SOUNDTRACK GENERATION PROCESS (RPG related)

[camwyn]

Soundtrack creation for a character- RPG, fanfiction, original, or otherwise- is not something to be done carelessly. It comes in phases. Phase one is the one where you go through every song you have on your hard drive and throw anything that sounds even vaguely appropriate into one place. Then you do the same thing with your favourite download sites- for me this usually involves cursing iTunes for failure to have the stuff I want.

Once you have twenty or more songs, you can stop adding. From there you need to sort through the songs and cut a bunch off the list. This is what I'm presenting now, for those of y'all who actually know the Quinn Abercromby character at all and are interested. The rest of you get a bright shiny lj-cut.

I'm aiming for a soundtrack that fills up one compact disc, so we're looking at 16-18 songs from the following list, plus any additions that I can acquire in mp3 or iTunes format that would suit. I've linked to the lyrics where possible.

London Calling
Doctor My Eyes
Nothing But Flowers
All This Time
Book of Days (Gaelic Version). Go and look at the translation of the Gaelic. There's something about it that squeezes the heart, in Quinn's situation.
Carry On Wayward Son
Elemental
Fire and Rain
King of Birds
Lightning Crashes
My City of Ruins
Never Surrender
Mother and Child Reunion
On The Turning Away
Show Me The Way
Simple Life
The Long And Winding Road - I'm not so sure on this one. Right tone, but I don't know if it attaches to a specific element or what in his past...
The Rising
Under Pressure
Until The End Of The World
We Don't Need Another Hero - Dude. MUST.
Welcome To The Occupation
We Didn't Start The Fire
Break It Down Again


Suggestions for songs to cut? If you have anything I should add to the list, please don't recommend it unless you can either send it to me or point me at a place I can obtain it legitimately on mp3. Thanks.

Comments

[sleightofhand]

Oh hey, you posted it!

I... will be clever enough to help with this in the morning, I hope. *bookmarks*

[innerbrat]

You know what you need? Some mp3 version of London's Burning. I'm just saying.

Also Jimi's Fire. Cause I like to add canonical songs sometimes.

These songs stay:
Never Surrender
Under pressure
Show me the Way
On the Turning Away
Mother and Child Renunion
My City of Ruins
Elemental

These songs may go, possibly:
Break it Down
We didn't start the fire (the imagery's there, but that's all it is)
Until the End of the World
Simple Life
King of birds?
Far and Away

I'm trusting that you know the feel of the songs better. I'm not so good with lyrics.

[camwyn]

You know what you need? Some mp3 version of London's Burning. I'm just saying.

Never heard it. Am horrible cultural Philistine. Suggestion on where to get it, and info on who performs it, please?

Also Jimi's Fire. Cause I like to add canonical songs sometimes.

Oooh, point. Will chase that down.

These songs may go, possibly:

Break it Down
Chosen primarily for a few lyrics, but I’m willing to drop it. The song is more about the catastrophic failure of human institutions, I think - 'No sleep for dreaming' say the architects of Life / 'See for yourself – you have been sitting on a time bomb' / No revolution, maybe someone somewhere else / Can show you something new about you and your inner song / And all the love and all the love in the world / Won't stop the rain from falling / Waste seeping underground. . .

We didn't start the fire (the imagery's there, but that's all it is) - Right, fair enough.

Until the End of the World - Yeah, this one got iffy as I was looking at the lyrics last night, but I thought I'd throw it on the list anyway, at least for examination.

Simple Life - This one primarily made it on lyrics, but they did seem to go at least a bit iffy.

King of birds - Oh, this one's an old favourite of mine. I'm willing to cut it, though. It doesn't attach to anything in particular; it was just a thought.

Far and Away - This one basically made the list because it came on in the middle of an extended RP scene with Veronica Mars, at a point when Quinn was talking about how he'd probably never be able to get back to Milliways so he'd just keep himself too busy to try, rather than get his hopes crushed. When I looked at the translated lyrics I went 'gurk, that fits', but the feel is not really so much of a match.

I'm trusting that you know the feel of the songs better. I'm not so good with lyrics.

Fair enough.

[innerbrat]

It's a playground rhyme. Sung in a round usually.

London's burning! London's burning!
Fetch the engines! Fetch the engines!
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
Pour on water, pour on water.

[innerbrat]

And Google have revelaed that the Clash have a gond of the same title...

[camwyn]

Hnh. 'course then it becomes a case of 'how many songs by the same group about bad shit happening to London can we really fit on one CD'....

[innerbrat]

Well London Calling is the pop option. And the lyrics to 'Burning aren't actually about an apocalypse, so.

[camwyn]

*nods*

Now as long as people conveniently forget that Jaguar commercial from a year or two ago. Merciful Azathoth, what were those people thinking, using London Calling in a luxury car commercial? That's up there with thinking Born In The USA is a patriotic song...

[innerbrat]

Well... people are stupid. I bet a vast number of people do think that.

The nursery rhyme, by the way, can be found by googling "nursery rhyme mp3" It's public domain as a song, obviously.

I also like to add crack songs to my fanmixes.

[camwyn]

Hm. I'll look up the nursery rhyme when I get home for the day, then. If it's sufficiently creepy to throw it in I might just do that.

[innerbrat]

This is a random comment, 'cause something you said set me along the thinking line.

On the subject of "not very patriotic," and on British punk, I started thinking of this comic strip.

And I was amused to think that the punchline loses its kick if you remember that suddenly bursting into the Sex Pistols is a much more British thing to do than anything to do with our godawful National Anthem.

That's it.

[camwyn]

Oh, the thing is that people only hear the chorus to Born In The USA and think it's fantastic; it's got horribly stirring chords and the chorus sounds like something the Republican Party could totally get behind. And then you have to stick around and listen to the rest of the words to realise that the song is about how this country screwed Vietnam War veterans over with a ten-meter cattle prod.

But, yeah, I can believe it about the Sex Pistols. Remind me that at some point I need to learn half the words to your godawful national anthem. I can hner hner my way through the rest just like all the rest of you.

[muji]

Maybe Johnny Cash - "Ghost Riders In The Sky"?

[camwyn]

I've got the Blues Brothers 2000 Soundtrack version of the song. I'll have to see if Johnny's sounds more appropriate. I'm not really sure this suits...

... although that reminds me. I have The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, both the original version and the James Taylor slower version, and Wild Wild West by Escape Club, if you want 'em for anything Fireflyish.

[muji]

Oooh. :D! You know I'd never turn down fun Fireflyish music.

[camwyn]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance- Gene Pitney's original lyrics and the James Taylor version.

Wild Wild West lyrics.

I'll send the MP3s when I get home.

[sleightofhand]

Hokay, song by song, because I'm not really doing anything right now!

London Calling - Yay.
Doctor My Eyes - Kind of emo, but fitting.
Nothing But Flowers - Niiice, blatantly postapocalyptic overtones. The last two lines strike me as pretty unQuinnish, but the rest of it looks pretty good.
All This Time - I'm slightly meh on this one.
Book of Days (Gaelic Version). - Nice
Carry On Wayward Son - Also good
Elemental - I think you could do without this one
Fire and Rain - This, too, though I hesitate to strike anything with 'fire' in it
King of Birds - ..I actually kind of like this one, although it's not all that blantantly Quinnish.
Lightning Crashes - Sure, why not
My City of Ruins - *thumbs up*
Never Surrender - Ditto.
Mother and Child Reunion - Aww, Quinn's mom. ;_;
On The Turning Away - I could take it or leave it, I think.
Show Me The Way - Looks good
Simple Life - Ditto
The Long And Winding Road - Yeah, this one has the right sort of tone, but I'm not sure it really fits (unless it has something to do with his past, like you mentioned.)
The Rising - Oddly the more violent imagery in this one reminds me more of Van Zant than Quinn.
Under Pressure - As much as I love this song, I don't think it really works.
Until The End Of The World - I can see this working from a ... very shippy point of view.
We Don't Need Another Hero - Perfect. :)
Welcome To The Occupation - I'm undecided on this one.
We Didn't Start The Fire - Nice.
Break It Down Again - Sure.


...And that's my two cents.

[camwyn]

What always gets me about My City Of Ruins is that the whole thing was supposed to be figurative- the song isn't about a city that's been wrecked by war or disaster. It's Bruce Springsteen writing about the economic destruction of Asbury Park, New Jersey. It had something of a resurgence in the days after 9/11, though. Which makes your comments on The Rising interesting, considering that the main character is supposed to be a New York City firefighter in that.

The Long And Winding Road is definitely getting the axe. Until The End Of The World is probably going to follow- and the 'shippy' comment is interesting, considering that in an interview some time ago Bono admitted that it was supposed to be Judas addressing the words to Jesus, at least when it was written. Welcome to the Occupation is probably gonna go as well. It doesn't suit much of anything here. King of Birds has a good tone to it, but yeah, not so much for him, really.

Will think about others to cut or add along the way.

[sleightofhand]

Oh. See, this is why *you're* the one actually making the list.

Yeah, I totally ship Jesus/Judas.

*hangs head*

[camwyn]

*patpats* It's okay. Everyone I know who heard that song was thinking shippiness, right up until Bono made that comment, at which point there was a mass response of "...." from DJs and listeners alike.

[sleightofhand]

Wait, okay, now I want to know why *you* chose it, considering your knew that when you picked it...

[camwyn]

Because I'm perfectly capable of putting shippy crap aside.

[sleightofhand]

Well yes, obviously. I meant with the religious connotations, and all that.

I get the feeling my question came out all wrong. Sorry.

[camwyn]

Oh, I can put that crap aside too. It's not like this was a meaning I assigned to the song, after all. If there's a meaning my brain's stuck to something, then it's another story.

[sleightofhand]

Fair enough.

[parke-matru.livejournal.com]

Playlists are always fun to make. Sometimes you'll snag a song that seemed appropriate at the time and then when you listen to it/read the lyrics you realize it's totally off . . . and then you'll get the ones that make you go "Oh my god, this is so appropriate why wasn't it on the official soundtrack? Oh, right, comic books don't have official soundtracks."

[tundra-no-caps.livejournal.com]

It's not for the lyrics, but for the sound.

Once I compile a soundtrack for Cranium Rats (http://craniumrats.pbwiki.com), I'll tell you.