Can I borrow your pen?

[sarea]

There are not enough songs that are stories. You know what I mean? Or maybe there are, and I just haven't noticed. I love lyrics that tell a story. I suppose all songs tell a story to some extent, but I mean ones that actually have a narrative: a beginning, middle, and end. Here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

The Ballad of Grim and Lily - Bree Sharp
Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks
The Highwayman - Loreena McKennitt (of course, this was adapted)
Jack and Diane - John Mellencamp
Long Black Veil - Johnny Cash
Me and a Gun - Tori Amos
Misery - Green Day (this might not count)
Sk8ter Boi - Avril Lavigne
Travelin' Soldier - Dixie Chicks (this is the one I've been listening to recently that got me thinking about this)

What am I forgetting?

Well, Jade and I have consulted, and I think I've got the final list of AtS eps that I'm going to include for significantowl. Agree or disagree? Speak now or forever hold your peace ...

(The ones in parentheses we're unsure about ... if you can make an argument one way or another, that may decide their fate. Also would appreciate suggestions on eps that could be cut, as this might be a trifle long.)

S1
City of...
In the Dark
Room with a View
(Sense and Sensitivity)
Hero
The Prodigal
Five by Five
Sanctuary
War Zone
To Shanshu in L.A.

S2
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
Dear Boy
Darla
(The Shroud of Rahmon)
The Trial
Reunion
(Redefinition)
(Reprise)
Epiphany
(Dead End)
Over the Rainbow
Through the Looking Glass
There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb

S3
That Vision Thing
Fredless
Offspring
(Quickening)
Lullaby
Birthday
(Waiting in the Wings)
Sleep Tight
The Price
A New World
Benediction
Tomorrow

S4
Deep Down
(The House Always Wins)
(Slouching Toward Bethlehem)
(Supersymmetry)
Apocalypse, Nowish
Long Day's Journey
Awakening
Soulless
Calvary
Salvage
Orpheus
(Inside Out)
Home

Am most uncertain about S4. The whole Jasmine thing was really unbelievably lame, and it is my preference that it's left out entirely -- I just need to quickly explain the one big thing that comes out of it.

And now, even more Angel (and Smallville, too) ...

Smallville: I liked the ep. I know a lot of people don't like Lana, and I'm not actually that enamored of her myself (although I think she could be 100 times more interesting if they'd made her go dark and align herself w/ Lex -- all the repercussions of that would be awesome), but I think KK is a good little actress. I liked the Clark/Lana angst in this ep, although I still don't understand why they talk about "not being together anymore" when they were never together in the first place. Did I miss that ep?! Keeping them apart at this point just seems really contrived (much like what they were doing to Max and Liz in S2 Roswell, although the angst there was way better). The worst part of this ep was when Lana and Chloe were reciting the summary of what had happened to them in the last two seasons. And at least they did acknowledge that stalking Lana is extremely unoriginal. Dude, is anyone else sensing Chloe/Lionel vibes?!

Am shamefully looking forward to next week's ep, which "features music by REM." Dare I hope that there's some AU thing going on?

AtS: As predicted, extremely lame ep. So what, is this chick going to guest star occasionally now? Hope not. She did nothing for me. Was this another attempt to see if anyone had chemistry w/ Angel? (How stupid were the promos? Thank God the episode didn't actually follow it, as Jade predicted, and there wasn't really overt romantic interest there.) If so, I'd prefer Gwen. At least she'd make a pretty kickass member of their team, and I like her personality far more. The strongest part of this ep was the Fred/Spike stuff, though not necessarily in an USTy way. I just care about Spike. Liked Gunn more, and Wes is still underused. Although I'm a little bleh over Fred turning into DT!Hermione (or Anne of GG for that matter), w/ everyone seeming to need to try and pair themselves w/ her one way or another. They need another female cast member.

Am v. excited for next week's ep, which looks awesome. Spike stuff usually has the potential to be v. rewarding (which is why the last season of BtVS was so disappointing). Though I agree w/ corianderstem, all that "viewer discretion is advised" stuff was really lame.

Also, sydney_lynne, email me your address if you want me to send you a keyboard. I have many working ones that I'm not using. They're all MS Natural keyboards though -- not sure if you prefer the regular kind or whatever.

Edited to add: Have you guys seen Joss Whedon's letter to encourage us to watch AtS S5? Hilarious. I wonder if he wrote it, or some other funny flunky. Anyway, Mary Caroline, he says that there should be no problem for newbies to start in on the show at this point: "Those of you who have never seen the show will have no trouble jumping on board. Just remember, Angel is the one everybody keeps calling 'Angel.'" There, I don't even know why I'm bothering to make tapes.

Comments

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I did a show about a year ago of "story songs". Among them:

Gordon Lightfoot, "the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
Loreena McKennitt, "The Lady of Shalott"
Paper Lace, "The Night Chicago Died"
Dennis DeYoung, "Desert Moon"
Harry Chapin, "Cat's in the Cradle"
Luther Vandross (or Karen Carpenter), "Superstar"
Billy Joel, "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"
Chad Mitchell Trio, "Lizzie Borden"

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Thought of some more: Gladys Knight and the Pips, "Midnight Train to Georgia"
Oh, and Vicki Lawrence, "The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia"
Alan Jackson, "Midnight in Montgomery" (creeeepy but good. He meets the ghost of Hank Williams)

Guh. I could do this all night. Will stop spamming.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

and one more: "Mr. Bojangles" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Yeah, I'm a DJ. Why do you ask? *grin*

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Hahahaaha, I knew you could be counted on for help here! A show about story songs; that's awesome. I also like the mix of genres.