never let me go, says the knife
Crawling out of my abominable hibernation tooth and claw, I give you a new fanmix for a series so emotionally stunning and so unapologetically frank that words fail me, which is why ended up a fanmixing machine in the first place. I am the circle and the circle is me yada yada.
This one goes out to alenky_cveto4ek: in fairness, it's in collaboration with her, as she brought in her superios judgement, wise beta, and many song suggestions -- but I want to claim all responsibility for the executive choices, especially the poor ones (cue my graphic skillz). Thank you, my dear A[nswer], for going along with me on this, and I hope the final thing pleases you (and if you see something that has not yet passed your scrutiny, I think it's because I, either out of disorderliness or subconscious desire to preserve some measure of surprise, have overlooked it).
There are few factual spoilers, but blanket ~vague spoiler warning for all three books. Everything in italics is a direct quote.
ARTWORK BY LEABHARLANN
PART I
; IF THE WORLD WANTS YOU, IT'S GONNA KEEP ON COMING TILL IT GETS YOU ;
EARLY ONE MORNING ɑɒ DIANE SUTHERLAND & BRUNO LIBERT
[ the only place you belong is the place you can never go back to ]
Early one morning, just as the sun was rising
I heard a maid sing in the valley below
"Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use, a poor maiden so?"
RUN BOY RUN ɑɒ WOODKID
[ life equals running and when we stop running maybe that's how we'll know life is finally finished ]
Run boy run! This world is not made for you
Run boy run! They’re trying to catch you
Run boy run! Running is a victory
Tomorrow is another day
And you won’t have to hide away
You’ll be a man, boy!
But for now it’s time to run, it’s time to run!
THE LION'S ROAR ɑɒ FIRST AID KIT
[ knowledge is dangerous and men lie and the world keeps changing ]
Now the pale morning sings of forgotten things
She plays a tune for those who wish to overlook
The fact that they've been blindly deceived
By those who preach and pray and teach
But don't you come here and say I didn't warn you
About the way your world can alter
Well I guess sometimes I wish you were a little more predictable
That I could read you just like a book
For now I can only guess what's coming next
By examining your timid smile
THIS ɑɒ BRIAN ENO
[ the animals that sang Here ]
What I thought I knew
What I thought was true
I understood
In the deep wood
Ah there I stood a child so fair
This race, and this world
This feeling, and this girl
THE URUK-HAI ɑɒ HOWARD SHORE
[ the Army of Prentisstown ]
instrumental
MILK & STICKS ɑɒ BOY & BEAR
[ chased and chasing ]
Born from a soldier's arms
But our spirit keeps a-moving on
One metre at a time we fall
It's a bloody hill in a broken war
We've been singing like a lunatic
Knee-deep in our Milk & Sticks
Just a kid with a broken arm
A slingshot and a hail of harm
There's a monster in my bed
There's an animal screaming down upon my neck
Oh no, you better get up my friend
What a mess we're in
DOWN RIVER ɑɒ TEMPER TRAP
[ to Haven ]
Finally, we have seen some things
Some awfully nice, some dreadfully bad
But we will sing, wash the blood off our knees
Cause our love breaks through
Feeling old, feelings this time take you
Down river, down river, down river, down
Walk these stairs, put the pieces back together
Go don't stop, go don't stop, go don't stop now, go
BLOWIN' IN THE WIND ɑɒ BOB DYLAN
[ the boy who can't kill ]
How many roads most a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
NIGHT TERROR ɑɒ LAURA MARLING
[ the girl who couldn't let him ]
If I look back and he is screaming,
I'd left him dreaming, the dangers fade,
I'll run back and shake him tightly
And scream "If they want him,
then they're gonna have to fight me!"
(Oh, fight me)
FLESH & BONE ɑɒ THE KILLERS
[ separated ]
Refusing to heed the yield I penetrate the force fields in the blind
They say I'll adjust - God knows I must
But I'm not sure how
This natural selection picked me out to be
A dark horse running in a fantasy
And time is raging, may it rage in vain,
And you always had it, but you never knew
So boots and saddles, get on your feet
There's no surrender, 'cause there's no retreat
THE SOUND AND THE FURY ɑɒ VANDAVEER
[ Mistress Coyle and the Mayor ]
Your song and dance routine
Bears the markings of a Machiavellian scheme
The shadows you cast over your shadowy past
Do the trick for now, but you know they won't last
The curtain will fall with the crumbling walls
Like the dirty rat you will scurry and crawl
Under cover of night, but your cover's been blown
The cat and mouse charade
boasts all the fanfare of a single float parade
You crack and you strain and the poisonous rain
comes down with the sound and true fury of pain
Born from a lake of our home
Home sweet home
OCEAN OF NOISE ɑɒ ARCADE FIRE
[ man is just chaos walking ]
In an ocean of noise
I first heard your voice
Now who here among us
Still believes in choice?
Not I!
No way of knowing
What any man will do
An ocean of violence
Between me and you
You've got your reasons
And me I've got mine
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time
I'm gonna work it out
Cause time won't work it out
ROMANI HOLIDAY (ANTONIUS REMIX) ɑɒ HANS ZIMMER
[ escalation ]
instrumental
BOMBS BOMBS AWAY ɑɒ THE SOUNDS
[ forgive each other every time ]
It’s me and you
And no one else is invited
Whatever they do
We’ll stay forever united
The love was danger
And danger was here
We are stronger than fear
HOPE ON FIRE ɑɒ VIENNA TENG
[ you haven't seen her fight yet ]
Gotta fight, gotta strike
'cause there's no turning away
From what you don't want to know
Gotta see gotta be
If they're all going astray
Don't let them take you in tow
You're a one-man shift in the weather
You're the woman who just won't sell
Climbing up and ringing the bell
You don't need guarantees
You just want something to build
Before you turn to the knife
WEAPON ɑɒ MATTHEW GOOD
[ VIOLA ]
Here by my side, an angel
Here by my side, the devil
Here by my side, you are destruction
Here by my side, a new colour to paint the world
Careful, be careful
You breathe in and you breathe out
For it ain't so weird
How it makes you a weapon
And you give in
PART II
; HOPE IS MAKING A DARE IN THE WORLD AND WHEN HAS THE WORLD EVER LET US WIN A DARE? ;
A HAND TO TAKE HOLD OF THE SCENE ɑɒ OKKERVIL RIVER
[Davy]
I'm a band in a show about a boy being buried alive,
from his head to his toes,
by a criminal (but with a sensitive soul!)
with a set of raccoon eyes,
and there's this scene in the show
when a hustler knows he's going to die
The ground opens and he climbs inside
And as he speaks his last line,
a thought falls from his mind and
I pick it up right through the TV:
Is there a hand to take hold of the scene?
WELCOME TO YOUR WEDDING DAY ɑɒ THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT
[ you're never more alive than in battle // never more dead after ]
Well it's another fine day of the nation built
Well let's have a parade
You can dance on the graves and the bones of the children
If you know what to say
And you know its begun from the beat of the drum
And the screams from the mouths of babes
And we pray as we're watching the charade
Welcome to your wedding day
And it's a damn good day
For the heart and the mind
And the party's happening in here
If you avert your gaze from the word on the sign
Let me whisper it in your ear
Cause the sign says RUN
SLEEPING WITH GHOSTS ɑɒ PLACEBO
[ you need to love something that much so you can never be controlled ]
This one world vision turns us into compromise
What good's religion when it's each other we despise?
Damn the government, damn their killing, damn their lies
Hush, it's okay
Soulmate, dry your eyes, 'cause soulmates never die
Soulmates never die
NO ONE WOULD RIOT FOR LESS ɑɒ BRIGHT EYES
[ and it feels like, finally ]
Little soldier, little insect, you know war, it has no heart
It will kill you in the sunshine or happily in the dark
Where kindness is a card game or a bent-up cigarette
In the trenches, in the hard rain, with a bullet and a bet
So love me now
Hell is coming
Kiss my mouth
Hell is here
TURN THE TIDE ɑɒ AILUCRASH
[ you kill people to tell them you want to stop killing them ]
Are you frightened? 'Cause I'm frightened
Earth's a shambles and we are just making it worse
Short of breath, short of time
We got to act before it's too late
Do we lay down and die
I don't want to -- want to hide
It's our world, it's our life
What I want is to turn the tide
I'm only asking you please to see
The souls underneath, they aren't different from me
Are you willing to turn the tide?
DAWN OF EDEN ɑɒ UNDERWORLD
[ the Source ]
instrumental
EARLY ONE MORNING ɑɒ JIM MORAY
[ peace talks ]
Here I now wander alone as I wonder
Why did you leave me to sigh and complain
I ask of the roses why should I be forsaken,
Why must I here in sorrow remain?
BALLAD OF TREASON ɑɒ ABIGAIL WASHBURN
[ isn't that what you do for each other? ]
Climb up to a treetop I'll be on a mountain top
Looking for you across the valley
Birds pull you higher while the sky is on fire
Crying for the dying daylight
I need you, I need you, I need you
Our bodies are pyres
Waiting for fire
The judge and the generals
Claim jurisdiction
The faithful assemble
The crowd starts to tremble
The gavel it rises
And begins to fall
LANDSCAPE ɑɒ FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
[ the Return and the Land ]
She can't see the landscape anymore
It's all painted in her grief
All of her history etched out at her feet
I wanna give you back the open sky
Give you back the open sea
Open up the ages, darling, for you to see
You put the gun into your mouth to bite
You pull it and spit out
Cause it's running in the family
All the richer between you and me
14 TIMES ɑɒ MARCUS FOSTER
[ the Sky ]
Seen a thousand suns set into the ground
Like a thousand born into a single sound
There are fourteen ways of tearing up the past
There are fourteen ways of trying to make it last
WE ARE ɑɒ ANA JOHNSON
[ sabotage ]
You keep watching from your picket fence
You keep talking but it makes no sense
You say we're not responsible
But we are, we are
You wash your hands and come out clean
Fail to recognise the enemies within
You say we're not responsible
But we are, we are, we are, we are
One step forward making two steps back (my oh my)
Riding piggy on the bad boys back for life
Lining up for the grand illusion
No answers for no questions asked
Lining up for the execution
Without knowing why
THE ULTIMATE FLING ɑɒ POETS OF THE FALL
[ the Mayor's hope for Todd ]
Give me a reason, c'mon now, make my day
Cause I'm out of cheats to turn the other way
Ask yourself just how lucky do you feel?
Somehow I've been blindsided by my own kindhearted notion of just who we are
No doubt we'd have collided anyway with me indited and you raising alarm
First round I'll take my bows into my corner, take my vows, regroup and run back again
Bloodhound and of no better pedigree than what you see so you could not offend
Did I act like a fool cause I didn't know what to do,
when you gave me just a little bit more than I bargained for,
a little too much in my hands when my hands are tied?
It's the ultimate fling to go frolicking, licking the muck
from the soles of the boots of your pride every time you lied
THIS IS WHERE WE ARE ɑɒ RAVENS & CHIMES
[ each knowing the other ]
And if the waters rise up
And drown out the whole city
And all of the houses where we live
A shimmering light spinning
Each of the waves bearing a name,
The name of the body
Somewhere below
And to all the saints who drowned in the sea,
I am still here with you
And if there's nothing living to be,
I will be here with you
And we built up a fire,
To remind us of the people,
The people that we are
The flames rose like spires
THE DAY THE WORLD WENT AWAY [QUIET] ɑɒ NINE INCH NAILS
[ the Mayor ]
I'd listen to the words he'd say
But in his voice I heard decay
The plastic face forced to portray
All the insides left cold and gray
There is a place that still remains
It eats the fear, it eats the pain
The sweetest price he'll have to pay
The day the whole world went away
NOTHING IS WRITTEN ɑɒ MUMFORD & SONS
[ the Return and the Knife ]
So break my step and relent
You forgave and I won't forget
Know what we've seen
And him with less
Now in some way
Shake the excess
And I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground
Now I'll be bold as well as strong
Use my head alongside my heart
So take my flesh and fix my eyes
That tethered mind free from the lies
SAFE AND SOUND ɑɒ ELECTRIC PRESIDENT
[ who will remember Todd? ]
But there's no way out
I'll let you build your home with me
'till the clocks run down
When your looks run out
Call me and I will come and fix you
Get your feet on the ground
When there's no way out
Call me and I will come and bury you
All safe and sound
But don't you worry
Makes no difference
From the start
Your options were all dead ends
HUMAN ORCHESTRA ɑɒ MARK BRADSHAW
[ brave new world ]
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PART 1 | PART 2