You've Got a Beautiful Brain (but it's disintegrating) // Songs Regarding the Fall of a Good Man

[lovexwentxred]

Hi guys! Today I come bearing Sherlock/The Reichenbach Fall gifts: This is the episode which will never fail to give me feelings, even four months in. It will never fail to give me feelings for forever, lbr. I think the four month anniversary was recently, so the timing of this seems kind of appropriate. Listen to this and sob your heart out until 2013. More feelings under the cut! ;)



To say that this mix was a breeze to make would be a flat out lie to be honest. I wanted to make something like this since Reichenbach aired, and finally decided to put some serious work into it weeks ago. I have agonized over song choice for upwards of two months at least. I've added and taken away, agonized over editing down (which is what I'm really working on these days), and rearranged multiple times. Like any creative pursuit where you hit a road block there comes a point with some projects where you either a) get frustrated and give up or b) keep working at it because eventually you know when everything feels right. But I think most of the credit to my frustration was the fact that since I saw it four months ago, I still have an intensely emotional connection to this particular story, making me feel that I wanted to do it complete and utter justice, because anything half-hearted, anything semi-fitting-but-not-completly for Reichenbach was just not an option for me. However, with constant listening comes great rewards, and finally everything has come together, everything feels right. I hope I was successful, and that this mix brings you as many Reichenbach feelings as it has brings me. I give you:



You've Got a Beautiful Brain
(but it's disintegrating)
Songs Regarding the Fall of a Good Man

ABOUT.

It all comes down to one moment. One game gone horribly wrong. One game that even he didn't want to play anymore. One conversation from the roof of St. Bart's. One Fall. and everything, everything changes. This is a mix about Sherlock Holmes, the moment when he makes the sacrifice, and the aftermath that follows.

If I could set music to the final twenty minutes of The Reichenbach Fall and beyond, these would be the songs I would choose. However, this is not simply meant to be a clinical outline of point A to point B. Everything I've chosen focuses on the emotional consequences that result from those twenty minutes, hopefully both lyrically and musically. It moves chronologically in four sections:

P R E L U D E . T O . T H E . F A L L.
Moriarty and Sherlock's confrontation boiled down to two songs. This short prelude is completely straightforward and needs little explanation outside of the music itself. I will say, pay close attention to both the lyrics and the music in track one. It never fails to give me chills.

T H E . F A L L.
This section deals completely with the moment Sherlock climbs up onto the edge of the roof (On the Roof) to the phone call he makes to John (We'll Meet Along the Way) to the fall (I Don't Mind If You Don't Mind). The Sigur Rós track is absolutely the culmination of the fall. It's a big epic to close out the section. The Icelandic in Jónsi's beautiful falsetto, backed by the choir and supported by the strings swelling in the background, building to a final crescendo between instrumentation and voices, makes the song ache with the feeling of sadness and loss. Ugh. It's an almost spiritual experience. To me, it's so beautifully reminiscent of all of the elements wrapped up in 'the fall' sequence in the episode. It's a combination of the emotion of the previous three songs (Roof/Phone Call/Fall) put together in a sweeping finale. It starts with Sherlock climbing up on the edge, and by the choir's last 'Ooo's, it ends with John seeing his best friend on the ground, his hand desperately searching for a pulse.

I . O W E . Y O U . S O . M U C H.
It's probably worth stating that my primary goal in this was to focus on Sherlock Holmes, and how he was affected by the final minutes of Reichenbach (and beyond!). However, there is no way to make a Reichenbach mix without there being a thread of John Watson present throughout (you've seen a little glimmer already in the previous section) because these two are the most important people in each other's lives, and the emotional threads of Reichenbach are primarily tied between them. SO, this is John's perspective, about the loss of his best friend; the things he wanted to say, some of which he did at the graveyard and yet there is still more we may never know.

J U S T . A . M A G I C . T R I C K.
This is the final section and the one based mostly on head!canon of the emotional state of Sherlock after the fall. This one might have been most complicated for me because I think it takes special effort to get a grasp on Sherlock's "voice", especially after the fall. I focused on a few (though I'm sure not all) emotions, all tied to Sherlock post-Reichenbach. Each of the following subsections overlap in the five songs you find in the final section (how each subsection features in the final tracks is noted below):

Darkness. Guilt. Regret. The darkness of the fall, the people and things that drove him to the point of no return on the roof, and how he was ultimately consumed by that darkness; not necessarily by he himself becoming "dark" but by playing the game, and moreover not truly realizing the extent of his situation until it was too late; until he was left only with guilt, regret, and sadness at leaving his few friends to grieve and believe him dead, even if it was ultimately to save their lives. (Tracks 10, 11, 12)

Determination. Helplessness. Think of Sherlock's face at the end of Reichenbach. The final shot of him. Determined to stay dead, determined to do what he has to do in order to come back, but helpless, floating between death and life, dead to the world, alive to himself. To Molly. Unable to tell anyone. Especially John. Lying to ensure the safety of his friends. Only bound to do what he has to do in order to fix what Moriarty has broken and come back. That's the only power he holds, and hold it he will; in order to protect his friends and himself. (Tracks 11, 12, 13)

Frailty. Sadness. Longing. I imagine in three years, as strong and cold and calculating a man as Sherlock can be, he becomes so weary of running, of hiding. Some days he aches for home, for his old life -- for blogs and crimes and umbrellas and pick pocketing annoying Detective Inspectors, to the point where he can't breathe. No more seeking out crime networks, traveling the world; and while he may, and probably does put on, and for the most part succeeds at being "himself" again, of focusing on the problem and solving it, it's there from the time it all started on the roof, there in the cracks, in the time between moving from one place to the next, that his mind, his body, and his heart slowly turn to ash day by day, wishing for the time when it's finally safe for him to return. The final track is the absolute epitome of this feeling to me, the wish for home, and the culmination of the tracks previous in the section. (Tracks 12, 13, 14)

T H E . D E V I L . & . I . (part. 2) .†. (L O N E . W O L F)

The Devil and I last night were alone in my house.
He laughed at my jokes, struck a match, burned the place to the ground.

T H E . T H I N G S . W E . F E A R . T H E . M O S T .†. (J O S E P H . P O L L A R D . W H I T E)

Instrumental



O N . T H E .. R O O F .†. (T H E . A N T L E R S)

Stuck to a growing black balloon.
My neighbors are slowly growing maroon.
Don't throw away my broken telescopes.
Who has dragged you away?
Who's that carrying the rope?

W E ' L L . M E E T . A L O N G . T H E . W A Y .†. (H E M)

Go easy now.
Go easy now.
Later on the road I'm gonna lay my body down.

I . D O N ' T . M I N D . IF . Y O U . D O N ' T . M I N D .†. (R O N . P O P E)

My blood runs red from the streets to the sewers,
To the blue black ocean I'm caught in the tide
But I don't mind if you don't mind.

I wash away the filth of the city
And I lose myself here right before your eyes.

V A R ú ð .†. (S I G U R . R ó S)

"Caution"



I . . C O U L D N ' T . S A V E . Y O U .†. (S H A R O N . V A N . E T T E N)

No one knew
You better than me.
I still couldn't save you;
Tears in my head.

S I Z E . T O O . S M A L L .†. (W A K E Y ! W A K E Y !) .

I still know you
And I still like you, the best man.
I still owe you.

R E Q U I E M . F O R . M Y . F R I E N D .†. (R O S A L I E . E B E R L E)

Goodbye, my dear friend.
The best times have been spent.
As time has taught me now
All things have got to end.



B L A C K . H O L E S . I N . T H E . S A N D .†. (G R A V E N H U R S T)

In the small hours I realise what I have done.
I held the hand that threw the stone
that killed the bird that woke the city.
And I could not feel the flower in my hand.
I could not feel the cracks beneath my feet and black holes in the sand.

L E A N .†. (O H . L A N D)

Far from here could you feel my fear
When the lights died out
And I turned to the gray side?

Now you're out on the bottomless sea,
So it's time for you to lean on me.

O V E R F R A I L .†. (U P H I L L . R A C E R)

You roll over and your soul just cracks apart.
First you doubt, but then you feel it in your heart.
You took a long view, it just happened by mistake;
at least to see it coming could have been so great.

F R O M . T H E . W A T E R .†. (W I L L I A M . F I T Z S I M M O N S)

Let tide return
Your tired limbs
Sea and battered.

This ravaged mind,
A thousand voices,
They call for you.

M E D I C I N E .†. (D A U G H T E R)

You've got a beautiful brain,
But it's disintegrating.



DL. // LISTEN ON 8TRACKS

+ Change hxxp to http
+ Comments are better than brilliant deductions. Especially constructive comments and comments post-listening!
+ Let me know if there are any problems or if you have questions about songs, etc.
+ PLEASE FEEL ALL OF THE FEELS AND ENJOY!

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