Monday, September 09, 2019

The Five Songs + Five Characters Tag


Do songs ever remind you of fictional characters?  Do fictional characters ever remind you of songs?  If so, this tag is for you!  If not... read on to see why characters and songs remind me of each other all the time.

Rules:

1.  Pick five songs that you relate to fictional characters somehow.  They can be characters from books, movies, shows, myths, etc.  If you're a writer, they can be your own characters.
2.  Share the songs somehow -- embed them in your post or link to them.
3.  Explain why those songs connect to those characters for you.  Is it lyrics?  The melody?  What?
4.  Tag some friends to play too.

Here are my five!  They're in order of how long I've been associating that song with that character.

#1
"With or Without You" performed by U2
reminds me of Angel (David Boreanaz) from Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I first heard this song my sophomore year in college, which is also when I got introduced to the shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.  The two quickly became connected in my mind.

To be perfectly honest, this reminds me of Angel's stormy relationship with Buffy more than only Angel himself.  But that's all tied up in who Angel is now, who he used to be, and who he's becoming.  Buffy and Angel both suffered a lot for each other, and at each others' hands.  Finally, Angel realized that he feels like he can't live without Buffy, but she will be better off without him, and so he really can't live at her side either.  He leaves... but he's still waiting for her too, just from a distance.  The waiting is painful, but he's willing to endure it.



#2
"Wish You Were Here" performed by the Rednex
reminds me of Sawyer (Josh Holloway) from Lost


I'd known this song for years and years before I started watching Lost.  It's one my husband introduced me to after we got married, and I listened to it a lot while writing my first novel.

It makes me think of Sawyer in a really personal way because when I became a fan of Lost, I got very obsessed with the show, and Sawyer in particular.  I would count the minutes until my two little kids would go to sleep every afternoon so I could watch as much Lost as possible before they woke up.  Whenever I wasn't watching it, I was thinking about it, especially Sawyer, and I would sing this song in my head, about him.  Sawyer liked to project this Southern good-ol'-boy vibe a lot of the time, so the "country man" moniker totally fits him.  And, yeah, I missed him when I wasn't watching Lost.  And sometimes minutes felt like days when I was waiting for my chance to watch the next episode.

(WARNING: THIS SONG HAS THE WORD "h*ll" IN IT REPEATEDLY.)


#3
"Real Love" performed by the Beatles
reminds me of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in Days of Future Past

The first time I went to see Days of Future Past (2014), this song was on the tape (yes, cassette tape) my husband had in the tape deck of the car I drove to the theater.  I listened to it over and over that summer because it instantly reminded me of that movie and how happy I was for Wolverine at the end of it.  The chorus of "Don't need to be alone/No need to be alone" in particular made me think of him in that film, but also his overall journey over the course of the X-men movies, from total loner to the glue that holds a team/family together, to the guy willing to die to protect others.



#4
"The Sweetheart Tree" by Bobby Darin
reminds me of Jedediah Jones in Dancing and Doughnuts

The first time I heard this song, it gave me images of a very sweet, gentle romance.  It's all about finding the sweetheart you've been waiting for, and it's just a soft, lovely song.  

Well, I wrote a book last year called Dancing and Doughnuts about Jedediah Jones, a drifting cowhand just looking for a temporary job.  He ends up finding love with a girl who's not necessarily looking for love either.  And the imagery of magical trees runs all through that book too, because it's a retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses."  As I wrote that book, I listened to so much of Bobby Darin's music that I ended up dedicating the book to his memory, and I realized during revisions that I'd actually written the sweet, gentle romance that this song always makes me imagine.



#5
"Hurt" performed by Johnny Cash
reminds me of Hamlet in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

I actually did a whole post about this last year, so I won't delve deeply into it here.  Basically, I was on my way home from seeing the Benedict Cumberbatch version of Hamlet at the theater when I listened to this song, which I have loved ever since Johnny Cash's version was released in the early 2000s, and I was struck by how much the lyrics related to Hamlet.  Hamlet spends a lot of time remembering everything and wishing he didn't, trying to figure out if the pain he feels is helpful or something he wants to end, and pondering what he's become.


Time to tag a few friends!  I hereby tap the following bloggers on the shoulder to see if they want to play:


Play if you want to!  And hey, if you're reading this and want to do this tag, but I didn't name you, go ahead and consider yourself tagged!

12 comments:

  1. Great choices! Number one is perfect!

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  2. I love this. So much. I can't express how much I love it. This is the best tag anyone's ever come up with. <333

    I LOVE CONNECTING SONGS TO FICTIONAL CHARACTERS!!!

    You can bet I'll be doing this, right away :D :D :D

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    Replies
    1. Katie, very cool! I look forward to reading your post :-)

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  3. I...don't really connect songs to fictional characters? :P Maybe just one or two and that's only because of fanvideos. Or because they're my own characters and I've created playlists for them or something. :D

    All that to say that I probably won't do this tag. But it is a neat concept!

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    Replies
    1. Eva, that's okay :-) You could do playlists, too, honestly. If you wanted!

      Delete
  4. Awww, these are cool! I remember some of these from our talks in the past. Like Eva, though, I don't really associate songs to fictional characters. The only fictional character I associate with certain music is Ken Hutchinson from Starsky & Hutch. I think of him (and Starsky) whenever I listen to Jerry Goldsmith's score to The Last Run, particularly the cue "Claudie says yes". And, of course, I connect Bobby's "I will wait for you" with Dana, forever and ever. The only other song I always link is Lenka's Blue Skies with James Horner, cuz I was listening to it when I got word he'd been killed, and the two are inseparably linked in my brain now, in a good way, not a sad way. Since I don't have 5, I'll just leave these here in comments. :-D

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    Replies
    1. DKoren, yeah, I'm guessing most of these were not a surprise to you.

      I ALLLLLMOST put "I Will Wait for You" on here, for Reisher/Serge/CrapI'veForgottenHisOtherCharacter'sName...

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  5. I love this idea so much! Because I amuse myself by creating fan videos of fictional couples/characters alllll the time. ;) I will definitely be doing this, since you opened it up to anyone! (I've actually already compiled my answers. XD)

    "With or Without You" is such a haunting, beautiful song.

    Awwww, I'd never heard "The Sweetheart Tree" before this, but I can absolutely see it in connection with DaD and Jedediah in particular. <3 I like how wistful and sweet it is.

    "Hurt" is one of those songs that I luuuurve for its depth and simplicity, but that I can hardly ever listen to it because it's, like, too sad. :-P Definitely a good one for fictional characters.

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    Replies
    1. Olivia, awesome! I love fanvids. I've never made any, but I love to watch them.

      "The Sweetheart Tree" is a pretty obscure song, I think. At least, I'd never heard it until like 5 years ago...

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