Grace Note: Bonus Tracks/Enhanced Content
Bonus Tracks/Enhanced Content
I was lucky enough to get not only amazing artwork, but also some fabulous mixes, too.
Thank you so much for helping my story become that much more fun!
This is by realproof
I love this manipulation so much, especially when I found the piano-playing Brendon hidden in there. Can you find it? To me, the tone of the art evokes a lot about what I was trying to say. To tie this into a line from the story: "It’s about being lost. It’s about being lonely and looking for someone who knows what it’s like. Someone who can help."
loreleilynn made a wonderful mix found here: learn to drown before you learn to swim
learn to drown before you learn to swim:
1. Flying- The Secret Machines
2.The Beatles- A Day in the Life
3. Sarah McLachlan- Prayer of Saint Francis
4. Chamillionaire- Rock Star
5. The Animal Collective- Banshee Beat
6. KoRn- Coming Undone
7. Bayside- Boy
8. Regina Spektor- Hotel Song
9. Kings of Leon- Sex on Fire
10. Metric- Patriarch on a Vespa
11. The Weepies- Not Your Year
12. Bright Eyes- First Day of My Life
13. The Beach Boys- Feel Flows
A couple of these songs fit so perfectly for me, that it was a little eerie, like "A Day in the Life". I promise, I didn't have this in mind, but wow. It fits really well. Also, "First Day of My Life" is one of my all time favorite songs, so yay!
habezweichai also made me an amazing mix, which can be found here: Sleeping Through Autumn
tracklisting/explanation: (text/lyrics) SPOILER WARNING
1. Ingrid Michaelson - Die Alone
There isn’t much production to their sound, not a lot of distracting noise, and there’s something about the singer’s voice that hits Ryan, making a shiver run down his spine.
He stands there for a moment just listening to the radio in the middle of the kitchen, listening as the singer’s voice weaves his melody, his voice raising higher and higher, creating an almost unearthly sound, before his eye catches the kitchen clock.
He’ll be late if he doesn’t start moving.
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I woke up this morning with a funny taste in my head/Spackled some butter over my whole grain bread/Something tastes different; maybe it's my tongue/
Something tastes different; suddenly I'm not so young./ I'm just a stranger, even to myself.
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2. Beck - Loser
“And I don’t think you could consider me a journalist, Pete. I’m just a glorified editor, aren’t I?”
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You can’t write if you can’t relate/ {...} I’m a loser baby
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3. Laura Marling - New Romantic
Ryan watches and listens, but he doesn’t make eye contact. He’s careful about that. He’s not there to connect to anyone.
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I'm sorry to which ever man should meet my sorry state/watch my steady lonesome gait and beware/I would never love a man 'cause love and pain go hand in hand
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4. The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
“I didn’t want to deal with people,” Ryan responds honestly. “I didn’t want to deal with a party where everyone would talk to me and pretend to give a shit but not really care about what I’m saying at all.”
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Smeared black ink/your palms are sweaty/And I’m barely listening to last demands
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5. String Quartet Tribute (to Arcade Fire) - Crown of Love
Just audible over the low hum of the Civic Center’s air conditioning, Ryan can hear the sound of a piano. The notes are slow, haunting almost, but Ryan doesn’t have to be in the music industry to know that whoever is playing it knows what they are doing. It is beautiful.
6. Switchfoot - Dare You To Move
He thinks about it, he really does, thinks about maybe asking to talk to Pete outside so that he can change his mind without the entire writing staff staring at him, but he keeps his mouth shut. Instead, while he’s waiting those few short seconds for Pete to talk again, Ryan thinks about Gerard and how he thinks that the article will be good for Ryan. He thinks about how he really does need to start putting himself out there.
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Everybody's watching you now/Everybody waits for you now/What happens next?/
What happens next?/I dare you to move
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7. Bright Eyes - Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh
The way Jon is talking is seems a little disjointed to Ryan, a little manic, almost, but Ryan figures that considering Jon just lost his band, lost what all the fan sites were saying was his dream, lost his best friends, it makes sense.
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You said you hate my suffering, and you understood,/And you’d take care of me./You'd always be there./Well, where are you now?
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8. Clem Snide - I’ll Be Your Mirror (Velvet Underground Cover) Up close, without the alteration of a camera, Brendon looks even more attractive than he did on Ryan’s computer screen. His hair is a little disheveled, but it frames his face, the dark strands falling in such a way that it seems almost poetic. It makes Ryan’s fingers itch. He wants to capture the picture.
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I’ll be your mirror/Reflect what you are, in case you don’t know/{...}I find it hard to believe you don’t know/the beauty that you are
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9. The Smiths - Asleep
“You just seemed sort of lonely.” The words just come out.
“I’m not,” Brendon says quickly, but Ryan smiles at him, a small smile that disappears quickly with his words.
“Well, sometimes I am,” Ryan admits.
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Sing to me /I don't want to wake up/ On my own anymore
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10. Melee - Mestizo’s Love Song
“I’m twenty-four years old, and I’ve never been in love.” Brendon sighs. “I sing about it all the time. I write about it, and my greatest fear is that I’ll never find it, and I’ll forever have all these stupid love songs with my words and my voice haunting me.”
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There is no denying truth can leave you crying/ when you’ve never loved before
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11. James Taylor - You’ve Got a Friend
“Don’t worry,” Spencer responds, and something in his expression softens when he talks to Jon. Friendship Ryan thinks. He thinks caring and love. “We were waiting for you.”
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Hey, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend?/People can be so cold/They’ll hurt you and desert you/Well, they’ll take your soul if you let them.
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12. Travis - Love Will Come Through
Follow your heart, love will find you.
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Baby, love will come through; it's just waiting for you
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13. Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky
Every time, Brendon had welcomed Ryan in with the same happily startled smile, as if he never really expected Ryan to come back but had still hoped for it.
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Mister blue sky please tell us why/You had to hide away for so long
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14. Hercules - Go the Distance
He listens as Brendon talks about finding Jon, finding Spencer - finding music.
“It’s the only thing my whole life that’s ever made complete sense,” Brendon says. “It’s the only thing that’s never let me down.”
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I have often dreamed/ of a far off place/ {...}And a voice keeps saying/ This is where I’m meant to be
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15. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
“Can’t you hear it?” Brendon asks. He looks down again at his fingers, and Ryan doesn’t know why, but suddenly it’s important for him to move closer, so he does. “It’s about you,” he admits.
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But for now we are young/Let us lay in the sun/And count every beautiful thing we can see/Love to be
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16. This Is Ivy League - You and Me and The Moon (Magnetic Fields Cover)
Ryan picks up both envelops, one with all of Brendon’s words in them and the other with Brendon’s music - with the plane ticket, and he sets the both up against the piano stand. He looks at them, sees the two envelopes, both of which will change everything. He could easily just forget the past couple weeks, write the article and forget Brendon, but the envelope with his name written across it, written with such care, catches his eye.
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When you look in my eyes I go soft inside/ And the sound of your voice sends/ Shivers up my spine/And at the slightest touch we're in love
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This mix is pretty much perfect. There's DISNEY! in there people! And yes, anyone who knows me (like, oh, I don't know, my sister) knows that I love Disney movies :D But really, thanks for all the hard work/thought that you put into this, Emily.
Once again, thank you so much loreleilynn and realproof and habezweichai. I really appreciate it!
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