day 25 } sherlock is a health hazard and wordstrings' fic should be illegal
This is me being Not Done, you guys. But the whole and glorious credit for this goes to wordstrings' Paradox Series, where Sherlock is thoroughly nuts and thoroughly, fascinatingly Sherlock, and John is rather insane, too, but steadfast and warm and spectacular, and it's two parts euphoric to three parts devastating and lots besides, but it's a good hurt, and it's absolutely marvellous. I want to take that fic apart and examine every sentence under a microscope and then let it grow back together, preferably inside me so I never have to let it go. Clearly, I'm the one to pass judgement on fictional character's relative sanity.
I do not presume to say that this mix is on par with the text, but it coalesced into being from my fangirling over the series, and I couldn't help but see it through. Hopefully, I manage to entertain some and not insult wordstrings in the process, as the mix builds directly on the music featured in the stories. Also, quotes from all parts of the series under cut, so, just in case, spoiler alert, here it is.
Credit for the art used (with permission) in the front cover goes to mariemjs. Textures from here and here.
1. Panic at the Disco ⸗ I Write Sins Not Tragedies
listen/download
"There is a champagne stain from a wedding celebration on the ceiling,
and everyone either leaves each other or ultimately dies"
I chime in
"Haven't you people ever heard of
Closing the goddamn door?"
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things
With a sense of poise and rationality
Oh, well in fact, if you look at it this way
I mean, technically, our marriage is saved
Well, this calls for a toast
So pour the champage
2. 1969 ⸗ Wreck Me
listen/download
"You're going to do what the entire Afghan army couldn't manage?
I...congratulations. You're a marvel."
Drunk like a soldier on an enemy line
Drawin' out heaven with an absinthe mind
It's you
And I don't want anything from you
I just want every bit of you to want me
I don't need anything to do
Just drive me into you and wreck me
3. The Ark ⸗ Disease
listen/download
..because if I have to go back to the way it was yesterday, without having you,
I will get a very long, very sharp, very, very Japanese knife, and I will--no,
he hadn't said that. Nothing of the kind. Only I want it too. Which ought to be fine.
And if there is disease in you
I want to have that disease too
'Cause I want everything
That is inside you
If there is disease in you
I want to have that disease too
'Cause if you die
Then I should die beside you
4. The Beatles ⸗ Carry That Weight
listen/download
Language, thinks Sherlock, in the very depths of exhaustion.
Sod the entire English language. Get it out, get it out.
Boy, you're gonna carry that weight
You're gonna carry that weight a long time
5. My Chemical Romance ⸗ You Know What They Do
listen/download
If any of you pathetic lot out there who like to send me threatening revenge notes are
actually possessed of a pair of bollocks, now is a good time, as I haven't anything on.
The next three days are bloody marvelous.
In the middle of a gun fight
In the center of a restaurant
They say, "Come with your arms raised high!"
Well, they're never gonna get me,
Like a bullet through a flock of doves
To wage this war against your faith in me
Your life will never be the same
Now, but I can't, and I don't know
How we're just two men as God had made us
Well, I can't, well, I can
Too much, too late, or just not enough of this
Pain in my heart for your dying wish
I'll kiss your lips again
6. A Perfect Circle ⸗ The Outsider
listen/download
"So that's what life is to you, then. It's just a chess piece to you, isn't it. <>
It's utterly sick, the sheer number of things you didn't think about before posting this."Help me if you can
It's just that this, this is not the way I'm wired
So could you please
Help me understand why
You've given in to all these
Reckless dark desires
Think about it, put it on the faultline
What'll it take to get it through to you, precious
Why do you wanna throw it away like this
Such a mess
I don't want to watch you
7. The Smiths ⸗ Hand in Glove
listen/download
Sherlock is legendary, he's a walking marvel, people should want to kiss him in public parks.
They should initiate that sort of thing. <> But what's truly miraculous just now is that John
has apparently resurrected an entire dead language. Hand in glove
We can go wherever we please
And everything depends upon
How near you stand to me
And if the people stare
Then the people stare
Oh, I really don't know and I really don't care
So, hand in glove I stake my claim
I'll fight to the last breath
If they dare touch a hair on your head
I'll fight to the last breath
8. Florence + The Machine ⸗ Drumming Song
listen/download
John is reasonably sure that one of these days, Sherlock is going to come to his senses.
[&foreshadowing] Fool, fool, fool of a soldier...
There's a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you're around
I swear that you should hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell
9. Ashbury Heights ⸗ Hope
listen/download
"You adore me. You'd die for me. You tried once."
"And you spent the next hour hyperventilating. It was slightly pathetic. You need me."
"You told me to run."
"And you called me a pacemaker."We're almost perfect
You're like a death ray
Little kid Blofeld
Princess Saturday
We're nearly manic
I'm like a mute scream
But I'd never panic
If you'd only take me
I could be your love
And you could be my hope
I could be the hangman
And you could be my rope
We could be divine
A perfect piece of fiction
I could be your drug
And you'd be my addiction
10. Radiohead ⸗ Karma Police
listen/download
"You took an intravenous combination of modified heroin and
a strong antipsychotic, and you mixed in a hallucinogen?"
"It didn't work."
I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can
But we're still on the payroll
For a minute there, I lost myself
I lost myself
11. Gotye ⸗ Heart's a Mess
listen/download
"What if it's in my head?"
"I'll go in your head."Pick apart the pieces of your heart
And let me peer inside, let me in
Where only your thoughts have been
Let me occupy your mind
As you do mine
Your heart’s a mess
You won’t admit to it
It makes no sense
But I’m desperate to connect
And you, you can’t live like this
Love ain’t fair
So there you are
My love
12. Henry Mancini ⸗ Moon River
listen/download [source]
"It's mad to be jealous of a violin."{instrumental}
13. Regina Spektor ⸗ Blue Lips
listen/download
In a purely selfish long-term sense, however, Sherlock could do without feeling
he's contaminated someone divine, thank you very much. So he promptly stops.He stumbled into faith and thought
"God, this is all there is?"
The pictures in his mind arose
And began to breathe
And all the gods and all the worlds
Began colliding on a backdrop of blue
Blue lips
Blue veins
The most human color
Blue
14. Beck ⸗ Little One
listen/download
"I think this is what having a heart attack feels like," Sherlock whispers.
Drown, drown
Sailors run aground
In a seachange nothing is safe
Strange waves push us every way
In a stolen boat we'll float away
In a turnstile backwards we fly
Go to sleep
We're so tired now
Altogether in a snake pit of souls
New days
To throw your chains away
To try to hang your hopes on the wind
15. The Moutain Goats ⸗ Internation Small Arms Traffic Blues
listen/download
"How you love me, though," John says quietly. "Look at that."My love is like a powder keg
My love is like a powder keg in the corner of an empty warehouse
Somewhere just outside of town
About to burn down
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons
Crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel about you, baby, can't explain it
You got the best of my love
16. The Mountain Goats* ⸗ Autoclave
listen/download
"So," Sherlock says, swallowing. "Goodbye. Be very good to yourself, and keep warm.
I'd like to kiss you first, but then I might change my mind. So don't kiss me."
Hand me your hand, let me look in your eyes
As my last chance to feel human begins to vaporize
Maybe it's the heat in here, maybe it's the pressure
You ought to head for the exits, the sooner the better
I am this great, unstable mass of blood and foam
And no one in her his right mind would make his home my home
My heart's an autoclave
17. The Kooks ⸗ Sway
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"You are the Edgar Allan Poe of Love," John sniffs.
Say whatever you have to say, I'll stand by you
Do whatever you have to do
Be whoever you have to be, I won't judge you
Sing whatever you have to sing
To get it out and not become a recluse about how to come out
I know you never meant to but you do
Still, I need your sway, because you always pay for it
And I, and I need your soul because you're always soulful
And take whatever you have to take, you know I love you
Come however you have to come, and get it out, and get it out
Take it out on me, take it out on me
I give you all I give it you all, yes I will give it you all
18. Death Cab for Cutie** ⸗ I Will Follow You Into the Dark
listen/download
5. Tell John you love him on the perfect day.
If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NO's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
You and me
Have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes
Are all worn down, the time for sleep is now
But it's nothing to cry about 'cause we'll hold each other soon
In the blackest of rooms
.ZIP
AN. *Yes, I have broken every unspoken rule of fanmix making by having two songs by the same artist and right next to each other, too, but I don't care, it's too perfect, because it's a song with a ~weaponry metaphor and a song with a ~science metaphor and The Mountain Goats are awesome, okay?
**Yeah, again, Death Cab and this song, terribly twee, I know. But I still kind of think it's the most amazing thing ever, and anyway, there's an awful dearth of songs that convey that "I want you to be the only thing amazing enough to end me" feeling that - satisfyingly - falls just short of suicidal and is probably, as a concept, uniquely wordstrings' genius. So.