28 June 2021

Music Monday: Set Fire to the Rain

So, Camp Nanowrimo starts again in a few days and I am again cheating a bit and working on a rewrite of the third Guardians of Orana novel that still does not have an official title. The overarching story involves a temple in Calder's Port that honors the god of justice, Indarr, and how the temple's brothers seem to have become less of an order/militia and more of a cult. Murders happen in places where the initiates have been. The sister temple to Isona in the city joins the hunt for the killer but falls victim to the same cult - so the Guardians call in the Fabled Ones to work out what is going on on the docks of the southern port. What they discover may be more than even the Guardians can handle. 

This song spoke to me of a related story arc within this novel -  but once I heard this version, I could see all of those arcs coming together under the seemingly benign banners of the Temples to Indarr and Isona, as well as nods to the twin deities they worship.


Set Fire to the Rain
Original song by Adele, Cover by No Resolve

I set fire to the rain
To the rain, to the rain

I let it fall, my heart
And as it fell, you rose to claim it
It was dark and I was over
Until you kissed my lips, and you saved me
My hands, they were strong
But my knees were far too weak
To stand in your arms
Without falling to your feet

But there's a side to you
That I never knew, never knew
All the things you'd say
They were never true, never true
And the games you'd play
You would always win, always win

But I set fire to the rain
Watched it pour as I touched your face
Well, it burned while I cried
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name
Your name

When laying with you
I could stay there
And close my eyes, feel you here forever
You and me together, nothing is better

'Cause there's a side to you
That I never knew, never knew
All the things you'd say
They were never true, never true
And the games you'd play
You would always win, always win

But I set fire to the rain
Watched it pour as I touched your face
Well, it burned while I cried
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name
Your name
I set fire to the rain
And I threw us into the flames
When we fell, something died
'Cause I knew that that was the last time
The last time

Sometimes I wake up by the door
That heart you caught must be waiting for you
Even now when we're already over
I can't help myself from looking for you

But I set fire to the rain
Watched it pour as I touch your face
Well, it burned while I cried
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name
Your name
I set fire to the rain
And I threw us into the flames
When we fell, something died
'Cause I knew that that was the last time
The last time

Oh-oh, no
Let it burn, oh
Let it burn
Let it burn

21 June 2021

Anyone - Demi Lovato (Lyrics)

I heard this song first on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" which I have talked about before here - this show just gets better and better and more painful to watch. And while I love the Skylar Astin version from the show, this one by the original artist is just like that show...almost too painful to watch, but so beautiful that you must bear witness. You MUST. Demi Lovato has been through so much that they deserve for us to hear them sing this song in their own voice, and it is beautiful.

It is speaking to me as well in terms of my Nano for July. When everything has been taken from Elys, things that she didn't even know that she had...what is left? Who is there to pick her up when everyone is gone? (I promise, I'm still a fantasy writer, but I'm driven by my characters and their stories as well...)


Anyone
by Demi Lovato


I tried to talk to my piano
I tried to talk to my guitar
Talked to my imagination
Confided into alcohol
I tried and tried and tried some more
Told secrets 'til my voice was sore
Tired of empty conversation
'Cause no one hears me anymore

A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody's listening to me
Nobody's listening
I talk to shooting stars
But they always get it wrong
I feel stupid when I pray
So, why am I praying anyway?
If nobody's listening

Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone, oh
Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone

I used to crave the world's attention
I think I cried too many times
I just need some more affection
Anything to get me by

A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody's listening to me
Nobody's listening
I talk to shooting stars
But they always get it wrong
I feel stupid when I pray
Why the fuck am I praying anyway?
If nobody's listening

Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone, oh
Anyone, please send me anyone
Oh, Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone
Oh, anyone, I need anyone
Oh, anyone, I need someone

A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody's listening to me
Nobody's listening

14 June 2021

Music Monday: Better Days

June is hard, y'all. My dad's birthday and my parent's wedding anniversary are both in June, and I'm still not far enough out that I can be certain that I WON'T burst into tears at the thought of either. On the good side, though, my Bryn turns 8 the day before my dad's birthday which is also Hubs's Welcome to the Thunderdome Day ie he officially began Life as a Permanent Resident in the US. I remember how pleased my dad was to "get a son-in-law" for his birthday...we'd been married for 2.5 years already, but the fact that Hubs now lived in the US was so important to both my parents. I really think they liked him better than they did me...or they were just glad that I wouldn't be whining about how much I missed him anymore. One or the other.

This song isn't from that era of my life, but it does speak to me about this very tumultuous month - as well as to my July Camp Nanowrimo project which sees two of my characters fight to find their way back to each other when they don't even know that together is where they were. Yep, vague, I know. 

They keep fighting the good fight as they always have but something is different. All they know is that maybe one day that weird awkwardness between them will fade, that strange longing for someone that they can't quite place will ease, and those all too familiar moments will finally make sense. Just a chance that maybe they'll find better days...



Better Days
by Goo Goo Dolls

And you asked me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
'Cause I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And designer love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'Cause everyone is forgiven now
'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again

I need some place simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And that's faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child who saved this world
And there's ten million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words and sing out loud
'Cause everyone is forgiven now
'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'Cause everyone is forgiven now
'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again

'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again

07 June 2021

Music Monday: Maps...to the Future

I'm still in recovery mode from ConCarolinas this past weekend. What a great experience! What that means is that my Music Monday post is late...and this song is very appropriate to how I'm feeling after that experience. "This is the way back home..." This weekend was the way back home to who I am when I'm not stressed out, when I'm a writer, when I can chat with someone in my second language...it was good for my soul, and while I had my doubts I really proud of myself for going. 

I was on a panel about the songs we use in our writing, and this one also speaks to me about my Orana Chronicles characters and their journeys...especially one very special Clawsharp. No spoilers, though...at least not yet.

So please enjoy Ireland's Eurovision entry for 2021 (did you really think I'd be over that so soon? Please, ask my roommates from this weekend how many times I mentioned watching the Fire Saga movie or just a rerun of Eurovision!), Maps by Lesley Roy.



Maps
by Lesley Roy

I'm gonna let down all the armor
Let out the power that I've been hiding
Not afraid of the monsters, of the nightmares
That I've been fighting

Easy to run, harder to stay
Finding colours in the grey
Thought I was done, but I got it wrong
I fell twice, I'm twice as strong

I've been searching all the wrong places
I've been trying too many faces
Only one way to go
This is the way back home
I've been searching all the wrong places
I've been trying too many faces
Only one way to go
This is the way back home

I had to take all of the long ways
All of the wrong ways
'Cause I couldn't see
All the signs, all the mistakes
Pointing one way to get back to me

Easy to run, harder to stay
Finding colours in the grey
Thought I was done, but I got it wrong
I fell twice, I'm twice as strong

I've been searching all the wrong places
I've been trying too many faces
Only one way to go
This is the way back home
I've been searching all the wrong places
I've been trying too many faces
Only one way to go
This is the way back home

My soul is a map, my heart is a compass
I am the road
There's only one way to go
This is the way back home

My soul is a map, my heart is a compass
I am the road
There's only one way to go
This is the way back home

I've been searching all the wrong places
I've been trying too many faces
Only one way to go
This is the way back home
I've been searching all the wrong places
I've been trying too many faces (I've been trying)
Only one way to go
This is the way back home

Music Monday: Of Living Masterpieces

I will admit to being low-key obsessed and potentially hyper fixated on the latest album from an artist I'd never really heard of before...