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irisbleufic · 5 years

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I lurk the Ritz discord and saw you talk this morning about a Tori Amos song that gives you GO feels. What song and why?

Oh man, anon. Okay. I think I unwrapped that in an emotion-fueled TL;DR on the same channel (it was 5am, memory’s hazy), but there’s been so much chatter in there that I don’t blame you if you can’t find it. This is another of those so-much-uncanny-shit-happened-in-August-and-September-2005 stories, and I don’t really tell it because it’s just one of those personal emotional resonances that won’t make sense to people who aren’t friends and/or readers of mine. Time to explain that thread of things.

Less than a month out from attending the late-summer 2005 Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett readings that fell within like a week of each other, a friend of mine got tickets to a Tori Amos concert at Bank of America Pavilion (it used to be Fleet Center, and it may even have another new sponsor now for all I know). Anyway, like 4 of us went together; fandom friends accessible in RL spaces are a marvelous thing. Earlier that year, when The Beekeeper came out, the entire album almost instantly became my favorite of hers. But there was one B-side that, when I heard it, landed me smack on the floor in a heap of tears.

The lyrics of “Garlands” are, for those of you who don’t know, a number of titles of Chagall lithographs strung together with some eerie narrative framework.

Now, consider the following conditions that existed for me at that point:

1) Chagall’s my favorite artist, bar none, except Hieronymus Bosch.

2) How could I not, a college English major only a year into my GO fandom participation (and two months out from 10/1/05, which was both the day I landed in England with intent to live and study there for years and the day I posted “A Better Place,” which, well, would kick off CoT), feel simultaneously spooked and moved at lines like Eve incurs God’s displeasure and the festival in hell, etc. I mean, look at these lyrics.

3) FFS, the concert tour was even called Summer of Sin, and one of the t-shirt designs featured a snake in sunglasses. If you know Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos are friends, you know this is no accident. I bought one of those shirts and wore it till it faded and fell apart.

So, we go to the concert. It’s not the first of the tour, but it is the first show at which she plays “Garlands” live. Ever. Sometimes she doesn’t announce what song she’s going to launch into, just plays a chord that seems like a random misdirect and then, bam, the familiar intro hits. I’ve only made a fool of myself sobbing at a concert twice, and this was one of them (the other, if you must know, was a Decemberists concert I attended with my little sister this past summer; I’ll Be Your Girl tears me apart with almost every track).

They recorded the show, and every track of it was available for purchase afterward. That audio is fossilized for me, the shock of hearing a song I loved so much live. You don’t always get your wish at a concert. It’s magic.

Move forward some years, and I mean enough years for “The Beach Botanist’s Survival Guide” to be the point at which I sit in working on CoT. That was the summer of 2012, and I’m not going to rehash what happened to me that summer. If you’ve been reading this blog a long time, you know the story, and you know that the unprecedented explosion of overarching-plot-advancing stories that summer is what kept me breathing.

I was stranded in Massachusetts after 7 years in England, and the only thing that comforted me was trips to the beach. New Hampshire, Cape Cod, you name it. And I couldn’t stop chasing those roses. I brought them home and wove them into the stories that were, at that point, the only world I found worthwhile.

Now, let’s return to the song. If you’ve listened to it by now, there’s a line sequence, the melody somehow wrenching, that goes the marriage / the mimosas. But that’s not what I hear post-summer 2012.

(I hear rugosas, and my heart shatters. For the joy of it, always for joy.)

#good omens #tori amos #anecdote #music #your stewardess

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thenightling · 7 years

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Soundtrack for reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman

I don’t know if anyone else has this habit but if I like something well enough, be it a book series, fictional character, or even TV show, I will create a folder on my computer of Mp3s of songs that I feel fit the story, either literally or by mood. Somtimes it’s as easy as matching Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula books with Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula the musical, or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (novel) with Frankenstein a new Musical and Richard Campbell’s Frankenstein a metal opera. Or Goethe’s Faust Parts 1 and 2 with Kamelot’s Epica and the Black Halo. And sometimes it’s a little more complicated. This one is of the “Little more complicated” status.

I tried looking up playlists inspired by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and... Most were too emo or worse. They were tired, cliche, early 2000s screamer Metal or garage Goth bands that sound like something you’d hear at Hot Topic at ten AM. I like Power metal, but not Metal that sounds like someone trying far too hard to sound demonic for no apparent reason.

My selection might be more maudlin and eclectic but here I go...

Song List:

Track 0 (Because I don’t feel like renumbering them) Morpheus in a Masquerade by Cain’s Offering. This one is a bit of a cheat since I’m fairly sure it really is based on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and reflects a lot of it but it’s a good song nevertheless.

1. Morpheus by Kevin Lewis (available on Sound cloud and possibly misspelt as Morpheous) - I don’t remember how I found this song but it’s literally about Sandman Morpheus during his captivity and his eventual revenge on Alex Burgess for continuing his imprisonment decades after Morpheus’ original captor (Alex’s father) had died.

2. Enter Sandman by Metallica

3. Dark Side of the Glass by Lori Yates

4. Tales from the Crypt theme by Danny Elfman - Pretty much any scene having to do with The House of Mystery

5. Horror in action by Kayak - Cain and Abel but mostly Cain.

6. House at the End of the Street by Lauren Scheff for The House of Mystery

7. In our Haunted House by Andrew Gold for Cain and The House of Mystery

8. Almost Human by Voltaire - for the character Lucifer. This one might be a cheat since it literally IS about Lucifer.

9. It’s the Fear by Within Temptation

10. Scary Monsters and Super Creeps by David Bowie

11. Strange Magic by ELO

12. It’s a Kind of Magic by Queen

13. Princes of the Universe by Queen

14. Feathery Wings by Voltaire - Sound of her Wings (issue 8 of the storyline Prelude and Nocturns)

15. Sweet Death by Voltaire This one is a bit of a cheat as it’s literally about Death from Sandman

16. Fate’s Wide Wheel by Scott Bakula (From Quantum Leap) for Morpheus

17. Jack’s Lament by Danny Elfman (Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas actually has a LOT in common with Morpheus when you really think about it).

18. The Endless by Razed in Black. This one is literally based on The Endless from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman

19. Lucifer’s Angel by Rasmus - Season of Mists

20. Dreams to Dream by Linda Ronstadt

21. Mr. Sandman by the Chordettes

22. Dreamweaver by Gary Wright

23. Dream lover by Bobby Darin

24. Dream a little Dream of me by Doris Day

25. Welcome to my Nightmare by Alice Cooper

26. Gimme by Alice Cooper (The music video features a nod to The Corinthian from Sandman)

27. Nightmares by A Flock of Seaguls

28. Angels by Within Temptation - For Morpheus saving Calliope and getting revenge on her tormentor.

29. Dreamlover by Mariah Carey

30. Learn to be lonely by Andrew Lioyd Webber and performed by Minnie Driver for Morpheus at the start of Brief Lives

31. The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead by The Crash Test Dummies (particular version) - for Mervyn Pumpkinhead. It doesn’t really fit except for the title but I felt that he needed a song.

32. Morpheus’ Lullaby by Matthew Keegan-Phipps This is not a favorite but it IS about Sandman.

33. Sister named Desire by Tori Amos. This song is literally about Desire from Sandman.

34. Come Little Children (Kate the Great version, originally from Hocus Pcous) for baby (pre-Dream) Daniel

35. Sweet Morpheus by Inkubus Sukkubus

36. Underground by David Bowie

37. As the World falls down by David Bowie

38. Within You by David Bowie

39. Tear in your hand by Tori Amos. This song actually mentions Dream and Neil Gaiman.

40. Dream Warriors by Dokken

41. Let us Burn by Within Temptation - For The Kindly Ones

42. Unforgiven by Metallica - For Lucifer

43. Unforgiven by Lemuria. Originally by Metallica this really fits Lucifer, particularly the TV show version (if you like the scene in season 2 when Lucifer plays the piano version, this version is for you)

44. Eternal Flame by The Bangles for the Lucifer TV series incarnation (I’ll only do a few of these since there are so many songs in the show already).

45. Sinnerman by Nina Simone for Lucifer (TV series version)

46. All along the watchtower by Jimi Hendrix for Lucifer (TV series version)

47. God Thinks by Voltaire for Lucifer

48. Right before my eyes by Sir Elton John for any male on male ships you might have such as Morpheus and Lucifer (Cough)

49. Demon’s Fate by Within Temptation

50. Stand my Ground by Within Temptation for Morpheus when facing off against The Kindly Ones

51. The Dreamers by David Bowie

52. Who wants to live forever by Queen

53. Forever by Queen (Instrumental version of Who Wants to Live Forever?)

54. Heart of Darkness by Lori Yates (The refrain is “The end of an Endless Night”)

55. Destiny’s Edge by Lori Yates

56. Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

57. Touch the Night by Lori Yates

58. Black Rose by Lori Yates for Nuala

59. Changes by David Bowie for Daniel-Dream)

60. Morpheus in a Masquerade by Cain’s Offering. This one is a bit of a cheat since I’m fairly sure it really is based on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and reflects a lot of it but it’s a good song nevertheless.

#Sandman #Morpheus #Dream #Dream of The Endless #The Sandman #Neil Gaiman #Neil Gaiman's Sandman #Neil Gaiman's the Sandman

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