Imaginary vid-making.
Apr. 20th, 2008 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiercelydreamedI love a lot of different music for a lot of different reasons, but there's a special place in my heart for songs that tell stories and do it well. Lately, I channel a lot of that love into mix-making and soundtracking. If I had more time and resources, though, I'd be making vid after vid, trying to capture the places these songs make my head go.
The latest song to flatten me with its sheer storytelling capacity is Johnny Cash's cover of Jimmy Webb's "The Highwayman". My god, what a song; I teared up driving down the street the first time I heard it all the way through.
I was a highwayman. Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive.
I was a sailor. I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide.
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still.
I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around ...
I'll always be around and around and around and around and around
I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again ...
In my mind, this is a song that could be beautifully illustrated in a multi-fandom vid: it would make such a wonderful ode to these archetypal heroes who keep returning to us, in one guise or another, rising from disaster and death to ride again. I know some of the source texts I would use, but I'm curious: who do you think of when you hear the different verses? Which shows and characters would you weave in here? Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine.
The latest song to flatten me with its sheer storytelling capacity is Johnny Cash's cover of Jimmy Webb's "The Highwayman". My god, what a song; I teared up driving down the street the first time I heard it all the way through.
I was a highwayman. Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive.
I was a sailor. I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide.
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still.
I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around ...
I'll always be around and around and around and around and around
I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again ...
In my mind, this is a song that could be beautifully illustrated in a multi-fandom vid: it would make such a wonderful ode to these archetypal heroes who keep returning to us, in one guise or another, rising from disaster and death to ride again. I know some of the source texts I would use, but I'm curious: who do you think of when you hear the different verses? Which shows and characters would you weave in here? Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine.