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xie_xie_xie (xie_xie_xie) wrote in qaf_music,
@ 2008-12-07 14:52:00

Life is a game, and true love is a trophy...
So, the other day I was listening to the song "Poses" by Rufus Wainwright. This is the song that plays when Brian doesn't buy the roses in Season Two. And it got me thinking...

That song tells us very plainly what that scene means: that Brian is full of shit. He loves Justin but can't get over his own "image," his pose, and do something that would mean a lot to Justin because it would seem too conventional, romantic, expected, whatever. Without that song, there would be several possible interpretations of that scene: that Brian doesn't really love Justin that much, that Brian has a genuine rebellious streak that makes it impossible for him to do anything so banal as buy his lover roses, that Brian doesn't understand what the roses would have meant to Justin. All those things are perfectly reasonable conclusions to draw from that scene, but the lyrics of that song pretty much points a neon flashing arrow to its meaning: Brian's attitude is a pose, and that's bad.

A second example of this is the scene in 507 when Brian and Justin meet each other in the street, exchange painfully stilted small talk, and then walk in different directions. The scene ends with the song "You Are My Sunshine" by Stine J:

The other night dear
while I lay sleeping
I dreamt I held you in my arms
When I awoke dear
I was mistaken
So I hung my head and cried
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

Without the song, it's not all that clear what's going on inside Brian's head. Is he really "getting on with his life," as he says in 501? Did he make the best decision for both of them, to go along with Justin's decision without arguing it, to not say the words that might have changed things, such as answering Justin's question, "Then why are we still doing this?"

But with the song? "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you..." becomes a tragic statement. Justin will never know not because Brian doesn't love him but because Brian will never tell him. And Brian isn't moving on, or over it; he doesn't want to lose his "sunshine," and he's dreaming he didn't -- an interpretation that is particularly resonant because of Brian's Justin hallucinations/fantasies in early Season 3, the other time Justin left him.

Sometimes the lyrics don't precisely lock us into an interpretation, but they certainly are part of what I'd use to understand what's happening in a scene/arc/episode. For instance, it took me several viewings of 220 to notice the lyrics of the song at the Rage party, Kim English's "Everyday," and how they reflected on the episode, their relationship, etc. Once I did, I wondered how I'd ever missed it:

I got my health
I got my strength
I'm in my right mind
I still have breath so I got hope
And love is on my side
And where I go I know I need not look behind me
He keeps me safe
And this is something he does everyday

Same thing with Suzanne Palmer's "Show Me" in the recap of the Rage party in 301:

You got to show me that you love me
Show me that you still love me
Throughout the years, all through the tears
I still love you
Show me that you love me, too

Some songs have a huge impact on a scene, but it's not because of their words. The two Sigur Ross songs used in the show don't even have intelligible words: "The Nothing Song" that plays during the lookalike hustler scene in 301, and "Svefn-g-englar" in the scene in 202 where Brian and Justin make love for the first time since the bashing. Those songs are all about the mood, the tone, the feeling, but not putting hard and fast words on an interpretation.

But other songs have some influence on a scene's meaning, or relate to it, without the lyrics really changing it in any fundamental way. "Save the Last Dance for Me" is like that. The prom dance really wouldn't have been any more or less meaningful with a different song, as long as the song wasn't absolutely discordant with the overall positive mood of the scene. I know some people think it was a sort of commentary on the open relationship issue, and perhaps it was, but that doesn't really change the scene: Brian shows up. He wants to make Justin happy. He shows, clear as day, that he does love Justin. He's happy. Justin is happy. They're in love. Brian is open and vulnerable in a way we've never seen him.

The song doesn't change any of that. It would take a LOT for any song to change that, or no song -- watching the scene with the sound off doesn't really make much of a difference in how the scene "reads."

Of course, there are tons of gray areas here. I'd argue that my first two examples, however, aren't in one. I think "Poses" and "You Are My Sunshine" tell us bluntly what those scenes are about, what's going on in Brian's enigmatic mind.

I'd love to hear other examples you can think of where the lyrics to a song really nail an interpretation down for you, and also those where the song, lyrically or musically, contributes to the interpretation in some way.

There is a list of all the songs here, if you need a reminder.

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ex_4cupcakes771
2008-12-07 07:37 pm UTC (link)

I think this is a very interesting post Xie. I love much of the show's music and think the creators were very conscious of choosing songs that would be reflective of the scene through the musicality of the song or through the lyrics.

There are a few the come to mind immediately...Brian's bowling scene in 119 ("Let Forever Be" by The Chemical Brothers); later in that same episode, when he bowls Jack's ball down the street, "The Shining" by Badly Drawn Boy...two of the best musically based scenes, I think in the whole series....Also, when Ted checks into rehab and another Chemical Brothers/Beth Orton song "Where Do I Begin"...I think that was genius.

I'm sure I will think of more. I love this.

One that I find really interesting, however, especially given the turn of events later in the episode, and I would love to hear others' interpretation on, is the use of the Bright Eyes song "Lover I Don't Have to Love" in Episode 510.

It's the song that plays in Brian's car as he pulls up to where Justin is notices for the Prop 14 event. We don't get to hear a lot of the lyrics, but I can't imagine any musical choice was not purposeful, even one playing on Brian's car radio.

Here are the lyrics:

I picked you out of a crowd and talked to you
I said I liked your shoes
You said, "Thanks, can I follow you?"
So it's up the stairs and out of view
No prying eyes
I poured some wine
I asked your name, you asked the time

Now it's two o'clock
The club is closed
We're up the block
Your hands on me; Pressing hard against your jeans
Your tongue in my mouth, trying to keep the words from coming out
You didn't care to know who else may have been you before

I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a girl who's too sad to give a fuck
Where's the kid with the chemicals?
I thought he said to meet him here but I'm not sure
I've got the money if you've got the time
You said it feels good
I said, "I'll give it a try."

Then my mind went dark
We both forgot where your car was parked
Let's just take the train
I'll meet up with the band in the morning

Bad actors with bad habits
Some sad singers they just play tragic
And the phone's ringing and the van's leaving
Let's just keep touching; let's just keep... keep singing...

I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk
Where's the kid with the chemicals?
I've got a hunger and I can't seem to get full
I need some meaning I can memorize
The kind I have always seems to slip my mind

But you, but you...

You write such pretty words
But life's no storybook
Love's an excuse to get hurt
And to hurt.
Do you like to hurt?
I do, I do

Then hurt me...

Thoughts???

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xie_xie_xie
2008-12-07 08:16 pm UTC (link)

I think that the only lyrics of this song that explicitly relate to the scene are these, which we hear as Brian is looking at Justin standing under a streetlight, very much like the scene in 101 where they meet for the first time:

I picked you out of a crowd and talked to you
I said I liked your shoes
You said, "Thanks, can I follow you?"
So it's up the stairs and out of view
No prying eyes
I poured some wine
I asked your name, you asked the time

That's clearly meant to remind us of the night they met. Then the song cuts off while they talk, and when Brian turns his car back on, it picks up here, not right where it cut off and WAY too little of a gap for it to have been the radio and kept playing...

Pressing hard against your jeans
Your tongue in my mouth, trying to keep the words from coming out
(music starts to fade out) You didn't care to know....

That to me is the money shot of the whole scene, as far as interpretation goes. It's very similar IMO to the other two I talked about, in that it gives us some insight into Brian's head, because Brian is the one who is the enigma in the S5 breakup. Justin pretty much lays out what's going on for him and why, but Brian is much less open.

I think that we're being told they still love each other, but have arrived at a point where they know it can't work but it is still very painful for them both -- and that Brian is hiding his real feelings.

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ex_4cupcakes771
2008-12-08 07:33 am UTC (link)

I love your analysis of this Xie...I think it's right on target for the scene.

Others I thought of, end of 512, "This Mess We're In"...very telling...

"How Soon Is Now"...I love the use of the lyrics and the shot of Brian looking at the picture of him & his dad in 115;

Oh, one more..."From the Inside"...during the last scene of 307...when Brian and Justin see each other in the backroom:

I don´t need no one, to push me around
I don´t need no one (oh yeah), holding me down

Would you release yourself
Step into my parlour
I could please myself

But I want you
I wanna feel you from the inside..
..

GUH!

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ex_4cupcakes771
2008-12-07 07:45 pm UTC (link)

Oy! I posted without my interpretation....So, I think that this song is essentially a ballad to Brian's past methods of dealing with men/"relationships"....how he used to just look for a fuck, look for his "pain management" whatever--until he found Justin. The first two stanzas are an ode to his wicked ways of the past.

Even though we don't hear the entire song at this point in the episode, it could be considered foreshadowing for what's to come. The lyrics say at the end, "Love's an excuse to get hurt. Do you like to hurt? I do, I do. Then hurt me..." Which I take to mean, Brian's ready to take on the risk of love with Justin, which we see by the end of the episode.

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pendulumchanges
2008-12-07 08:21 pm UTC (link)

One song choice that bothers me is in 512 when they're having their celebratory engagement fuckfest. The song is "I Only Want You" by Eagles of Death Metal. When I listened to the whole song and not just the part that is actually used in the scene I was so upset!

The only lyric you hear in the scene is "I only want you, I only want you." I thought it was meant to show us that Brian had decided he only wanted JUSTIN. "I only want YOU."

But the rest of the lyrics completely change the emphasis to "I only WANT you."

When I feel like you get too close I put you right down
I never really leave I just slip away
And it's not my purpose to break your spirit
I'm not really interested in what's in your heart
I don't want you to fall in love now so please don't start

Chorus:
I only want you
I only want you
I only want you
I only want you

ahhhhhhhhhhh!

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xie_xie_xie
2008-12-07 09:03 pm UTC (link)

Well, you can't let a song actually CHANGE the meaning of a scene... I think sometimes the creative folks probably agonized over their musical choices, but other times, a snippet of words, a bit of music, was all they wanted or needed. The fact that they used those words in that scene, coupled with the scene itself, plus with the fact that the rest of the words don't really resonate with where the story was at that moment -- it's not like Brian hasn't loved Justin for years at that point; the issue was more how they were going to live and if they could want enough of the same things to make it work.

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	notreallyme10 2008-12-07 09:45 pm UTC (link)
	QAF and Rufus Wainwright... my two favorite things :) I've always thought the music choices for the show were amazingly well thought out and often meant to add something specific to a scene. I love the examples you gave and I feel like I need to go back an watch the show with this in mind... see what other things I might have missed out on. (Reply to this)

noteverything
2008-12-07 10:26 pm UTC (link)

This is a cool post....I like thinking about the music that goes with the scenes.

For me, a lot of what I like about the music is how hearing it outside of QaF conjurs up memories of a scene and how it affected me personally, but that's not at all what you're talking about here.

I do love the parallels using "Proud" and "Sleep" in the first two episodes and in the 513 and how they highlight the differences and the changes and the growth the characters have made in the five seasons we were able to know them.

And I think that "Drowning" is a particularly apt song for 110 hotel sex, 'cause no one on earth can convince me that's not exactly what Brian is doing in that scene. So totally totally lost in Justin, it's pointless to resist.

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vl_redreign
2008-12-07 10:34 pm UTC (link)

You just hit my favorite button: music, and how it relates to a specific scene.

Let's start with a rather tense S2 scene. 219, Justin's just returned from Ethan's and is in the shower. He is then joined by Brian and we hear the eerily perfect harmony of Placebo and David Bowie in Without You, I'm Nothing.

Strange infatuation seems to grace the evening tide.
I'll take it by your side.
Such imagination seems to help the feeling slide.
I'll take it by your side.
Instant correlation sucks and breeds a pack of lies.
I'll take it by your side.
Oversaturation curls the skin and tans the hide.
I'll take it by your side.

tick - tock

Justin's sneaking around, imagines he's found true love, is lying by ommission, and the clock is running out. The melody is haunting as well, and it makes the scene almost scary. In fact, Justin says exactly that. "You scared me." Oh, he wants to tell, he just can't seem to find the words.

Or here's a fun one. 311, beating down the backroom door. Battleflag, by Lo-Fidelity All-Stars:

Got a revolution behind my eyes
We got to get up and organize

And also this:

Hey Mr. Policeman
Is it time for getting away
Is it time for driving down the mother fuckin' road
And running from your ass today

Shades of Pittsburgh PD's finest, perhaps?

And the rally cry itself:

So one of six so tell me
One do you want to live
And one of seven tell me
Is it time for your muthafuckin' ass to give
Tell me is it time to get down on your muthafuckin' knees
Tell me is it time to get down

Yes, if you happen to be in the backroom of Babylon. It's always time to get down. Foul-mouthed and raunchy, it fits the mood of the day: Brian is pissed off, and needs to blow off some steam. And nothing, much less a padlock, is gonna keep him from fucking where he wants, when he wants.

One of the best mood pieces is Genius And Thieves, the heartbreaking piano piece played in the closing scenes of 509. Brian has acknowledged that at the moment, and perhaps for quite some time, that Ted is a friend. A good friend. He was there to see Brian at his best (406 official launch of Kinnetik) and his worst (upchucking after treatment in 408) and never batted an eye. The piece is one of sadness and comtemplation, something that Brian doesn't like very much.

Antother favorite for me is the Liberty Ride episodes. Many great songs and scenes, but this is my favorite: Brian, alone, riding down the road, his life flashing along the side.

Sun in your eyes
the heat is in your hair
they seem to hate you
because you're there
and I need a friend
Oh, I need a friend
to make me happy
not stand here on my own

Look at me standing
here on my own again
up straight in the sunshine

No need to run and hide
it's a wonderful, wonderful life
No need to laugh and cry
it's a wonderful, wonderful life

And, as the lyrics say "I need a friend", who do we see? Michael, riding to the rescue. As much as Brian claims he doesn't need help, he knows he does. He might be standing, such as it is, but it doesn't hurt to have someone to lean on while you do it.

I can think of others, but those popped out first.

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	noteverything 2008-12-07 10:38 pm UTC (link)
	Wonderful Life. That's so true! I honestly never really thought about it, although I love that song, even if it does have those cheesy steel drums. (Reply to this) (Parent)

noteverything
2008-12-07 10:42 pm UTC (link)

One I also love and think fits quite nicely really is "When My Boy Walks Down the Street" by Magnetic Fields in 203. "Blue eyes blazing," etc. When I first noticed the lyrics "and he's going to be my wife," I was offended, but I find myself liking it now...it's not at all foreshadowing, but I just like the sentiment.

And the "butterflies turn into people" and "grand pianos crash together" are so magnificent and happy and just sound *exactly* as beautiful and hopeful as that scene looks to me.

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	ex_4cupcakes771 2008-12-08 06:58 am UTC (link)
	I LOVE THAT ONE!!!! (Reply to this) (Parent)

starinthesky
2008-12-08 01:55 am UTC (link)

There are so many excellent examples of this throughout every season of the show, and one of the reasons I love QAF as a whole is because of the music used. ALL of these examples are indicative of the importance of the music to the show, they doesn't necessarily transform the scene, but they can bring the motivations and the inner conflicts to the surface for the audience in a way that absolutely nothing else can. It's testament to the brilliance of the music department that QAF had that there are so many examples (and that I still listen to so many of the songs in itunes!).

An example I really like is the use of the 'Hungry' by Kosheen played in 313 when Brian and Justin are getting drunk at Woodies and then over the credits.

Are you hungry for a little more
than what you've had before?
Are you hungry for a taste of life?
whet your appetite, are you hungry?

This is the scene when Brian hears how Justin won't compromise himself and is standing up for what he believes in, and plants the seeds that eventually turn into the election turning and life changing decision to make sure Stockwell doesn't win.

In the same episode, the use of the songs 'Touched' by VAST is used to quite tragic effect as the music to the Crystal Party

I looked into your eyes and
saw a world that does not exist
I looked into your eyes and
saw a world I wish I was in

I'll never find someone
quite as touched as you
I'll never love someone
quite the way
that I loved you

For Ted this is an insight into his addiction, for Emmett it's a reminder that what he once had with Ted no longer exists, even though he desperately wants it to. It highlights the tragic nature of their relationship and Ted's downward spiral.

This topic is actually something I'm touching on in my dissertation, but in a slightly different context, so I adore that other people get into this too :D

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	_alicesprings 2008-12-08 02:55 am UTC (link)
	Nice post! :) I adore the music in the show. I particularly love those scenes set to Sigur Ros that you mentioned. I'm just home from work and a bit brain dead, but I'll try and come back later with more to say... Oh! I also love "When my boy walks down the street" from 203 and Chiquitita from the Pride dance happy sigh (Reply to this)

pye_wacket
2008-12-08 05:49 am UTC (link)

I'm so glad you did this! I have always always thought the songs played in the Brian Justin scenes had a hidden meaning or something. There was always a couple of songs I wondered about what it meant to the scene.Was it Justin or Brian's meaning of the relationship. Hell it's been so long ago I'll have to check out the songs again but I can't wait to read what everyone has to say. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

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pye_wacket
2008-12-08 06:25 am UTC (link)

We make mistakes
That's not the problem
You just took my trust and taken it to far
I can't believe you'd do this to me throughout our relationship
I guess I'll never know exactly who you are

I can't take this in my life anymore
I must be strong and I must endure
The theory you're making my life

Don't want it...
Don't need it...

I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
I'm walking out that door
I'm moving on. I just can't take it anymore

I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
Can't you see we're through?
I'm moving on. I'm looking for somebody new

I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
Don't need the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama..)
Can't take the drama. I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)

I'm moving on
I've got to take control
I've got to take back my heart and the soul you stole
How could you be with me, deceiving me with all your little lies?
Now I know that you were just a big disguise

I can't take this in my life anymore
I must be strong and I must endure
The theory you're making my life

Don't want it...
Don't need it...

I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
I'm walking out that door
I'm moving on. I just can't take it anymore

I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
Can't you see we're through?
I'm moving on. I'm looking for somebody new

I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
Don't need the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)
I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama..)
Can't take the drama. I don't want the drama (Drama...drama...drama...)

ok we see Brian standing at the bar just looking. So when I hear the lyrics I'm thinking Justin but the closer I hear them I'm thinking Brian is thinking this. I would like to hear someone elses take on this song and also "The Man I love" guh!! love that scene when he grabs him.

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