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grav_ityI’ve never done a play-list before. Well, not officially anyway. I can, however, talk about music almost as long as I can listen to it (which, by the way, is forever), so let’s get this show on the road.
This began when I went looking for John Druitt vids and discovered, to my complete surprise, that no one had made a vid to “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones. This made me think that I was listening to the lyrics wrong, so I went back and listened to it a few (billion) times, and no: it’s definitely John. So I filed it away for later. I found, quite accidentally, the London Symphony Orchestra version, and the idea of cross-time musical association was born.
(Where the string version makes sense to them THEN and the worded version makes sense for them NOW. Ish. There’s some crossover. Nikola’s always been a modern boy at heart, and James is entirely opposite.)
Then I got on a James kick, and decided it would be funny if Declan were to trick him into liking crazy modern songs by playing him the Vitamin String Quartet versions of them, in the hopes that he’d hum them around Ashley and then get embarrassed (the Avril Lavigne covers are actually pretty good, and the Lady Gaga ones are already legendary). Also, I wrote most of the Porn Battle to the VSQ version of “Shook Me All Night Long”, because it’s just funny.
Anyway, that went nowhere, but I was quite addicted to the Vitamin String Quartet by that point, so I decided that I had John and James nearly done and I should find songs for the others. Of course “Shook Me All Night Long” really doesn’t work for James at all, but I figured it couldn’t be that hard.
Famous last words.
Here we are nearly two months later with the end result of eight songs for the Four (because I just couldn’t do Nigel), and a few bonus tracks, because I am a sucker for a bad pun, and because I learned a lot about Helen in between starting and stopping this.
Paint It Black, by the Rolling Stones (and covered by the London Symphony Orchestra)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Egt1Hq4wpE&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhv3atZACJ0&feature=related
This was the most obvious choice (though, by the end, I had of course inverted it). I like it because the lyrics are very nearly perfect, because it’s dark and because the underlying push of the music is just so…relentless. The orchestral version conveys a bit more of John’s sadness, I think, and the switch between the prelude and the actual song portrays his descent quite nicely. I also really, really love the end…because with John it’s probably never going to be over; there’s always going to be that one, final unexpected flourish, whether it’s a kiss before he leaves you for a giant lizard creature or a courtly bow on an Italian rooftop.
Dog Days, by Florence + The Machine (and covered by the Vitamin String Quartet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU&ob=av3em
Helen turned out to be one of the most difficult because confining her to a single song was next to impossible. Still, I like this because of the movement again, and because it manages to be both optimistic and Machiavellian at the same time. Helen learned very early that she’d better run, but I think the part for her I like the most is “And I never wanted anything from you…except everything you had and what was left after that too.” The instrumental version captures that reckless movement forward, with sudden stops for grieving and regret, but it always goes back to running, and I like that about Helen a lot (in case you hadn’t noticed).
Karma Police, by Radiohead (and covered by the Vitamin String Quartet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZHoci2Wjs0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Bs52HGVBc
I love this song for James for about a million reasons. First off, it’s soooo languid. So calming. I used to play it for my nephew so he’d fall asleep. But the words are really something else. Tom always sings so disdainfully, but I think there's a vague undercurrent of genuine care to this song that makes it more effective. I don’t think James really believes in Karma or the Police, not anymore. But he does believe that he can sometimes tell both of them what to do, which makes the “Karma Police, arrest this man” part meaningful. Where it really kills me, though, is the line about still being on the payroll, and “This is what you get when you mess with us”. And “For a minute there, I lost myself” which repeats over and over at the end. On the violin, it’s even more subdued, yet still quietly threatening and even more intricate for all its sadness. Plus it’s a bit hazy, which I think covers the cocaine.
Mr. Brightside, by The Killers (and covered by the Vitamins String Quartet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84WLtcbgs8Q
Oh, Nikola. This selection actually jumps back and forth between the modern and Victorian eras quite a bit. It’s very voyeuristic, which I think speaks to Nikola’s frankness both then and now. I very nearly didn’t pick this because the string version is a bit grating. And then, of course, I realized it was perfect. My favourite part, I think is the “I never”s at the end.
“But that’s just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes…
‘Cause I’m Mr. Brightside.”
Sarcastic and cutting, quiet and somewhat arrogantly optimistic, vaguely elegant and extremely particular (when it comes to the selection of notes). Sound like anyone you know?
A NOTE ABOUT NIGEL
I did try. I had a few Coldplay songs on my short list (because they were English, and I realized that all the other bands were too), but they didn’t work. No fewer than three entirely separate people suggested “Mr. Cellophane”, but I had already nixed it on the grounds that it’s too historied already (and there’s no VSQ cover). I did think of including Cake’s “Never There” as a bad joke, but I think I more than cover the attempts at humour in the first two selections of the Bonus Tracks section, so let’s just move on.
Bonus Tracks!
Shook Me All Night Long, The Vitamin String Quartet (AC/DC)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdF6U0UVajs&feature=related
It’s just cracks me up. Also, incidentally, James is the only member of The Five we’ve ever heard quote a lyric from a song (well, depending on how you define “quote”. And, uh, “lyric”), so I think he probably likes modern stuff more than he lets on. At least the Beatles, anyway.
Thunderstruck, The Vitamin String Quartet (AC/DC)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkmbjUsFZt0&feature=related
If the words had been even slightly applicable to Nikola…obviously this is too good to leave off entirely. I like it because although the upfront melody is simple, there are about twelve things going on in the background, and by the time you’ve figured them out, the first melody has shifted and run off with something else.
Sweet Child of Mine, The Vitamin String Quartet (Guns'n'Roses)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnwxXNfdsxU&feature=related
Another one that the lyrics totally don’t work for, this song was pretty much my background for the Blood Will Out series, particularly the ones about Mary Kelly. Thank goodness I don’t have roommates. I go back and forth as to whether is John, Helen or Mary herself, and I don’t think I’ve ever quite decided. It’s just wonderfully thick in all the right spots, and it works.
Paint It Black, Vanessa Carlton (The Rolling Stones)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuXwLQo-9s
I am so, so thrilled with this one. Her voice is a bit young, but since picking this song for John so assuredly at the beginning, I have since decided that it actually fits Helen significantly better. (I picked this as a bonus track, in the end, because a) I didn’t want to find another song for John and b) I am happier with Helen’s song being about Helen, instead of about Jack the Ripper.)
“No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you…
If I look long enough into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me before the morning comes.”
Seriously. Both of those things ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE SHOW. And the rest of the song is equally on point for her. I can’t wait until I can make vids again.
Bonus Bonus Track: Gros Zero, by Yelo Molo, which is not Rock'n'Roll, exactly, but it is French Canadian.
Believe it or not, that was actually the short version. Comment at your own peril. :)
Link to Playlist (zipped): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=417S92Y0
This began when I went looking for John Druitt vids and discovered, to my complete surprise, that no one had made a vid to “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones. This made me think that I was listening to the lyrics wrong, so I went back and listened to it a few (billion) times, and no: it’s definitely John. So I filed it away for later. I found, quite accidentally, the London Symphony Orchestra version, and the idea of cross-time musical association was born.
(Where the string version makes sense to them THEN and the worded version makes sense for them NOW. Ish. There’s some crossover. Nikola’s always been a modern boy at heart, and James is entirely opposite.)
Then I got on a James kick, and decided it would be funny if Declan were to trick him into liking crazy modern songs by playing him the Vitamin String Quartet versions of them, in the hopes that he’d hum them around Ashley and then get embarrassed (the Avril Lavigne covers are actually pretty good, and the Lady Gaga ones are already legendary). Also, I wrote most of the Porn Battle to the VSQ version of “Shook Me All Night Long”, because it’s just funny.
Anyway, that went nowhere, but I was quite addicted to the Vitamin String Quartet by that point, so I decided that I had John and James nearly done and I should find songs for the others. Of course “Shook Me All Night Long” really doesn’t work for James at all, but I figured it couldn’t be that hard.
Famous last words.
Here we are nearly two months later with the end result of eight songs for the Four (because I just couldn’t do Nigel), and a few bonus tracks, because I am a sucker for a bad pun, and because I learned a lot about Helen in between starting and stopping this.
Paint It Black, by the Rolling Stones (and covered by the London Symphony Orchestra)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Egt1Hq4wpE&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhv3atZACJ0&feature=related
This was the most obvious choice (though, by the end, I had of course inverted it). I like it because the lyrics are very nearly perfect, because it’s dark and because the underlying push of the music is just so…relentless. The orchestral version conveys a bit more of John’s sadness, I think, and the switch between the prelude and the actual song portrays his descent quite nicely. I also really, really love the end…because with John it’s probably never going to be over; there’s always going to be that one, final unexpected flourish, whether it’s a kiss before he leaves you for a giant lizard creature or a courtly bow on an Italian rooftop.
Dog Days, by Florence + The Machine (and covered by the Vitamin String Quartet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU&ob=av3em
Helen turned out to be one of the most difficult because confining her to a single song was next to impossible. Still, I like this because of the movement again, and because it manages to be both optimistic and Machiavellian at the same time. Helen learned very early that she’d better run, but I think the part for her I like the most is “And I never wanted anything from you…except everything you had and what was left after that too.” The instrumental version captures that reckless movement forward, with sudden stops for grieving and regret, but it always goes back to running, and I like that about Helen a lot (in case you hadn’t noticed).
Karma Police, by Radiohead (and covered by the Vitamin String Quartet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZHoci2Wjs0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Bs52HGVBc
I love this song for James for about a million reasons. First off, it’s soooo languid. So calming. I used to play it for my nephew so he’d fall asleep. But the words are really something else. Tom always sings so disdainfully, but I think there's a vague undercurrent of genuine care to this song that makes it more effective. I don’t think James really believes in Karma or the Police, not anymore. But he does believe that he can sometimes tell both of them what to do, which makes the “Karma Police, arrest this man” part meaningful. Where it really kills me, though, is the line about still being on the payroll, and “This is what you get when you mess with us”. And “For a minute there, I lost myself” which repeats over and over at the end. On the violin, it’s even more subdued, yet still quietly threatening and even more intricate for all its sadness. Plus it’s a bit hazy, which I think covers the cocaine.
Mr. Brightside, by The Killers (and covered by the Vitamins String Quartet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84WLtcbgs8Q
Oh, Nikola. This selection actually jumps back and forth between the modern and Victorian eras quite a bit. It’s very voyeuristic, which I think speaks to Nikola’s frankness both then and now. I very nearly didn’t pick this because the string version is a bit grating. And then, of course, I realized it was perfect. My favourite part, I think is the “I never”s at the end.
“But that’s just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes…
‘Cause I’m Mr. Brightside.”
Sarcastic and cutting, quiet and somewhat arrogantly optimistic, vaguely elegant and extremely particular (when it comes to the selection of notes). Sound like anyone you know?
A NOTE ABOUT NIGEL
I did try. I had a few Coldplay songs on my short list (because they were English, and I realized that all the other bands were too), but they didn’t work. No fewer than three entirely separate people suggested “Mr. Cellophane”, but I had already nixed it on the grounds that it’s too historied already (and there’s no VSQ cover). I did think of including Cake’s “Never There” as a bad joke, but I think I more than cover the attempts at humour in the first two selections of the Bonus Tracks section, so let’s just move on.
Bonus Tracks!
Shook Me All Night Long, The Vitamin String Quartet (AC/DC)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdF6U0UVajs&feature=related
It’s just cracks me up. Also, incidentally, James is the only member of The Five we’ve ever heard quote a lyric from a song (well, depending on how you define “quote”. And, uh, “lyric”), so I think he probably likes modern stuff more than he lets on. At least the Beatles, anyway.
Thunderstruck, The Vitamin String Quartet (AC/DC)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkmbjUsFZt0&feature=related
If the words had been even slightly applicable to Nikola…obviously this is too good to leave off entirely. I like it because although the upfront melody is simple, there are about twelve things going on in the background, and by the time you’ve figured them out, the first melody has shifted and run off with something else.
Sweet Child of Mine, The Vitamin String Quartet (Guns'n'Roses)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnwxXNfdsxU&feature=related
Another one that the lyrics totally don’t work for, this song was pretty much my background for the Blood Will Out series, particularly the ones about Mary Kelly. Thank goodness I don’t have roommates. I go back and forth as to whether is John, Helen or Mary herself, and I don’t think I’ve ever quite decided. It’s just wonderfully thick in all the right spots, and it works.
Paint It Black, Vanessa Carlton (The Rolling Stones)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuXwLQo-9s
I am so, so thrilled with this one. Her voice is a bit young, but since picking this song for John so assuredly at the beginning, I have since decided that it actually fits Helen significantly better. (I picked this as a bonus track, in the end, because a) I didn’t want to find another song for John and b) I am happier with Helen’s song being about Helen, instead of about Jack the Ripper.)
“No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you…
If I look long enough into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me before the morning comes.”
Seriously. Both of those things ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE SHOW. And the rest of the song is equally on point for her. I can’t wait until I can make vids again.
Bonus Bonus Track: Gros Zero, by Yelo Molo, which is not Rock'n'Roll, exactly, but it is French Canadian.
Believe it or not, that was actually the short version. Comment at your own peril. :)
Link to Playlist (zipped): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=417S92Y0
