ON WITH THE SHOW a.k.a. The Epic Pipster Playlist of Inordinate Length and Questionable Quality
My good friends, I am proud to present a work that has caused me both great pain and great joy in the past two years. This labour of fan-love that would not have been possible without the contributions and support of viewers like you the flash_rogues and the piper_trickster community in specific, as well as suggestions from fans on both dA and y!Gallery, and personal aid from lithefider and mythnlynx . |mL all.
If you would like to peek a little more into the recesses of my mind during a creative process, please regard the Overture as that chance.
What follows is my intensive blather about lyrics and meaning and storyline. I will be posting the clean artwork and processes for that up on my y!Gallery and deviantArt accounts post-haste. If you want to avoid all that and skip straight to downloading (or download as you read), the .zip links are at the bottom of the post.
Please enjoy the SHOW!
I. Dramatis Personae (Music & Mayhem) - Meet our players in a few rousing character choruses!
01. The Piper - We Are Wolves
Instrumental
My preferred lead-in to any FST is an instrumental overture of sorts. This short, jaunty piece showcases both characters’ personalities, despite the title.
02. Pied Piper - Chrispian St. Peters
Don't be scared to move
Hey, babe
What are you tryin' to prove
It ain't true
That your life has kicked you
It's your mind
And that's all that's trickin' you
An upbeat song beckoning listeners to follow that damned piccolo. This also sets up the expectation that this mix will end up mostly Piper’s story.
03. The Trickster - We Are Scientists
When you think you've got him down
And there's no way he'll get free
Well he's got many tricks that you haven't seen yet
And he'll flee
Our introduction to the Trickster is that his MO exasperates and amuses everyone who crosses his path. There’s a note of admiration in the song that reminds me of the stories where Hartley’s inspired to his life of crime after witnessing exciting villain derring-do.
04. Magic Power - Triumph
Something's at the edge of your mind, you don't know what it is
Somethin' you were hopin' to find but you’re not sure what it is
Then you hear the music and it all comes crystal clear
The music does the talkin' says the things you want to hear
Hartley discovers music and his own worth in a power ballad of epic proportions. Guest-starring his sister Jerry, because I refuse to believe he wouldn’t try to help her even when not speaking to the rest of the family.
05. Theme Song from Greatest American Hero
Believe it or not,
I'm walkin' on air,
I never thought I could feel so free;
Flyin' away on a wing and a pray'r,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me.
Gio can fly! Detailing the amazing exploits of the fantastic flying Jesse and his amazing inventive amazingness!
06. What’s My Age Again? - Blink182
And that's about the time she broke up with me
No one should take themselves so seriously
With many years ahead to fall in line
Why would you wish that on me?
I never want to act my age
What's my age again?
A good summation of the Trickster’s more annoying qualities and puer aeternus.
II. Inside Men - We see our boys in their interactions within the pack.
07. Joker mash-up with Everything I Own -Jason Mraz & Chriss
I'm a picker, I'm a grinner, I'm a lover, and I'm a sinner
I play my music in the sun
I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker.
I get my lovin' on the run.
/
You sheltered me from harm
Kept me warm, kept me warm
You gave my love to me
Set me free, set me free
James’ showy confidence and carefree personality interwoven with Piper’s more mellow and yearning nature.
08. Jesters, Dreamers & Thieves - Edwin McCain
Now I keep company with wicked evil men
My generosity's brimming but I'm still inclined to sin
My friends think I am crazy and I know that may be so
But I'm as happy with a penny as coffers full of gold
The Rogues are a tight group, and despite groundbreaking inventions and jaw-dropping (mostly stolen) wealth, nothing can beat the rush of a job or the feel of your family-by-choice.
09. Bordello Kind of Guy (When the Trickster Starts a'Walkin') - Gogol Bordello
When the trickster starts a-walking
He sends the whole world askew
Just when you think that it's all through
Its just a birth of something new
And when the trickster starts a-pokin
Who does he need to ask permission
Before he goes in third position
I guess he's just-a bordello kind of guy!
Wherein the Trickster sometimes becomes an overcompensating jerk. Drunken shenanigans ensue. This song is the reason the artwork doesn’t strictly follow the timeline, and it gave me an excuse to draw the others though when it got to the colouring, I really started to regret that.
10. Won't Say + Let's Get Together + Belle - Nick, Kristen & Quartet
You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feelin'
Baby, we're not lying, hon we saw ya hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown up
When ya gonna own up that ya got, got, got it bad?
/
Let’s get together yeah, yeah, yeah
Whatdya say?
We could have a swingin’ time
We’d be a crazy team
Why don’t we make a scene
together?
A medley of awesome. Our boys are not quite as discrete as they could be, and the others tease them for it, but Piper won’t say he’s in love. JJ acts like an oblivious and over-enthusiastic puppy trying to get on the Piper’s fun side (or Lisa & Roscoe are having their own affair in the background, while the two stories overlap. I see both.). Realizations may or may not ensue.
11. In Too Deep - Sum 41
I can't sit back and wonder why
It took so long for this to die
And I hate it when you fake it
You can't hide it, you might as well embrace it
The two struggle to bury their feelings, while realizing that maybe the business is a little over their heads.
12. The Pied Piper (Wrong and Right) - Yoriyos
Because I’ve tried real hard to seek out and find
An Open Heart, an Open Mind
Who will stand with me when I find
Wrong and Right
The Piper chooses his path. Also, I want you all to YouTube the heck out of this music video, for it is amazing (says the animation fan).
III. Life On the (Relatively) Straight and Narrow - Remember wide swath of reform, social action, and snark that was the late-eighties and nineties?
13. That’s Why I’m Here - James Taylor
It seems "learn not to burn" means turn on a dime
And walk on if you're walking even if it's an uphill climb
And try to remember that working's no crime
Just don't let 'em take and waste your time
That's why I'm here
This is an IOU
I reckon' I owe you one now
Listen Wendy and listen Gloria
This'll be better tomorrow
That path leads to where he’s already been; a (slowly legalizing) Robin Hood shtick, and a sense of social responsibility.
14. When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down) - Great Big Sea
He just needs, something to blind him
Something to wind him up
It won't take long to find him
When it comes on strong.
Wise guys are grinning, street lights are spinning
The night is just beginning, and then it comes on strong
It comes on strong, and I am lifted, I am lifted, I am lifted!
When I’m up I can’t get down
In the moment it feels the same. But the payoff is better.
15. Listen to the Radio - Pukka Orchestra
Slip in by the concierge
By the bikes and up the stairs
Snap the latch and creep into the room
You throw off your coat, pick up the post
And put a coffee on
Lie down on the bed, lay back your head
And smoke a cigarette
And listen to the radio
Listen to the radio
All night long
A too normal life for the gay best friend of the Flash, sonics master, and social activist. Piper doesn’t miss the old days at all…
16. Love Remains the Same - Gavin Rossdale
Half the time the world is ending
Truth is I am done pretending
Too much time too long defending
You and I are done pretending
I, never thought that I
Had anymore to give
James is gone, JJ’s restless, the world is ending (again), and Hart’s learning his limits are further than he thought.
17. Rock Me Tonight - Billy Squire
I'm rockin' tonight - I'm walkin' on air
Gonna find me some trouble - gonna grab my share
I want ya tonight - I want ya with me
Make me guilty of love in the first degree
/
No one's stoppin' us now -
We go down, down where the music's loud
If it's all night - hey that's all right by me
Go and play on my love - play it all for me
What’s a little fun between friends, right? The musical euphemisms are just continuing in the grand tradition of Rogue puns.
18. Run Like a Villain - Iggy Pop
Let the good times roll
Run like a villain to save your soul
It can't be done, I already know
So I'll run like a villain to the sugar bowl
Cause who you are, nobody knows
Who you are, nobody knows
You’ve rings on your fingers
And bells on your toes
I like to make these things into story arcs, so we here get a villain song. It helps that it touches on some themes from other songs, which warms the cockles of my little blackened English-Major soul. So, Neron gloats. Nightmares ensue.
IV. Pet Projects - Covering the whole life-shattering era that was Rogues War and its lead-up. It hurts from now on guys.
19. Rat Fight - Watership Down Soundtrack
Instrumental
Disaster strikes. The Piper is missing at a very crucial time. The evidence looks solid. It’s all very damning.
20. The Piper - ABBA
They came from the hills
And they came from the valleys and the plains
They struggled in the cold
In the heat and the snow and in the rain
Come to hear him play
Play their minds away
The rats make a friend. Yes, I included ABBA just to outrage the Rogues.
21. Misfits - The Kinks
You're a misfit
Afraid of yourself so you run away and hide
You've been a misfit all your life
But why don't you join the crowd and come inside
There’s a Project in the works, and Agent Jesse makes an offer that can’t be refused.
22. Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You - Madonna
You almost proved yourself this time
That all the saints be praised
You hide your sadness behind your smile
And you keep your lost heartbreaks
The steps that are just on the ledge
It’s much higher than it seems
But I’ve been on that ledge before
You can’t hide yourself from me
Hartley sees through you, James. And the mind-whammies aren’t holding up.
23. Take It Back - Barenaked Ladies
Save me from a villainous imagination
Deliver me from my friends
If I said something to make you mad
I will take it back
Left once more to their own devices, Piper and the Trickster hatch separate plans.
24. Rat Within the Grain - Damien Rice
Within this big misunderstanding now, I'm being misunderstood.
I'm thinkin' someone's trying to fuck with me and set fire to my wood.
/
Well I wouldn't want you to want to be wanted by me.
/
It's a stupid situation now where everything goes wrong.
If you can't tell if I am lying: then you do not belong.
/
In truth, I only really wanted to be wanted by you.
A sort of last minute addition that I pulled from an Inception mix, because I loved it that much. It really fits earlier in the Project era, after all those songs where they may have gotten together and split. Especially after the Neron Incident that Tricks is still not giving me all the details to. But the tone of the song sort of clashes with the earlier parts of the act, so imagine this is a filler bit for things we don’t see happen between Rogues War and the Incident With Bart.
V. Race to Nowhere Fast - The part we all love to hate: the Countdown.
25. Sing - The Dresden Dolls
There is thing keeping everyone's lungs and lips locked
It is called fear and it's seeing a great renaissance
After the show you can not sing wherever you want
But for now let's just pretend we're all gonna get bombed
So SING
They rejoin the group undercover, only for things to go horribly, utterly against everyone’s plans.
26. Fiddle and the Drum - A Perfect Circle
You say I have turned
Like the enemies you've earned.
But I can remember all the good things you are...
And so I ask you please,
Can I help you find the peace and the star?
Oh my friend what time is this,
To trade the handshake for the fist?
A dirge for a hero and for justice.
27. Miss Sobriety - Cute Is What We Aim For
Hey Miss Sobriety, do you remember me? Or how to say my name?
Do you remember when we were friends, yeah all the way back then
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
Don’t you wonder why I even left her?
One man’s pain is another man’s pleasure
I never thought that I could get so low
Piper wants to know what the hell’s crawled up the Trickster’s ass. Their situation isn’t helping any.
28. Talk To Me - Stevie Nicks
Though we lay face to face and cheek to cheek
Our voices stray from common ground where they could meet
The walls run high, to veil a swelling tear
Well, let the walls burn down, set your secrets free
You can break their bounds, ‘cause you're safe with me
Hartley is tired of James’ offensive defense. He’s willing to talk.
29. Chasing Cars - Snowpatrol
I don't quite know how to say how I feel
Those three words are said too much
They're not enough
Once in a relatively safe place, confusion and nerves take hold. It’s nice to just be, though.
30. If It Kills Me (From the Casa Nova Sessions) - Jason Mraz
Yeah, you figured me out
Something gave it away
It would be such a beautiful moment
To see the look on your face
To know that I know that you know now
And baby that’s a case of my wishful thinking
You know nothing
Cause you and I
Why, we go carrying on for hours, on and
We get along much better
Than you and your boyfriend
Every time JJ’s tried to say it, it comes out wrong or something’s come up! This last time is no different, unfortunately. Here’s that train beat again.
VI. Winning a Losing Battle - The emo, er, awesome part that covers what we know up to now. After this section, it’s pure beautiful speculation, babes!
31. Estranged - Guns N’ Roses
When I find out all the reasons
Maybe I'll find another way
Find another day
With all the changing seasons of my life
Maybe I'll get it right next time
An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
Anymore, and what for?
After the train. Questionable sanity. He’s talking to himself, but nobody’s home. Hartley wanders in search of an answer. Apokaliptic manipulations and lamentation for things lost ensue.
32. The Show Must Go On - Queen
Whatever happens I'll leave it all to chance
Another heartache another failed romance
On and on
Does anybody know what we are living for
I guess I'm learning
I must be warmer now
I'll soon be turning round the corner now
Outside the dawn is breaking
But inside in the dark I'm aching to be free
When he finds that answer, the Piper snaps back in a crowning moment of awesome! He’s not as easy as some “gods” would assume.
33. Me Against the World - Simple Plan
I've got no place to go
I've got nowhere to run
They'd love to watch me fall
They think they know it all
Back on Earth, the Piper makes his move, but is it too much to handle?
34. Scarecrow - Pink Floyd
The black and green scarecrow is sadder than me
But now he's resigned to his fate
'Cause life's not unkind - he doesn't mind.
Outsiders’ view of a defeated man. Their ideas of the Pied Piper are very different from the realities of one Hartley Rathaway. This is an odd little song that wouldn’t leave me be. Allow me to indulge in my alternate perspectives and strange symbolism.
35. A Window to the Past - John Williams
Instrumental
After turning himself in, the only thing left for Hart to do is recollect.
36. Ghost - Indigo Girls
Dark and dangerous like a secret
That gets whispered in a hush
(Don't tell a soul)
When I wake the things I dreamt about you
Last night make me blush
(Don't tell a soul)
And you kiss me like a lover
Then you sting me like a viper
I go follow to the river
Play your memory like a piper
Piper falls further as he realizes just what the Trickster meant to him.
VII. The Last Act - The climactic conclusion! Or is it? What am I saying, the artwork totally gives me away. As does anyone with working knowledge of my weakness for happy non-endings.
37. Wherever You Will Go - The Calling
And maybe, I'll find out
A way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you
Through the darkest of your days
If a great wave should fall and fall upon us all
Well then I hope there's someone out there
Who can bring me back to you
James tries to reach out, while Piper struggles alone on another plane. They both know what they need to do.
38. Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin’ Park
Don't be afraid
I've taken my beating
I've shared what I made
I'm strong on the surface
Not all the way through
I've never been perfect
But neither have you
When the attack comes, Hart answers the call. He makes his peace with an old friend, and an older enemy.
39. Invincible - OK Go
When they finally come to destroy the earth
They'll have to go through you first
I bet they won't be expecting that
When they finally come to destroy the earth
They'll have to deal with you first
And now my money says they won't know about the
Thousand Fahrenheit hot-metal lights behind your eyes
And how brightly he shines! (This song kicks so much ass.)
40. The Swan Song - Within Temptation
Instrumental version
Hart is prepared for the final act.
41. You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up) - Josh Groban
Don't give up
Because you want to be heard
If silence keeps you
I, I will break it for you
Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved
As he begins to falter under overwhelming odds, Piper hears something from Beyond.
42. Alive and Kicking - Simple Minds
You turn me on, you lift me up
And like the sweetest cup I’d share with you
You lift me up, don’t you ever stop, I’m here with you
Now it’s all or nothing
’Cause you say you’ll follow through
You follow me, and I, I, I follow you
The Will to Love, the will to live. Hope springs eternal. There is something beyond the veil and a connection has been forged.
ENCORE - Bonus Tracks, because I am WEAK.
I.a. Marriage to Millions - Cute Is What We Aim For
You may notice I have a lot of double songs from the same artists. Sometimes I just can’t choose! This one’s great for describing our boys’ relationship with their night-jobs. It would probably serve better in one of our numerous Rogues-in-General lists, just saying.
I.b. Real Wild One- Iggy Pop
Trickster through and through, though most versions kinda apply to Axel as well. Besides, I wanted my story arcs, so Neron got a voice. Mwahahahaaaaaaaa *choke*
II. Smile - Uncle Kracker
A fun, upbeat tune about one of those things a Trickster loves most. I just thought it was a little more…accepting of a relationship than would work for the story that I was trying to tell. Also, it has been on the radio waaaaaaaaaaay too often lately.
III.a. Good Man - Josh Ritter
Another good song - still rather too accepting - but a little taste of something different from my usual fare. I loved all the musical references, and the wild west/western film ones. It just fits.
III.b. Total Eclipse of the Heart - Various, The Dan Band
The staple of all ship mixes. This is just a version that’s sung by a guy and full of curses. I like to imagine it’s Piper whenever he gets it stuck in his head. He could pwn those choirboys anytime, anywhere.
IV.a. Under Pressure - Keane
Another melodic version of an old favorite. I’ve had to listen to a great number of Queen covers in order to make my Good Omens soundtrack (which I’ve now lost :( ), and someone on dA pointed out this amazing version of ‘Under Pressure’. It’s vying with the Bowie version as my favorite, even if he does use the IceIce beat. In my opinion, Keane rescues that poor, poor extra beat from an existence of infamy.
IV.b. Your Biggest Fan - Voxtrot
I have an unhealthy love for this song. It’s the utter denial being exhibited, I think. I love the lines “For a moment you looked tender and I knew/that I could never ever ever ever ever ever touch you/because you might touch back./Oh yes, you might, oh you might touch back.” Kinda a self-reflexive kick in the face.
V.a. If I Didn’t Have You - Don Rickles and Eric Idle From Quest For Camelot
When this song was suggested to me, I wanted to get out my tinfoil hat to keep you guys out of my brain! I absolutely loved this movie when it came out (I watched it a record nine times in a day once), and can so easily hear a tethered Piper and Trickster needling eachother throughout their run. Especially the handpuppet part and the “can you hear yourself!?” exchanges in Countdown. Unfortunately I had to pull it because there was mood-whiplash like you wouldn’t believe no matter what order I played the songs in. This song, ‘Smile’, and ‘Millions’ are the reason for this bonus list.
V.b. Time - Cute Is What We Aim For
Great song, and another double. This would be a lot more pertinent had DC gone the Trickster-betrayer route. It makes it sound like it was his job to fuck Hart over, despite having feelings for him, rather than him just being cagey and insensitive.
VI. Believing - The Calling
This is just a great song for Piper and the others like him - he’s been pushed and pulled, lied to and fucked-over by the world, and the resolves he came to all those years ago have only strengthened. Like Mick said in katz’ fic, “the boy’s willow.” He may not break but he will snap, and snap back hard. Sadly, the rest of this act has Piper already at the ferocious whipping point he was at on Apokalips/during Rogues Revenge and the immediate fallback he’s (probably) at right now. The next act deals with a future that Brightest Day will hopefully not joss, where Piper reaches equilibrium and displays the more sustained force of will suggested by ‘Believing’. I also needed to reintroduce Trickster’s voice in all of this (it is a pairing mix after all), so we hear The Calling’s equally wonderful, if slightly overplayed, 1‘Wherever You May Go’ for James’ ghostly opinion.
VII.a. Stand My Ground - Within Temptation
If I were to use a Within Temptation song with words for this, it would without a doubt be this song. The lyrics have a much stronger impact than ‘Swan Song’’s to begin with, and work much better with the character I’ve been building up here. But again, the theme is a reprise of the song directly before it. ‘Invincible’ gives the same message of pure willfulness and power, while tying it into the larger framework of the DCU with allusions to other heroes’ powers. Following it up with the epic instrumental that is ‘The Swan Song’ gives the same feel as ‘Stand my Ground’ by itself and lets us follow through with the action in our imagination with bonus rocking. And, as I’ve already established, I love to think of Piper’s eyes burning with power when he’s uber-charged.
VII.b. One With Everything - Styx
Originally this song was second-to-last in the main mix, but I found the “ending” kinda dragged out a little when I did that. Plus I wanted ‘Rat Within the Grain’ incorporated in, and what super special awesome soundtrack is complete without a John Hughes-esq Simple Minds end theme?
xxx. Anytime, Anywhere. Your Song - Elton John
Friendship and love both warrant gifts, and when the friend in question is obsessed with music, what better gift than a song? The line about the eye colours amuses me, because it’s true.
So a kind soul reminded me that MegaUpload has been taken down by Navy Seals or something, so I needed to re-upload this fanmix. I had to break the mix into parts to be small enough to upload onto Mediafire. I re-uploaded the files as .zips. If you need .rars, just let me know
Disc 1, parts I-III. Basically, pre-Johns era.
Disc 2, parts IV-VII the Rathaway murders through the happy ending I just know pre-boot would have gotten to (shhhh, I like my happy endings).
Disc 3, the Encore and the artwork for the whole mix.
I know it's all broken up, but each track is numbered according to its order in the whole mix. If you want one big playlist, just copy them all into the same folder and click organize by track number.
Happy Listening!
If you would like to peek a little more into the recesses of my mind during a creative process, please regard the Overture as that chance.
What follows is my intensive blather about lyrics and meaning and storyline. I will be posting the clean artwork and processes for that up on my y!Gallery and deviantArt accounts post-haste. If you want to avoid all that and skip straight to downloading (or download as you read), the .zip links are at the bottom of the post.
Please enjoy the SHOW!
I. Dramatis Personae (Music & Mayhem) - Meet our players in a few rousing character choruses!
01. The Piper - We Are Wolves
Instrumental
My preferred lead-in to any FST is an instrumental overture of sorts. This short, jaunty piece showcases both characters’ personalities, despite the title.
02. Pied Piper - Chrispian St. Peters
Don't be scared to move
Hey, babe
What are you tryin' to prove
It ain't true
That your life has kicked you
It's your mind
And that's all that's trickin' you
An upbeat song beckoning listeners to follow that damned piccolo. This also sets up the expectation that this mix will end up mostly Piper’s story.
03. The Trickster - We Are Scientists
When you think you've got him down
And there's no way he'll get free
Well he's got many tricks that you haven't seen yet
And he'll flee
Our introduction to the Trickster is that his MO exasperates and amuses everyone who crosses his path. There’s a note of admiration in the song that reminds me of the stories where Hartley’s inspired to his life of crime after witnessing exciting villain derring-do.
04. Magic Power - Triumph
Something's at the edge of your mind, you don't know what it is
Somethin' you were hopin' to find but you’re not sure what it is
Then you hear the music and it all comes crystal clear
The music does the talkin' says the things you want to hear
Hartley discovers music and his own worth in a power ballad of epic proportions. Guest-starring his sister Jerry, because I refuse to believe he wouldn’t try to help her even when not speaking to the rest of the family.
05. Theme Song from Greatest American Hero
Believe it or not,
I'm walkin' on air,
I never thought I could feel so free;
Flyin' away on a wing and a pray'r,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me.
Gio can fly! Detailing the amazing exploits of the fantastic flying Jesse and his amazing inventive amazingness!
06. What’s My Age Again? - Blink182
And that's about the time she broke up with me
No one should take themselves so seriously
With many years ahead to fall in line
Why would you wish that on me?
I never want to act my age
What's my age again?
A good summation of the Trickster’s more annoying qualities and puer aeternus.
II. Inside Men - We see our boys in their interactions within the pack.
07. Joker mash-up with Everything I Own -Jason Mraz & Chriss
I'm a picker, I'm a grinner, I'm a lover, and I'm a sinner
I play my music in the sun
I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker.
I get my lovin' on the run.
/
You sheltered me from harm
Kept me warm, kept me warm
You gave my love to me
Set me free, set me free
James’ showy confidence and carefree personality interwoven with Piper’s more mellow and yearning nature.
08. Jesters, Dreamers & Thieves - Edwin McCain
Now I keep company with wicked evil men
My generosity's brimming but I'm still inclined to sin
My friends think I am crazy and I know that may be so
But I'm as happy with a penny as coffers full of gold
The Rogues are a tight group, and despite groundbreaking inventions and jaw-dropping (mostly stolen) wealth, nothing can beat the rush of a job or the feel of your family-by-choice.
09. Bordello Kind of Guy (When the Trickster Starts a'Walkin') - Gogol Bordello
When the trickster starts a-walking
He sends the whole world askew
Just when you think that it's all through
Its just a birth of something new
And when the trickster starts a-pokin
Who does he need to ask permission
Before he goes in third position
I guess he's just-a bordello kind of guy!
Wherein the Trickster sometimes becomes an overcompensating jerk. Drunken shenanigans ensue. This song is the reason the artwork doesn’t strictly follow the timeline, and it gave me an excuse to draw the others though when it got to the colouring, I really started to regret that.
10. Won't Say + Let's Get Together + Belle - Nick, Kristen & Quartet
You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feelin'
Baby, we're not lying, hon we saw ya hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown up
When ya gonna own up that ya got, got, got it bad?
/
Let’s get together yeah, yeah, yeah
Whatdya say?
We could have a swingin’ time
We’d be a crazy team
Why don’t we make a scene
together?
A medley of awesome. Our boys are not quite as discrete as they could be, and the others tease them for it, but Piper won’t say he’s in love. JJ acts like an oblivious and over-enthusiastic puppy trying to get on the Piper’s fun side (or Lisa & Roscoe are having their own affair in the background, while the two stories overlap. I see both.). Realizations may or may not ensue.
11. In Too Deep - Sum 41
I can't sit back and wonder why
It took so long for this to die
And I hate it when you fake it
You can't hide it, you might as well embrace it
The two struggle to bury their feelings, while realizing that maybe the business is a little over their heads.
12. The Pied Piper (Wrong and Right) - Yoriyos
Because I’ve tried real hard to seek out and find
An Open Heart, an Open Mind
Who will stand with me when I find
Wrong and Right
The Piper chooses his path. Also, I want you all to YouTube the heck out of this music video, for it is amazing (says the animation fan).
III. Life On the (Relatively) Straight and Narrow - Remember wide swath of reform, social action, and snark that was the late-eighties and nineties?
13. That’s Why I’m Here - James Taylor
It seems "learn not to burn" means turn on a dime
And walk on if you're walking even if it's an uphill climb
And try to remember that working's no crime
Just don't let 'em take and waste your time
That's why I'm here
This is an IOU
I reckon' I owe you one now
Listen Wendy and listen Gloria
This'll be better tomorrow
That path leads to where he’s already been; a (slowly legalizing) Robin Hood shtick, and a sense of social responsibility.
14. When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down) - Great Big Sea
He just needs, something to blind him
Something to wind him up
It won't take long to find him
When it comes on strong.
Wise guys are grinning, street lights are spinning
The night is just beginning, and then it comes on strong
It comes on strong, and I am lifted, I am lifted, I am lifted!
When I’m up I can’t get down
In the moment it feels the same. But the payoff is better.
15. Listen to the Radio - Pukka Orchestra
Slip in by the concierge
By the bikes and up the stairs
Snap the latch and creep into the room
You throw off your coat, pick up the post
And put a coffee on
Lie down on the bed, lay back your head
And smoke a cigarette
And listen to the radio
Listen to the radio
All night long
A too normal life for the gay best friend of the Flash, sonics master, and social activist. Piper doesn’t miss the old days at all…
16. Love Remains the Same - Gavin Rossdale
Half the time the world is ending
Truth is I am done pretending
Too much time too long defending
You and I are done pretending
I, never thought that I
Had anymore to give
James is gone, JJ’s restless, the world is ending (again), and Hart’s learning his limits are further than he thought.
17. Rock Me Tonight - Billy Squire
I'm rockin' tonight - I'm walkin' on air
Gonna find me some trouble - gonna grab my share
I want ya tonight - I want ya with me
Make me guilty of love in the first degree
/
No one's stoppin' us now -
We go down, down where the music's loud
If it's all night - hey that's all right by me
Go and play on my love - play it all for me
What’s a little fun between friends, right? The musical euphemisms are just continuing in the grand tradition of Rogue puns.
18. Run Like a Villain - Iggy Pop
Let the good times roll
Run like a villain to save your soul
It can't be done, I already know
So I'll run like a villain to the sugar bowl
Cause who you are, nobody knows
Who you are, nobody knows
You’ve rings on your fingers
And bells on your toes
I like to make these things into story arcs, so we here get a villain song. It helps that it touches on some themes from other songs, which warms the cockles of my little blackened English-Major soul. So, Neron gloats. Nightmares ensue.
IV. Pet Projects - Covering the whole life-shattering era that was Rogues War and its lead-up. It hurts from now on guys.
19. Rat Fight - Watership Down Soundtrack
Instrumental
Disaster strikes. The Piper is missing at a very crucial time. The evidence looks solid. It’s all very damning.
20. The Piper - ABBA
They came from the hills
And they came from the valleys and the plains
They struggled in the cold
In the heat and the snow and in the rain
Come to hear him play
Play their minds away
The rats make a friend. Yes, I included ABBA just to outrage the Rogues.
21. Misfits - The Kinks
You're a misfit
Afraid of yourself so you run away and hide
You've been a misfit all your life
But why don't you join the crowd and come inside
There’s a Project in the works, and Agent Jesse makes an offer that can’t be refused.
22. Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You - Madonna
You almost proved yourself this time
That all the saints be praised
You hide your sadness behind your smile
And you keep your lost heartbreaks
The steps that are just on the ledge
It’s much higher than it seems
But I’ve been on that ledge before
You can’t hide yourself from me
Hartley sees through you, James. And the mind-whammies aren’t holding up.
23. Take It Back - Barenaked Ladies
Save me from a villainous imagination
Deliver me from my friends
If I said something to make you mad
I will take it back
Left once more to their own devices, Piper and the Trickster hatch separate plans.
24. Rat Within the Grain - Damien Rice
Within this big misunderstanding now, I'm being misunderstood.
I'm thinkin' someone's trying to fuck with me and set fire to my wood.
/
Well I wouldn't want you to want to be wanted by me.
/
It's a stupid situation now where everything goes wrong.
If you can't tell if I am lying: then you do not belong.
/
In truth, I only really wanted to be wanted by you.
A sort of last minute addition that I pulled from an Inception mix, because I loved it that much. It really fits earlier in the Project era, after all those songs where they may have gotten together and split. Especially after the Neron Incident that Tricks is still not giving me all the details to. But the tone of the song sort of clashes with the earlier parts of the act, so imagine this is a filler bit for things we don’t see happen between Rogues War and the Incident With Bart.
V. Race to Nowhere Fast - The part we all love to hate: the Countdown.
25. Sing - The Dresden Dolls
There is thing keeping everyone's lungs and lips locked
It is called fear and it's seeing a great renaissance
After the show you can not sing wherever you want
But for now let's just pretend we're all gonna get bombed
So SING
They rejoin the group undercover, only for things to go horribly, utterly against everyone’s plans.
26. Fiddle and the Drum - A Perfect Circle
You say I have turned
Like the enemies you've earned.
But I can remember all the good things you are...
And so I ask you please,
Can I help you find the peace and the star?
Oh my friend what time is this,
To trade the handshake for the fist?
A dirge for a hero and for justice.
27. Miss Sobriety - Cute Is What We Aim For
Hey Miss Sobriety, do you remember me? Or how to say my name?
Do you remember when we were friends, yeah all the way back then
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
Don’t you wonder why I even left her?
One man’s pain is another man’s pleasure
I never thought that I could get so low
Piper wants to know what the hell’s crawled up the Trickster’s ass. Their situation isn’t helping any.
28. Talk To Me - Stevie Nicks
Though we lay face to face and cheek to cheek
Our voices stray from common ground where they could meet
The walls run high, to veil a swelling tear
Well, let the walls burn down, set your secrets free
You can break their bounds, ‘cause you're safe with me
Hartley is tired of James’ offensive defense. He’s willing to talk.
29. Chasing Cars - Snowpatrol
I don't quite know how to say how I feel
Those three words are said too much
They're not enough
Once in a relatively safe place, confusion and nerves take hold. It’s nice to just be, though.
30. If It Kills Me (From the Casa Nova Sessions) - Jason Mraz
Yeah, you figured me out
Something gave it away
It would be such a beautiful moment
To see the look on your face
To know that I know that you know now
And baby that’s a case of my wishful thinking
You know nothing
Cause you and I
Why, we go carrying on for hours, on and
We get along much better
Than you and your boyfriend
Every time JJ’s tried to say it, it comes out wrong or something’s come up! This last time is no different, unfortunately. Here’s that train beat again.
VI. Winning a Losing Battle - The emo, er, awesome part that covers what we know up to now. After this section, it’s pure beautiful speculation, babes!
31. Estranged - Guns N’ Roses
When I find out all the reasons
Maybe I'll find another way
Find another day
With all the changing seasons of my life
Maybe I'll get it right next time
An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
Anymore, and what for?
After the train. Questionable sanity. He’s talking to himself, but nobody’s home. Hartley wanders in search of an answer. Apokaliptic manipulations and lamentation for things lost ensue.
32. The Show Must Go On - Queen
Whatever happens I'll leave it all to chance
Another heartache another failed romance
On and on
Does anybody know what we are living for
I guess I'm learning
I must be warmer now
I'll soon be turning round the corner now
Outside the dawn is breaking
But inside in the dark I'm aching to be free
When he finds that answer, the Piper snaps back in a crowning moment of awesome! He’s not as easy as some “gods” would assume.
33. Me Against the World - Simple Plan
I've got no place to go
I've got nowhere to run
They'd love to watch me fall
They think they know it all
Back on Earth, the Piper makes his move, but is it too much to handle?
34. Scarecrow - Pink Floyd
The black and green scarecrow is sadder than me
But now he's resigned to his fate
'Cause life's not unkind - he doesn't mind.
Outsiders’ view of a defeated man. Their ideas of the Pied Piper are very different from the realities of one Hartley Rathaway. This is an odd little song that wouldn’t leave me be. Allow me to indulge in my alternate perspectives and strange symbolism.
35. A Window to the Past - John Williams
Instrumental
After turning himself in, the only thing left for Hart to do is recollect.
36. Ghost - Indigo Girls
Dark and dangerous like a secret
That gets whispered in a hush
(Don't tell a soul)
When I wake the things I dreamt about you
Last night make me blush
(Don't tell a soul)
And you kiss me like a lover
Then you sting me like a viper
I go follow to the river
Play your memory like a piper
Piper falls further as he realizes just what the Trickster meant to him.
VII. The Last Act - The climactic conclusion! Or is it? What am I saying, the artwork totally gives me away. As does anyone with working knowledge of my weakness for happy non-endings.
37. Wherever You Will Go - The Calling
And maybe, I'll find out
A way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you
Through the darkest of your days
If a great wave should fall and fall upon us all
Well then I hope there's someone out there
Who can bring me back to you
James tries to reach out, while Piper struggles alone on another plane. They both know what they need to do.
38. Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin’ Park
Don't be afraid
I've taken my beating
I've shared what I made
I'm strong on the surface
Not all the way through
I've never been perfect
But neither have you
When the attack comes, Hart answers the call. He makes his peace with an old friend, and an older enemy.
39. Invincible - OK Go
When they finally come to destroy the earth
They'll have to go through you first
I bet they won't be expecting that
When they finally come to destroy the earth
They'll have to deal with you first
And now my money says they won't know about the
Thousand Fahrenheit hot-metal lights behind your eyes
And how brightly he shines! (This song kicks so much ass.)
40. The Swan Song - Within Temptation
Instrumental version
Hart is prepared for the final act.
41. You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up) - Josh Groban
Don't give up
Because you want to be heard
If silence keeps you
I, I will break it for you
Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved
As he begins to falter under overwhelming odds, Piper hears something from Beyond.
42. Alive and Kicking - Simple Minds
You turn me on, you lift me up
And like the sweetest cup I’d share with you
You lift me up, don’t you ever stop, I’m here with you
Now it’s all or nothing
’Cause you say you’ll follow through
You follow me, and I, I, I follow you
The Will to Love, the will to live. Hope springs eternal. There is something beyond the veil and a connection has been forged.
ENCORE - Bonus Tracks, because I am WEAK.
I.a. Marriage to Millions - Cute Is What We Aim For
You may notice I have a lot of double songs from the same artists. Sometimes I just can’t choose! This one’s great for describing our boys’ relationship with their night-jobs. It would probably serve better in one of our numerous Rogues-in-General lists, just saying.
I.b. Real Wild One- Iggy Pop
Trickster through and through, though most versions kinda apply to Axel as well. Besides, I wanted my story arcs, so Neron got a voice. Mwahahahaaaaaaaa *choke*
II. Smile - Uncle Kracker
A fun, upbeat tune about one of those things a Trickster loves most. I just thought it was a little more…accepting of a relationship than would work for the story that I was trying to tell. Also, it has been on the radio waaaaaaaaaaay too often lately.
III.a. Good Man - Josh Ritter
Another good song - still rather too accepting - but a little taste of something different from my usual fare. I loved all the musical references, and the wild west/western film ones. It just fits.
III.b. Total Eclipse of the Heart - Various, The Dan Band
The staple of all ship mixes. This is just a version that’s sung by a guy and full of curses. I like to imagine it’s Piper whenever he gets it stuck in his head. He could pwn those choirboys anytime, anywhere.
IV.a. Under Pressure - Keane
Another melodic version of an old favorite. I’ve had to listen to a great number of Queen covers in order to make my Good Omens soundtrack (which I’ve now lost :( ), and someone on dA pointed out this amazing version of ‘Under Pressure’. It’s vying with the Bowie version as my favorite, even if he does use the IceIce beat. In my opinion, Keane rescues that poor, poor extra beat from an existence of infamy.
IV.b. Your Biggest Fan - Voxtrot
I have an unhealthy love for this song. It’s the utter denial being exhibited, I think. I love the lines “For a moment you looked tender and I knew/that I could never ever ever ever ever ever touch you/because you might touch back./Oh yes, you might, oh you might touch back.” Kinda a self-reflexive kick in the face.
V.a. If I Didn’t Have You - Don Rickles and Eric Idle From Quest For Camelot
When this song was suggested to me, I wanted to get out my tinfoil hat to keep you guys out of my brain! I absolutely loved this movie when it came out (I watched it a record nine times in a day once), and can so easily hear a tethered Piper and Trickster needling eachother throughout their run. Especially the handpuppet part and the “can you hear yourself!?” exchanges in Countdown. Unfortunately I had to pull it because there was mood-whiplash like you wouldn’t believe no matter what order I played the songs in. This song, ‘Smile’, and ‘Millions’ are the reason for this bonus list.
V.b. Time - Cute Is What We Aim For
Great song, and another double. This would be a lot more pertinent had DC gone the Trickster-betrayer route. It makes it sound like it was his job to fuck Hart over, despite having feelings for him, rather than him just being cagey and insensitive.
VI. Believing - The Calling
This is just a great song for Piper and the others like him - he’s been pushed and pulled, lied to and fucked-over by the world, and the resolves he came to all those years ago have only strengthened. Like Mick said in katz’ fic, “the boy’s willow.” He may not break but he will snap, and snap back hard. Sadly, the rest of this act has Piper already at the ferocious whipping point he was at on Apokalips/during Rogues Revenge and the immediate fallback he’s (probably) at right now. The next act deals with a future that Brightest Day will hopefully not joss, where Piper reaches equilibrium and displays the more sustained force of will suggested by ‘Believing’. I also needed to reintroduce Trickster’s voice in all of this (it is a pairing mix after all), so we hear The Calling’s equally wonderful, if slightly overplayed, 1‘Wherever You May Go’ for James’ ghostly opinion.
VII.a. Stand My Ground - Within Temptation
If I were to use a Within Temptation song with words for this, it would without a doubt be this song. The lyrics have a much stronger impact than ‘Swan Song’’s to begin with, and work much better with the character I’ve been building up here. But again, the theme is a reprise of the song directly before it. ‘Invincible’ gives the same message of pure willfulness and power, while tying it into the larger framework of the DCU with allusions to other heroes’ powers. Following it up with the epic instrumental that is ‘The Swan Song’ gives the same feel as ‘Stand my Ground’ by itself and lets us follow through with the action in our imagination with bonus rocking. And, as I’ve already established, I love to think of Piper’s eyes burning with power when he’s uber-charged.
VII.b. One With Everything - Styx
Originally this song was second-to-last in the main mix, but I found the “ending” kinda dragged out a little when I did that. Plus I wanted ‘Rat Within the Grain’ incorporated in, and what super special awesome soundtrack is complete without a John Hughes-esq Simple Minds end theme?
xxx. Anytime, Anywhere. Your Song - Elton John
Friendship and love both warrant gifts, and when the friend in question is obsessed with music, what better gift than a song? The line about the eye colours amuses me, because it’s true.
So a kind soul reminded me that MegaUpload has been taken down by Navy Seals or something, so I needed to re-upload this fanmix. I had to break the mix into parts to be small enough to upload onto Mediafire. I re-uploaded the files as .zips. If you need .rars, just let me know
Disc 1, parts I-III. Basically, pre-Johns era.
Disc 2, parts IV-VII the Rathaway murders through the happy ending I just know pre-boot would have gotten to (shhhh, I like my happy endings).
Disc 3, the Encore and the artwork for the whole mix.
I know it's all broken up, but each track is numbered according to its order in the whole mix. If you want one big playlist, just copy them all into the same folder and click organize by track number.
Happy Listening!