Fanmix Track 1. Will Do by TV On the Radio
Any album needs a strong song to start off with, and this one does an amazing job of combining a seductive sound with powerful and vivid lyrics. I don't think I've had sex while listening to this song, but I want to now that I'm thinking about it.
This line in particular gets me every time I listen: I'd love to collapse with you / and ease you against this song. I love the language - how they switch mid-sentence from delivering what you think is literal imagery to what turns out to be a metaphor - and how it captures the sensual nature of Spike's fantasies.
But the whole song can be interpreted as a description of Spuffy from various points in Seasons 5 and 6. He's trying to convince her that getting together is a good idea any way he can think of: with logic, with pleading, with promises, with questions. It is the epitome of lyrical and passionate desperation. It even includes the phrase, "Your love makes a fool of you," which is about as direct a reference you can hope to find in a fanmix song.
It might be impractical / To seek out a new romance / We won't know the actual / If we never take the chance / ... I think we're compatible / I see that you think I'm wrong / ... Anytime will do / What choice of words will take me back to you.
In the context of my grand vision for this fanmix, the song is referring to all of Season 5 leading up to the Gift. Spike is in love with Buffy and pleading for her attention. While there's definitely an obsessive / eerie element to the lyrics and the sound, respectively, he's still trying to do whatever he can to genuinely win her over with good deeds (protect Dawn and Joyce, get tortured by Glory, etc.), without getting into the really fucked-up bits yet. (I know the robot thing is by definition creepy, but private sex toys really don't bother me that much, so it doesn't even make my top 10 list for Creepy Spike Shit. Compare it to, say, sitting outside of her house and watching her, or stealing her sweaters, etc., i.e., things that actually affect real!Buffy.)
This song comes off TV on the Radio's 5th album Nine Types of Light (2011), which should you definitely check out. It's a surprisingly listenable album considering that there are a couple songs that I don't like at all. It's just that the other are so fucking good it doesn't matter. The lead-off song, (ironically?) called Second Song, is my favorite overall, and has some of the best trumpets I've ever heard in a pop song towards the end. Their sound is a little strange, but once you get used to the lead singer's falsetto, it really starts to grow on you. (I actually had to listen to a lot of the songs several times before I became a fan.) Other good tracks include You, and Killer Crane.
Other interesting facts: The band is mostly black, which is pretty unusual for American Indie Rock. I suppose it fits since, again, their sound is also pretty unusual for American Indie Rock. They've collaborated with some really famous people, including David Bowie and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails). Sadly, the bassist died of cancer a couple months after the album was released in 2011. I don't think they found out about the diagnosis until after everything was recorded, but it definitely has a melancholy tone running throughout, and it makes a fitting eulogy for a really talented musician. They've been on a break for a while, but apparently are coming back sometime in 2013.
Will Do by TV On the Radio
It might be impractical
To seek out a new romance
We won't know the actual
If we never take the chance
I'd love to collapse with you
And ease you against this song
I think we're compatible
I see that you think I'm wrong
But anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
What choice of words will take me back to you
Your love makes a fool of you
You can't seem to understand
Our heart doesn't play by rules
And love has it's own demands
But I'll be there to take care of you
If ever you should decide
But you don't want to waste your life
In the middle of a lovesick lullaby
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
What choice of words will take me back to you
Oh my reddest rose, caldera, set it off
How your fire grows hermosa caldera glistening
Through your fussed blows careen your caldera set it off
As your body flows the second hand flashes passes
Over your skin like time
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
What choice of words will take me back to you
Icon changed and edited slightly on 3/28/13.
This line in particular gets me every time I listen: I'd love to collapse with you / and ease you against this song. I love the language - how they switch mid-sentence from delivering what you think is literal imagery to what turns out to be a metaphor - and how it captures the sensual nature of Spike's fantasies.
But the whole song can be interpreted as a description of Spuffy from various points in Seasons 5 and 6. He's trying to convince her that getting together is a good idea any way he can think of: with logic, with pleading, with promises, with questions. It is the epitome of lyrical and passionate desperation. It even includes the phrase, "Your love makes a fool of you," which is about as direct a reference you can hope to find in a fanmix song.
It might be impractical / To seek out a new romance / We won't know the actual / If we never take the chance / ... I think we're compatible / I see that you think I'm wrong / ... Anytime will do / What choice of words will take me back to you.
In the context of my grand vision for this fanmix, the song is referring to all of Season 5 leading up to the Gift. Spike is in love with Buffy and pleading for her attention. While there's definitely an obsessive / eerie element to the lyrics and the sound, respectively, he's still trying to do whatever he can to genuinely win her over with good deeds (protect Dawn and Joyce, get tortured by Glory, etc.), without getting into the really fucked-up bits yet. (I know the robot thing is by definition creepy, but private sex toys really don't bother me that much, so it doesn't even make my top 10 list for Creepy Spike Shit. Compare it to, say, sitting outside of her house and watching her, or stealing her sweaters, etc., i.e., things that actually affect real!Buffy.)
This song comes off TV on the Radio's 5th album Nine Types of Light (2011), which should you definitely check out. It's a surprisingly listenable album considering that there are a couple songs that I don't like at all. It's just that the other are so fucking good it doesn't matter. The lead-off song, (ironically?) called Second Song, is my favorite overall, and has some of the best trumpets I've ever heard in a pop song towards the end. Their sound is a little strange, but once you get used to the lead singer's falsetto, it really starts to grow on you. (I actually had to listen to a lot of the songs several times before I became a fan.) Other good tracks include You, and Killer Crane.
Other interesting facts: The band is mostly black, which is pretty unusual for American Indie Rock. I suppose it fits since, again, their sound is also pretty unusual for American Indie Rock. They've collaborated with some really famous people, including David Bowie and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails). Sadly, the bassist died of cancer a couple months after the album was released in 2011. I don't think they found out about the diagnosis until after everything was recorded, but it definitely has a melancholy tone running throughout, and it makes a fitting eulogy for a really talented musician. They've been on a break for a while, but apparently are coming back sometime in 2013.
Click to viewWill Do by TV On the Radio
It might be impractical
To seek out a new romance
We won't know the actual
If we never take the chance
I'd love to collapse with you
And ease you against this song
I think we're compatible
I see that you think I'm wrong
But anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
What choice of words will take me back to you
Your love makes a fool of you
You can't seem to understand
Our heart doesn't play by rules
And love has it's own demands
But I'll be there to take care of you
If ever you should decide
But you don't want to waste your life
In the middle of a lovesick lullaby
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
What choice of words will take me back to you
Oh my reddest rose, caldera, set it off
How your fire grows hermosa caldera glistening
Through your fussed blows careen your caldera set it off
As your body flows the second hand flashes passes
Over your skin like time
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
My love
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
No choice of words will break me from this rule
Anytime will do
What choice of words will take me back to you
Icon changed and edited slightly on 3/28/13.