Writing: Musical Storytelling

I still have a CD player in my car.

Yes, it’s a 2012 model without an AUX port.  My 2008 runabout had one even.

This means I still get to burn CD mixes when I go on road trips.  Being a disciple of Florence + the Machine, who released their fourth album back in June, I decided to spend some time putting together a set of stories using nothing but her music for my impending journey.  One is about being in love, and the other is about following one’s soul.

It was an interesting practice, trying to put the songs in an order that made sense.  I hope spending some time reveling in some of my favorites in a new order sparks the inspiration in me!

Below, I list out the songs from one of them and a lyric from each illuminating the story I wanted to tell.

Can you see the rise and fall of the plot?  What do you think of my experiment?

~

Love-Cycle

• Drumming Song

  • There’s a drumming noise inside my head that starts when you’re around
    I swear that you could hear it
    It makes such an almighty sound

• Howl

  • Now there’s no holding back, I’m making to attack
    My blood is singing with your voice, I want to pour it out
    The saints can’t help me now, the ropes have been unbound
    I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground

• Bedroom Hymns

  • This is as good a place to fall as any
    We’ll build our altar here
    Make me your Maria
    I’m already on my knees

• What Kind of Man

  • And with one kiss
    You inspired a fire of devotion that lasted for twenty years
    What kind of man loves like this?

• Cosmic Love

  • And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
    I tried to find the sound
    But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,
    So darkness I became

• All This and Heaven Too

  • And I would give all this and heaven too
    I would give it all if only for a moment
    That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see
    ‘Cause I’ve been scrawling it forever but it never makes sense to me at all

• Strangeness and Charm

  • The static of your arms, it is the catalyst
    You’re a chemical that burns there is nothing like this
    It’s the purest element but it’s so volatile
    An equation heaven sent, a drug for angels

• Heartlines

  • I’ve seen it in the flights of birds, I’ve seen it in you.
    The entrails of the animals, the blood running through.
    But in order to get to the heart,
    I think sometimes you have to cut through.

• Wish That You Were Here

  • And now I’m reaching out with every note I sing
    And I hope it gets to you on some pacific wind
    Wraps itself around you and whispers in your ear
    Tells you that I miss you and I wish that you were here

• June

  • I hear your heart beating in your chest
    The world slows till there’s nothing left
    Skyscrapers look on like great, unblinking giants
    In those heavy days of June
    When love became an act of defiance
    Hold onto each other

• Too Much is Never Enough

  • Oh, who decides from where up high?
    I couldn’t say, “I need more time.”
    Oh, grant that I can stay the night
    Or one more day inside this life!

• No Choir

  • And it’s hard to write about being happy, ’cause the older I get
    I find that happiness is an extremely uneventful subject
    There will be no grand choirs to sing
    No chorus could come in
    About two people sitting doing nothing

(All credit for this insanely amazing music goes to Florence and the Machine, of course!  Hope that would go without saying, but saying it anyways.  From a fan forever <3)