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a poet’s notebook


Established 02004

The Soundtrack of My Life

This playlist meme is from
scribblingwoman, who says she doesn’t usually post playlists, but…

. . .this music meme is a lot like found poetry. The trick is to put your music on
shuffle and then take each track as it comes and fill in the following
categories for the movie of your life…

So here’s mine — and I have to say, it’s almost eerie:

[Added later: it seems odd to me that the meme is all about relationships — and not at all about work. But then, I’m odd, I know…]


Opening Credits:  Jezebel, Sade

  Jezebel wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth
  She probably had less than every one of us
  But when she knew how to walk she knew
  How to bring the house down
  Can’t blame her for her beauty
  She wins with her hands down
  . . .

  Reach for the top she said
  And the sun is gonna shine
  Every winter was a war she said
  I want to get what’s mine

  Umm,
  ok…

 

Waking Up: Damned Old Dog, k.d.
  lang

  Do I wanna be a dog?
  Any diddlin male would do
  If I was a damned old dog
  I wouldnt be fussy for you
  . . .
 
  Limpin around in the moonlight
  Coverin up what I did
  Words decompose all around me
  Nuisances I committed
 
  Do I wanna be a dog
  Cut the heat out of me
  If I was a damned old dog
  I wouldnt have to goddamn human be

  I love this: Words decompose all around me/
  Nuisances I committed

 

First Day at School: Tiny Grief Song, Sinead
  O’Connor

  I’d a terrible broken heart
  I’d a terrible broken heart
  I’d a terrible broken heart
  I’d a terrible broken heart . . .

Falling in Love: She’s Got Her Ticket, Tracy
  Chapman

She’s got her ticket
I think she gonna use it
I think she going to fly away

No one should try and stop her
Persuade her with their power
She says that her mind is made

Up

Why not leave why not
Go away
Too much hatred

Corruption and greed
Give your life
And invariably they leave you with

Nothing

Young girl ain’t got no chances
No roots to keep her strong
She’s shed all pretenses

That someday she’ll belong
Some folks call her a runaway
A failure in the race

But she knows where her ticket takes her

She will find her place in the sun

 

Fight Song:
The Beat of Black Wings, Joni Mitchell

  I met a young soldier
  He said his name was killer kyle
  He was shakin all over
  Like a night-frightened child
  This is his story
  Its a tough one for me to sing
  Hard as the squawk and the flap
  And the beat of–the beat of black wings
  . . .

  I’m just a chalk mark in a rainstorm
  I’m just the beat of black wings.

Breaking
  Up:
Thank You Girl, The Beatles

Prom:  Loved By Women, Orchestra Sinfonietta di Roma, The Postman (Il Postino)

Well, this is a sprightly dance piece.

But I didn’t go to the prom.

Life is Good: Adonic Angela, Willem Dafoe, The Postman (Il Postino)
 
 

Most definitely a Life is Good piece, and a poem by a favorite poet, too:

  Adonic Angela

  Today I stretched out next to a pure young woman
  as if at the shore of a white ocean,
  as if at the center of a burning star
  of slow space.
 
  From her lengthily green gaze
  the light fell like dry water,
  in transparant and deep circles
  of fresh force.
 
  Her bosom like a two flamed fire
  burned raised in two regions,
  and in a double river reached
  her large, clear feet.
 
  A climate of gold scarcely ripened
  the diurnal length of her body
  filling it with extended fruits
  and hidden fire.

Pablo
  Neruda

 

Mental Breakdown:  Only Us, Peter Gabriel

It wasn’t in the words that kept sticking in
their throats
It wasn’t with the angels in their quilted
coats
These battered wings still kick up dust
Seduced by the noise and the bright things that
glisten
I knew all the time I should shut up and
listen

And I’m finding my way home from the great escape

The further on I go, oh the less I know
I can find only us breathing
Only us sleeping
Only us dreaming
Only us

I hear you calling me
Yes I hear you calling me
Home from the great escape
Yes I can read you loud and clear

The further on I go, oh the less I know
Friend or foe, theres only us

Im coming home again, home again
And I hear you calling me home again
I am coming home again

 

Driving:  Introduction: Teenager, Jane
  Siberry

 


Flashback:  Someone Who Believes in You, Carole King

  When there’s a dark storm your horizon
  And you think you cna’t get through it
  Just put your hand in my hand
  And i’ll show you how to do it
  . . .

  Just follow where I lead
  I’ll give you what you need
  And I’ll tell you something else
  You’ll start believing in yourself
  It’s an easy thing to do
  When you’ve got someone who
  believes in you
  . . .


Getting Back Together: There
  Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)
, Eurythmics

  I walk into an empty room
  And suddenly my heart goes "boom"!
  It’s an orchestra of angels
  And they’re playing with my heart.
 
  . . .

  And when i think that i’m alone
  It seems there’s more of us at home.
  It’s a multitude of angels
  And they’re playing with my heart.
 
  . . .
 
  I must be hallucinating
  Watching angels celebrating.
  Could this be reactivating
  All my senses dislocating?
  This must be a strange deception
  By celestial intervention.
  Leavin’ me the recollection
  Of your heavenly connection.


Wedding: All Apologies, Sinead O’Connor

  What else should i be
  All apologies
  What else should i say
  Everyone is gay
 
  What else could i write
  I don’t have the right
  What else should i be
  All apologies
 
  In the sun
  In the sun i feel as one
  In the sun
  In the sun
  I’m married
  Buried
  Buried
 
  I wish i was like you
  Easily amused
  Find my nest of salt
  Everything’s my fault
  I’ll take all the blame
  Aqua sea-foam shame
  Sunburn with freezer-burn
  Choking on the ashes of her enemy
 
  In the sun
  In the sun i feel as one
  In the sun
  In the sun
  I’m married
  Buried
  Buried
 
  All in all is all we all are
  All in all is all we all are
  All in all is all we all are
  All in all is all we all are
  All in all is all we all are
  All in all is all we all are

OK, this one is just too weird.

I was married.

I was buried.


Paying the Dues: Salome Dances for Peace: Half Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight, Kronos Quartet

The Night Before the War: I Never Was to Africa, Ferron

If you’re ever sitting where the rushes grow
Or you catch a red rose bloom
Or if you’re ever standing where a raging river flows
And you feel yourself a lonesome tune
That’s right it’s me again
Right by your side
. . . 

And if
I’m ever where the rushes grow
Or I catch a red
rose bloom
Or if I’m ever
standing where a raging river flows
And I feel myself a
lonesome tune
I’ll know it’s you
again right by my side
. . .


Final Battle:  Me By The Sea, Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians 

I’m glad no one’s here
Just me by the sea
I’m glad no one’s here
To mess it up for me
I’m glad no one’s here
Just me by the sea

But man
I wish I had a hand
to hold

I saw an orange starfish
on the side of a rock
I poked on his back
and tried to pull him off
A crab scared me away
He ran close to my toes

And man
I wish I had a hand
To hold

The moon is nowhere
Almost time for the sun
The voice of the waves
Sounds anciently young
I’m a prisoner of freedom
Ten toes in the sand

And man
I wish I had a hand
To hold

I’m in the habit
Of bein’ alone
It’s so hard to break it
I can’t on my own

I’m glad no one’s here
Just me by the sea
I’m glad no one’s here
To mess it up for me
I’m glad no one’s here
Just me by the sea

But man
I wish I had a hand
to hold


Moment of Triumph:  Helter Skelter, The Bobs

  When i get to the bottom i go back to the top of the slide
  . . .

  Look out helter skelter helter skelter
  Helter skelter
  Look out helter skelter
  She’s coming down fast
  Yes she is
  Yes she is.


Death Scene:  I Met A Man (Live), Toni
  Childs

  I heard a man who called me
  I heard his name unfold
  I heard a man who called me
  I heard his spirit [beauty] told

  I heard a music in me
  I heard a sound inside
  I heard a man remind me
  Of what lives inside
  Doo do a doo doo
 
  How do you love?
  And how do you care?
  And how do you live and believe?
  Do you look away?
 
  I heard a music in me
  I heard a sound inside
  I heard a man remind me
  Of what lives inside
  Doo do a do do d-do
 
  How do you love?
  And how do you care?
  How do you live and believe?
  Do you look away?

  Don’t look away
  don’t don’t don’t look away
  no no child, don’t look away
  no no no  …


End Credits: Love Letters, Sinead O’Connor  

  Love letters straight
  From your heart
  Keep us so near
  While apart
 
  I’m not alone in the night
  When i can have all the love
  That you write
  I memorize every line
  And i kiss the name
  That you sign
  And darling then
  I read again
  Right from the start
  Love letters straight
  From your heart
 
  I memorize every line
  And i kiss the name
  That you sign
  And darling then
  I read again
  Right from the start
  Love letters straight
  From your heart

One response to “The Soundtrack of My Life”

  1. It is eerie. I think this meme is like Tarot cards or Rorschach tests: they reflect back what we project.

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