Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
It may or may not be known around here just how much of a music geek I am. I'm not as bad as some of my firends, but I'm up there. Actually, I think it might not have been as pronounced pre-klink as it is now, since music kept me going a lot. ANYWAY.
For a while now, I've been working on a Firefly FST; I started it before the soundtrack CD was released. It was to be one song for each character (including a couple recurring ones) chosen primarily for sound & lyrics (if any) & occasionally the title. I laid out the songs but my original plan was to introduce each song with a bit of dialogue from the character in question. I haven't finished selecting the snippets yet, & since I probably won't ever be able to rip them from the DVDs anyway, I figure I might as well just up & post the list. If anyone's interested, I can send them the files; I think it might even fit as an audio CD. As the post is titled, so is the mix.
Find a crew. Find a job. Keep flying.
"The Man's Too Strong", Dire Straits (Malcolm Reynolds): Never mind the opening strains of the guitar giving that immediate Western feel that's so much a part of what makes Firefly--the lyrics alone made this the only choice for Mal. It speaks of his days in the Independent Army, about being crushed by the Alliance, & about going out to make a new life for himself. It talks of his desire to live as he wishes to live by any way he can, legal or otherwise. At the end of the verses, we hear Mark Knopfler say, "And I can still hear his laughter/And I can still hear his song/The man's too big/The man's too strong"...it's not just the Alliance. It's Mal himself.
"Metal Heart", Garbage (Z�e Warren): Hard-driving, hard rocking, no nonsense, no bullshit. That's Shirley Manson. And it's Z�e. There was no question for me that she needed a song that had that cool logical killer instinct to her, but it had to be smooth & flowing as opposed to the brash crudeness of Jayne. No better place than Garbage. Listen to the chorus: "Now that we know for sure/They're telling lies/When they say no one gets hurt and therefore nobody dies/You know it's hard to believe anything that you hear/They say the world is round"--it's pure Z�e skepticism. Also, the title fits as well; the only person to get inside that metal casing is Wash. Speaking of whom...
"Speed Is The Key", The Sugarcubes (Hoban "Wash" Washburne): Wash is that funny odd kind of guy. He's the first line of comic relief, & that needed to be expressed musically. The Sugarcubes definitely did not take themselves seriously, & it shows in their songs. The primary vocals on this song are of course done by Bj�rk, but the secondarys are done by Einar Benediktsson (AKA Einar Orn). Right at the beginning, he states "Straight into the air/At lightning speed/Fasten your seatbelts/The future is mine!" It's his voice that makes me think of Wash sort of humming the song to himself, & as we've seen many a time, with his piloting needs speed usually IS the key.
"Testosterone", Bush (Jayne Cobb): He's here, he got beer, & he'll make you tremble in fear. He's Jayne Cobb. Nothing refined about this gent--he's all man, all macho, all muscle, & that had to show. Right away the title was a first pick. The heavy guitars & Gavin Rossdale's "I'm getting fucked in the ass by a knife...but I think I like it" tones only add to the sound that screams "This is Jayne." "I'm a man/I'm real proud of my manhood"--yes, he is..on both counts. "Got a big gold gun/Got a big gold bullet/And I guess you could say/I'm real full of it"--yes, he does, & yes we do.
"BaBy BaBy", Vivian Hsu (Kaylee Frye): Kaylee is cute. Kaylee is sexy. Kaylee is the emotional center of Serenity. She tries to be grown-up a lot but at her heart she still wants to be a girl. And she is a girl, whether it's crushing on Simon, getting glamorous with Inara, or cute-ing her way into getting parts from her captain. The song is sung in Mandarin Chinese, which of course still fits the universe of the show. It's a very poppy number & something that is not difficult to imagine her dancing around to in the engine room. Interestingly enough, the lyrics (English-language translation) as applied to this situation fits almsoty as a love song from Kaylee to Serenity, or even the reverse.
"Mountains And Rivers", Twelve Girls Band (Inara Serra): As a Companion, a "space geisha" for lack of a better term, Inara has been schooled most of her life in etiquette, in proper social relations, in pleasing both men & women--not just physically, but psychologically & emotionally as well. But there's a rebellious force in her, the same one that caused her to ship out with the crew of Serenity in the first place. The first 2 minutes of this instrumental track is very tranquil & Asian, very much what one would expect to hear for someone of Inara's status. Suddenly it jumps, though, & while it still has that element of peace in it, the music is wrapped in a sound that says "this is a force to be reckoned with; do not cross it lightly." That's Inara to me: A soft heart wrapped in a chitinous shell wrapped in training.
"One Drop Of Big River", Jiang Jianhua (Simon Tam): Simon Tam has one purpose in life: take care of his sister. It's more than a little incestuous at times. He gave up everything he had & everything he was just to make sure she was safe. That needed to be addressed in his song, but I also wanted to examine his background. The Tams were very wealthy, upstanding members of the community, part of the social elite; this is reflecting in every facet of Simon--his posturing, his dress, his diction. This piece is all instrumental & styled very mush in a European form, but the artist, Jiang Jianhua, plays a Chinese instrument called an erhu which, in simplest terms, is a Chinese violin. It gives a haunting yet ethereal sound to the piece that readily evokes not only Simon's background & upbringing, but his pangs of regret at what he's lost in following what he believes was the only course of action. It also speaks to his drive to heal his sister. The irony of the title (although the piece was selected well before the title was translated) was also not lost on me, in that "Big River"--his little sister--has completely consumed him with only a single drop of herself.
"Timebomb", Old 97's (River Tam): Anyone else would've gone for something soft, haunting & instrumental for River. Maybe a Bach fugue. (Oh, the comedy!) Not me. This was the first & only choice. It's a drum-driven country beat that just RUNS. The very sound & energy of the song evokes a crazed nut running around. Add in the lyrics--"I got a timebomb, in my mind Mom/I hear it ticking but I don't know why/I call the police, but they don't like me/I hear 'em whispering when I walk by"--& you've got River. She's NOT fragile. She's NOT a helpless little waif. She IS seriously disturbed & she IS a bomb waiting to go off. Rhett Miller sings, "Having her on my brain's like getting hit by a train" & that's very much what it 's like having River aboard the ship. They're hunted by the Alliance. Simon is consumed by his need to stand by her. Her very existence "makes things all manner of complicated," as Mal has said more than once.
"Man Of God", Neil Diamond (Shepherd Merria Book): Book's song was by far the hardest. This song I happened to stumble onto after I bought the album it was on & it was the title that made me give it a look. It's simple--Neil & his guitar, with a keyboard backing. Just like Book. He simply..IS. Yes, he has a background that we don't know about, but right now, at this point in time, he's the soul of the crew. He's their conscience, him & Kaylee. He points out the possibilities that might be. Book reminds Mal (& the others, but mostly Mal) that, as Neil sings, " I'm a man of hope/I haven't stopped believin' yet/And while we're headin' down that road/Hope is what we can't forget." When Mal & the rest start to stray, Book brings them around. He's not judgemental, he's not overbearing, he doesn't promise hell & brimstone. He just...makes his point. Simply. Like this song.
"Mariners' Song", Cowboy Junkies (Serenity): As with every other ship-based series, Serenity has always been considered a character in her own right. Even Joss Whedon stated, "Serenity's the 10th character." So here's this broken-down old vessel still running around, but with a crew that loves her dearly. The captain's placed his whole being in her, the mechanic adores her, even the passengers don't ever want to leave. I wanted somethign that sounded as if the ship just wanted to...GO. This wonderful song sung with Margo Timmins' gorgeous breathy folk voice surronded by the rest of the band's mandolin, guitar, drums, keyboard, & accordion brings to life a tale of a wandering soul looking for...well, no one really knows. Except Serenity. As Margo croons "I search for you with every crest I ride/in every trough I travel through/I search for you in every trough I travel through" it's impossible not to see our lone little ship running through the black on her need to just keep flying.
"Golddigger", Supreme Beings Of Lesiure (Saffron): Always looking for the next big score, the next way to get her thrills & cash. Saffron--at least, that's what WE know her by--has no ulterior motives. Well, she DOES, but that's them--to get hers & hers alone. She'll do whatever is needed: play the helpless naif, the seductress, the headstrong rebel. Supreme Beings Of Leisure has been one of my favorite bands for over 5 years, & this song which combines so many elements from hip hop, lounge, jazz, bhangra, & bossa (just to name a few) perfectly defines Saffron. As it plays, you can easily see her dancing to her next poor unsuspecting mark, ready to pluck his heart & his wallet at that same time. As Geri Soriano-Lightwood tells us "The simple life's a joke some fools never learn/Her mission and condition is ease/Ambition helps her do as she please" we know that Saffron is on the prowl. Like the song says, she's "Just a lazy cat in a dog eat dog world."
"Pomp and Circumstance March, Op. 39/1", Edward Elgar (Badger): "A sad little man with sad little dreams," River called him. "A business man," he calls himself. "BETTER than!" Badger seeks to rise above what he is--a petty little local boss--& make himself a big man, a pillar of society. Delusions of grandeur, to be sure, but to him very realistic delusions. or goals. No other song spoke to Badger's inflated ideal of his own self-worth than this old classic. It doesn't take much to imagine him sitting around his lair listening to this piece, looking around at his "kingdom." It speaks for itself.
"Search & Destroy", KMFDM (Reavers): Reavers are chaos itself, "men gone mad on the edge of space." They strike fear into even the most fearless; Jayne damn near wets himself at the mere mention of them. No organizatiuon, no law, no humanity. Nothing. Nothing less than KMFDM would do, & this song defintiely invokes that lawlessness, that total disorder that spells out Reaver "society." Indeed, even the title speaks to that, as the Reavers sit out in the edge of the system & send in raiding partites to attack ships, towns, moons, planets. They take what they want & destroy the rest. And sometimes they just destroy.
"Lolita", Mario Lanza (Adelai Niska): Sure, Niska's got a rep as the baddest nastiest guy in the 'verse, but at heart, he's just a nice old man....isn't he? Not really. Here's a guy who shows a body hanging on a meathook to new partners as a sign of what's to come should he be crossed. A body of a close family member. He tortures. For fun. But he beleives he has that "old world" sensibility. it's not the lyrics here, it's the sound. Opera. Niska would listen to opera while committing these heinous travesties upon people. It's his way. It's relaxing.
"Herrmann", Arling & Cameron (Blue Hand Guys): The Blue Hands are weird. They're hinky. They have an agenda & we don't know what it is, except that it involves River. They apparently have the authority to kill as they want or need to. They're almost like the government guys in X-Files, & I wanted to go to that. In this song, Arling & Cameron use keyboard, horns, & a theremin to give a sort of "eerie Germanicism" of sound that easily encompasses whatever vile deeds the BHGs have in mind, for river on the small scale & the rest of humanity on a larger one. These dudes are CREEPY, & they get creepy music.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
We really ought to have a link to the user agreement somewhere. That would be handy to refer to. However, even without it, I'm pretty sure distribution of copyrighted music files is contrary to the rules.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Do not make me go out there & smack you.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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