So yesterday I watched the first Lance White episode of Rockford, since I'm about to bring him into my story. I think the second episode was actually funnier, at least where he was concerned. It's not a favorite episode of mine, but Lance's goody-goody behavior was a howl.
Afterwards, I watched Ginger and Lou's scenes from The Queen of Peru.
Some time later, I had a nap. And I dreamed some bizarre thing where Ginger and Lou seemed to be living at our house/our house was their house. The old house again, not the current one. I was out on the lawn and had spread a blue-and-white quilt down.
Cats were everywhere. The current cat we feed was there, and many, many more. They climbed all over the quilt, ate the food that was put out, and wanted to be petted.
After a while, something seemed to be happening, some bad guy afoot, and Ginger and Lou needed to get out of there because the guy seemed to be after them. And me, apparently, because I got in the car with them and off we went. Or maybe I was just along because I wanted to help them.
Somehow we ended up at a cemetery and there was a blue casket that I was carrying (!!!). I don't think there was really a body in it. We were still running from the bad guy, and Mom and Dad ended up in the dream too at that point. There were several chapels right in the cemetery and we went in one, and there were about three different services going on in different rooms. It was a big place, and all the rooms were visible and open at once, kind of like they were all stages. We were pretending we were trying to get to a service, but not one of those. Eventually we ducked out of there and I think I woke up about then.
Weird.
And pondering on the Leonard Cohen song Hallelujah, which I said I usually think of as either Ginger and Lou friendship or Ginger's life in general, according to my backstory. I definitely lean towards the latter interpretation. I used it as the backbone of a Ginger monologue piece where he's thinking on things and wandering through his childhood home. That piece opened my
100Songs challenge, which only has about 12 fics left, I think.
Of course it doesn't fit exactly (no song would ever fit anything exactly, I'm sure), but overall, it works. To break down the song and explain how it fits with Ginger, it goes like this:
First Verse - Ginger's life in general. Does he like music? A good question. Perhaps it's Lou thinking on Ginger's aloofness and how to unlock the side of his personality he's keeping hidden.
Second Verse - Ginger's clashes with Vivalene. Although he did not return her advances, she certainly made them many times and tried to ruin him.
Third Verse - Ginger and Lou.
Modified Fourth Verse (altered it so it's ambiguous as to whether it refers to a sexual encounter or something else) - Ginger and his childhood friend Cynthia, with whom he had a falling-out. (Alternate interpretation: Lou thinking on how aloof Ginger has grown by the time of the Borland Diamond robbery.)
Fifth Verse - Ginger's cynicism and bitterness due to betrayals (such as Cynthia's).
Sixth Verse - Ginger's religious views, or lack of them.
Seventh Verse - Ginger trying to have some hope in his life, perhaps during the time he and Lou are in prison. He's hurt Lou and is regretful. He wants to do better.
Verses below the cut, including the modified verse 4. It's the first time I've shown it anywhere.
I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall, the major lift,
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair,
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Maybe I have been here before
I’ve known this room, I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
There was a time I always knew
What’s really going on with you
But now you never tell it to me, do you?
And remember when the stars above
Rejoiced with us in our love
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah?
Maybe there’s a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
And it’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
You say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth; I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah