Like it was written in my soul from me to you

[sovay]

This is not a meme. This is not even a mix CD. It does not form a coherent narrative, it is hardly complete, and it's very unlikely that it is representative of my entire taste in music. What it is is twenty-five songs that at one point or another have obsessed, haunted, or otherwise stuck with me. Probably tomorrow I will think of another twenty-five that should have come to mind instead, or which were more worthy of mention, but these are the ones that struck me first and therefore this is what you get; some are new discoveries, some are from years ago; all have worked into stories or poems of mine in some way. Enjoy. Or argue, or ignore. Whatever fits.


Arcade Fire, "Rebellion (Lies)"

Sleeping is giving in
No matter what the time is

Coil, "Ostia (The Death of Pasolini)"

You can hear the bones humming

Concrete Blonde, "Tomorrow Wendy"

They say, Good try
Tomorrow, Wendy, you're going to die

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, "Lancelot"

Now bugles blow golden and banners fly blue
But these days the castle's just drywall and glue
And tilting at windmills is the best you can do
With the black knight of time on your lawn

The Dresden Dolls, "Boston"

There is nothing in the world that we can count on
Even that we will wake up is an assumption
But I know for a fact that I loved someone
And for about a year we lived in Boston

Eleftheria Arvanitaki, "Dinata (Possible)"

γίναν όλα δυνατά τ' αδύνατα

All the impossible things have become possible

Gin Blossoms, "Lost Horizons"

Drink enough of anything to make this world look new again
Drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves

The Goo Goo Dolls, "Iris"

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moments of truth in your lies

Jill Tracy, "Extraordinary"

You're open to interpretation
Like the trapdoor underneath your tousled throne
And I'm engaged, and I'm enraged, and I'm enchanted
With this little bit of magic I've been shown

John Cale, "Paris 1919"

As the crowds begin complaining
How the Beaujolais is raining
Down on darkened meetings on the Champs-Élysées

Josh Ritter, "Girl in the War"

I got a girl in the war, Paul, I know that they can hear me yell
And if they can't find a way to help her, they can go to hell

Kate Bush, "Top of the City"

I don't know if you'll love me for it
But I don't think we should suffer this

The Klezmatics, "Mipney Ma"

Why did the soul, oh tell me this
Tumble from Heaven to the Great Abyss?
The most profound descents contain
Ascensions to the heights again . . .
—trans. Tony Kushner

Michael Penn, "Walter Reed"

I'm ranting while I'm raving
There's nothing here worth saving

Mission of Burma, "Nancy Reagan's Head"

And Roxy Music came to save the world
And all I got was this lousy T-shirt
And I'm haunted by the freakish size of Nancy Reagan's head
No way that thing came with that body

The Mountain Goats, "Palmcorder Yajna"

Every couple minutes, someone says he can't stand it anymore
Laugh lines on our faces, scale maps of the ocean floor

PJ Harvey, "To Bring You My Love"

Cast down off heaven
Cast down on my knees
I've lain with the Devil
Cursed God above
Forsaken heaven
To bring you my love

The Pogues, "Turkish Song of the Damned"

Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand
Wailing away on the wall of the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned?

Orgy, "Fiction (Dreams in Digital)"

I remember I used to compose your dreams
Control your dreams

Recoil, "Breath Control"

He led me in and lit the room with a hundred candles
And said, God never gives you more than you can handle

Roger Wilson, "Two Sisters"

And I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me

Squirrel Nut Zippers, "Wash Jones"

Out of car parts, a raven made a nest inside my skin

Sting, "Valparaiso"

If I should die and water's my grave
She'll never know if I'm damned or I'm saved

Tom Waits, "Yesterday Is Here"

Well, today's grey skies, tomorrow is tears
You'll have to wait till yesterday is here

The Verve, "Weeping Willow"

I hope you see like I see
I hope you feel what I feel

I seem to have lost at least five livejournal friends over the last week. Eh. They don't get the free music.

Comments

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely. Thank you.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting these. I haven't heard most of them and they sound intriguing.

Here's Tom Waits' version of "Two Sisters" (http://www.sendspace.com/file/8x7kh4), in case you don't already have it.

The download links for "Valparaiso" and Roger Wilson's "Two Sisters" don't seem to be working. Neither is "Palmcorder Yajna", which I started trying to download before I realised you'd already sent me a copy.

I seem to have lost at least five livejournal friends over the last week.

Losers.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

The constellation of them is fascinating.

Nine

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm going to go listen to all of them. I had every Kate Bush album (in vinyl because I'm THAT OLD and then tape cassette) up through The Sensual World, but I get the feeling she's released others since then--I don't know the song you've got there, frex. Dresden Dolls, I like what I've heard, want to hear more; Mission of Burma I remember good friends of mine talking about --must go take a listen; Tom Waits I heard to actually listen to for the first time yesterday, when he came up on last.fm for me--and I see plenty of others I need to check out, too.

Thanks to you, on last.fm I was listening to "music like Pentangle" as well.

LJ has, in every possible way, enriched my life.

I can't believe you've lost five LJ friends--I feel so lucky to have found you.

the two sisters

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

OH--and I was just listening to a different version of the "Two Sisters"--I remembered the lyrics from The Perilous Gard, and was feeling like I was in some other world, to actually be listening to the song that featured in that story. The version I listened to might have been by the Pentangle actually. If not, then by someone who came up as like them.

[humglum.livejournal.com]

At one time or another, over the last 20 years, or so, Ostia has haunted the corners of my brain.
It's nice to see it on your list.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

My God, how much do I love "The Turkish Song of the Damned"? It's Pirates without the whimsy.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

I'm still here. Would you like to come down sometime soon?

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing these!

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

Coil.
Recoil.

The fucking MOUNTAIN GOATS.

Your taste in music never fails to stun me.

I'm adopted, you know. I think we share parents.

When everything feels like the movies, you bleed just to know you're alive.

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

There are reasons that there is a music video to that song to I think every series out there. Because it just gets you that much.

Also, totally going to listen to all of these that I don't know, because all of the ones that I do know (about a quarter) are just that awesome. Thank you!