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oloriel
I made a fanmix for the SWG's 40th publication anniversary celebrations (am I ever going to stop pimping this? PROBABLY NOT) but couldn't get Spotify to work for me until yesterday, so now I'm super duper late to the party (though not as late as I am for the Beren & Lúthien famix, haha). Is that going to stop me from spamming your f-lists with it? Obviously not! Here are 40 (of course) tracks I chose especially because they more or less cover the plot of the Silmarillion, from the Ainulindalë to the Rings of Power and from the 1970s until now. (I tried to find songs that fit the actual contributions, but that turned out to be too hard.)
And because this is LJ (or DW, respectively) and I can do long rambly posts here, I will TALK about my egregious choices, too!
- - -
1. The World Choir – As It Is In Heaven
no lyrics
Movement I of the Ainulindalë symphony, or possibly just the Ainur's warm-up exercises.
2. Don Davis vs. Juno Reactor – Navras
Asato ma sad gamaya /tamaso ma jyotir gamaya / mrtyor mamrtam gamaya
Movement II and III. I don't have an ounce of Sanskrit, but I remember hearing this in the cinema after The Matrix: Revolutions and being completely blown away by what a perfect electronic Ainulindalë track it is. If you listen closely, you can hear the Ulumúri and Nienna's wailing and ASKDFGHJS I love it. ("Neodämmerung" would have been even more perfect but I wanted to avoid symphonic soundtrack pieces.)
3. All Saints – Pure Shores
Take me somewhere I can breathe /I've got so much to see / This is where I want to be / In a place I can call mine
The Valar establish Valinor.
4. a-ha – Foot of the Mountain
Learn from my mistake/ Leave what others take/ Speak when spoken to/ And do what others do
Aulë makes the Dwarves. - This might have worked much better as a song for the Vanyar or for Númenor, but I am sadly short (hah) on Dwarf songs (I See Fire etc. obviously don't count), so I went with this one. At least it's got the word "mountain" in it, haha.
5. Hair Tribe – Good Morning Starshine
Good morning starshine/ the world says hello/ You twinkle over us/ we twinkle below
Them long-haired Elves awakening in Cuiviénen and singing hymns to Elbereth, I regret nothing
6. U2 – Mysterious Ways
One day you will look back/ And you'll see/ Where you were held/ How by this love/ While you could stand/ There you could move on this moment/ Follow this feeling
Thingol meets Melian.
7. Phil Collins – Two Worlds
Raise your head up/ Lift high the load/ Take strength from those that need you
Build high the walls/ Build strong the beams/ A new life is waiting/ But danger's no stranger here
The Avari establish their settlements in Middle-earth, the Amanyar establish their kingdoms in the Blessed Realm
8. Ana Johnsson – We Are
See the devil on the doorstep now (my oh my)/ Telling everybody oh just how to live their lives/ Sliding down the information highway/ Buying in just like a bunch of fools/ Time is ticking and we can't go back (my oh my)
Melkor stirs unrest among the Noldor.
9. David Usher – Black Black Heart
Black black heart why would you offer more/ Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core/ I'm eating all your kings and queens/ All your sex and your diamonds
Melkor and Ungoliant come to spoil the party. - Some of the tracks I picked are rather far-fetched, but some just fit like a glove (or like Arsch auf Eimer as we say around here and I think that's beautiful?).
10. Faith Hill – When The Lights Go Down
When the lights go down and there's nothing left to be/ When the lights go down and the truth is all you see/ When you feel that hole inside your soul / And wonder what you're made of / Well we'll all find out/ When the lights go down
The Darkening of Valinor
11. Big Country – Ships
Look at you now just chasing your life/ Make like the savior of the planet/ You’re just trying to get by [...] And where were you when my ship went down/ Where were you when I ran aground/ Where were you when I turned it 'round/ Where were you when they burned me down
The Exodus of the Noldor
12. Survivor – Burning Heart
In the burning heart/ Just about to burst/ There's a quest for answers/ An unquenchable thirst/ In the darkest night/ Rising like a spire/ In the burning heart/ The unmistakable fire
Plain honest 80s rock handles it all: the victory of Dwarves and Wood-elves against the Orc army; the death of Fëanor; and probably Maedhros' ill-advised parlay with Morgoth, too.
13. Elton John – The Circle Of Life
Some of us fall by the wayside/ And some of us soar to the stars/ And some of us sail through our troubles/ And some have to live with the scars
There's far too much to take in here/ More to find than can ever be found/ But the sun rolling high through the sapphire sky/ Keeps great and small on the endless round
A song for the sun, and also for mortal men doomed to die
14. Russell Morris – The Wings Of An Eagle
Do you loose your way in the middle of the day/ Do you see your brother crawling/ And all the while he's calling out for help from you/ (Wah hoo, wah hoo, wah hoo) / On the wings of an eagle I find myself lifted through the skies/ Lifted up above the world to sing
Possibly about Ganymede, but all I can think of is Thangorodrim
15. Queen – Princes Of The Universe
Here we are/ Born to be kings/ We're the princes of the universe
Here we belong/ Fighting to survive in a war with the darkest powers
The Mereth Aderthad, and the Noldor in Beleriand generally
16. Starship – We Built This City
Say you don't know me or recognize my face/ Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place/ Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight/ Too many runaways eating up the night [...] Don't you remember/ We built this city on Rock'n'Roll
Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding for the national anthem of Gondolin a.k.a. The Singing Rock, I have literally no excuse other than that.
17. Survivor – Silver Girl
Won't you lay with me one moment more/ I couldn't bear to see you walk out that door/ Stay with me, be my one in the world / For just one golden moment, my silver girl
Aredhel and Eöl before it turned sour.
18. Alphaville – Forever Young
Can you imagine when this race is won/ Turn our golden faces into the sun/ Praising our leaders, we're getting in tune/ The music's played by the mad men/ Forever young, I want to be forever young/ Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever?
Of the Coming of Men into the West, and the difficulty of living among Elves
19. Ben Moody feat. Anastacia – Everything Burns
Til everything burns/ While everyone screams/ Burning their lies/ Burning my dreams
All of this hate/ And all of this pain/ I'll burn it all down/ As my anger reigns
The Battle of Sudden Flame
20. Survivor – Man Against World
Now the road's grown long but the spirit's strong/ And the fire within still burns/ Alone I take my stand/ I give you a man against the world
a.k.a. Fingolfin discovers that he has more in common with his half-brother than everybody thought
21. Joan Baez – The Scarlet Tide
Man goes beyond his own decision/ gets caught up in the mechanism/ Of swindlers who act like kings/ and brokers who break everything/ The dark of night was swiftly fading/ close to the dawn of day/ Why would I want him just to lose him again
Could be Haleth, could be Emeldir, you know what? I won't decide, they're both awesome.
22. Ronja Rövardotter OST - Rövarsången
no lyrics
Barahir and his outlaws: A short life, and a merry. - I know I said I wanted to avoid symphonic soundtrack stuff but I guess I lied. Well, it isn't symphonic and besides, MY CHILDHOOD.
23. Tina Arena & Mark Anthony – I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You
Though we know we will never come again/ Where there is love, life begins/ Over and over again
Save the night, save the day/ Save the love, come what may/ Love is worth everything we pay
The loverboy in distress and the princess who saves him
24. Evanescence – Bring Me To Life
All this time I can't believe I couldn't see/ Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me/ I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems/ Got to open my eyes to everything
I know Felagund deserves better, and yet I got stuck with this.
25. Metallica – Of Wolf And Man
Shape shift, nose to the wind/ Shape shift, feeling I've been/ Move swift, all senses clean
Earth's gift, back to the meaning/ Back to the meaning of life
Only marginally related to Sauron's werewolf antics and Draugluin.
26. Thirty Seconds To Mars – Vox Populi
This is a call to arms/ Gather soldiers/ Time to go to war
This is a battle song/ Brothers and sisters/ Time to go to war
The Union of Maedhros
27. Emmelie de Forest – Only Teardrops
How many times can we win and lose?/ How many times can we break the rules?/ Between us/ Only teardrops
Ending, as it must, in tears. - Actually, I associate the lyrics with the War of Wrath, but the chorus made me push it to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears instead
28. Nightwish – Nemo
This is me for forever/ One of the lost ones/ The one without a name/ Without an honest heart as compass
This will have to do for Túrin and Nienor.
29. Bastille – Pompeii
And the walls kept tumbling down/ In the city that we love/ Gray clouds rolled over the hills/ Bringing darkness from above
And Gondolin's a goner.
30. Duran Duran – Wild Boys
The wild boys are calling/ On their way back from the fire/ In August moon's surrender to/ A dust cloud on the rise/ Wild boys fallen far from glory/ Reckless and so hungered
The Fëanorians are dispossessed, but they are not giving up
(wild boys always shine)
31. Melanie C – Northern Star
They tried to catch a falling star/ Thinking that she had gone too far/ She did but kept it hidden well/ Until she cracked and then she fell
A song for Elwing.
32. Muse – Apocalypse Please
It's time we saw a miracle/ come on it's time for something biblical/ to pull us through/ this is the end of the world
Eärendil pleads before the Valar.
33. Lordi – Hard Rock Hallelujah
The walls come down like thunder/ The rock's about to roll/ It's the Arockalypse/ Now bare your soul
The War of Wrath, I have no shame whatsoever
34. Big Country – East of Eden
I looked west in search of freedom and I saw slavery/ I looked east in search of answers and I saw misery/ Some days I just don’t worry, I let it walk through me/ Some days I walk into the very depths of me/ So out here to the east of Eden I let my conscience be
Elros decides to take his chances as a mortal king
35. Take That – The Flood
There’s progress now where there once was none/ where there once was awe/ then everything came along
Although no one understood/ we were holding back the flood/ learning how to dance the rain/ There was more of them than us/ now they’ll never dance again
Aaaand the final days of Númenor are upon us
36. Celine Dion – Immortality
'Cause I have found a dream that must come true/ Every ounce of me must see it through/ But you are my only
I'm sorry I don't have a role for love to play/ Hand over my heart I'll find my way/ I will make them give to me
Immortality
Look, I have no clue what this song is about, except that it's clearly a love song for Ar-Pharazôn and Tar-Míriel. Although I can't stand Ar-Pharazôn, I much prefer the version of the story in which Tar-Míriel chooses him (over Elendil's uncle I think?) out of love and ambition, instead of being coërced into marrying him. It makes her so much more interesting.
37. Tina Turner – Goldeneye
You'll never know/ how I watched you from the shadows as a child/ You'll never know how it feels to be the one who's left behind/ You'll never know the days, the nights, the tears, the tears I've cried/ But now my time has come/ And time, time is not on your side
Meanwhile in Middle-earth, Sauron is doing his thing.
38. Adele – Skyfall
Where worlds collide and days are dark/ You may have my number, you can take my name/ But you'll never have my heart/ Let the sky fall/ When it crumbles/ We will stand tall/ And face it all/ together
The Last Alliance. - Two 007 theme songs after another, I know. Why do I keep putting them into my Tolkien fanmixes? I don't know, maybe it's because DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER *ducks and runs*
39. Queen – A Kind Of Magic
This rage that lasts a thousand years/ Will soon be done/ This flame that burns inside of me/ I'm hearing secret harmonies/ It's a kind of magic
A song for the Istari. - I guess the same question could be asked of Highlander theme songs and all I can say is IT'S BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY
40. Rotersand – The Last Ship (Pt 2)
Strangely mantled in silence/ a grand parade of lives completed/ faith alone gives them guidance/ to find their journey home
Job done, everybody, we can go home
- - -
And there we are. "Here ends the SILMARILLION. If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to cheesy ballads and inane pop titles, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred."
Hope you have fun with my eclectic and occasionally questionable taste in music!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-04 06:07 pm (UTC)I love the graphic, of course. I went nuts for that artwork when I first saw it. I've loved it the whole 40-days. I liked it a lot more than the official Silm-40 banner. Usually I never read on the display pages of SWG "special events"--they are always so pretty but cannot top black and white for fiction-reading. But this time I read all the stories first on the "special graphics" pages with this artwork because it moved me so!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-05 11:24 am (UTC)And even more thrilled how much you like the graphic. I made it more or less on a whim because Dawn, Angelica and I agreed that the border on the AinA page was one of the best special project designs but Dawn didn't want to just recycle it, so something new had to be made. Hearing that my graphic got you to read all the stories on the special page makes me so incredibly happy! Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-07 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-07 06:32 pm (UTC)It's coloring, composition and general look, very much within the universe.
Thank you so much! Thrilled that you love it.