There seems to be similarity among those of us in GenX when it comes to ways to de-stress. One of them is dancing to fantastic 80s music--whether you're in the car or your kitchen, it is a hit of dopamine that apparently we need from time to time. There's even a group of women of a certain age that I follow on the socials that post nothing but videos of them dancing to the songs that were the soundtrack to my life in the 80s and I am HERE FOR IT.
This one showed up for me this morning and I'd forgotten how wonderful this song is...and how much it helps. Soooooo much. (lyrics below)
She Sells Sanctuary
-The Cult
Oh, the heads that turn
Make my back burn
And those heads that turn
Make my back, make my back burn
The sparkle in your eyes
Keeps me alive
And the sparkle in your eyes
Keeps me alive, keeps me alive
The world
Oh, the world turns around
The world and the world, yeah
The world drags me down
Oh, the heads that turn
Make my back burn
And those heads that turn
Make my back, make my back burn, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
The fire in your eyes keeps me alive
And the fire in your eyes keeps me alive
Inside her you'll find sanctuary
Inside her you'll find sanctuary
And the world, the world turns around
And the world, and the world, the world drags me down
And the world, and the world, and the world, the world turns around
And the world, and the world, and the world, and the world
The world drags me down
Ah, hey yeah, hey yeah
And the world, and the world turns around
And the world, and the world
Yeah, the world drags me down
And the world, yeah, the world turns around
And the world, and the world, the world drags me down
I have a playlist in my music service called "Music Therapy." It began because I was watching some videos online by several GenX content creators who do nothing in those videos but dance to music that I remember--music from "my time period," the 1980's and early 90's. Sometimes...a lot of the time, lately, if I'm honest, I find myself unable to do anything but put on those tunes and dance around my cluttered house, stepping over my dogs and pretending that everything is going to be okay by the time the song ends. Anyone else? One that struck me (and got me dancing) recently was this tune: "A Little Respect" by Erasure. Y'all, let's dance.
I've recently started listening to a playlist I call Music Therapy after seeing loads of fellow Gen X folks financing to "our" music on the clock app. This one came on and it struck me that it was spot on for the past two years of cancer treatment for me. The title, "Kyrie Eleison" which means "Lord Have Mercy" is more than a prayer to God in the Christian tradition, to me anyway. In my mind, it is a general call for help... and it worked for me during those years. I had a tribe, a found family, in the form of a private social media group called "Yeeting Eugene," and those folks pulled me along on days I couldn't do it myself. So here is my reminder to ask for help... and mercy. I hope it helps you too. (The video has captions for the lyrics.)
This week's tune is from the playlist for my current WIP, and it absolutely spoke to me about the FMC...I could see her standing in the picture window in her second floor flat in Savannah, watching humans walk up and down the street below as she sips her wine. She's looking for someone specific, and now and then a dark haired male will catch her eye...but it isn't him.
Also, it's Siouxsie, y'all. Enjoy.
30 October 2023
Multiverse was a blast, and was so much fun that I apparently forgot to do a NEW Music Monday. Sorry about that. But Sister Moon is speaking to me in terms of the WIP for NaNoWriMo so you got it twice. This time I was thinking about Moonlighting because it was just released on streaming and I made sure to watch my two favorite episodes...one of which featured the song below during a dream sequence. Good, fantastic stuff.
The lyrics are below because this one doesn't have captioning but it does have Sting, so I think that's... no it isn't really a good trade, but it has Sting. Enjoy. This time next week I will be well into my 2k words a day, so I'm going to just lean in to the vibe this song creates.
This has always been one of my favorite songs, and I can't beat an epic remake when I'm staring down another Camp Nanowrimo month. Enjoy. Watch this space for more Nano tidbits and other bits...once I can slow down enough to blog about them!
This weekend was amazing! I spent my time with a table and some authors at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC and got to see faces I only see now and again and hug a lot of necks (more on that later). It is never long enough, and I'm reflecting on why this morning with the help of a little Crowded House (I mean, 80s music...GenX, y'all). Enjoy...I'm going to need more coffee.
The year was 1983. I was in seventh grade. And this magnificent band put out hit after hit...and now, a few years later (I'm not going to concede that the 80s were more than about 15 years ago, so don't try) this song hits differently. And when you put it with my WIP that you will have the chance to read in November, it just speaks to me of REDACTED and REDACTED and what happened at the end of Red. Also...it is a perfect example of 80s ballads at their best. Enjoy.
Confession time: I love Survivor. I mean, I love 80s music, don't get me wrong, but...their album Vital Signs by Survivor was a revelation for teenage me, and was Most Likely To Be Played At Every School Dance when I was in high school. I know it may come as a shock since I've NEVER EVER written romance into any of my books...but I'm hopeless in that category and these songs...just...
The video for I Can't Hold Back is 80s gold, complete with big hair, leather trousers, smoky dance sequences and, of course, well fitting blue jeans. The lyrics also resonated with me in terms of the current WIP, Camp Nano Take Two, which involves one of the most complicated couples I've ever written: Valentin and Henri. Have mercy.
Valentin is very much like Taeben from my Orana Chronicles: a villain who is motivated by misplaced notions of love and control. Morally gray? Not so much. Morally deficient? Nope, not that either. Just men who were hurt by someone in their formative years with strange ideas of what love is.
This song immediately takes me back to Camp Glisson, where I was first introduced to U2 and fell in love with Bono. But how perfect is this song for today? IYKYK
So, I clearly forgot about Music Monday this week. It's fine, really. To be very honest, I haven't felt like writing anything lately - with the small fires I keep having to put out for the Day Job and in my own little furry family PLUS Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the 24hr news cycle I'm just about back behind the sofa to live.
And in that vein, here is a bit of fun. Maybe. I was at the Atlanta Steampunk Expo last month and there was a fantastic artist called Dmitri just across the hall from me who had a magnificent playlist running most of the two days we were there. When this song came on, I almost had to get up and dance. I was 16 again, with my first car, dreaming about college and a career in theatre...enjoy.
Peek-A-Boo
by Siouxsie and the Banshees
Creeping up the backstairs Slinking into dark stalls Shapeless and slumped in bathchairs Furtive eyes peep out of holes She has many guises Shell do what you want her to Playing dead and sweet submission Cracks the whip deadpan on cue Peek-a-boo peek-a-boo Peek-a-boo peek-a-boo
Reeking like a pigsty Peeling back and gagging free Flaccid ego in your hand Chokes on dry tears, can you understand? Shes jeering at the shadows Sneering behind a smile Lunge and thrust to pout and pucker Into the face of the beguiled
Peek-a-boo peek-a-boo Golly jeepers Where'd you get those peepers? Peepshow, creepshow Where did you get those eyes?
Strobe lights pump and flicker Dry lips crack out for more Come bite on this rag doll, baby! That's right, now hit the floor They're sneaking out the back door She gets up from all fours Rhinestone fools and silver dollars Curdle into bitter tears
Peek-a-boo peek-a-boo Golly jeepers Where'd you get those peepers? Peepshow, creepshow Where did you get those eyes?
Right, so I'm a child of the 80s. Anyone that knows me knows I wear my GenX with pride, and will even when I turned HALF A CENTURY OLD on Saturday. This song called out to my teenage years from an ad for a video game on telly and I couldn't stop until I found it. This is Em fighting the Shadow Guardians in Rift and [redacted because I cannot seem to avoid spoilers] in Storm, even before I wrote the part where [omg seriously?] that fits it so perfectly. I even had another traffic light moment, though I didn't cry this time. That could be due to the fact that [it's out in January, can you please just wait till then?] in the climactic scene, and this was just a fight. Who knows.
Anyway, let's finish this Nano month strong with a piece that could go behind so many of my fight scenes or just as a camera pans over the Oranian landscape...
First let me say that this song is a total guilty pleasure for me because the movie it was written for is the same...and I know it is bad and problematic and all that and yet, I love it. So there. When I heard this in Stranger Things I was up and dancing around...in my head, at least.
But for now, this song speaks to me of a woman trapped between real life and game life, and the men who may be a little of both. Now back to my Nano noveling!
"Twist Of Fate" (from "Two Of A Kind" soundtrack)
Do we deserve a second chance? How did we fall into this circumstance? We weren't so straight and narrow This is much more than we deserve
A higher voice has called the tune Two hearts that lost the beat will now resume The gift of life extension By divine intervention
It's gotta be a strange twist of fate Telling me that Heaven can wait Telling me to get it right this time Life doesn't mean a thing Without the love you bring Love is what we've found The second time around
Don't understand what's going on Woke up this morning, all the hurt was gone This is a new beginning I'm back in the land of the living
It's gotta be a strange twist of fate Telling me that Heaven can wait Telling me to get it right this time Life doesn't mean a thing Without the love you bring Love is what we've found The second time around
I heard this song in the car and was struck. Or shook. I might have been shook. Anyway...
This has always been one of my favorites by Billy Joel, and the meaning has changed as I've gotten older. I'm on the other side of that life that he talks about, in the aftermath. But it also speaks to the decisions that are coming for Em in the upcoming sequel to Rift that I'm drafting during nano this year. She has been running madly toward the next thing for so much of her life...when she has time to slow down and look around, what will be left? I think of her when I hear, "You've given me the best of you, but now I need the rest of you."
And come on...Alex/Lex? "So stay with me baby, I've got plans for you..." Right? Maybe that's just me.
And that's all I can say because of SPOILERS, SWEETIE.
"This Is The Time"
by Billy Joel
We walked on the beach beside that old hotel
They're tearing it down now
But it's just as well
I haven't shown you everything a man can do
So stay with me baby
I've got plans for you
This is the time to remember
Cause it will not last forever
These are the days
To hold on to
Cause we won't
Although we'll want to
This is the time
But time is gonna change
You've given me the best of you
And now I need the rest of you
Did you know that before you came into my life
It was some kind of miracle that I survived
Some day we will both look back
And have to laugh
We lived through a lifetime
And the aftermath
This is the time to remember
Cause it will not last forever
These are the days
To hold on to
Cause we won't
Although we want to
This is the time
But time is gonna change
I know we've got to move somehow
But I don't want to lose you now
Sometimes it's so easy
To let a day
Slip on by
Without even seeing each other at all
But this is the time you'll turn back to and so will I
And those will be the days you can never recall
And so we embrace again
Behind the dunes
This beach is cold
On winter afternoons
But holding you close is like holding the summer sun
So I sat down last night to find something to watch on tv and stumbled across one of my favorite movies from my younger days, The Lost Boys. While there are cultural things that were lost on me as a teenager not growing up on the West Coast, I was mesmerized. To this day I still am, even though I've seen it so many times that I know all the words.
I still say good dog when Nanook knocks the vampire into the bathtub.
So this just makes sense that I would find this movie after discovering an old manuscript in my hard drive and thinking for a few minutes about trying my hand at writing paranormal romance.
You will all be glad to know that I'm sticking to fade to black for now.
Y'all, anyone that knows me knows that this is one of my favorite songs. Back in the day when I was awake into the wee hours running around Norrath (Everquest), I always had music playing alongside the voices of my group on Teamspeak. Quite frequently this song was in the mix, and it will always remind me of charging up to an angry NPC...as well as swapping out my heals as fast as I could to keep the fighters propped up.
But now it holds a different place in my heart as the absolute theme song for my Nature Walker Trilogy, as well as a fantastic driving song...as long as I have cruise control set. I'm a GenX 80's child, and not ashamed to have this tune blasting. I can't believe I didn't have this one as a Music Monday before!
(Before any of you come at me for misogynistic tendencies...in my head, it's often she or they rather than he...)
Holding Out for a Hero
by Bonnie Tyler
Where have all the good men gone and where are all the Gods?
Where's the street wise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life
Somewhere after midnight in my wildest fantasy
Somewhere just beyond my reach there's someone reaching back for me
Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat
It's gonna take a Superman to sweep me off my feet
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
Up where the mountains meet the heavens above
Out where the lightning splits the sea
I could swear that there's someone somewhere watching me
Through the wind and the chill and the rain
And the storm and the flood
I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
Not to be confused with Zoey's...this is the playlist for this month's Camp Nanowrimo, which will hopefully produce something ready for edits at the end and not just a third rewrite. I am really feeling Tairn this time, to the point that when certain songs come on I can almost see her. I won't tell you which songs at this point, and some of these may be familiar from previous Music Mondays. Here is the music that is fueling me this month. Enjoy.
I know that I usually post lyrics in an effort to be accessible and I can't, really, but here is the list in case you are inspired to go look up the songs for the lyrics Thanks for enjoying music with me.
Fortunate Son - CCR
For What it's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
Logical Song - Supertramp
Somebody to Love - Jefferson Airplane
Where Have all the Cowboys Gone - Paula Cole
Come to My Window - Melissa Etheridge
Least Complicated - Indigo Girls
Possession - Sarah McLachlan
All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
What I Am - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Because the Night - 10,000 Maniacs
Just A Girl - No Doubt
Cannonball - The Breeders
Naked Eye - Luscious Jackson
Seether - Veruca Salt
Eye of the Storm - Watt White
Hell No - Ingrid Michaelson
Pierre - Ryn Weaver
Kyrie - Mr. Mister
Welcome Home, Son - Radical Face
Sometimes I - Rising Appalachia
I Miss the Misery - Halestorm
The Thunder Rolls - State of Mine, No Resolve
Alive - Daughtry
People Like Us - Kelly Clarkson
Humans Being - Van Halen
Leave Her Wild - Tyler Rich
Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
Highway Star, Belter Version - Cory Todd
From Now On - Zac Brown Band
Unsteady - X Ambassadors
Times Like These, BBC Radio 1 Stay Home Live Lounge - Live Lounge Allstars
Ashes the Rain and I - James Gang
Sky Blue and Black - Jackson Browne
Immortals - Fall Out Boy
Gimme Shelter (feat. Lzzy Hale) - Stone Sour, Lzzy Hale
So...2021 feels a bit like a repeat of 2020 so far, right? At least we didn't wake up to THIS on January 1st. #IYKYK
Heat of the Moment
by Asia
I never meant to be so bad to you One thing I said that I would never do A look from you and I would fall from grace And that would wipe the smile right from my face
Do you remember when we used to dance And incidents arose from circumstance One thing led to another we were young And we would scream together songs unsung
It was the heat of the moment Telling me what my heart meant The heat of the moment showed in your eyes
And now you find yourself in '82 The disco hot spots hold no charm for you You can concern yourself with bigger things You catch a pearl and ride the dragon's wings
'Cause it's the heat of the moment The heat of the moment The heat of the moment The heat of the moment showed in your eyes
And when your looks are gone and you're alone How many nights you sit beside the phone What were the things you wanted for yourself Teenage ambitions you remember well
It was the heat of the moment Telling me what your heart meant The heat of the moment showed in your eyes
It was the heat of the moment The heat of the moment The heat of the moment showed in your eyes
Heat of the moment Heat of the moment Heat of the moment Heat of the moment...
It's another Camp Nano, y'all, and I'm heading out into the metaphorical wilderness with my shiny copy of Scrivener for organization (that I'm not supposed to be doing but since I'm already a panster here we are) and my tried and true Google Docs for actual writing. This month's foray into madness is the next (and probably last, really) in the Clobberpaws series, and is about our Ciaragh. More wordcounts and general angst can be found over on my Twitter page, but for now, I'm still sorting out the already planned material (which is none) and working on the first chapters (always the hardest).
This will also include a special character, Roxanne, whose mom won the right to have her Bridge Angel included by winning an auction. The funds raised support the Greyhound Health Initiative, and I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. So far I am loving getting to know Roxanne through her mom and working her into the story. So much fun! Clicking on the picture above will take you to a page where you can follow my wordcount progress if you are so inclined.
In the meantime, an admission: Yeah, I stole the title from S4Ep10 of the Magicians, "All That Hard, Glossy Armor," or, as our DVR explained, "Margot hits her step count." No spoilers but HOLY MOLY that was another amazing musical episode and I only love this show more.
