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So yes. I made another soundtrack. Behold the craziness below …
Every Little Deconstructed Fable: A Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover soundtrack.
In brief: the role play was written just under four years ago originally, posted on Fan Forum. There was just a small, but quaint little group of writers that kept it going for a couple of weeks. The game eventually, died, as most do on the boards, but I kept bringing it back here and there. After a few embarrassing subsequent runs, some of us began to flush out the characters, and to this day, this remains one of my most memorable games. Each song is representative of a character, couple, or situation, though you’ll find that this soundtrack is mostly character and situational centric. If anyone’s at all interested about the story, a more in depth description will be provided below, via a link. Until then, I’ll leave you with the basic gist.
Three girls, the Jordan Sisters (Chyler Leigh, Eliza Dushku, and Carly Pope) are orphaned when their parents die in a fatal head-on collision. They are taken in by their estranged, society matriarch of a grandmother, Elizabeth Donahue. In theory, they’re leaving behind the rags for riches and all should be swell, but all the money in the world can’t buy back two people you love, and the world itself isn’t necessarily all it appears to be, hence the title of the game.
Graphics made, as always, by the all talented aleeseeah
1. “The Noose” by A Perfect Circle [Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
I’m more than just a little curious how you’re planning to go about making your amends to the dead
2. “Deconstructing Venus” by Kevin Max [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Yeah, you wear Versace, but you look like a dirty bird
And yeah, even the paparazzi think you’re quite absurd
This is the eye of the storm
This is society
3. “Chinese Burn” by the Curve [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’ll break a promise as a matter of course
Because she thinks it’s fun to have no remorse
She gets what she wants, then walks away
And she doesn’t give a fuck what you might say
4. “Arsenal” by the Kidney Thieves [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’s a time bomb, with her vibe on
She’s gonna use it to surprise them
She’s a time bomb, with her vibe on
They’ll never know where she got her weapon
5. “The Trick is to Keep Breathing” by Garbage [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’s not the kind of girl who likes to tell the world
About the way she feels about herself
She takes a little time in making up her mind
She doesn’t want to fight against the tide
6. “Good Sister/Bad Sister” by Hole [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Good sister Bad sister
You’re different from the rest sister
Choke strangle rip kiss her
Sell me down the river sister, whoa
7. “Volcano” by Damien Rice [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Don’t throw yourself like that in front of me
I kissed your mouth, your back
Is that all you need?
Don’t drag my love around, no, Volcanoes melt me down
Lord, she’s still too young …
8. “Lovers in the Back Seat” by the Scissor Sisters [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’s happy when she’s proud
Attention well deserved
Exuberant and loud
A disguise, can he know?
In the shadows you can touch one another now, and I’ll just watch the show
9. “The Devil’s Feet” by Azure Ray [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
When I was a child a story was told
About the devil and a girl so bold
He offered her riches, a fortune of gold, and lovers abound
But she lifted her soul, she lifted her soul clean, oh clean
Now twenty years later to the place I return
Where I scorned the angels for a passion that burned
10. “Platinum” by Orgy [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
You can’t escape what makes you tragic you know
Vicious ‘cause you want to be
Leaving time possessed to please you
What might have been was never the way you envisioned things
11. “Rainy Day” by Guster [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
I will just play dumb
I won’t hear a single word that’s said
And I will bite my tongue
Never sing another song again
Holes uncovered
Walls will crumble
All spells trouble on a rainy day
12. “Nature 1” by Muse [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Like a broken damn you’re empty
And all that’s left are the sticks and stones
That were built by other people
You’re the cause of all this
And I’m sick of trying to please you
13. “Relief” by Denali [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Walk on, move, or I may implode
Waiting till rainfall to countdown
Making trouble, we’ll be found
I stayed
14. “About Her” by Malcolm Mclaren [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Well, no one told me about her
How many people cried
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know?
Why should I care?
Please don’t bother trying to find her
She’s not there
Cast: (And yes, all the women are/were WB stars. We were all young at the time we chose our PBs, so forgive us.)
Elizabeth Donahue: Kelly Bishop
Eden Jordan: Carly Pope
Britney Jordan: Chyler Leigh
Sydney Jordan: Eliza Dushku
Michelle Donahue: Katie Holmes
Taryn Donahue: Shiri Appleby
Other characters:
Christian Jenkins: Casey Affleck
Rachel Jenkins: Alexis Bledel
Tyler Marshall: Josh Hartnett
Joshua Shayne: Josh Hartnett/Giovanni Cureau
Corey Cavagnolo: Colin Farrell
Song Explanations:
The Noose by A Perfect Circle
Remember how I mentioned I wanted to turn this into a movie? Well, you see, I even have the first scene completely worked out in my head. We start off in a blue filtered room, it’s dark, and we see the back of a young girl packing her things in the right corner of the screen. Throughout the song, there are cuts around her beautifully lavished room. A Delacroix painting hangs on the wall above her bed. Jewelry hangs in her Jewelry box. The bed has a soft drapery hanging from the canopy. Eventually, we cut to what appears to be a party down below, and the camera will pan across all major and minor players that will take a part in the plot. Eventually, we end up back in the room as she exits through the door. The camera pans in during the second “I’m more than just a little bit curious …” to a picture of the Jordans together, with their parents, resting on the vanity “… how you’re planning to go about making your amends to the dead.” Before the song’s climax, we get a slow panning shot along the door, and suddenly without taking a cut, we open to reveal another, considerably smaller room, with police lights flashing outside and reflecting against the window. The girl emerges to find her two sisters at the door. It’s eight months earlier, the night of the crash. “Your halo is slipping down …” repeats over and over as she goes to her sisters to find out what has happened. There is no dialog, though it’s clear they’re discussing what happened. Their faces brim with shock, but it’s too soon for the tears that will eventually follow through later for all three of them …
Deconstructing Venus by Kevin Max
This is, essentially, Elizabeth Donahue and Richmond, Virginia’s society circle. She is one of the most powerful women in the city, if not the state, and her influence is felt deep within the senate. Her brunches are infamous, and her 4th of July barbeques attracts house representatives and ambassadors alike. She is a woman who’s been conditioned by the society she now presides over, and has become hardened with time. Elizabeth Donahue is, by definition, a little neurotic. The world the Jordan’s have entered into is fast paced, glamorous, and ruthless. And their dearest “grams” sits atop it all.
Chinese Burn by the Curve
This is Eden Jordan’s song, and credit for that fact goes to the writer, as she pretty much designated it for her. I’ve always been a fan of it myself, but it’s scary how appropriate it is. The song is loud, it’s feisty, and it’s fast, just like the oldest Jordan sister.
Arsenal by the Kidney Thieves
This is Britney Jordan’s song, the middle of the Jordan sisters. Whereas Eden was very much the volatile, antagonistic force to the situation they found themselves in, and Sydney the peace maker, Britney was the reclusive pacifist. She didn’t take a side, she waited out the whole ordeal in her beautifully furnished room. Britney was always a little scary though, at least to some of us. It was always as if she was waiting for something. She is a Jordan, after all, hence being the “time bomb.”
The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Garbage
And now we’re to Sydney Jordan’s, the youngest of the Jordans, song. Young and inexperienced, and perhaps even a little bit impressionable, she enters Richmond naively, and her foundation is fragile. Her way of coping with the death of her parents is by trying to make the transition as easy as possible for her grandmother and her sisters, and by always trying to please everyone else, she sacrifices her own happiness in the process.
Good Sister/Bad Sister by Hole
This is our song for Eden and Sydney. Eden’s the “bad” sister and Sydney’s the “good” sister; they are the antitheses to one another, and I think the song does a better job in explaining (probably from Eden’s point of view) their dynamic.
Volcano by Damien Rice
One of two “shipper” songs. This is essentially Sydney Jordan and Christian Jenkins summed up in one song. He’s the Don Juan, the Casanova … every girl’s dream and worst nightmare all at once. He’s enamored by her innocence, a rarity in the circle he runs with, and in the process of trying to corrupt it, he ends up falling for her. But, alas, not all can be happy. She’s too young and too naïve, and he knows if she stays with him, he’ll end up hurting her worse than he does when he pulls away from her.
Lovers in the Back Seat by the Scissor Sisters
And where does Christian turn? He turns to Eden, under the correct assumption that she’ll back off. Because if there’s one thing Sydney Jordan values more than love, it’s loyalty to her sisters. But this song has nothing to do with Sydney and Christian. This song is about Eden and Christian, who wouldn’t have bothered to hide their relationship from Richmond and Elizabeth. In short, theirs is a sexually charged relationship that’s very much in the face of everyone. And they’re both insanely pretty people, so why not? And no, there’s no triangle that follows. If you’re terribly interested in a specific character’s response to the relationship, you’ll have to read between the lines in the songs that follow.
The Devil’s Feet by Azure Ray
And now we get to the Donahue cousins. This song is Taryn Donahue’s song. The younger of the two, she’s also the more polite. Conditioned her entire life by society, she was primed and taught in all the ways that would make her a proper lady. But eventually, she finds herself enamored (and vice versa … er, eventually) with a one Corey Cavagnolo … “I scorned the angels for a passion that burned” says it a lot nicer than I ever could.
Platinum by Orgy
And then there’s Michelle Donahue. Again, the antithesis to her sister, Michelle. Where one is hesitant to be molded into the perfect society princess, the other (Michelle) has given the term “ice bitch” a whole new definition. She’s beautiful, she’s intelligent, and she uses both her intelligence and her sharp tongue as weapons. But one has to wonder if she’s really happy with who she is, or the mechanical direction her life is heading in. Regardless, this song is almost sinister and it’s loud … which is exactly how I imagine Michelle must be inside.
Rainy Day by Guster
We return to Sydney, and perhaps all of the Jordan siblings. Time has pulled them apart, and the rose tinted glasses have been shattered by manipulation and revelations of their mother’s past. Sydney has to learn to block out the hushed whispers and the gossip that exists everywhere. She has to find herself outside the image her grandmother is trying to mold her into. Everything between the Donahues and the Jordans is fizzling beneath the surface, and the intensity of the climax foreshadows a fallout that is inevitable.
Nature 1 by Muse
Tensions rise, and as Elizabeth’s ruthless plans to shape her three granddaughters into the perfect little society princesses begins to fail with all three, hostilities are no longer swept underneath the rug.
Relief by Denali
On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, all of Sydney’s preparations to leave have finally aligned. She has made her transition from a naïve, trusting young girl, to a well-rounded young women thirsty for independence. She steals away in the middle of the night, during a party thrown for her, as everyone is consumed with their own ordeals. It’s quiet, until the discovery of her absence in the morning. But she is gone, and no longer left to pick up the pieces. She has her own life to figure out now, and she’s looking forward to it with both anticipation and fear, and yes, even a little guilt for those she has left behind.
About Her by Malcolm Mclaren
And now we’re left with the people who are left behind. This moment won’t be included in the movie, but it is inferred. There will be a fallout people will have to finally face up to. The song is nostalgic and reflective, and it paints no one as the good or bad guy. Even Sydney’s departure was partly fueled by lies and selfishness that, granted, she rarely engaged in before hand. It’s the first time she has to compromise the happiness for her own, and although she could have done things differently, all is said and done. There is guilt, but no regrets.
“Please don’t bother trying to find her, she’s not there.”
Where is she?
That’s another story for another time.
Every Little Deconstructed Fable: A Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover soundtrack.
In brief: the role play was written just under four years ago originally, posted on Fan Forum. There was just a small, but quaint little group of writers that kept it going for a couple of weeks. The game eventually, died, as most do on the boards, but I kept bringing it back here and there. After a few embarrassing subsequent runs, some of us began to flush out the characters, and to this day, this remains one of my most memorable games. Each song is representative of a character, couple, or situation, though you’ll find that this soundtrack is mostly character and situational centric. If anyone’s at all interested about the story, a more in depth description will be provided below, via a link. Until then, I’ll leave you with the basic gist.
Three girls, the Jordan Sisters (Chyler Leigh, Eliza Dushku, and Carly Pope) are orphaned when their parents die in a fatal head-on collision. They are taken in by their estranged, society matriarch of a grandmother, Elizabeth Donahue. In theory, they’re leaving behind the rags for riches and all should be swell, but all the money in the world can’t buy back two people you love, and the world itself isn’t necessarily all it appears to be, hence the title of the game.
Graphics made, as always, by the all talented aleeseeah
1. “The Noose” by A Perfect Circle [Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
I’m more than just a little curious how you’re planning to go about making your amends to the dead
2. “Deconstructing Venus” by Kevin Max [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Yeah, you wear Versace, but you look like a dirty bird
And yeah, even the paparazzi think you’re quite absurd
This is the eye of the storm
This is society
3. “Chinese Burn” by the Curve [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’ll break a promise as a matter of course
Because she thinks it’s fun to have no remorse
She gets what she wants, then walks away
And she doesn’t give a fuck what you might say
4. “Arsenal” by the Kidney Thieves [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’s a time bomb, with her vibe on
She’s gonna use it to surprise them
She’s a time bomb, with her vibe on
They’ll never know where she got her weapon
5. “The Trick is to Keep Breathing” by Garbage [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’s not the kind of girl who likes to tell the world
About the way she feels about herself
She takes a little time in making up her mind
She doesn’t want to fight against the tide
6. “Good Sister/Bad Sister” by Hole [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Good sister Bad sister
You’re different from the rest sister
Choke strangle rip kiss her
Sell me down the river sister, whoa
7. “Volcano” by Damien Rice [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Don’t throw yourself like that in front of me
I kissed your mouth, your back
Is that all you need?
Don’t drag my love around, no, Volcanoes melt me down
Lord, she’s still too young …
8. “Lovers in the Back Seat” by the Scissor Sisters [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
She’s happy when she’s proud
Attention well deserved
Exuberant and loud
A disguise, can he know?
In the shadows you can touch one another now, and I’ll just watch the show
9. “The Devil’s Feet” by Azure Ray [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
When I was a child a story was told
About the devil and a girl so bold
He offered her riches, a fortune of gold, and lovers abound
But she lifted her soul, she lifted her soul clean, oh clean
Now twenty years later to the place I return
Where I scorned the angels for a passion that burned
10. “Platinum” by Orgy [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
You can’t escape what makes you tragic you know
Vicious ‘cause you want to be
Leaving time possessed to please you
What might have been was never the way you envisioned things
11. “Rainy Day” by Guster [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
I will just play dumb
I won’t hear a single word that’s said
And I will bite my tongue
Never sing another song again
Holes uncovered
Walls will crumble
All spells trouble on a rainy day
12. “Nature 1” by Muse [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Like a broken damn you’re empty
And all that’s left are the sticks and stones
That were built by other people
You’re the cause of all this
And I’m sick of trying to please you
13. “Relief” by Denali [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Walk on, move, or I may implode
Waiting till rainfall to countdown
Making trouble, we’ll be found
I stayed
14. “About Her” by Malcolm Mclaren [ Download ] [ Lyrics ] [ Buy ]
Well, no one told me about her
How many people cried
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know?
Why should I care?
Please don’t bother trying to find her
She’s not there
Cast: (And yes, all the women are/were WB stars. We were all young at the time we chose our PBs, so forgive us.)
Elizabeth Donahue: Kelly Bishop
Eden Jordan: Carly Pope
Britney Jordan: Chyler Leigh
Sydney Jordan: Eliza Dushku
Michelle Donahue: Katie Holmes
Taryn Donahue: Shiri Appleby
Other characters:
Christian Jenkins: Casey Affleck
Rachel Jenkins: Alexis Bledel
Tyler Marshall: Josh Hartnett
Joshua Shayne: Josh Hartnett/Giovanni Cureau
Corey Cavagnolo: Colin Farrell
Song Explanations:
The Noose by A Perfect Circle
Remember how I mentioned I wanted to turn this into a movie? Well, you see, I even have the first scene completely worked out in my head. We start off in a blue filtered room, it’s dark, and we see the back of a young girl packing her things in the right corner of the screen. Throughout the song, there are cuts around her beautifully lavished room. A Delacroix painting hangs on the wall above her bed. Jewelry hangs in her Jewelry box. The bed has a soft drapery hanging from the canopy. Eventually, we cut to what appears to be a party down below, and the camera will pan across all major and minor players that will take a part in the plot. Eventually, we end up back in the room as she exits through the door. The camera pans in during the second “I’m more than just a little bit curious …” to a picture of the Jordans together, with their parents, resting on the vanity “… how you’re planning to go about making your amends to the dead.” Before the song’s climax, we get a slow panning shot along the door, and suddenly without taking a cut, we open to reveal another, considerably smaller room, with police lights flashing outside and reflecting against the window. The girl emerges to find her two sisters at the door. It’s eight months earlier, the night of the crash. “Your halo is slipping down …” repeats over and over as she goes to her sisters to find out what has happened. There is no dialog, though it’s clear they’re discussing what happened. Their faces brim with shock, but it’s too soon for the tears that will eventually follow through later for all three of them …
Deconstructing Venus by Kevin Max
This is, essentially, Elizabeth Donahue and Richmond, Virginia’s society circle. She is one of the most powerful women in the city, if not the state, and her influence is felt deep within the senate. Her brunches are infamous, and her 4th of July barbeques attracts house representatives and ambassadors alike. She is a woman who’s been conditioned by the society she now presides over, and has become hardened with time. Elizabeth Donahue is, by definition, a little neurotic. The world the Jordan’s have entered into is fast paced, glamorous, and ruthless. And their dearest “grams” sits atop it all.
Chinese Burn by the Curve
This is Eden Jordan’s song, and credit for that fact goes to the writer, as she pretty much designated it for her. I’ve always been a fan of it myself, but it’s scary how appropriate it is. The song is loud, it’s feisty, and it’s fast, just like the oldest Jordan sister.
Arsenal by the Kidney Thieves
This is Britney Jordan’s song, the middle of the Jordan sisters. Whereas Eden was very much the volatile, antagonistic force to the situation they found themselves in, and Sydney the peace maker, Britney was the reclusive pacifist. She didn’t take a side, she waited out the whole ordeal in her beautifully furnished room. Britney was always a little scary though, at least to some of us. It was always as if she was waiting for something. She is a Jordan, after all, hence being the “time bomb.”
The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Garbage
And now we’re to Sydney Jordan’s, the youngest of the Jordans, song. Young and inexperienced, and perhaps even a little bit impressionable, she enters Richmond naively, and her foundation is fragile. Her way of coping with the death of her parents is by trying to make the transition as easy as possible for her grandmother and her sisters, and by always trying to please everyone else, she sacrifices her own happiness in the process.
Good Sister/Bad Sister by Hole
This is our song for Eden and Sydney. Eden’s the “bad” sister and Sydney’s the “good” sister; they are the antitheses to one another, and I think the song does a better job in explaining (probably from Eden’s point of view) their dynamic.
Volcano by Damien Rice
One of two “shipper” songs. This is essentially Sydney Jordan and Christian Jenkins summed up in one song. He’s the Don Juan, the Casanova … every girl’s dream and worst nightmare all at once. He’s enamored by her innocence, a rarity in the circle he runs with, and in the process of trying to corrupt it, he ends up falling for her. But, alas, not all can be happy. She’s too young and too naïve, and he knows if she stays with him, he’ll end up hurting her worse than he does when he pulls away from her.
Lovers in the Back Seat by the Scissor Sisters
And where does Christian turn? He turns to Eden, under the correct assumption that she’ll back off. Because if there’s one thing Sydney Jordan values more than love, it’s loyalty to her sisters. But this song has nothing to do with Sydney and Christian. This song is about Eden and Christian, who wouldn’t have bothered to hide their relationship from Richmond and Elizabeth. In short, theirs is a sexually charged relationship that’s very much in the face of everyone. And they’re both insanely pretty people, so why not? And no, there’s no triangle that follows. If you’re terribly interested in a specific character’s response to the relationship, you’ll have to read between the lines in the songs that follow.
The Devil’s Feet by Azure Ray
And now we get to the Donahue cousins. This song is Taryn Donahue’s song. The younger of the two, she’s also the more polite. Conditioned her entire life by society, she was primed and taught in all the ways that would make her a proper lady. But eventually, she finds herself enamored (and vice versa … er, eventually) with a one Corey Cavagnolo … “I scorned the angels for a passion that burned” says it a lot nicer than I ever could.
Platinum by Orgy
And then there’s Michelle Donahue. Again, the antithesis to her sister, Michelle. Where one is hesitant to be molded into the perfect society princess, the other (Michelle) has given the term “ice bitch” a whole new definition. She’s beautiful, she’s intelligent, and she uses both her intelligence and her sharp tongue as weapons. But one has to wonder if she’s really happy with who she is, or the mechanical direction her life is heading in. Regardless, this song is almost sinister and it’s loud … which is exactly how I imagine Michelle must be inside.
Rainy Day by Guster
We return to Sydney, and perhaps all of the Jordan siblings. Time has pulled them apart, and the rose tinted glasses have been shattered by manipulation and revelations of their mother’s past. Sydney has to learn to block out the hushed whispers and the gossip that exists everywhere. She has to find herself outside the image her grandmother is trying to mold her into. Everything between the Donahues and the Jordans is fizzling beneath the surface, and the intensity of the climax foreshadows a fallout that is inevitable.
Nature 1 by Muse
Tensions rise, and as Elizabeth’s ruthless plans to shape her three granddaughters into the perfect little society princesses begins to fail with all three, hostilities are no longer swept underneath the rug.
Relief by Denali
On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, all of Sydney’s preparations to leave have finally aligned. She has made her transition from a naïve, trusting young girl, to a well-rounded young women thirsty for independence. She steals away in the middle of the night, during a party thrown for her, as everyone is consumed with their own ordeals. It’s quiet, until the discovery of her absence in the morning. But she is gone, and no longer left to pick up the pieces. She has her own life to figure out now, and she’s looking forward to it with both anticipation and fear, and yes, even a little guilt for those she has left behind.
About Her by Malcolm Mclaren
And now we’re left with the people who are left behind. This moment won’t be included in the movie, but it is inferred. There will be a fallout people will have to finally face up to. The song is nostalgic and reflective, and it paints no one as the good or bad guy. Even Sydney’s departure was partly fueled by lies and selfishness that, granted, she rarely engaged in before hand. It’s the first time she has to compromise the happiness for her own, and although she could have done things differently, all is said and done. There is guilt, but no regrets.
“Please don’t bother trying to find her, she’s not there.”
Where is she?
That’s another story for another time.