Recycling
Last year I participated in smirking justice's burning circle. I am currently signed up for December, but no one else has posted since January so I don't know if we are really going through with it or not. I've got some ideas and I may just post it here. It was a good exercise for me last year. In the meanwhile, here is my original submission. I didn’t include the narrative when I first posted this, so you get something new too. :)
This playlists takes its inspiration from the first line of the first song and makes a narrative link to the last song, for which I’ve linked to the full lyrics. It breaks a few of the rules from “High Fidelity” in that it repeats artists and such, but, oh well, under the pressure of delivering on time I resorted to a narrative that started to mix itself in my head based on a few songs that I know really well from some of my favorite singer-songwriters. That, and my love of odd narrative timelines and fascination with the romantic lure of memory….
If you want a copy let me know. It *just* fits on a disc. :)
We start in a hotel room with the Woman. It’s a hotel she’s stayed at before, and the memories of an old relationship start to come back. It’s a mix of golden times, tears and fights. There is an implication of her finding him with a younger girl right before the breakup. In the midst of this tumble of memories, the Man shows up at her concert that night. She tries to not get pulled into the past, and she gives in and sings the song she wrote when she was arming herself to leave the first time. It’s her attempt to explain the way she never did back then.
1. Tour Song - Cindy Alexander
“Hotel Rooms have their share of ghosts…”
2. Spring Street - Dar Williams
“I am sorry that I left you with your questions all alone, but I was too happy driving and too angry to drive home…”
They meet up after the set, and get to talking. The conversation spins in and out like flashbacks, and you start to get the feeling that the Man is still searching and not being content with any choice.
3. Aberdeen - Ari Hest
“Never was there any doubt I would make my way out. I want to know what life’s all about. I will get there.”
The third character, the Girl whom we’ve seen in passing in the flash backs of the end, was coming to meet the Man at the bar, but when she sees them together she pauses outside. She doesn’t know what to make of this. They’ve been together for three years and she thought they’d be married by now, but she still can’t quite get a hold on him.
4. Dues to Pay - Leona Naess
“As my heart sits insides its cage, talks across the page, where songs to you are made. It’s only been pain loving you. You’re my dues to pay.”
The Man sees her through the window and goes out to meet her. She starts a fight, sure that since she was the other woman originally, this must be the way her relationship with him will end too. The Man doesn’t know where this has come from and tries to comfort her. He talks about how intertwined their lives are, but she is too upset to hear it quite the way he intends it.
5. I’ll Be There (To Make You Miserable) - Ari Hest
The Girl tells him how she saw him and the Woman together and is sure it is the end, but she still reads his…
6. Star Signs - Leona Naess
“And I still love him tonight. No distance or time can bite and I still feel out of place in crowded rooms in the silence of space. No love could be this hard to beat, I still read your star signs.”
The Man comforts her the best he can. He makes new promises, but in the end she walks away to think about it. This isn’t the starry romance with an older man that she thought it was. As she walks away, the Man suddenly looks tired. He chose her because he thought this relationship would be simpler. Back inside, the Woman is watching them. She’s been amused that he’s still pulling the same act all these years later and glad she got away when she did; but once he is alone, she sees the act melt way and she remembers what she loved about him years ago.
7. Rust - Lynn Miles
“Every line in your face is a road you’ve been down…”
The Man comes inside and looks to the Woman for comfort, understanding and explanation. He is sure he knows what he wants but can’t hold on to it.
8. Hold Me Tonight - Red Grammer
“Some days like bad dreams encircle me. I run but I can’t break away. Push comes to shove and I lose track of love. … I am tired and I’m bruised and I can’t take the fight. I know I’ll feel better in the morning light, just hold me tonight.”
They talk over drinks in a bar that is closing down around them. Reminiscing, having a painful discussion about why they broke up, what they’ve been up to since then - actually talking in a way they rarely did years ago during their romance. The Woman falls into the spell of what might have been. Her voice is different from the Girl, but she finds she still loves him too.
9. Ten Year Night - Lucy Kaplansky
“Open your eyes and look at me, and look at me. Open your eyes and look at me. ‘Cause I have and hold this love for you, before this ten year night is through I’m telling you. Take it from me.”
10. Woman as Salvation - Jackopierce
“Talking girlfriend as religion, a faith lost and new found … justice and redemption.”
11. Strangers Again - Ari Hest
“Long before we ever touched, long before we knew too much. … I want yesterday to come back again. Nothing is as simple as I once knew. Why can’t everything be the way it was the day before I lost you?”
After walking for hours and deciding she’s been foolish, she’ll forgive him, he’ll be contrite and generous… the Girl comes back. They hear her as she talks her way in through the bar back taking the trash out. The Man is halfway to the door as she walks in, takes her in his arms and says he’s sorry for whatever it was. The Girl is uncertain, but wants to be convinced.
12. Here It Goes Again - E.G. Daily
“I press my mouth into your chest and look up into your eyes, hoping you’ll be there.”
The Woman is hit hard, she thought the Man was caught up in what could have been too. Watching the Girl visibly struggle the Woman remembers when she was that age, and what she went through in the first go round with the Man. It’s tempting to stake her claim this time, but she decides to take the Girl aside and tells her not to be too hard on him.
13. Mercy of the Fallen - Dar Williams
“I got lost in my travels. … There’s the wind and the rain and the mercy of the fallen who say they have no claim to know what’s right.”
14. Breakable - Fisher
“Every time you throw him to the floor, why are you surprised to see he’s breakable?”
The Girl walks back to the Man. She takes his hand, looks up at him, and smiles bravely. The man hesitates and almost glances back at the Woman, but in the end smiles broadly at the Girl.
15. Mexico - Leona Naess
“Where there is wrong there’s always right. That’s what’s kept us on this road tonight. … My friends think that we’re all wrong. Another muse for another tragic song. … I should hate you but I don’t, you should love me but you won’t...”
16. Angel - Matt Nathanson
“You’re the only thing that is worth holding on to. Angel you sing about beautiful things, and all I want to do is believe. … No one really likes getting older.”
The Man and the Girl have a quiet conversation. He nods and makes a quick indication back to the table where the Woman still sits. He walks back to say goodbye. With the Girl, it is like it is his second chance at his and the Woman’s relationship. Clean this time. Without the baggage the two of them put on it at the time.
17. The Memories You’ve Forgotten - Ari Hest
“You see, I’ve fallen in love with the memories you’ve forgotten.”
That blow hits her hard, and the Woman flashes back to the first time he left. She wants to run after him make him see that she can’t be substituted like this. She’s mad at him and her, mostly herself. She packs up to hit the road again, surprised that she could get hurt again.
18. (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May - Susanne Vega
“I’ll never be your Maggie May, the one you loved and left behind.”
19. Full of Grace - Sarah McLachlan
“…all of the strength and all of the courage come and lift me from this place. I know I can love you better than this.” …from some far away place. (Which is the lyric I always hear instead of Full of Grace. I think when they used this song in Buffy they did that. Or it is just my mind…)
The credits start to roll. A slide show starts. The Man and the Girl are on a beach. The Woman is singing another gig. The Man and Girl have a puppy, then a baby. Life goes on. As the credits and the slide show turns into a video of another gig ….
20. The Kind of Love You Never Recover From - Christine Lavin
This playlists takes its inspiration from the first line of the first song and makes a narrative link to the last song, for which I’ve linked to the full lyrics. It breaks a few of the rules from “High Fidelity” in that it repeats artists and such, but, oh well, under the pressure of delivering on time I resorted to a narrative that started to mix itself in my head based on a few songs that I know really well from some of my favorite singer-songwriters. That, and my love of odd narrative timelines and fascination with the romantic lure of memory….
If you want a copy let me know. It *just* fits on a disc. :)
We start in a hotel room with the Woman. It’s a hotel she’s stayed at before, and the memories of an old relationship start to come back. It’s a mix of golden times, tears and fights. There is an implication of her finding him with a younger girl right before the breakup. In the midst of this tumble of memories, the Man shows up at her concert that night. She tries to not get pulled into the past, and she gives in and sings the song she wrote when she was arming herself to leave the first time. It’s her attempt to explain the way she never did back then.
1. Tour Song - Cindy Alexander
“Hotel Rooms have their share of ghosts…”
2. Spring Street - Dar Williams
“I am sorry that I left you with your questions all alone, but I was too happy driving and too angry to drive home…”
They meet up after the set, and get to talking. The conversation spins in and out like flashbacks, and you start to get the feeling that the Man is still searching and not being content with any choice.
3. Aberdeen - Ari Hest
“Never was there any doubt I would make my way out. I want to know what life’s all about. I will get there.”
The third character, the Girl whom we’ve seen in passing in the flash backs of the end, was coming to meet the Man at the bar, but when she sees them together she pauses outside. She doesn’t know what to make of this. They’ve been together for three years and she thought they’d be married by now, but she still can’t quite get a hold on him.
4. Dues to Pay - Leona Naess
“As my heart sits insides its cage, talks across the page, where songs to you are made. It’s only been pain loving you. You’re my dues to pay.”
The Man sees her through the window and goes out to meet her. She starts a fight, sure that since she was the other woman originally, this must be the way her relationship with him will end too. The Man doesn’t know where this has come from and tries to comfort her. He talks about how intertwined their lives are, but she is too upset to hear it quite the way he intends it.
5. I’ll Be There (To Make You Miserable) - Ari Hest
The Girl tells him how she saw him and the Woman together and is sure it is the end, but she still reads his…
6. Star Signs - Leona Naess
“And I still love him tonight. No distance or time can bite and I still feel out of place in crowded rooms in the silence of space. No love could be this hard to beat, I still read your star signs.”
The Man comforts her the best he can. He makes new promises, but in the end she walks away to think about it. This isn’t the starry romance with an older man that she thought it was. As she walks away, the Man suddenly looks tired. He chose her because he thought this relationship would be simpler. Back inside, the Woman is watching them. She’s been amused that he’s still pulling the same act all these years later and glad she got away when she did; but once he is alone, she sees the act melt way and she remembers what she loved about him years ago.
7. Rust - Lynn Miles
“Every line in your face is a road you’ve been down…”
The Man comes inside and looks to the Woman for comfort, understanding and explanation. He is sure he knows what he wants but can’t hold on to it.
8. Hold Me Tonight - Red Grammer
“Some days like bad dreams encircle me. I run but I can’t break away. Push comes to shove and I lose track of love. … I am tired and I’m bruised and I can’t take the fight. I know I’ll feel better in the morning light, just hold me tonight.”
They talk over drinks in a bar that is closing down around them. Reminiscing, having a painful discussion about why they broke up, what they’ve been up to since then - actually talking in a way they rarely did years ago during their romance. The Woman falls into the spell of what might have been. Her voice is different from the Girl, but she finds she still loves him too.
9. Ten Year Night - Lucy Kaplansky
“Open your eyes and look at me, and look at me. Open your eyes and look at me. ‘Cause I have and hold this love for you, before this ten year night is through I’m telling you. Take it from me.”
10. Woman as Salvation - Jackopierce
“Talking girlfriend as religion, a faith lost and new found … justice and redemption.”
11. Strangers Again - Ari Hest
“Long before we ever touched, long before we knew too much. … I want yesterday to come back again. Nothing is as simple as I once knew. Why can’t everything be the way it was the day before I lost you?”
After walking for hours and deciding she’s been foolish, she’ll forgive him, he’ll be contrite and generous… the Girl comes back. They hear her as she talks her way in through the bar back taking the trash out. The Man is halfway to the door as she walks in, takes her in his arms and says he’s sorry for whatever it was. The Girl is uncertain, but wants to be convinced.
12. Here It Goes Again - E.G. Daily
“I press my mouth into your chest and look up into your eyes, hoping you’ll be there.”
The Woman is hit hard, she thought the Man was caught up in what could have been too. Watching the Girl visibly struggle the Woman remembers when she was that age, and what she went through in the first go round with the Man. It’s tempting to stake her claim this time, but she decides to take the Girl aside and tells her not to be too hard on him.
13. Mercy of the Fallen - Dar Williams
“I got lost in my travels. … There’s the wind and the rain and the mercy of the fallen who say they have no claim to know what’s right.”
14. Breakable - Fisher
“Every time you throw him to the floor, why are you surprised to see he’s breakable?”
The Girl walks back to the Man. She takes his hand, looks up at him, and smiles bravely. The man hesitates and almost glances back at the Woman, but in the end smiles broadly at the Girl.
15. Mexico - Leona Naess
“Where there is wrong there’s always right. That’s what’s kept us on this road tonight. … My friends think that we’re all wrong. Another muse for another tragic song. … I should hate you but I don’t, you should love me but you won’t...”
16. Angel - Matt Nathanson
“You’re the only thing that is worth holding on to. Angel you sing about beautiful things, and all I want to do is believe. … No one really likes getting older.”
The Man and the Girl have a quiet conversation. He nods and makes a quick indication back to the table where the Woman still sits. He walks back to say goodbye. With the Girl, it is like it is his second chance at his and the Woman’s relationship. Clean this time. Without the baggage the two of them put on it at the time.
17. The Memories You’ve Forgotten - Ari Hest
“You see, I’ve fallen in love with the memories you’ve forgotten.”
That blow hits her hard, and the Woman flashes back to the first time he left. She wants to run after him make him see that she can’t be substituted like this. She’s mad at him and her, mostly herself. She packs up to hit the road again, surprised that she could get hurt again.
18. (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May - Susanne Vega
“I’ll never be your Maggie May, the one you loved and left behind.”
19. Full of Grace - Sarah McLachlan
“…all of the strength and all of the courage come and lift me from this place. I know I can love you better than this.” …from some far away place. (Which is the lyric I always hear instead of Full of Grace. I think when they used this song in Buffy they did that. Or it is just my mind…)
The credits start to roll. A slide show starts. The Man and the Girl are on a beach. The Woman is singing another gig. The Man and Girl have a puppy, then a baby. Life goes on. As the credits and the slide show turns into a video of another gig ….
20. The Kind of Love You Never Recover From - Christine Lavin