Jukebox Requests
Very soon this space will be filled by a wonderfully informative and reassuring Dear Jukebox Writer letter. Or that's the idea, at least. Thanks for your patience!
(8/12: Finished!)
Dear Jukebox Writer,
I'm so thrilled you like one of these songs enough to write for it! I know I ask far and away too many questions in my prompts -- feel free to disregard any or all of them if the story you want to tell decides to go off in a different direction entirely. Surprises are good!
Gen is excellent, and any sort of pairing or moresome is equally excellent. And... well, I'm awful at coming up with lists of thou shalt nots and don't go theres, so if one of those moments comes along in which you're thinking, "I really want to write this particular thing that wasn't mentioned in the letter, but should I?" then yes, you absolutely should, permission most certainly granted.
Now for the part where I get to spam you with random pictures and natterings:
The Enchantment - Sheila Chandra (song) (lyrics)
And if perchance you ask for me
Perhaps you'll not me find
So many questions! Who are these two characters? Is she only following him because of the enchantment, or does she have other reasons for going over the mountain? What will she find there, beyond her mortal life?
This is the first version of Reynardine I'd ever heard, and still my favorite, mostly because of the whole English folk ballad + Indian raga = two unlikely tastes that taste great together thing that Sheila Chandra does so well. Also because of the ending, which is mysterious and open-ended without that strong hint of oh dear me this cannot end well that most other interpretations of the song tend to leave an audience with.
There are a lot of ways this could end, dear writer, and, considering how this version drops most of the verses establishing the setting and characters, a lot of ways it could have begun. What's your take on it?
Joy - Ricky Ian Gordon (second song on the playlist) (lyrics from a poem by Langston Hughes)
I went to look for Joy,
Slim, dancing Joy...
The four voices singing about their search for Joy -- who is she to them, or they to her? Are they family, friends, lovers? Human beings, nymphs, fellow personifications of abstract ideas? And why are they so surprised to find her with the butcher boy?
Ricky Ian Gordon's set a fair number of Langston Hughes's poems to music, and this is one I've wondered about in particular. It feels so brief and alive, like a glimpse of a longer story where you know there are all sorts of intertangled personalities, motivations, relationships involved that led to that moment, and will follow after, but just in the moment there's only Joy.
And then there's the choice to use four voices in this recording, which is brilliance. I've never been quite sure what mood Hughes was trying to get across at the end -- disapproval, disappointment, amusement, resignation, puzzlement -- but having multiple singers means you don't have to choose just one!
Konungen och trollkvinnan (The king and the enchantress) - Gjallarhorn (song) (lyrics and translation)
Aye, ten pair of horses stand in thy stable
But one of them shall be thy death
What will the king do now that he knows (or thinks he knows) what lies in store? Does the enchantress have an interest -- or perhaps even a stake -- in the queen taking over rule of the country? Who is the henchman in the prophecy, and why will he alone remain loyal to his king?
What I like best about this ballad is how, at the same time as it's somewhat reminiscent of similar themes and types in English folk songs, the characters here completely defy expectation. The enchantress doesn't seduce or fall in love with the king (there's a variant of this song that expands excellently on the fifth and sixth verses, just to prove the point); the queen, so far as we know, isn't betraying her husband so that she can put a son or lover on the throne; and the king, even though his own story's about to take a nosedive into tragedy, doesn't really come across as an innocent victim or a total bad guy.
And then there's the refrain: "We weave the web together" and "Everything happens by the will of the gods" -- there's a lot of hinting at a larger story here, and whatever you choose to explore or expand on would be awesomeness to see.
No More I Love You's - Annie Lennox (music video) (lyrics)
There are monsters outside.
I'd love to get an idea of who any of these people are, and why they're attending/participating in this most unusual performance. What inspired the choice of costumes, and why did everyone burst into laughter at the end? And does it all have anything to do with the changes shifting outside, or the monsters?
One part of the video I find especially interesting starts at about 1:42, where we get to see close-ups of audience members' reactions to the song and the singer. There are a lot of little undercurrents going on here, and I honestly have no idea what they mean but they're fascinating to watch and wonder about.
And then there's the talk of monsters and the dancing and the cross-dressing and the unsettling lighting straight out of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting and... well, a lot of elements that feel like they add up to something out-of-the-ordinary and possibly threatening, something just starting to come to light. But what?
Someone in a Tree - Stephen Sondheim (song) (lyrics)
I'm a fragment of the day.
If I weren't, who's to say
Things would happen here the way
That they're happening?
Tell me about another fragment of a day, some event that historians can't agree on because they don't have all the facts, but we know something happened because someone -- maybe more than one someone? -- was there to witness it. What is it they saw, or heard, or can't quite remember? And how did it feel to be part of the event?
Ah, this song. This song is long, repetitive, and should completely fail as an interesting story or first-person historical account because the people who claim to have witnessed everything, in fact, didn't.
And yet whenever I hear or read some piece of the past related in a way that makes it seem real and vital, like something caught out of time, both past and present in the telling, then I feel like maybe I understand what the words and music are trying to say a little better, and admire the crafting, the feeling of it that much more. Perhaps you have a story like that to tell?
***
Thank you so much, dear writer! Whichever song it is that we have in common, I look forward to seeing what you make of it.
~Mardy
(Credit where it's due: Images in order of appearance are from here, here, here, six or seven layered screencaps, and here.)
~~~
And now, at long last, the reveal! :>D
Quillori wrote me Sunlight and the Breath of May for Gjallarhorn's "Konungen och trollkvinnan." It's about a single life made up of many stories, each one told in turn by a weaver and her daughters as they work toward a purpose only revealed fully at the end -- go read! And while you're there, consider checking out the rest of Jukebox 2013. There's a lot of good fic to be found and sampled, and the moderator put together a playlist of all the songs with stories written for them here.
(8/12: Finished!)
Dear Jukebox Writer,
I'm so thrilled you like one of these songs enough to write for it! I know I ask far and away too many questions in my prompts -- feel free to disregard any or all of them if the story you want to tell decides to go off in a different direction entirely. Surprises are good!
Gen is excellent, and any sort of pairing or moresome is equally excellent. And... well, I'm awful at coming up with lists of thou shalt nots and don't go theres, so if one of those moments comes along in which you're thinking, "I really want to write this particular thing that wasn't mentioned in the letter, but should I?" then yes, you absolutely should, permission most certainly granted.
Now for the part where I get to spam you with random pictures and natterings:
The Enchantment - Sheila Chandra (song) (lyrics)
And if perchance you ask for me
Perhaps you'll not me find
So many questions! Who are these two characters? Is she only following him because of the enchantment, or does she have other reasons for going over the mountain? What will she find there, beyond her mortal life?
This is the first version of Reynardine I'd ever heard, and still my favorite, mostly because of the whole English folk ballad + Indian raga = two unlikely tastes that taste great together thing that Sheila Chandra does so well. Also because of the ending, which is mysterious and open-ended without that strong hint of oh dear me this cannot end well that most other interpretations of the song tend to leave an audience with.
There are a lot of ways this could end, dear writer, and, considering how this version drops most of the verses establishing the setting and characters, a lot of ways it could have begun. What's your take on it?
Joy - Ricky Ian Gordon (second song on the playlist) (lyrics from a poem by Langston Hughes)
I went to look for Joy,
Slim, dancing Joy...
The four voices singing about their search for Joy -- who is she to them, or they to her? Are they family, friends, lovers? Human beings, nymphs, fellow personifications of abstract ideas? And why are they so surprised to find her with the butcher boy?
Ricky Ian Gordon's set a fair number of Langston Hughes's poems to music, and this is one I've wondered about in particular. It feels so brief and alive, like a glimpse of a longer story where you know there are all sorts of intertangled personalities, motivations, relationships involved that led to that moment, and will follow after, but just in the moment there's only Joy.
And then there's the choice to use four voices in this recording, which is brilliance. I've never been quite sure what mood Hughes was trying to get across at the end -- disapproval, disappointment, amusement, resignation, puzzlement -- but having multiple singers means you don't have to choose just one!
Konungen och trollkvinnan (The king and the enchantress) - Gjallarhorn (song) (lyrics and translation)
Aye, ten pair of horses stand in thy stable
But one of them shall be thy death
What will the king do now that he knows (or thinks he knows) what lies in store? Does the enchantress have an interest -- or perhaps even a stake -- in the queen taking over rule of the country? Who is the henchman in the prophecy, and why will he alone remain loyal to his king?
What I like best about this ballad is how, at the same time as it's somewhat reminiscent of similar themes and types in English folk songs, the characters here completely defy expectation. The enchantress doesn't seduce or fall in love with the king (there's a variant of this song that expands excellently on the fifth and sixth verses, just to prove the point); the queen, so far as we know, isn't betraying her husband so that she can put a son or lover on the throne; and the king, even though his own story's about to take a nosedive into tragedy, doesn't really come across as an innocent victim or a total bad guy.
And then there's the refrain: "We weave the web together" and "Everything happens by the will of the gods" -- there's a lot of hinting at a larger story here, and whatever you choose to explore or expand on would be awesomeness to see.
No More I Love You's - Annie Lennox (music video) (lyrics)
There are monsters outside.
I'd love to get an idea of who any of these people are, and why they're attending/participating in this most unusual performance. What inspired the choice of costumes, and why did everyone burst into laughter at the end? And does it all have anything to do with the changes shifting outside, or the monsters?
One part of the video I find especially interesting starts at about 1:42, where we get to see close-ups of audience members' reactions to the song and the singer. There are a lot of little undercurrents going on here, and I honestly have no idea what they mean but they're fascinating to watch and wonder about.
And then there's the talk of monsters and the dancing and the cross-dressing and the unsettling lighting straight out of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting and... well, a lot of elements that feel like they add up to something out-of-the-ordinary and possibly threatening, something just starting to come to light. But what?
Someone in a Tree - Stephen Sondheim (song) (lyrics)
I'm a fragment of the day.
If I weren't, who's to say
Things would happen here the way
That they're happening?
Tell me about another fragment of a day, some event that historians can't agree on because they don't have all the facts, but we know something happened because someone -- maybe more than one someone? -- was there to witness it. What is it they saw, or heard, or can't quite remember? And how did it feel to be part of the event?
Ah, this song. This song is long, repetitive, and should completely fail as an interesting story or first-person historical account because the people who claim to have witnessed everything, in fact, didn't.
And yet whenever I hear or read some piece of the past related in a way that makes it seem real and vital, like something caught out of time, both past and present in the telling, then I feel like maybe I understand what the words and music are trying to say a little better, and admire the crafting, the feeling of it that much more. Perhaps you have a story like that to tell?
***
Thank you so much, dear writer! Whichever song it is that we have in common, I look forward to seeing what you make of it.
~Mardy
(Credit where it's due: Images in order of appearance are from here, here, here, six or seven layered screencaps, and here.)
~~~
And now, at long last, the reveal! :>D
Quillori wrote me Sunlight and the Breath of May for Gjallarhorn's "Konungen och trollkvinnan." It's about a single life made up of many stories, each one told in turn by a weaver and her daughters as they work toward a purpose only revealed fully at the end -- go read! And while you're there, consider checking out the rest of Jukebox 2013. There's a lot of good fic to be found and sampled, and the moderator put together a playlist of all the songs with stories written for them here.