sovay: (Default)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2007-06-16 03:27 am

Luck, if you've ever been a lady to begin with

Yes, I realize zombies are now old hat on the internet. But I saw this tonight on [livejournal.com profile] watermelontail's journal and I am a sucker for a clever music meme.


1. Take out your zPod, or your mpZ playing device. Put it on shuffle play.

2. You have to decide if each song is a positive one in terms of survival (songs like Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" or anything that directly references survival, escape or something like that counts double, even something by Survivor, but I reserve the right to laugh at you), or a negative one in terms of survival (Songs by the Zombies, White Zombie, Rob Zombie, about zombies or death or whatnot count double); if you really can't judge the song, just take it as a pass and it does nothing either way for your chances for survival—remember this is entirely up to you to judge.

3. Keep going until you get 5 songs one way or the other. 5 Surviving songs means you lived. 5 Not surviving songs means you food.


Tori Amos, "Riot Poof"

You know what you know, so you go
Break the terror of the urban spell


That sounds promising . . .

She bites through your dried lean meat
As she's going to the movie show


Never mind. One strike against.

Pearl Jam, "Daughter"

She holds the hand that holds her down
She will rise above


I call that survival.

Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, "The Rocky Road to Dublin"

From there I got away, me spirits never failing
Landed on the quay just as the ship was sailing


Another narrow escape. Two for, one against.

The Mountain Goats, "This Year"

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me

Although in the context of zombie apocalypse, that's an ambiguous statement . . . No points either way.

The Arrogant Worms, "Johnny Came Home Headless"

I should've seen it coming—he finally lost his mind
But if his head don't turn up soon, then all his hats are mine


Well, he wasn't me. Two more songs to survival.

"The Kraken," Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Er. I think I was just zombified and then drowned. Nix that bit about survival. Three strikes and counting.

"I think it's marvelous singing," Benjamin Britten (War Requiem Rehearsal Tapes)

I think that's just too strange to count.

Tom Paxton, "All Clear in Harrisburg"

You just might glow in the dark, grow feathers just like a lark
Stand in the fountain and light up the park
Have a nice day—there's a chance that you may
Blow yourself and half of Pennsylvania away


That also sounds kind of neutral to me. But the zombies are radioactive now.

Placebo, "Centrefolds"

Come on, fallen star
I refuse to let you die


I appreciate the encouragement. Four and three . . .

The Sex Pistols, "Anarchy in the U.K."

Don't know what I want
But I know how to get it
I want to destroy the passerby


That, I do not so much appreciate. What is this, a neck-and-neck race toward the end of the meme?

Gordon Bok, "Now I'm Easy"

My daughter married young and went her own way
My sons lie buried by the Burma Railway
So on this land I've made my own, I've carried on alone
But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy


. . . I have been eaten by zombies. No points to you, Gordon Bok!

That was surprisingly fun.

[identity profile] angevin2.livejournal.com 2007-06-16 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
Oooooh, this is an AWESOME meme.

Let's try it!

(I have a lot of June Tabor in my collection. I am SO doomed.)

Bruce Springsteen, "We Shall Overcome"

Okay, this has got to be one of the ultimate survival songs. One point for me not being eaten!

Miranda Sex Garden, "Ah, Look Upon These Eyes"

Ah cruel cruel love
Thus to forsake me
Then welcome death and take me
In my unhappy state
I ask no other fate


And one point for the rampaging zombie hordes. Damn.

Steeleye Span, "The Wife of the Soldier"

What did the wife of the soldier get
From Russia's distant steppes?
From Russia she got the widow's veil
And the end of the tale is the widow's veil
She got from the distant steppes.


Okay, the soldier is not me, but there's enough death and destruction that it's another point for the zombies.

Bob Dylan, "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times,
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes,
And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes,
Oh, who among them do they think could bury you?
...
Now you stand with your thief, you're on his parole
With your holy medallion which your fingertips fold,
And your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul,
Oh, who among them do you think could destroy you?


But I may escape them yet! Two points for me not being eaten!

Tom "Baby Gramps" Waits, "Cape Cod Girls"

Well, nobody gets eaten in this but fish, and I am not a fish. On the other hand, in this recording, Waits sounds like a zombie. I think I'll call it a draw.

Thomas Moran, "Strawberry Lane (The Elfin Knight)"

One of the not-having-to-marry-an-elfin-knight riddle songs. Avoidance of attachment to supernatural beings = three points for me not being eaten.

Hillel & Aviva, "Ha-Na-Ava-Ba-Ba-Not"

I don't understand Hebrew, so I cannot tell what this song is about. Pass.

Fairport Convention, "Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman"

Run to me mother of anyone's child
And tell me the revelry planned
Judges and barristers, clerks at the law
His show is the best in the land
Here's a toast to the Jolly Hangman
He'll hang you the best that he can


And that is clearly another point for the zombies. The score right now: three points for me, three for them! This is suspenseful, huh?

The Beatles, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

Um, okay.

Pentangle, "Reynardine"

Has an ambiguous ending:
Through sun and dark she followed him
His teeth so bright did shine,
And he led her over the mountain,
Did that sly bold Reynardine.


I appreciate ambiguity. No points on either side.

Britten, War Requiem, "After the blast of lightning"

And when I hearken to the Earth she saith
"My fiery heart sinks aching. It is death.
Mine ancient scars shall not be glorified
Nor my titanic tears the seas be dried."


Okay, that is pretty much the definition of DOOM. Four points for the stupid zombies and three for me.

This one could be it!

Le Vent du Nord, "C'est une Jeune Mariée"

And it's a happy song ("Gai, gai, je suis en ménage, / Gai, gai, je suis mariée!"). So the zombies don't get me. Four to four!

And the next one will decide whether I survive the apocalypse or am zombie chow!

Oxford Camerata, Credo from Machaut's Messe de Notre Dame.

As this is an affirmation of the essential Christian beliefs and expresses the hope of salvation, it looks like for meme purposes I've been granted divine deliverance from being eaten by zombies. Praised be God and not our strength for it.