Jeri Smith-Ready

Mega-Shuffle, Vol. 2

In honor of finishing the proposal for my rock 'n' roll vampire series, I'll include another edition of Mega-Shuffle, in which we see what tunes RealPlayer yanks to the surface while sifting randomly through my 2,928 tracks.

Rather than discussing the songs, which results in a really long post filled with my worthless opinions on a subject I know nothing about, this time I'll just cite my favorite line(s) from the songs.

1. "Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe" - Live, from their last good CD, Secret Samadhi:

Angel, don't you have some bagels in my oven?

2. "Medicine" - The Sundays, off of Blind:

And don’t go imagining that time is medicine
Mark those days & swallow your pills

3. "Searching for a Heart" - Warren Zevon, from I'll Sleep When I'm Dead:

They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun

4. "I'll Never Tell" - Emma Caulfield and Nicholas Brendon, from "Once More with Feeling," the sublime musical episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's sixth season. As Anya and Xander, they express their mixed feelings towards their impending nuptials:

X&A: I lied, I said it's easy
I've tried, but there's these fears I can't quell
X: Is she looking for a pot of gold?
A: Will I look good when I've gotten old?
X: Will our life become too stressful
if I'm never that successful?
A: When I get so old and wrinkly
that I look like David Brinkley
X: Am I crazy?
A: Am I dreamin'?
X: Am I marrying a demon?
X&A: We could really raise the beam in makin' marriage a hell.
But thank God I'll never tell.

5. "Pandora's Aquarium" - Tori Amos, from Choirgirl Hotel. Sigh...if I could meet one celebrity in the world... But then I'd just make an ass of myself, so never mind.

Line me up in single file
With all your grievances
Still but I can taste you're
Still alive below the waste

6. "The Big Issue" - Chumbawumba, from Tubthumper:

On every street in every town
All her days are up and down
At home among the
Lost-and-founds...

Actually, my favorite lines are spoken at the end by a stuffy-sounding bloke:

I only know two songs, 'Silent Night' and 'God Save the Queen,' and I only know which is which because one of them, everybody stands up for.

7. "The End" - The Doors, from their self-titled album:

It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die

8. "Papercut" - Linkin Park, from Hybrid Theory:

Everybody has a face that they hold inside
A face that awakes when they close their eyes
A face that watches every time they lie
A face that laughs every time they fall

9. "Have I Told You Lately" - The Chieftains and Van Morrison, off the Chieftains' live album The Long Black Veil, which I discussed in Mega-Shuffle Vol. 1:

Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles, that’s what you do

10. "Send the Pain Below" - Chevelle, one of the few exciting new bands of this decade. This was one of the hits off their 2003 album, Wonder What's Next:

You used to run me away,
All while laughing.
Then cry about the fact
'til I returned.

Bonus song, because it feels appropriate for these days:

"Too Much Information" - The Police

Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Overkill
Overview
Over my dead body
Over me
Over you
Over everybody

Tomorrow I print out the first draft of my Luna novel and assess the damage. It's been six weeks, what I consider an ideal amount of time to let a manuscript sit after a first draft (and Stephen King agrees with me, according to his book On Writing). I know I may not always have such a luxury. But this time I really needed it, and I'm grateful for being able to honor my usual process.

• posted by Jeri @ 8:48 PM
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