• Mood: villainous?

There's Always Music in the Air

I finished the short story I was working on. I feel fairly happy with it right now, but considering that I hate all my previous work with prose fiction, I figured it would be a good idea to get a second opinion before I posted the thing. So I e-mailed it to someone I trust. And while I'm waiting for a response, I did this sort of meme sovay came up with yesterday. In her words; "This is not a meme. This is not even a mix CD. It does not form a coherent narrative, it is hardly complete, and it's very unlikely that it is representative of my entire taste in music. What it is is twenty-five songs that at one point or another have obsessed, haunted, or otherwise stuck with me."

I don't tend to get stuck on individual songs. Usually I'm into the narrative of an entire album. But I decided to give this meme a shot, and found there were a billion songs that fit the bill. Here are twenty-five of them. I couldn't help organising them so that they formed a sort of narrative;





1. "Sycamore Trees" - Lyrics by David Lynch, music by Angelo Badalamenti (vocals performed by Jimmy Scott)

I got idea man
You take me for a walk
Under the sycamore trees

2. "First Orgasm" - The Dresden Dolls

It is a Thursday
I get up early
It is a challenge
I'm usually lazy

3. "Time" - David Bowie

But love has left you dreamless
The door to dreams was closed
Your park was real greenless
Perhaps you're smiling now
Smiling through this darkness
But all I have to give
Is guilt for dreaming

4. "I Fall in Love Too Easy" - Miles Davis

I love how sharp this song is. I like it the way I like strong coffee and hard alcohol.

5. "Ghost of Love" - David Lynch

Strange what love does
When you're all alone

6. "As a Judgement" - Ennio Morricone

I was listening to this one day when I heard my ten year old cousin outside my door say, "He listens to scary music." It's a song about a scary guy, too--Henry Fonda's Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West. The real cutting part about his performance is that Henry Fonda knows how to make his face and voice on your side, even when he's murdering an entire family with a smile.

7. "I Still Can't Sleep/They Cannot Touch Her (Betsy's Theme)" - Bernard Herrmann

Every pathetic guy in the world has identified with Travis Bickle at one time or another and Bernard Herrmann's gorgeous final film score certainly makes it go down smooth.

8. "This is Hell" - Elvis Costello

The irritating jingle
Of the belly-dancing phoney Turkish girls
The eerie glare of ultra violet
Perfect dental work

9. "Perfect Day" - Lou Reed

Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spend it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on

10. "Laura" - Charlie Parker

David Raksin wrote this song for the movie Laura(1944) over a weekend, after his wife left him. In the DVD commentary, Raksin says it's about loving someone out of reach. Here the song's performed to perfection by Charlie Parker.

11. "Breaking Glass" - David Bowie

Don't look at the carpet
I drew something awful on it

12. "Tokyo Storm Warning" - Elvis Costello

Japanese God-Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes

13. "Rusty the Skatemaker" - Rasputina

And she told herself that this all was enough.
For a girl that was born in an oil drum.
She had her skates didn't need lots of stuff.
She didn't need it but she still wanted some.

14. "A Real Indication" - Lyrics by David Lynch, music by Angelo Badalamenti, who performed the vocals

Lights start changin'
And there's wires in the air

15. "I Want You" - Elvis Costello

I want you
Go on and hurt me then we'll let it drop
I want you
I'm afraid I won't know where to stop

16. "Charlotte Sometimes" - The Cure

Night after night she lay alone in bed
Her eyes so open to the dark
The streets all looked so strange
They seemed so far away
But Charlotte did not cry

17. "Now" - Holly Golightly

Now that you have gone and left this hurt.
Was it me falling at your feet made you treat me like dirt?
Or the pleading on my knees, begging you to stay?
Or me standing in the doorway more than any man can take?
One thing you never counted on was being wrong.

18. "Live it Down" - Medicine

And you don't believe a word you told me
You never meant to be the first
The first hit is the worst
The second makes it hurt
The first hit is the worst
The second makes it . . .

19. "Par for the Course" - Aimee Mann

The grade of the curve
Has brought you to this
By the boat that you missed
You clung to the raft
So she swerved out of your path

20. "Bells for Her" - Tori Amos

Can't stop what's coming
can't stop what's on its way.
Bells and footfalls and soldiers and dolls.
Brothers and lovers she and I were.
Now she seems to be sand under his shoes.
There's nothing I can do.
Can't stop what's coming
Can't stop what's on its way.

21. "Always Crashing in the Same Car" - David Bowie

I was going round and round the hotel garage
Must have been touching close to ninety-four
But I'm always crashing in the same car

22. "The Sorrow of Losing the Object of One's Dependence" - Shiro Sagisu

This is from the Neon Genesis Evangelion soundtrack, from my favourite episode, episode 21; "He Was Aware That He Was Still a Child". The song comes at the end of the episode as Misato cries over the death of her former lover. Those who've only seen the English dub are missing out because Kotono Mitsuishi's performance is amazing here. It's how she cries--it's strange, and has the odd rhythm of genuine, unexpected grief taking over. The animation, too, is amazing. When watching anime for the first time, many people are immediately turned off by the long periods of stillness, and Evangelion, a show whose budget was cut halfway through, had lots of long, motionless moments. But a great animator isn't made by animating as much as possible but by knowing the right moments for animation, and the scene here I'm talking about most prominently features Misato shoving her kitchen table slightly. It works unbelievably well.

The melody of this track is a variation, like many other tracks in the series, on "Fly Me to the Moon".

23. "Into Dust" - Mazzy Star

I could possibly be fading
Or have something more to gain.
I could feel myself growing colder
I could feel myself under your fate.

24. "This Is Not" - Blonde Redhead

If it was yesterday he'd felt free just like her.
He could have been with her.
But to-day can't be anymore
To-morrow maybe yes. But to-day he is not there.

25. "The Other End of the Telescope" - Elvis Costello

I know it don't make a difference to you
But oh! It sure made a difference to me.
You'll see me off in the distance, I hope
At the other end
At the other end of the telescope.