Wild Moon Swings

Thursday, March 09, 2006

How Beautiful You Are

This is a post about my relationship with music and maybe a little about songfics. Maybe, we'll see how it goes.

*big blue musical note* When I was just a little girl I asked my mother what would I be? *another big blue musical note* Yeah, just kidding, I don't sing like that.

But seriously, when I was a kid my older brothers and sister had a thing for British/European bands - it was the 80s and early 90s. So, I found some of their bands that I liked and followed them after they all left home. I liked A-ha, Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, Alphaville, The Smiths, U2, and Depech Mode. But I was the only person within a 200 kilometer radius who had these feelings. Everyone I knew was listening to the Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls. If that doesn't date me, then I don't know what does. So, I was constantly being bumbared by music that had NO SOUL. It also led me to believe that if you took any Backstreet Boy song and exchanged the word 'love' for the F-word - the song would suddenly make a whole lot more sense. Not that I particularly like music that uses language like that, but at least they're honest. Anyway, I can hardly talk about all the country music I was exposed to without rocking in the fetal position. Those were hard years.

But the experience has led me to appreciate more and more songs that have fantastic lyrics. That's where songfics come in. Here I'll do a quick list of all the songs I've written songfics for.

  • Time by Sarah McLachlan
  • I Want Tomorrow by Enya
  • I Love You by Sarah McLachlan
  • A Day in the Life by David Usher
  • Possession by Sarah McLachlan
  • Tonight and the Rest of My Life by Nina Gordon
  • Freedom Deep by INXS (like the only good INXS song)
  • Alien by Erasure (like the only good Erasure song)
  • Wait by Sarah McLachlan
  • Call of the Wild by Roxette
  • I Feel You by Schiller
  • Endles by Iris
  • After All by Delerium
  • Tonight by Sixpence None the Richer
  • Evening Falls by Enya
  • Man's Road by Jimmy Webber
  • In Your Room by Depech Mode
  • Halo by Depech Mode
  • Dream of You by Schiller
  • To Wish Impossible Things by The Cure
  • Freestate by Depech Mode
  • Pictures of You by The Cure
  • She Fades Away by Alphaville
  • Do What you Have to do by Sarah McLachlan
  • Fingers of Love by Crowded House
And I'm about to do one for "Falling" by Brave New World in my fic Mystic Wings. If I had to pick four of these songs that were lyrically superior - I'd pick the ones that I've highlighted in blue. By the way, I just picked the number four arbitrarally. I could have easily picked six or any other number. All of these songs are fantastic. Most of them are incorporated into novellas and are not stand alone pieces, which explains why there are so many of them.

I like songfics for some many reasons. I think they help you pace a chapter or a story. I think listening to a good song while writing helps you maintain the mood in the story. I think it adds a bit of magic and mystery to the story when there might not have been any to begin with. But a song that you use for a songfic has to be a special sort of thing. It can't have certain specific details in it to make it songfic worthy. The lyrics have to leave a lot up to the imagination of the listener, or it's not suitable. When I was writing 'Shadow Magic: Xellos and Filia" I desperately wanted to use the song 'Shine' by Depech Mode, but couldn't because Martin uses the word 'T.V.' and I felt like it was inappropriate. I don't know why. For that same fic I used 'Alien' and that uses the word 'radio'. Yeah, I know. I MAKE NO SENSE.

Anyway, the most superior song I've ever heard lyrically is 'How Beautiful You Are' by The Cure. You don't have to hear it to appreciate it. Find the lyrics on the web and read them. They are so touching and meaningful that it leaves stupid mainstream pop in the dust like a rocket ready to leave orbit.

But, there is a place for mainstream pop, and I think it's on the cover of a tabloid.

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