Music, music, music
Jul. 12th, 2007 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kingandySelected tracks from Murray Gold's Doctor Who soundtrack are excellent for going to sleep to, but don't forget about the orchestral burst at the start of The Impossible Planet or you'll find yourself wide awake wondering where the cello that thinks it's a viola is coming from.
In other music-related news: I am toying with the idea of playing a singer-type at Artificer, and am racking my brain for suitable songs. I'm looking for songs that (a) I know well enough to sing from memory, (b) sound good a capella, and (c) are nominally appropriate to the setting.[1]
Point (a) is optional, though obviously preferable. The tricky one is (c). Blatantly modern lyrics can be reworked (though if it's a song I know well I'd rather not because I'm likely to forget I've changed it). Appropriateness is more nebulous than lyrics alone, though. There are questions of style and genre, and how popular does a song have to be before it becomes a game-breaking anachronism?
An example would be Your Song as used in Moulin Rouge; though the content of the lyrics is relatively neutral in terms of setting (and, indeed, quite suitable for a fantasy environment with its talk of 'potions' and 'travelling shows'), it's quite well-known and the language is very modern ('Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean...'). Would people start rolling their eyes if one were to break out into it at a LARP event?
(I suppose it would be acceptable, or at least overlookable, at a larger event like Maelstrom but Artificer is somewhat more intimate, and certainly more straight-faced.)
On the other hand - some of the questions of style could be amended in performance, by changing the tempo and emphasis and so forth. I've heard a very good soulful ballad rendition of Hit Me Baby One More Time, and Tori Amos' cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit is beautiful.
Songs under consideration include:
How do you suppose the above would be recieved (be honest), and do you have any other suggestions that might be more palatable?
[1] Also, songs which I can sing when I'm as drunk as I'll need to be before I raise my voice in front of a crowd of friends and casual acquaintances.
In other music-related news: I am toying with the idea of playing a singer-type at Artificer, and am racking my brain for suitable songs. I'm looking for songs that (a) I know well enough to sing from memory, (b) sound good a capella, and (c) are nominally appropriate to the setting.[1]
Point (a) is optional, though obviously preferable. The tricky one is (c). Blatantly modern lyrics can be reworked (though if it's a song I know well I'd rather not because I'm likely to forget I've changed it). Appropriateness is more nebulous than lyrics alone, though. There are questions of style and genre, and how popular does a song have to be before it becomes a game-breaking anachronism?
An example would be Your Song as used in Moulin Rouge; though the content of the lyrics is relatively neutral in terms of setting (and, indeed, quite suitable for a fantasy environment with its talk of 'potions' and 'travelling shows'), it's quite well-known and the language is very modern ('Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean...'). Would people start rolling their eyes if one were to break out into it at a LARP event?
(I suppose it would be acceptable, or at least overlookable, at a larger event like Maelstrom but Artificer is somewhat more intimate, and certainly more straight-faced.)
On the other hand - some of the questions of style could be amended in performance, by changing the tempo and emphasis and so forth. I've heard a very good soulful ballad rendition of Hit Me Baby One More Time, and Tori Amos' cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit is beautiful.
Songs under consideration include:
- 'Drinking Song' by Rob Dougan
- 'That Thing You Do' by the Wonders
- 'Songs of Love' by the Divine Comedy
- 'Come What May' from Moulin Rouge
How do you suppose the above would be recieved (be honest), and do you have any other suggestions that might be more palatable?
[1] Also, songs which I can sing when I'm as drunk as I'll need to be before I raise my voice in front of a crowd of friends and casual acquaintances.
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 12:29 pm (UTC)And that's very likely to drop me out of character, even if it's just long enough to think "I wish Andy hadn't sung that".
It's happened to me before - there was a group at the Gathering singing "Run to the hills" which has fantastically appropriate lyrics for any game where one group has mostly eradicated another, but in my head it's a heavy metal song, and as soon as I noticed it, it bugged me.
It's even worse if you change the tempo / style, because then the OOC bit of my brain treats it like a lyrics quiz.
You could have a look at http://www.jakob.rpgfans.com/collect.php?type=all - it's the Bard's Guild online library for the Gathering.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 12:55 pm (UTC)I've had a quick flip through the Bards' Guild library but half the songs seem quite system-referential and a lot of the others are popular songs re-written for the setting.
Actually - which is more aggravating, familiar words sung differently, or new words to a familiar tune?
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 01:28 pm (UTC)Unless the familiar tune is one that's completely inappropriate - 'Over the Hills and far away' sounds 'fantasy-ish' pretty much whatever the words, whereas no matter your skills as a lyricist, you can't make the tune to 'Barbie Girl' sound good.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 03:39 pm (UTC)Anyway - I should probably add a (d) obscure enough not to be recognised by too many people. Which makes the call for suggestions somewhat obsolete. Hum.