Four Songs that John will not play and one that he will
Just something I threw together last night. My take on the Five Things Meme that's going around. SGA and John has a guitar. Unbeta'd. All mine. Except the characters of course. Oh, yea, and there's Karaoke Night on Atlantis. Why not?
Four Songs that John will not play and one that he will:
1. Blackbird by the Beatles and almost everyone else -
/Take these broken wings and learn to fly/
It isn't the easiest song to play, but it's one of the first ones he learned. Such simple lyrics to imply so overwhelmingly much. It took ages until he was satisfied with it. Until he got the notes pretty much right and his voice wasn't too nasally to his own ears. Practicing on the wooden steps to the barracks when they were given brief moments of free time. Afghanistan during down time surrounded by nothing but sand and heat. McMurdo which was somehow both identical to and the direct opposite of Afghanistan.
/You were only waiting for this moment to arrive/
He was going to play it that first time he played Karaoke night. Got so far as to sit on the stool with the guitar in his arms and strum that first note. Only, he couldn't do it. It's too real. Not just to him, but to everyone sitting before him waiting patiently and everyone who couldn't make it to Karaoke night. Too bone-deep painful. It would be like announcing he's scared as hell most of the time or that sometimes, when he steps back through the gate with his team home again and they're battered and bruised but alive, all he wants to do is cry with relief. He sang Wild Thing that night instead and they loved it so much he did an encore later on.
2. I Want It That Way - Backstreet Boys
/I never wanna hear you say/
Does he really need an excuse for this one? No one would question his refusal to drink battery acid. He's sure there have been boy bands as long as there has been music. Hiding their lack of skill in both the singing and the dancing arena beneath flashy moves and pretty faces just to make the girls and some of the boys scream for them. Indigestion inspiring lyrics and too white teeth. Makes him shutter just to think about it.
/I want it that way/
Okay, there was that once, but that was for Cnl. Meadows' niece, Kaylee. At age five, she was nothing but blonde curls and huge blue eyes. A sweet kid who would someday grow up to break a lot of hearts. She asked for Nsync. He had never heard of Nsync. Honestly, all of the boy bands sort of melted together in his mind. But he remembered hearing 'I Want It That Way' on the radio a couple thousand times the last time he was on leave and it was a pretty simple tune. He's sure he messed up at least half of the words and didn't get any of the chords right, but Kaylee clapped her hands and asked him to sing it again.
3. Anything by Johnny Cash
/My daddy left home when I was three/
It's not exactly a well kept secret that he is a huge Johnny Cash fan. In his quarters, rather than family photos, he has a picture of him aged 10 standing beside Evil Knivel and a Johnny Cash poster behind his bed. He was a common man who took the hard route and made more mistakes than right choices. But he was a good man with a good heart who just did what he felt he had to do. Every time he fell he got back up. Sometimes he needed help standing and sometimes he didn't.
/And I came away with a different point of view/
He doesn't play Johnny Cash because he doesn't feel he could do him proper justice. The chords are difficult and the words are too important. He thinks about playing it, though, and maybe one day he will. He can't keep it original because it won't be coming from the same place. Instead, his emotions, his past, his screw-ups will be what fuels each song, each word, each note. God knows, he's got plenty of fuel.
4. Ships - Barry Manilow
/We walked to the sea/
He remembers being five and his father pushing him on the swing set in the backyard. Higher. Higher. Pointing his toes, straining to touch the sky. His father told him to be careful, but he wasn't. He slipped out of the seat and fell on the ground. His father leaned over him, blocking out the sun, only its light crowned his father's head and for a
moment it seemed he was the sun, lighting up the world and keeping the shadows at bay. He smiled when he saw that John was okay. He held out his hand to help him back to his feet and laughed when John hopped back on the swing and asked again, higher, higher.
/We both smile and we say it's alright/
He doesn't know exactly when they fell apart. Sometimes he blames his father for deeming the military more important than his family. Sometimes he blames himself for joining the military and running away. They talk on occasion, whenever he's on leave. The conversations are always stilted. They cover all of the bases. Health, weather, football. He hangs up the phone and drinks a beer to dull the ache in his heart. His father is so far away. Even when they are sitting at the same table across from each other, they are still so far away.
5. City of Blinding Lights - U2
/They're advertising in the skies
For people like us/
He loves this song. He loves bending his fingers to get the chords just right. He loves the way his voice can hit the words just right. He loves the lyrics. Looking out over those gathered before him, he can tell by the light in their eyes that they get the connection too. The energy he gets from them is amazing. Not up there with flying a jumper straight into battle knowing that he's taking down a Wraith or two, but, God, so close it's almost breathtaking.
/I've seen you walk unafraid/
This is their song. The song of Atlantis, their City of Blinding Lights. They are all in the middle of it. They don't back down when the time has come to fight. They laugh and they drink and they celebrate when the battle is over. Those who fall in battle are not forgotten, but kept alive here among the survivors. This, Karaoke Night, is, in a way, proof of their strength. Galaxies away from home, they gather together to sing good music badly and laugh and simply be when tomorrow they may not be again. We band of brothers and sisters. Yea.
Four Songs that John will not play and one that he will:
1. Blackbird by the Beatles and almost everyone else -
/Take these broken wings and learn to fly/
It isn't the easiest song to play, but it's one of the first ones he learned. Such simple lyrics to imply so overwhelmingly much. It took ages until he was satisfied with it. Until he got the notes pretty much right and his voice wasn't too nasally to his own ears. Practicing on the wooden steps to the barracks when they were given brief moments of free time. Afghanistan during down time surrounded by nothing but sand and heat. McMurdo which was somehow both identical to and the direct opposite of Afghanistan.
/You were only waiting for this moment to arrive/
He was going to play it that first time he played Karaoke night. Got so far as to sit on the stool with the guitar in his arms and strum that first note. Only, he couldn't do it. It's too real. Not just to him, but to everyone sitting before him waiting patiently and everyone who couldn't make it to Karaoke night. Too bone-deep painful. It would be like announcing he's scared as hell most of the time or that sometimes, when he steps back through the gate with his team home again and they're battered and bruised but alive, all he wants to do is cry with relief. He sang Wild Thing that night instead and they loved it so much he did an encore later on.
2. I Want It That Way - Backstreet Boys
/I never wanna hear you say/
Does he really need an excuse for this one? No one would question his refusal to drink battery acid. He's sure there have been boy bands as long as there has been music. Hiding their lack of skill in both the singing and the dancing arena beneath flashy moves and pretty faces just to make the girls and some of the boys scream for them. Indigestion inspiring lyrics and too white teeth. Makes him shutter just to think about it.
/I want it that way/
Okay, there was that once, but that was for Cnl. Meadows' niece, Kaylee. At age five, she was nothing but blonde curls and huge blue eyes. A sweet kid who would someday grow up to break a lot of hearts. She asked for Nsync. He had never heard of Nsync. Honestly, all of the boy bands sort of melted together in his mind. But he remembered hearing 'I Want It That Way' on the radio a couple thousand times the last time he was on leave and it was a pretty simple tune. He's sure he messed up at least half of the words and didn't get any of the chords right, but Kaylee clapped her hands and asked him to sing it again.
3. Anything by Johnny Cash
/My daddy left home when I was three/
It's not exactly a well kept secret that he is a huge Johnny Cash fan. In his quarters, rather than family photos, he has a picture of him aged 10 standing beside Evil Knivel and a Johnny Cash poster behind his bed. He was a common man who took the hard route and made more mistakes than right choices. But he was a good man with a good heart who just did what he felt he had to do. Every time he fell he got back up. Sometimes he needed help standing and sometimes he didn't.
/And I came away with a different point of view/
He doesn't play Johnny Cash because he doesn't feel he could do him proper justice. The chords are difficult and the words are too important. He thinks about playing it, though, and maybe one day he will. He can't keep it original because it won't be coming from the same place. Instead, his emotions, his past, his screw-ups will be what fuels each song, each word, each note. God knows, he's got plenty of fuel.
4. Ships - Barry Manilow
/We walked to the sea/
He remembers being five and his father pushing him on the swing set in the backyard. Higher. Higher. Pointing his toes, straining to touch the sky. His father told him to be careful, but he wasn't. He slipped out of the seat and fell on the ground. His father leaned over him, blocking out the sun, only its light crowned his father's head and for a
moment it seemed he was the sun, lighting up the world and keeping the shadows at bay. He smiled when he saw that John was okay. He held out his hand to help him back to his feet and laughed when John hopped back on the swing and asked again, higher, higher.
/We both smile and we say it's alright/
He doesn't know exactly when they fell apart. Sometimes he blames his father for deeming the military more important than his family. Sometimes he blames himself for joining the military and running away. They talk on occasion, whenever he's on leave. The conversations are always stilted. They cover all of the bases. Health, weather, football. He hangs up the phone and drinks a beer to dull the ache in his heart. His father is so far away. Even when they are sitting at the same table across from each other, they are still so far away.
5. City of Blinding Lights - U2
/They're advertising in the skies
For people like us/
He loves this song. He loves bending his fingers to get the chords just right. He loves the way his voice can hit the words just right. He loves the lyrics. Looking out over those gathered before him, he can tell by the light in their eyes that they get the connection too. The energy he gets from them is amazing. Not up there with flying a jumper straight into battle knowing that he's taking down a Wraith or two, but, God, so close it's almost breathtaking.
/I've seen you walk unafraid/
This is their song. The song of Atlantis, their City of Blinding Lights. They are all in the middle of it. They don't back down when the time has come to fight. They laugh and they drink and they celebrate when the battle is over. Those who fall in battle are not forgotten, but kept alive here among the survivors. This, Karaoke Night, is, in a way, proof of their strength. Galaxies away from home, they gather together to sing good music badly and laugh and simply be when tomorrow they may not be again. We band of brothers and sisters. Yea.