Music Monday: Flashback or Flash...Dance?

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.

Music Monday: LABOUR (the cacophony)

I know, I've posted this before, but for the one year anniversary of this song being released, the artist took note of everyone that did a cover/lip-sync/other video on TikTok all rolled into one big video to speak to the shared understanding of feminine rage that has heightened since the song's release. I wasn't going to say anything about this new version at first. I was just going to let the video play and let you see the effects of patriarchy, misogyny, and centuries of oppression play out on your screen. But y'all...look at the amazing diversity of faces, self expression, and lives represented in this video. How much more does this hit home with this may voices behind the original? I wish they'd included deaf talent from TikTok on here performing the song in ASL, but when you think about how global this video has become that would have been just more oppression, IMO, to pick one signed language over another. Perhaps a video will be forthcoming in the future with that many Deaf performers from all over the world?

Anyway...I can't listen without getting goosebumps as well as very angry at the truth presented here. Lyrics included at the bottom.

labour (the cacophony)

by Paris Paloma

All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid

Nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant

Just an appendage, live to attend him

So that he never lifts a finger

24/7 baby machine

So he can live out his picket fence dreams

It's not an act of love if you make her

You make me do too much labour

[Verse 1]

Why are you hangin' on so tight

To the rope that I'm hangin' from off this island?

This was an escape plan (This was an escape plan), carefully timed it

So let me go and dive into the waves below

[Pre-Chorus]

Who tends the orchards? Who fixes up the gables?

Emotional torture from the head of your high table

Who fetches the water from the rocky mountain spring?

And walk back down again to feel your words and their sharp sting?

And I'm gettin' fucking tired

[Chorus]

The capillaries in my eyes are bursting

If our love died, would that be the worst thing?

For somebody I thought was my saviour

You sure make me do a whole lot of labour

The calloused skin on my hands is crackin'

If our love ends, would that be a bad thing?

And the silence haunts our bed chamber

You make me do too much labour

[Verse 2]

Apologies from my tongue, never yours

Busy lapping from flowing cup and stabbing with your fork

I know you're a smart man (I know you're a smart man) and weaponise

The false incompetence, it's dominance under a guise

[Pre-Chorus]

If we had a daughter, I'd watch and could not save her

The emotional torture from the head of your high table

She'd do what you taught her, she'd meet the same cruel fate

So now I've gotta run, so I can undo this mistake

At least I've gotta try

[Chorus]

The capillaries in my eyes are bursting

If our love died, would that be the worst thing?

For somebody I thought was my saviour

You sure make me do a whole lot of labour

The calloused skin on my hands is crackin'

If our love ends, would that be a bad thing?

And the silence haunts our bed chamber

You make me do too much labour

[Bridge]

All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid

Nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant

Just an appendage, live to attend him

So that he never lifts a finger

24/7 baby machine

So he can live out his picket fence dreams

It's not an act of love if you make her

You make me do too much labour

All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid

Nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant

Just an appendage, live to attend him

So that he never lifts a finger

24/7 baby machine

So he can live out his picket fence dreams

It's not an act of love if you make her

You make me do too much labour

[Chorus]

The capillaries in my eyes are bursting (All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid)

If our love died, would that be the worst thing? (Nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant)

For somebody I thought was my saviour (Just an appendage, live to attend him)

You sure make me do a whole lot of labour (So that he never lifts a finger)

The calloused skin on my hands is crackin' (24/7 baby machine)

If our love ends, would that be a bad thing? (So he can live out his picket fence dreams)

And the silence haunts our bed chamber (It's not an act of love if you make her)

You make me do too much labour

Music Monday: My new low key obsession

If you have been on socials this month I'm sure you have heard Livingston's new single, Shadow, along with others from his new album that dropped yesterday.

Can we take a second to acknowledge that I am clearly morphing into a teenager here in my self imposed exile while in treatment for cancer? Honestly.

Anyway! I heard that first verse in a TikTok and I haven't been able to get Taeben and the novellas I'd planned to write IN A FEW YEARS out of my head, so here we are. It's also a...bop? It slaps? I don't know. It's an earworm and I'm not mad at it. There. Enjoy.

Music Monday: In Which I Almost Crashed my Car...

 Not really.

I was driving along listening to my latest playlist and I'd added this version of Hoist the Colours because it represents one of the amazing parts of social media - several creators came together who aren't physically together to make this cover. But it was the last line that hit me and screamed WRITE MY STORY that nearly made me drive off the road. 

Y'all, I don't write pirates well, just ask poor Lucian the Black (when you get the sequel to Rift in May). But this needs to be part of a story (and NOT another Pirates of the Caribbean): 

"The bell has been raised from its watery grave/ Do you hear its sepulchral tone?/ A Call to all, pay heed to the squall/ And turn your sail towards home!"

Enjoy. No lyrics below this time because they are on the video. 

Music Monday: More Mood Music

Let's start by saying that I am not the Beatles fan my partner is, not by a longshot. I know enough to know that there was a song at some point called Eleanor Rigby...but not enough to know that "All of the lonely people...." was a part of that song. This version is making the rounds on TikTok right now, and it is just lovely. A total soundtrack song - and when I listen to it, I can see Em and Lex in very heroic situations doing very heroic things that I can't talk about because of SPOILERS, SWEETIE. But this is definitely on repeat for Nano.

I will say, though that the theme of the song resonates with a novel written about escaping from a lonely existence in the real world to a game world...and finding out that it has its own challenges. "Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door/Who is it for?" makes me think of Maddie putting on the "mask" of Em and doing things that she can't do, but who is that for?

Eleanor Rigby

by The Beatles/arranged by Cody Fry

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father Mackenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

All the lonely people (all the lonely people)
All the lonely people (all the lonely people)
All the lonely people (all the lonely people)

Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father Mackenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
All the lonely people
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)

Music Monday: It Will Never Be Enough

So I'm on what I like to call the Clock App (algorithms be damned) or, as it is actually called, TikTok, and I joined last year during lockdown because I wanted something to do. I expected funny cat videos and a few really cringeworthy dance challenges and don't get me wrong, I found that...and more. There are hashtag communities there, of like-minded folks, such as #booktok and #writertok and so forth, and so many talented cosplayers and actors and the like.

Lately, there has been a lovely trend of readers making videos to try to speak to the reason why we read adventure and fantasy books. Most of the time you see a person reading at the beginning of the video with someone else asking (or the words are written on the screen), "why do you read so much?" And the terribly talented person goes on to show clips from or cosplay characters from several well-known movies/books/tv shows, often becoming the heroes and acting out their lives...because "...I know now that this world will never be enough for me." (by TikTok User @montropolis)

This is why I write, y'all. This is why I continue to write, to quote "Hamilton," like I'm running out of time - this world will NEVER be enough. This song nails it. (Also, I love Kelly Clarkson's version from The Greatest Showman Reimagined, so that's the one I chose.)

Never Enough (from The Greatest Showman Reimagined)

by Justin Paul / Benj Pasek

I'm tryin' to hold my breath
Let it stay this way
Can't let this moment end
You set off a dream in me
Getting louder now
Can you hear it echoing?

Take my hand
Will you share this with me?
'Cause darling, without you

All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough, never be enough

Towers of gold are still too little
These hands could hold the world, but it'll
Never be enough, never be enough for me

Never, never
Never, never
Never, for me, for me
Never enough, never enough, never enough
For me, for me, for me

All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough, never be enough

Towers of gold are still too little
These hands could hold the world, but it'll
Never be enough, never be enough for me

Never, never
Never, never
Never, for me, for me
Never enough, never, never
Never enough, never, never
Never enough
For me, for me, for me

Music Monday: That Pirate Thing

 Yeah, I'm on Tiktok and yeah, I'm loving the whole sea shanty trend. But I'm also loving other trends, like the #birates trend that involves the intersection of LGBTQ+ folx and pirate cosplay. Whew. The pirate cosplay game is strong, and I came across today's Music Monday through a few cosplayers who are acting out bits from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean...I guess? (I've only seen two of them, don't come at me!) 

The video is of the Tiktok creator Colum McGuiness's version and it is haunting. The original is by Hans Zimmer, one of the RULERS of movie soundtracks, and it's got me thinking about "thieves and beggars" that "never shall we die" in terms of the Wraiths of Appalachia WIP. I just need to get all that out of my system before April, right? Enjoy.

Hoist the Colors

by Hans Zimmer

The King and his men
stole the Queen from her bed
and bound her in her bones
the seas be ours and beyond the powers
where we will we'll roam

Yo ho, all hands
Hoist the colors high
Heave ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die

Yo ho, haul together

Hoist the colours high
Heave ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die

Yo ho, haul together

Hoist the colors high
Heave ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die

Yo ho, haul together
Hoist the colors high
Heave ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die

Music Monday: Welcome Home, Scarlet.

Back in November, I was working on a piece that was supposed to be a ghost story based on my experiences at a small college in the mountains of North Georgia. As predicted, though, by anyone that knows me, it turned into a weird paranormal mythology-influenced story...with a wolfhound. There are bits of my original idea still there: a girl grows up steeped in her family's legacy and duty, taking care of the old gods of the mountains to keep them from swarming down into the human population and causing havoc. So I'm going to let that biz ruminate for a while. 

I worked on a cover for the book because apparently, I have flipped the normal process for writing and need to have the cover ready for a manuscript that may or may not be written. As I was getting it ready to put on Tiktok (because I'm one of those middle-aged women authors that discovered the app during the pandemic) I found a song that I thought was perfect for the little 60-second cover reveal: Welcome Home, Son by Radical Face. It is very much like my main character, Scarlet: sweet-sounding and cozy on the outside but a hot mess on the inside. Enjoy.

Welcome Home, Son

by Radical Face

Sleep don't visit, so I choke on sun
And the days blur into one
And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done

Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline
Like a row of captured ghosts, over old dead grass
Was never much, but we made the most
Welcome home

Ships are launching from my chest
Some have names, but most do not
If you find one, please
Let me know what piece I've lost

Peel the scars from off my back
I don't need them anymore
You can throw them out
Or keep them in your mason jars
I've come home

All my nightmares escaped my head
Bar the door, please don't let them in
You were never supposed to leave
Now my head's splitting at the seams
And I don't know if I can...

Here beneath my lungs
I feel your thumbs press into my skin again

Notes from Exile: Week Sixty-Twelve, and I feel FINE.

I'm calling this a Notes from Exile and not a Music Anything, because technically it isn't Monday, and this post just came to me as I sit here listening to the amazing Alicia Keys. This song, "Good Job" is just a balm for the soul and it is what I needed to hear this week, this day, this very moment. We spend a lot of our time these days just getting by, but we have a very human need not just for connection but to be appreciated. We need to know, from an external source, that we are doing a good job. We aren't just surviving, we are thriving as best we can under the current circumstances. Here we are on the cusp of yet another month, and times are really becoming scary and overwhelming, but we aren't giving up, at least not yet.

I can just hear my dear friend Robby's voice doing his best Casey Kasem impression here, but I'd like to send this long-distance dedication out to all of you that are struggling, all of you that are unsure or those that are sure you don't want to do this anymore, whatever THIS is. I hear you. I see you. And to quote one of my new favorite Instagram/TikTok creators, Thaddeuss Shafer, "you are precious, loved, and worthy," and you're doing a really good job. Stay strong. 

Good Job
Alicia Keys

You're the engine that makes all things go
And you're always in disguise, my hero
I see your light in the dark
Smile in my face when we all know it's hard
There's no way to ever pay you back
Bless your heart, know I love you for that
Honest and selfless
I don't know if this helps it but
Good Job
You're doing a good job, a good job
You're doing a good job
Don't get too down
The world needs you now
Know that you matter
Matter, matter yeah
You're doing a good job, a good job
You're doing a good job
Don't get too down
The world needs you now
Know that you matter
Matter, matter yeah
Six in the morning
As soon as you walk through that door
Everyone needs you again
The world's out of order
It's not as sound
When you're not around
All day on your feet, hard to
Keep that energy, I know
When it feels like the end of the road
You don't let go
You just press forward
You're the engine that makes all things go
Always in disguise, my hero
I see a light in the dark
Smile in my face
When we all know it's hard
There's no way to ever pay you back
Bless your heart
Know I love you for that
Honest and selfless
I don't know if this helps it but
Good Job
You're doing a good job, a good job
Good job
You're doing a good job
Don't get too down
The world needs you now
Know that you matter
Matter, matter yeah
It's a good job
You're doing a good job, a good job
Good job
You're doing a good job
Don't get too down
The world needs you now
Know that you matter
Matter, matter yeah
The mothers, the fathers
The teachers that reach us
Strangers to friends
That show up in the end
From the bottom to the top
The listeners that hear us
This is for you
You make me fearless
You're doing a good job, a good job
You're doing a good job
Don't get too down
The world needs you now
Know that you matter
Matter, matter yeah