This is geeky to a legendary degree, but I feel that's appropriate: below is the tracklist for an Arthurian mix CD. I may be high on essentialist postulations and creative riffing, but I think it's amazing.
ARTHURIANA
1. Intro: Angels Collide (Amy Correia)
2. Round Table: Every Night's A Saturday Night With You (The Drifters)
3. Round Table: Security (Otis Redding)
4. Round Table: Tell Me Baby (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
5. Arthur 1: Banking On A Myth (Andrew Bird)
6. Lancelot 1: Anonymity Is The New Fame (Frankel)
7. Lancelot 1: Mystery Of Love (David Gray)
8. Guinevere: Viva La Vida (Lady Gaga)
9. Gawain 1: Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (Queen)
10. Perceval 1: Another Mystery (Dar Williams)
11. Holy Grail: The Great Beyond (The Fray)
12. Holy Grail: Ship In A Bottle (Bright Eyes)
13. Gawain 2: The Limit To Your Love (Feist)
14. Holy Grail: Snakes & Ladders (Joss Stone)
15. Lancelot 2: Wisdom (David Gray)
16. Galahad: Studying Stones (Ani DiFranco)
17. Perceval 2: These Arms (Donavon Frankenreiter)
18. Parzival: Empty (Ray LaMontagne)
19. Parzival: Understanding (Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band)
20. Bors: Old Dances (Kate Nash)
21. Merlin: The Dynamo of Volition (Jason Mraz)
22. Mordred: Dream On (Depeche Mode)
23. Tristan: Tristan (Patrick Wolf)
24. Mordred: The Million You Never Made (Ani DiFranco)
25. Gawain 3: No Children (The Mountain Goats)
26. Mordred: Daddy I Know (Norman Greenbaum)
27. Arthur 2: I'm On A Boat (Lonely Island feat. T-Pain)
28. Arthur 2: Living Room (David Gray)
29. Arthur 2: Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier (Corb Lund)
30. Outro: We Want A Rock (They Might Be Giants)
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Okay, I am enjoying this mix way too much. Somehow Lady Gaga's version of "Viva la Vida" really makes good sense as a song of Guinevere (or, er, Gwynethvere, to judge from her adjusted lyrics?). I have to say, it conjures up weird images to imagine Merlin the enchanter as the singer of "The Dynamo of Volition" by Jason Mraz. And I am unfamiliar with Patrick Wolf, but it is a stroke of mixtape genius to assign the song "Tristan" to the character of Tristan. What fun!
ReplyDeletePS: "The Million You Never Made" for Mordred is so apt its spooky.
Hahaha, I agree with Mike. This has been so fun to listen to and to think about! My favorites are Arthur 2 "I'm on a Boat" and Outro "We Want A Rock." Very clever, Erin.
ReplyDeleteThis mix is enchanting. You rock! (PS. I freaked out when I heard I'm on a Boat... cause I'm a complete nerd and had memorized the words... and imagine it with Arthur... truly a great moment in my tired mind.)
ReplyDeleteErin it makes me so happy to know that you made this :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dr. Wenthe that the Lady Gaga song is a great choice. And Feist (love her!) for Gawain is a great choice as well.
So, will this CD be available to copy or what?
IT'S A BIG BLUE WATERY ROAD
ReplyDeleteDr. Wenthe, the Merlin song is ridonkulous. But he's a brand new edition to the old edition! He's tripping on nothing there is, living in the wilderness!
Amanda, DEFINITELY. I'll put one* in your mailbox; together, Hannah and I will keep mix CDs in your mailbox all the time.
* NB: copies are purely for sampling purposes, and discs should be destroyed within 24 hours.
You're the best, Erin! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the Lady Gaga connection for Guinevere this morning and then I cam across this article about her music on Slate.com. Check out what Anne Powers had to say about her music:
"So many of Gaga's hits play upon ancient anxieties about feminine desire—"Poker Face," about faking it in bed; "Just Dance," about having seriously too much fun; "Speechless," about the messy love a daughter feels for her father; "Bad Romance," about her unhealthy fascination with Marilyn Manson. (Just kidding!)
In her videos, Gaga updates the mythical elements of sexism by rewriting them as science fiction, wrapping them in transgender glam, white gothic latex, and red ribbons of plasma-screen blood. And though it's not as obvious, she's working toward a similar synthesis in her music."
female sexual desire, "mythic elements of sexism"--total Guinevere!