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In general, I'm looking for moody, atmospheric stories that are fantasy, metafictional, or generally not 100% realistic or told in a 100% realistic way. Any style or stylistic quirk that suits your story is fine. Any tone is fine. No need to stick with the gender of the singer for the gender of the narrator.
DNW: Straight-up realism told in a naturalistic style, especially realistic stories about drug addiction. Mundane AUs for fantasy songs.
I'm requesting fiction, but an art treat would be lovely if something inspires you.
Cat-Eye Willie Claims His Lover - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. Please elaborate on or continue the world of the song. What happens to the cat-eyed boy? Who is the master, and who serves him? How did they all end up in that fucked-up game of cards, anyway? Is Cat-Eye Willie human, or something else? For that matter, is Bonnie Brown? The world and people in it are so strange and evocative, I just want to see more of them.
DNW: Modern AU; it's all just a metaphor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0vWCLjrUo
The Mountain - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. For me this song captures the sense of longing better than anything I've ever come across: longing for things you can never have, longing for things no one can ever have, longing for things that don't exist or won't exist in your lifetime or no longer exist, longing that makes your life and breaks your heart. And also, obsession. Is the mountain a literal mountain or a metaphor or both? Is it about the journey or the destination? What does it mean to be born in a fork-tongued story? Is it about someone born into an utterly mundane and tawdry life (drugstore liars), who decides to seek for more? Is the quest essentially creative, destructive, or both?
DNW: A completely realistic story told in a completely realistic manner. Even if it's not fantasy, it should have some sort of otherworldly atmosphere about it, even if it's just in the longing for something more than the real world contains. A story about real-world religion. Religious imagery in fine, just not a straightforward story about someone searching for God.
Glittering Cloud - Imogen Heap. Such a weird, eerie, fascinating song. It sounds like someone's got powers that are out of control, but what are they and why? Who or what is the narrator? A shapeshifter? A mutant? Something even stranger? What's the terrible weakness? What does "it's something I've become" or "It happens when we touch?" mean? Is someone else the catalyst, or actually the one causing it? Does the narrator become or summon or go to the glittering cloud, and what is it, exactly? I do know the background of the song (locusts), but you needn't follow it. I have to say that I am not hugely big on locusts or bugs in general, or of Bible stories for that matter.
I'd like a fantasy or sf interpretation of this. The song is clearly contemporary and there implication that everything is going down in a media-heavy world is cool, but you don't have to stick with that if you don't want to. A future or past or other AU setting would be fine.
DNW: The narrator is mentally ill/a drug addict/traumatized and imagining it all/it's all just a metaphor. However, I'd be totally down for a narrator who is any or all of those things but also has weird powers, or it's a metaphor and also real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7QhE_SLULc
Magic - Bruce Springsteen. This song's unsettling vibe, themes of deception and unknowableness, and slightly sinister view of stage magic reminds me a bit of The Prestige. I would ideally like the story to involve actual stage magic in some way, so it's an exception for my "no strict realism" request - no fantasy magic required. Though it would be cool if there's some question as to whether there is also real magic involved. Stage magic is metaphoric in the song, of course, and I'd love it to have the story continue the play of "metaphor and also a real thing." I don't have much of a background of stage magic, though I do find it fascinating, so don't worry at all about having to do research on it. Alternately, take other elements literally: what does it mean to "carry only what you fear," apart from emotionally?
DNW: Infidelity - I know that's an obvious interpretation, I just find it a less interesting one for the purposes of storytelling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCVJny3Va4I
Kathleen - Townes Van Zandt. This is one of the most heartbreaking, haunting songs I know. How about taking the lyrics at least somewhat literally? "A swallow comes and tells me of her dreams." "Ride the north wind down to see Kathleen." The narrator is in dire straits - why? Who is Kathleen? Is she a person, a personification of death or addiction, a ghost, a nature spirit? Is she the narrator's destruction or salvation?
DNW: The narrator is mentally ill/a drug addict/traumatized and imagining it all/it's all just a metaphor. However, I'd be totally down for a narrator who is any or all of those things but also has weird powers, or it's a metaphor and also real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQzO3OJMkg
Rake - Townes Van Zandt. I requested this because I am so curious about what the hell happens to the narrator after he becomes a sort of reverse vampire who now can't go out into the night he loved. Is it just literally the night that's now lost to him (or her, if you like), or other things associated with it? What's it like to experience the day and sun after all that? Is it terrible, or are there compensations? And who or what did that to him?
DNW: The narrator is mentally ill/a drug addict/traumatized and imagining it all/it's all just a metaphor. However, I'd be totally down for a narrator who is any or all of those things but also has weird powers, or it's a metaphor and also real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPxz_4wIa4g
DNW: Straight-up realism told in a naturalistic style, especially realistic stories about drug addiction. Mundane AUs for fantasy songs.
I'm requesting fiction, but an art treat would be lovely if something inspires you.
Cat-Eye Willie Claims His Lover - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. Please elaborate on or continue the world of the song. What happens to the cat-eyed boy? Who is the master, and who serves him? How did they all end up in that fucked-up game of cards, anyway? Is Cat-Eye Willie human, or something else? For that matter, is Bonnie Brown? The world and people in it are so strange and evocative, I just want to see more of them.
DNW: Modern AU; it's all just a metaphor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0vWCLjrUo
The Mountain - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. For me this song captures the sense of longing better than anything I've ever come across: longing for things you can never have, longing for things no one can ever have, longing for things that don't exist or won't exist in your lifetime or no longer exist, longing that makes your life and breaks your heart. And also, obsession. Is the mountain a literal mountain or a metaphor or both? Is it about the journey or the destination? What does it mean to be born in a fork-tongued story? Is it about someone born into an utterly mundane and tawdry life (drugstore liars), who decides to seek for more? Is the quest essentially creative, destructive, or both?
DNW: A completely realistic story told in a completely realistic manner. Even if it's not fantasy, it should have some sort of otherworldly atmosphere about it, even if it's just in the longing for something more than the real world contains. A story about real-world religion. Religious imagery in fine, just not a straightforward story about someone searching for God.
Glittering Cloud - Imogen Heap. Such a weird, eerie, fascinating song. It sounds like someone's got powers that are out of control, but what are they and why? Who or what is the narrator? A shapeshifter? A mutant? Something even stranger? What's the terrible weakness? What does "it's something I've become" or "It happens when we touch?" mean? Is someone else the catalyst, or actually the one causing it? Does the narrator become or summon or go to the glittering cloud, and what is it, exactly? I do know the background of the song (locusts), but you needn't follow it. I have to say that I am not hugely big on locusts or bugs in general, or of Bible stories for that matter.
I'd like a fantasy or sf interpretation of this. The song is clearly contemporary and there implication that everything is going down in a media-heavy world is cool, but you don't have to stick with that if you don't want to. A future or past or other AU setting would be fine.
DNW: The narrator is mentally ill/a drug addict/traumatized and imagining it all/it's all just a metaphor. However, I'd be totally down for a narrator who is any or all of those things but also has weird powers, or it's a metaphor and also real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7QhE_SLULc
Magic - Bruce Springsteen. This song's unsettling vibe, themes of deception and unknowableness, and slightly sinister view of stage magic reminds me a bit of The Prestige. I would ideally like the story to involve actual stage magic in some way, so it's an exception for my "no strict realism" request - no fantasy magic required. Though it would be cool if there's some question as to whether there is also real magic involved. Stage magic is metaphoric in the song, of course, and I'd love it to have the story continue the play of "metaphor and also a real thing." I don't have much of a background of stage magic, though I do find it fascinating, so don't worry at all about having to do research on it. Alternately, take other elements literally: what does it mean to "carry only what you fear," apart from emotionally?
DNW: Infidelity - I know that's an obvious interpretation, I just find it a less interesting one for the purposes of storytelling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCVJny3Va4I
Kathleen - Townes Van Zandt. This is one of the most heartbreaking, haunting songs I know. How about taking the lyrics at least somewhat literally? "A swallow comes and tells me of her dreams." "Ride the north wind down to see Kathleen." The narrator is in dire straits - why? Who is Kathleen? Is she a person, a personification of death or addiction, a ghost, a nature spirit? Is she the narrator's destruction or salvation?
DNW: The narrator is mentally ill/a drug addict/traumatized and imagining it all/it's all just a metaphor. However, I'd be totally down for a narrator who is any or all of those things but also has weird powers, or it's a metaphor and also real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQzO3OJMkg
Rake - Townes Van Zandt. I requested this because I am so curious about what the hell happens to the narrator after he becomes a sort of reverse vampire who now can't go out into the night he loved. Is it just literally the night that's now lost to him (or her, if you like), or other things associated with it? What's it like to experience the day and sun after all that? Is it terrible, or are there compensations? And who or what did that to him?
DNW: The narrator is mentally ill/a drug addict/traumatized and imagining it all/it's all just a metaphor. However, I'd be totally down for a narrator who is any or all of those things but also has weird powers, or it's a metaphor and also real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPxz_4wIa4g