresse
Et vers nous tend les bras!
I think this is one of my favorite arias ever, even topping out "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka and "Tu cei di gel sei cinta" from Turandot. Assuming you don't read French, the aria is a duet between the two male leads of The Pearl Divers, singing about how their friendship was once threatened when they both fell in love with the same mysterious woman. It's slow and haunting and heartfelt and just lovely.
1. Blackbird by Ellis
I drove a hundred miles down an hour down the mountainside
felt like a superhuman, felt like I could fly
I had a plane to catch, I had my seltbeat on
but it wouldn't have kept me safe if I'd fallen off
I've got rolls of tape stuck up in my head
got the wrong words mixed up in the things I said
but I meant the kindness and I meant holding you
we can be the ocean, so much bigger than this
When I talked to
colourofsaying about this song that she sent me, I told her that in my head there are two kinds of McShep songs. There are the songs where John tries to convince Rodney they should totally be in love, no really it will be awesome, and there are the songs where John tries to deal with that thing where Rodney keeps trying to propose to girls. This song is a little of both - it's about how awesome this thing is that they have, but also how they've let it get really off track and they should fix that. And it's just got this very...Sheppard vibe in it.2. Wonderwall by Oasis (but the Cat Power version is way more awesome and you should check it out)
Today was gonna be the day
But they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do
About you now
And all the roads that lead to you were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
I don't know how
A long time ago I had this song on my playlist as an Edward/Alphonse song, which I guess shows it has a very sibling-ish tilt to it for me. But I don't think of it that way anymore, because it is the perfect song for Sam/Dean. Specifically, season three Sam/Dean - when Dean desperately wants Sam to find a way to get him out of his deal with the crossroads demon, but at the same time has resigned himself to Sam's failure and his own death and just wants to make his last goodbyes and get it over with. Not a happy song by any means.
3. Hurricane by Ellis
You and me are like a match and a flame
We get too close and we burn up everything
We are a hungry lion who has just seen it’s prey
We can’t help ourselves we get carried away
And it can’t be that good and it can’t be that bad
I want you to use me, I give all that have
I’m ready for you like I’m ready to breathe
I can hardly stand this, I’ll do anything
One of the things I love about the Reboot Trek is the antagonism between Kirk and Spock, because it makes a lot of sense to me that two such different people would have a lot of personal and professional friction early on in their relationship, before they have good reasons to trust each other. I love watching that relationship turn to grudging respect, and then to friendship (and eventually to romance). This song would be pretty early in their capital-r Relationship, when it's all dramatic and passionate and really loud.
4. The Brilliant Dance by Dashboard Confessional
So this is odd,
the painful realization that has all gone wrong.
And nobody cares at all,
and nobody cares at all.
So you buried all your lover's clothes
and burned the letters lover wrote,
but it doesn't make it any better.
Does it make it any better?
And the plaster dented from your fist
in the hall where you had your first kiss
reminds you that the memories will fade.
This song is all about that first time you fall in love and then it all goes bad and your heart gets broken and you're sure you'll never be able to fall in love again, which is why it fits in my head so well as a Dumbledore/Grindewald song. I mean, this is a man who was able to turn a brief summer romance into 60 years worth of tragedy and breast-beating. He does not do anything by halves. But it's sad, still, to think of all those lonely years wasted because he can't move on enough to dare to love anyone else.
5. Bullets by Tunng
Our blood and guts are out
We spread our bones across the table at night
We cut our fingers off
To give ourselves those little extra insights
We're catching bullets in our teeth
And though they try hard not to say how it's done
They always do
They spill the secret out six ways
And beg for our forgiveness
Just before dawn
And now we don't remember
Cable/Deadpool: a romance between a superpowerful telepathic mutant from a post-apocalyptic alternate future and wise-cracking trigger-happy mercenary with severe psychosis, disfiguring cancer and no respect for the fourth wall. Neither of them are particularly nice people, is my point here, and this isn't a particularly nice song (it sounds like it's written about assassins to be honest). But it's hard to ignore the love between the two of them, even if they mostly express it in horribly unhealthy ways.
6. Benediction by The Weakerthans
Megaphones in helicopters squeal “hey are you okay?
Searchlights circle, where we lost our way
All our accidents were purposeful and felt
Stripped of providence or any way to tell
But our intentions were intangible and sweet
Sick with simple math and shy discoveries
Piled up against our impending defeat.
I don't have the werewithal to do a whole Children of Earth fanmix, but I do have this one song that I think captures the miniseries as a whole pretty well. It's got a good sense of the defeatism and despair that is so prominent in the whole storyline - I really read CoE as saying "no matter how hard you try, it's never going to be enough to save everyone, not even the people you love." It was just such a hopeless thing for everyone involved. This is one of my favorite Weakerthans songs.
7. Au Fond du Temple Saint by Bizet (sung in my version by Roberto Alagna and Bryn Terfel)
Au fond du temple saint
Paré de fleurs et d'or,
Une femme apparaît!
Je crois la voir encore!
Une femme apparaît!
Je crois la voir encore!
La foule prosternée
La regarde, etonnée,
Et murmure tous bas:
Voyez, c'est la déesse!
Qui dans l'ombre se dresse
Et vers nous tend les bras!
I think this is one of my favorite arias ever, even topping out "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka and "Tu cei di gel sei cinta" from Turandot. Assuming you don't read French, the aria is a duet between the two male leads of The Pearl Divers, singing about how their friendship was once threatened when they both fell in love with the same mysterious woman. It's slow and haunting and heartfelt and just lovely.