As I understand it, many people in the United States spent yesterday afternoon watching some sort of sporting event on television. Because my poor San Francisco 49ers weren’t participating in said event, I skipped out on all the parties and barbecues and tables laden with chips and 7-layer dip, and went to the beach instead. However, it has come to my attention that Samsung totally had some awesome commercial involving one of the greatest one-hit wonders in the world, The Darkness.
This song means a lot to me, because it brings back memories of the best Valentine’s Day I ever had, way back when I was just turning 17. It involved two of my best girlfriends, amazing Mexican food, and driving through San Francisco with this song blaring and all of us attempting to hit those crazy high notes. Pure magic, people.
You can find the ad here, but I find it highly depressing that they didn’t air clips from the actual music video, which is crack-effing-tastic. There is a spaceship, and space monsters, and more crazy-weirdness than you can shake a stick at. Honestly… you just have to see it to believe it.
So here you are, folks — a dose of WTF-ness to start your Monday off right.
Today’s Monday Inspirations post is a wonderful example of the gems that can be found while aimlessly surfing YouTube — Broadway star Audra McDonald performing the song, “Some Days.”
Audra McDonald is one of my personal heroes. She studied classical voice the Julliard School and has gone on to have an incredibly full career. She’s won four Tony awards for her work on Broadway, making her one of three actresses to do so. She’s also performed countless concerts across the country and appeared on television, most recently as Naomi Bennett on ABC’s Private Practice.
What makes this song special is that the lyrics are taken from a poem by James Baldwin, the African-American poet, novelist, and social critic who is remembered for his frank discussions of race, class, sexuality, and oppression during a period when such topics were considered taboo. The poem is incredibly moving, and made all the more beautiful by Audra McDonald’s magnificent voice.
1.
Some days worry
some days glad
some days
more than make you
mad.
Some days,
some days, more than
shine:
when you see what’s coming
on down the line!
2.
Some days you say,
oh, not me never ⎯ !
Some days you say
bless God forever.
Some days, you say,
curse God, and die
and the day comes when you wrestle
with that lie.
Some days tussle
then some days groan
and some days
don’t even leave a bone.
Some days you hassle
all alone.
3.
I don’t know, sister,
what I’m saying,
nor do no man,
if he don’t be praying.
I know that love is the only answer
and the tight-rope lover
the only dancer.
When the lover come off the rope
today,
the net which holds him
is how we pray,
and not to God’s unknown,
but to each other ⎯ :
the falling mortal is our brother!
4.
Some days leave
some days grieve
some days you almost don’t believe.
Some days believe you
and you won’t.
Some days worry
some days mad
some days more than make you glad.
Some days, some days,
more than shine,
witnesses,
coming on down the line!
Today’s Fiction Friday post is brought to you by the voices in my head. Yes, my characters not only try to dictate my storylines and plots, but now they are conspiring to stage a coup and take over my blog posts as well. 🙂 Because Tempest Dumont, the main character of my steampunk WIP, TELL ME NO LIES, has demanded it, I’m going to talk about the music behind the story.
For anyone who’s unaware, TELL ME NO LIES is my crazy steampunk romantic thriller, set in 1890s San Francisco (the Barbary Coast, to be specific). Tempest is a popular saloon singer who finds herself targeted by a mysterious serial killer who is bent on murdering those scandalous “ladies of the stage,” Jack-the-Ripper-style. The police refuse to believe that the murders are connected, and so she sets off on a one-woman crusade to find the killer and bring him to justice. Along the way, she receives the help of Adam Davenport, the one detective who believes her claims and wants to see justice served. The two of them are like oil and water, and they struggle to set aside their differences (and ignore the growing of attraction between them) to solve the murders.
Tempest is one of those characters who just won’t shut up. She’s incredibly different from my other MCs — loud, brassy, and cynical. She had a rough upbringing, ran away from home when she was 15, and ended up falling in love with a ne’er-do-well airship pirate who eventually broke her heart and tried to frame her for one of his crimes. Now she thinks that she’s heartless and incapable of love… but she just might be wrong.
The playlist has a distinct folk/country feel to it. Even though the tale takes place at the end of the 19th century when San Francisco has become refined and urban, there’s this residual “wild west” vibe that I can’t quite shake.
The first song that I’ll share with you is “Tennessee” by Gillian Welch (Lyrics). In so many ways, this is the definitive Tempest song, just from the first verse alone:
I kissed you ‘cause I’ve never been an angel
I learned to say hosannas on my knees
But they threw me out of Sunday school when I was 9
And the sisters said I did just as I pleased
Even so, I tried to be a good girl
It’s only what I want that makes me weak
I had no desire to be a child of sin
Then you went and pressed your whiskers to my cheek.
That scandalous, whiskered man? Gillian Welch is of course referring to Jack Davenport, the rakish airship pirate who broke Tempest’s heart and double-crossed her. In all seriousness, however, I love Gillian’s voice, and I am sorta convinced that this song was written for Tempest. It’s the perfect theme.
The second song is “Barton Hollow” by The Civil Wars (Lyrics).
Tempest is the sort of gal who doesn’t really believe in redemption, and who carries around a lot of baggage when it comes to dealing with her past. The chorus resonates with all those themes:
Ain’t going back to Barton Hollow
Devil’s gonna follow me ‘ever I go
Won’t do me no good, washing in the river
Can’t no preacherman save my soul
The final song isn’t folk or country, but pop — Pink’s “Glitter in the Air” (Lyrics).The entire album, Funhouse, is on the playlist, but this song is my favorite. Incidentally, I’m convinced that this may be the best awards show performance I’ve ever seen. Pink kills it here:
I love this song to the marrow of my bones. It is achingly beautiful, and the last lines of the song move me to tears sometimes:
Have you ever wished for an endless night?
Lassoed the moon and the stars and hold that rope tight
Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself
Will it ever get better than tonight?
This the song that plays in my head whenever I think of Tempest and Adam’s romance. They’re two souls who have been scarred, who are a bit bruised and broken, yet somehow fight their fears and allow themselves to be vulnerable to one another.
So there you have it, the music of TELL ME NO LIES. It’s not a definitive list by any means (the “official” playlist is over 60 songs long), but I think these three songs capture the overall vibe of the novel. Just listening to them makes me want to drop everything and start working on it again — or maybe that’s just Tempest talking. 😉
For today’s first edition of Fiction Fridays, I planned to write a bit about the music that is the inspiration for my NaNoWriMo novel. Coincidentally, the theme for Week 2 of the Warm Fuzzies blogfest is to share something that inspires our current WIPs, so I can kill two birds with one stone.
Having a soundtrack tailored to each WIP is incredibly important to me. Music fuels my mood as a writer, and it also helps me tap into the emotional tone that I want to evoke in my work. I spend far too much time pulling my playlists together — and yes, that is multiple playlists. I usually have a list for the WIP as a whole, plus songs tailored for individual characters, songs that reflect friendships and romances, and songs that inspire specific plot points and scenes (you know, battle scenes, sad moments, sappy moments).
Utilizing a musical soundtrack is also incredibly helpful when it comes to transitioning between projects. TELL ME NO LIES, the novel I most recently worked on (a steampunk murder mystery/romance), has a very distinctive vibe, with lots of folk and country music that remind me of 19th century San Francisco. Disentangling myself from that world and the incredibly vocal characters that inhabit it is a difficult process, but using music to ease that shift makes things a bit easier.
I’ve culled through the current playlist to find the three songs that I think are the most representative of the mood and tone of this novel. As per the rules for this week’s Warm Fuzzies challenge, I’m not going to tell you what the novel is about. Based on the songs I post, you get to guess exactly what this tale might be about. And I see you there, about to peek at my works in-progress page (I’m shaking a finger in admonition, I hope you know). We’re going for honest guesses, folks, so no cheating. 😀
Cara Dillon is a contemporary Irish folk singer, and her ethereal voice always sends shivers down my spine. She released four studio albums between 2001 and 2009, all of which include a blend of traditional Irish ballads and original music. “Black is the Colour” comes from Cara Dillon, her first album.
Lisa Gerrard, “Sanvean”
Lisa Gerrard is an Australian singer, and former member of the band Dead Can Dance. If her voice sounds familiar, it may be because you recognize it from the Gladiator soundtrack, which she co-composed with Hans Zimmer (“Now We Are Free” is one of her most popular tracks from that album). If you’re wondering exactly what language she’s speaking in “Sanvean,” it turns out that she’s using an invented tongue, one that she created as a child to “talk to God.” She has employed it in a number of her songs over the years.
Loreena McKennitt is one of my all-time favorite singers. Her music is lush, evocative, and intricate, and always feels somewhat magical to me. She draws from a wide range of inspiration, from European literature (including Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” and Noyes’ “The Highwayman“) and traditional Celtic music, to broader Arabic and Mediterranean influences. McKennitt is an accomplished singer, songwriter, and musician. “The Old Ways” comes from her fourth album, The Visit.
And there we have it! Any inspired guesses about what my current WIP might be about?
As a sort of “preview of coming attractions,” I’ll be sharing more about the details of my project in my Sunday check-in for the A Round of Words in 80 Days writing challenge. Also, I’m cohosting a discussion about NaNoWriMo progress in today’s post over at Fun Not Fear! All WriMos are invited to pop over and chat about how the first few days of NaNo has gone; for those of you who aren’t participating, we can always use cheerleaders, so please feel free to stop by and say hello.
It’s time for the first installment of Things I Love Tuesday, my weekly series dedicated to the things that bring a smile to my face.
-oOo-
For my inaugural post, I offer a bit of music: Dengue Fever’s latest single, “Cement Slippers.” I had the fortune to see Dengue Fever in concert a few months ago and their talent and sheer energy completely blew my mind (they’re currently on tour now, so if you have a chance to see them live, do it. You won’t regret it, I promise). Formed in 2001, the band blends psychedelic rock with 1960s Cambodian pop music. The result is an amazing marriage between East and West: bright, fun, and high-energy.
Dengue Fever records in both Khmer and English, and the lyrics of their songs are often playful and mockingly ironic, dealing with the topics of failed romances and long-distance romance. Their latest album, Cannibal Courtship, is my current summer obsession. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interesting in awesome rock music with a global twist.
How’s the week going, everyone? Any songs that you can’t manage to get out of your head? Any musical recommendations to send my way?
Lena Corazon writes steampunk and fantasy novels, drinks far too much tea, and has an unhealthy obsession with Byronic heroes. She blogs about books, sparkly things, her masochistic relationship with academia, and anything else that tickles her fancy.
