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jewishtwig · 1 year

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Shabbat shalom! I'm not sure if you're going to be online between now and Sunday so if I don't see you on the internt until then, have a lovely weekend!

I'm just reaching out anonymously to sort of combined vent-and-ask-for-advice about queer Jewish conversion stuff, since I know you finished your conversion journey recently and might have similar experiences.

Basically, I'm a queer and trans Jew-in-progress with lots of queer friends who live near where I attend synagogue. And we all know that serious Christianity-related religious trauma often comes in a package deal with being queer in a culturally Christian country. You can probably tell where this is going.

My friends are all vocally supportive of my decision to become Jewish, but we have some hang-ups. I came back from Shabbat service the other week and excitedly told them that it was a children's service that morning, and that some of the kids had performed a play for us. One friend asked what play it was, then got uncomfortable really fast when I told them it was Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat.

(Side note: the play was awesome! Children have the wackiest senses of humour and there is nothing funnier than hearing a 10 year old scream "anything but the pit!!" while trying really hard not to laugh.)

Anyway -- the dreamcoat story is one my queer friends are all familiar with in some capacity from their Christian schooling. You and I are aware of the similarities (lol) and differences between Christianity and Judaism, and that we will often see versions of the same texts and tales in both contexts because of appropriation and the like. My friends understand this in theory, but gentiles will be gentiles. They hear alarm bells when I say 'dreamcoat' because it was Christian to them before it was Jewish. The fact that I chose to be excited about the play without also downplaying it by going "dont worry guys it's not the christian version!!" has noticeably damaged their opinion of me.

Things like this keep happening, where my friends will be verbally supportive, but then start acting really really awkward around the topic of religion, including when I casually mention things like no longer being free for gay brunch on Saturday mornings because of Shabbat. They're uncomfortable that I find value in the same Bible verses their Christian grandmas quote (even though I've explained that Tanakh actually tells a different story to their Old Testament and can have a completely different meaning). I swear they all think that by getting involved at synagogue, I am willingly putting myself in close proximity to Christianity, and they are either scared of me for it, or secretly think I am a traitor.

They don't understand that feeling squeamish around 'Bible-thumping religious nuts' is deeply antisemitic. They don't like it when I talk about G-d because they are convinced that the Jewish and Christian G-d are one and the same. And for the record, yes I've explained why the concept of 'Abrahamic' or 'Judeo-Christian' faith is all bullshit, and yes I've explained that they are very much not the same G-d, and the response I got from them amounted to 'well there's different beliefs about G-d but they all come from the same initial concept and refer to the same entity so they're the same'. I just gave up on trying to explain; I'm not Christian so I'm not making it my problem if they're unwilling to divorce their feelings about religion from Christianity. I'm still learning and I will not be their teacher.

The way my queer friends look at me now makes me so sad. It's like they are expecting me to start quoting Bible verses over the dinner table, or make everyone say blessings with me, or burst into a monologue about how G-d is great and everyone should believe in Him. Half the people I've 'come out' to as a convert have responded by saying "that's great I'm so happy for you! But by the way I just can't do religion, it's not for me, no offence or anything but I just don't believe in G-d." as if that's in any way necessary. And these people know me. Why do they suddenly think I've turned into the type of person to proselytise or look down on people for not being religious?? As if there's not literally a prominent Jewish teaching that bans proselytisation and promotes religious freedom among other cultures???

It's driving me nuts. My friends treat me like a stranger now. I've known some of these people for 7+ years and they know I'm a queer-as-fuck dickhead with a personality and a traumatic Catholic upbringing of my own. I've always been really vocal about my opinions and I never shut up about my hobbies. It's not like I'm their mormon grandparents, I literally post ass on twitter. But suddenly they don't know what to say when they see me. I can feel everyone treading on eggshells around me because they are expecting me to suddenly take offense at them being atheist or areligious or for eating pork idk. And on that note I've had vegan friends try to argue with me that kashrut is immoral and that I'm a terrible person for following Jewish dietary laws instead of going vegan. And don't even get me started on what they try to tweeze out of me regarding Israel.

For people who say they hate antisemitism, they sure liked me a lot more when I wasn't studying to become Jewish. I think that if they understood how much this was affecting me, they might realise what they're doing and stop, but explaining myself hasn't made them get it. I know they are not trying to be antisemitic but I feel so alienated and lonely. I was prepared to accept that my friends might not be the right people to talk to about faith, but now they won't talk to me about anything without making it awkward.

I truly do believe my soul is Jewish and that this is a journey I need to take. And if that means I lose friends for being religious then so be it. But it really fucking sucks and I don't know how to deal with it. Other people really think they have the clearest perception of religion because they're not part of one and nothing I do or say can unconvince them that my judgement is clouded by faith. I don't want to lose them. I just don't know how to make them understand what I am feeling, or if I should even bother to try. Is this a common experience, do you think?

Shabbat shalom!

I hear you, and I cannot imagine how frustrating and upsetting this situation must be for you.

I was willing to give your friends the benefit of the doubt at first, but the more I’ve thought about it and the more I’ve reread this message, the more upset I’ve gotten on your behalf.

The fact of the matter seems to me that they’re claiming to be supportive of Jews but when presented with actually future Jewishness they are not being supportive and are actually being pretty terrible.

Additionally, they aren’t being supportive of you as a person. Your choice isn’t going to impact their lives at all besides maybe needed to move a brunch date and yet they’re still alienating you. I don’t fully know the situation, of course, and it’s your choice, but from what you’ve said they don’t sound like people who have your best interests in mind and don’t seem like great friends.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an entirely uncommon situation (especially in queer spaces in my experience but that story is a tad off topic). I know I lost some friends during my conversion and it damaged my relationship with some people as well.

Ultimately I see it this way: for reasons of physical safety and mental health, if someone has an issue with me because of my religion then I don’t want to be around them.

I hope you’re able to find some supportive friends. Maybe try seeing if there’s a queer community group at your synagogue! Or start one!

I truly wish you good luck with this situation. Please let me know if I can help you in any way. Congratulations on starting your conversion journey 💙

#asks #<3 #loss of friendship #conversion issues #antisemitism

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unspunsocksfromachickenslaundry · 8 months

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When shit gets hard, you go back to the media that saved you.

Harry Potter was my first love, taught me to see light in darkness and taught me what magic was.

The Hunger Games was the first time I looked something up on imdb, I felt the glimmer of holy shit this website exists and then huge amounts of shame for looking it up.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (1999) of course, was my favourite thing ever and the antidote to a lot of depressive days.

The CW verse gave me months of tv to watch to obliterate my brain so that I didn't destroy myself through my degree.

Britannia 3 - without this job I don't know what I would have done, same with Dr Strange in the Mutliverse of Madness.

The Mortal Instruments brought me my platonic true love.

My own film - Sonder - brought my first boyfriend into my life.

And Red, White, and Royal Blue is saving me right now, reminding me that love is out there, you can meet the person that brings light into all your dark places and really, really wants to know you, all of you.

Go the Distance, Go, Go, Go Joseph, Stronger - all songs that kept me going.

I hate it when people say we're not saving lives at work. You may not be triaging a wound or removing a bullet. But some kid, somewhere feels so broken, isolate, and alone that they only thing that makes them want to get to tomorrow is the film that you are working on and would rather be at home on.

#media does save lives #it fucking saved mine

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deniigi · 3 years

Note

i was into dfv and inimitable years ago and found yours stuff again and discovered a fucking goldmine of all the different universes. im desperate. how do tats and shortstacks interact i NEED to know

Hey boo!

You can see those two in In Technicolor in this Chapter here.

This is the 2nd part of the chapter ahead of it so it may help to read both.

#fic #dreamcoats verse

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 2 years

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reading every article in my twitter likes part 3

part one part two

took a break to bake some cookies and read a few chapters of Darcie Little Badger's new YA novel, but now it's back to the grind. for those of you playing along at home, I've made it as far back as my likes from early November 2021.

article 41: "Twitter Is The Worst Reader" by noted Fonda Lee on the twitterish tendency to assume the worst of everyone - particularly women, people of color, and other marginalized folks - at all times. of particular note is this scathing observation of twitter mobs demanding apologies from the targets of their harassment: "Never in the history of Twitter have I ever seen an apology be accepted or actually reduce the abuse leveled. One hundred percent of the time, they are dissected for inadequacy and insincerity, held up as proof of the offender’s malicious intent all along, and used as kindling to further fan the flames."

pried from behind the cold and unforgiving paywall of the New York Times it's article 42: "The Mark Zuckerberg Aesthetic" by Amanda Hess. I'm so tired of this utterly banal cyberpunk dystopia. there's not even any neon. and I would rather swallow a live iguana than ever have to interact with Zuck's shitty little metaverse.

article 43: "We Were Too Stupid for Jennifer's Body" by twitter user @/SamFateKeeper. did NOT expect this to talk so much about post-9/11 conservatism but I love the journey I've been taken on.

anyway probably should have mentioned that we've crossed the line back into tweets from October 2021.

article 44: "Thackery Binx is not Trans Masc, Sorry, and Neither is Rufio, or the Concept of Jonathan Taylor Thomas" from Julian K. Jarboe's substack. what a buckwild analysis of... something? characters that transmasc dudes of a certain age tend to project onto? also just a fantastic series of digs at poor useless Thackery Binx.

article 45: "New roots: Black musicians and advocates are forging coalitions outside the system" by Jewly Hight at NPR (our first NPRticle!). incredibly exciting to discover so many of my faves in this article - Amythyst Kiah! Yola!! Lizzie No!!! - discussing the way they've fought for space in a genre so heavily dominated by white artists. also a lot of cool new names to know - go listen to Roberta Lea n o w.

you guys are not gonna believe this but article 46 is ANOTHER entry from Ijeoma Oluo's substack. this time it's "All Of the Outrage You Could Ever Want." it's about "cancel culture," it's about accountability, it's about hierarchies of perceived value, you know the drill.

article 47: back to BuzzFeed for another article by Scaachi Koul, "Emily Ratajkowski’s New Book Tests The Limits Of Self-Awareness." an unsurprising and very fair criticism of Ratajkowski's essay collection, which I am still very much looking forward to reading based on my great appreciation of her September 2020 essay in New York Mag about experiences with an exploitative photographer. I don't need to her to solve the conundrum of benefitting from her objectification; I'm content to pick a stranger's brain.

article 48: speaking New York Mag, we've got "You Can Still Say 'Woman' But You Shouldn't Stop There" by Irin Carmon. I've never in my life seen such an impressive collection of pissbaby justifications for refusing to use inclusive language to talk about reproductive rights. grow up lmao.

article 49: everyone stop sharing that fake Bible verse about how Jesus was transmasc and read this article by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg queering Joseph of the infamous technicolor dreamcoat.

article 50 (can you BELIEVE I've done 50 of these? 40 of which I've read over the course of a single Saturday?): the intriguingly titled "The Politics of 'Jewface'" by Rebecca Pierce at Jewish Currents. an almost undeservedly thoughtful response to some comments that, at a guess, Sarah Silverman did not think about for more than approximately 0.003 seconds before making.

#twitter likes cleanup

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path-of-my-childhood · 4 years

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Taylor Swift’s “Beautiful Ghosts” might be the best part of the Cats movie

Vox // By Aja Romano // November 20th 2019

“Beautiful Ghosts,” the song that Taylor Swift put words to for Tom Hooper’s upcoming Cats movie, has arrived - and guess what? Swift might be Cats creator and famed Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ideal lyricist.

Lloyd Webber is the man who brought the world Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and one of the most recorded songs in theatre history, “Memory” from Cats. He is notorious for writing musicals with beautiful music and weak lyrics. But “Beautiful Ghosts” makes a compelling argument that what every ALW musical needs is a shrewd lyricist who was once a teenage girl - and who, consequently, is not embarrassed to embrace the gushy romantic heart of his music. Here are five reasons “Beautiful Ghosts” is worth a second listen, or several.

1) It adds to our understanding of Victoria, the White Cat. “Beautiful Ghosts” isn’t a showy end-credits pop song; it’s a new song inserted into the plot of the show. It will follow “Memory” in the upcoming film. The cat who sings it, Victoria has a bigger role: Now, the entire story is framed through her point of view, and Victoria is a younger mirror of Grizabella.

In “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria echoes “Memory” and reflects on Grizabella’s tragic life, as well as her own. “Memory” keeps calling for “new life,” while through “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria transitions from “Memory’s” sadness to a joy that’s all her own - through the realization that she loves the life she has. Where “Memory” is fuzzy, with vague hints of former happiness, “Beautiful Ghosts” weaves a mini-narrative of Victoria’s life: cast onto the streets, apparently by cruel former owners, she distrusts other cats, but eventually befriends them and comes to love her life. With this one song, she goes from being opaque and silent to having depth, complexity, and a backstory that doesn’t involve her being a sex object.

2) It helps us understand “Memory.” Even though “Beautiful Ghosts” is sung by Victoria to Grizabella, it also gives us crucial insight into Grizabella’s life. When Victoria sings lines like, “Should I take chances when no one took chances on me?” she’s simultaneously referencing her own life and Grizabella’s: Grizabella at least knew a time when she was loved and admired, and had human companionship to look back on. Victoria has only known rejection.

Taylor Swift has clearly asked herself, “How can I bring more coherence to “Memory,” a weird-ass song about a cat who is also a sex worker who is also dying and friendless and stuck with her memories of having once been very hot?” The solution, which she provides in “Beautiful Ghosts,” is to give Grizabella slightly more of a past.

In a recent radio interview, Swift described her approach to creating the song - which involved contrasting Victoria’s life with Grizabella’s: ‘Memory’ is Grizabella singing about how she had all these beautiful, incredible moments in her past. She had these glittering occasions and she felt beautiful and she felt wanted and now she doesn’t feel that way anymore.’ This is fanfic on Swift’s part. While this glittering history can be implied, it’s not literally in the lyrics to “Memory,“ or anywhere else in Cats - the most concrete detail “Memory” offers is that Grizabella once enjoyed “days in the sun.” It’s a huge bonus to see Grizabella given a more concrete backstory that has nothing to do with her, uh, hanging out in brothels.

“Beautiful Ghosts” explains that Grizabella was “born into nothing” but now has memories of “dazzling rooms” and a time she was not just beautiful, but loved. In essence, Swift has not only crafted a satisfying character song for Victoria - she’s deepened Grizabella and “Memory” too.

3) It’s clearly a song that could be sung by a cat. This is hard! “Memory” couldn’t manage it and from the first line of “Beautiful Ghosts,” the song feels like one that could be sung by a cat - one who has wandered the streets, hearing the voices of its fellow cats in the dark. Victoria sings of the “wild ones” who “tame the fear” within her as she longs to “get let into” the rooms inhabited by the humans she once knew and yearned for love from. These are bittersweet lyrics, but more importantly, they’re lyrics that pretty clearly describe the life of a cat.

The extent to which Swift has thought about how cats feel becomes increasingly apparent when you realize that “Beautiful Ghosts” is a hymn to found family and the alley cat existence, the freedom of a life lived on the streets, and the beauty of, well, a gang of stray cats. (This may also sound like a metaphor for marginalized communities finding strength in each other after being turned out of their homes.)

4) It hints at what a new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical could be like with a smart lyricist who embraces his romanticism. The typical trade-off with Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals is that his lush, lofty melodic lines take priority over lyrics. The general wisdom among musical theater fans is that ALW was only truly great when he was composing with his earliest collaborator, the brilliant lyricist Tim Rice. The ALW/Rice shows (Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita) are fantastic - witty, satirical, and incisive, ranging from complex political themes to rollicking whimsy and charming pastiche.

ALW’s later shows’ scores were often gorgeous, full of beautiful melodies. But the plots were often too soapy, and he bounced around between lyricists who frequently paired his music with asinine words. When ALW was working with someone equally as or more talented than he was, he managed to create popular, lasting shows, including Cats and Phantom of the Opera. But ALW didn’t always work with equals who could rein him in. And so he only kept getting more extravagant in his desire to combine deeply emotional musical motifs with schmoopy, overblown storylines. In other words, post-Rice, ALW has always been hampered by his own self-indulgence and the lack of a lyricist as good at writing lyrics as ALW is at writing music.

That’s why a Taylor Swift-ALW collaboration is genuinely exciting. In the annals of ALW collaborators, Swift may be the first lyricist with the range, experience, and stature to stand alongside Rice. But more importantly, she clearly loves Cats, loves the music, and loves actual cats. In that interview quoted above, for example, she discussed Victoria’s cat psychology at length. I cannot imagine any circumstances in which Tim Rice would say, as Swift did in that interview, “I got you. I know what that cat would say.”

And that may be what so many previous ALW musicals have lacked: the enthusiasm of a smart, savvy songwriter who’s also not afraid to unironically love and embrace her subject matter. Taylor Swift isn’t just a brilliant songwriter who credits the lyrics of Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz for teaching her to write music with sharp edges and blatant emotive power. She’s also a fangirl. And fangirls know how to deliver deep, smart character studies while amplifying the emotional core of the stories they love. That combination of shrewd songwriting and passion is what propels the final verse of “Beautiful Ghosts” into something truly great.

5) “Beautiful Ghosts” has a surprise twist ending. Taylor Swift learned a lot from brilliant country songwriters, and one of the common country song traits she likes to carry forward is the “twist.” That’s when the final stanza upends the original meaning of the song and shifts the refrain into something new, surprising, and even richer. Throughout “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria has emphasized the fact that Grizabella still has her memories: “at least you have beautiful ghosts,” she sings, and the ghosts are the memories of Grizabella’s life of being beautiful and adored.

By contrast, Victoria herself has always lived on the streets, eventually taken in by the stray cats she eventually began to see as family. Initially, she describes the strays as voices she can only hear in the dark, while she wanders the streets, “alone and haunted.” Later, they become “phantoms of night,” as they lure her into her new exciting life. Finally, when Victoria has her epiphany that she’s happy with her friends, and she loves her alleycat life, she shifts from singing enviously to Grizabella about the “beautiful ghosts” of her memories. Instead, she sings, “So I’ll dance with these beautiful ghosts.”

The ghosts at the end of the song are the cats! Victoria’s ghosts are flesh and blood, and also have you ever met a cat, cats are clearly ghosts, with their silent paws and their eerie glow-eyes, and their ability to vanish into thin air. (Holy shit, the ghosts are the cats!) Only Taylor Swift could turn a metaphor about lost memories into a literal description of cats that is also a metaphor for found families and friendship. Don’t argue with me, this is perfect.

#this was a very fun read - it is however shortened a bit so go read the linked original #thanks anon for sending me this =)#it helps to understand everything a bit better #taylor swift #article #beautiful ghosts #andrew lloyd webber #cats #about taylor #Vox #songwriting

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queertheology · 4 years

Audio

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In today’s episode, we answer a very interesting Tumblr question on why Christians continue to throw Leviticus verses and clobber passages against queer folks. “…if the Old Testament laws, were abolished why do Christians continue to use them so intensely against us?”

We then queer the text from Genesis about Joseph and his envious brothers. Joseph of Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat fame who was then sold to Midianite traders because his siblings couldn’t tolerate their jealousy anymore. But how do we, queer folks, interpret this passage? Make sure you stay tuned.

Things we talked about:

Fr. Shay’s lockdown realizations: adjusting to the new normal [0:51]

Brian’s life updates: relationships; reconnecting; conflicts and intimacy [3:47]

Tumblr question [9:00]

“Abomination” looks good on posters [9:42]

Conservative evangelical Christians do a sloppy read of the Bible [10:55]

Queering the Bible: Genesis [17:16]

Figuring out why one is oppressed [20:58]

BIG dreams can be scary for people [22:23]

People who openly talk about their dreams are getting death threats [25:33]

Protecting the dreams of others [26:02]

Resources for this episode

Sanctuary Collective

How you can know it’s OK to be LGBTQ & Christian? (What to do with the “clobber passages”)

More “is it OK” resources

Rabbi Ruti Regan

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

How To Read The Bible

If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology

If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to [email protected]

Photo by Peter Fogden

Click here for the full transcript

#Bible podcast #FaithfullyLGBT #gay christian #transgender christian #Christian #Christianity #queer theology #faithfully LGBT #Genesis #Joseph

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quintesscntial-a · 7 years

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@colourfuljester gets a concerned alien

“I do beg your pardon, I didn’t mean to gawk. However, your coat has quite a few colors on it.”

“Is it -- is it suffering from something?”

#colourfuljester #[v; i have no verses ngl]#//but listen- i can't make a starter for 6 without mentioning the joseph's technicolor #dreamcoat

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kimabutch · 5 years

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Memory from Cats reminds me of Nott

Gonna be honest here and say that Cats (the musical) as a concept really freaks me out so I’ve never even listened it (despite being practically raised on Jesus Christ Super Star and non-ironically loving Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat) but I’ll be honest, this verse actually describes the Veth/Nott situation pretty well:

“I can smile at the old days/ I was beautiful then/ I remember the time I knew what happiness was”

And this hurts me physically:

“It's so easy to leave me/ All alone with my memory”

Come yell at me about songs that remind you of Critical Role! (Playlist | song masterlist & spreadsheet by disasterhumans | CR music tag)

#critical role #cr musical #I don't like anthropomorphic animals #and I don't like people dressing up as animals #it freaks me out #Anonymous

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betweenandbeloved · 7 years

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Never Alone

This YAGM year I challenged myself to try reading the Bible cover to cover. My copy of the Poverty and Justice Bible has a guide to “Reading the Bible in a Year” that I’ve been following since October when I got to Spruitview. It has been interesting reading new and old stories with the context of living in a new place.

I was reading through Genesis and I arrived at the story of Joseph. This has always been one of my favorite stories in the Bible, probably because I listened to the musical soundtrack as a kid. So naturally, when I saw the story of Joseph I asked my sister to send me the soundtrack to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat so I could listen to it as I read through the story in the Bible.

It’s been quite some time since I listened to the soundtrack, and probably even longer since I read the actual story. I was singing along while cleaning up my room the other day and the song Close Every Door came on; a song that stirs all of my emotions. If you don’t know the lyrics they are as follows:

“Close every door to me, hide all the world from me. Bar all the windows and turn out the light. Do what you want with me, hate me and laugh at me. Darken my daytime and torture my night. If my life were important I would ask will I live or die but I know the answers lie far from this world. Close every door to me, keep those I love from me. Children of Israel are never alone.”

While these lyrics aren’t actually in the Bible story, it highlights the emotions Joseph was feeling while he was in jail in Egypt. Joseph had been taken away from his family and was pretty much alone in the world. When he tried to do good for Potiphar, his wife humiliated him and he ended up in jail.

But Joseph was never really alone. God was by his side the whole time. In Genesis 41 the King of Egypt tells Joseph “God is the one who has shown you these things. No one else is as wise as you are or knows as much as you do (vs. 39)” thus lifting Joseph out of Jail and into power. In Genesis 45 when Joseph finally reveals to his brothers his true identity he says “Don’t worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives (vs. 5).” Later when his brothers try to apologize in Genesis 50, Joseph says “Don’t be afraid! I have no right to change what God has decided. You tried to harm me, but God made it turn out for the best so that he could save all these people as he is doing now (vs. 19).”

Children of Israel are Never Alone.

This song resonates with me more now than ever. While my siblings didn’t sell me off to South Africa, I chose to come here freely, I understand what it’s like to feel alone in the world. Like Joseph, I am having new adventures in a new place far from my family. Sometimes my adventures are insightful and rewarding just like Joseph’s when he was in charge of Potiphar’s estate and when he was made Governor of Egypt; but others can feel lonely and provide lots of time to think and feel homesick, similar to when Joseph was in jail.

Children of Israel are Never Alone.

When times are hard or when they are joyful, God is always there by my side.

Deuteronomy 31:6 reminds us “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Matthew 28:20 reminds us “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”

Isaiah 41:10 reminds us “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Children of Israel are Never Alone.

When battling homesickness some days are harder than others, but no matter what I know that I will never truly be alone because God is always by my side. The next time you feel lost, alone or homesick, remember that God has a plan and He will see it through, you just have to open your eyes and look for the ways he is working through you and the people around you.

#YAGMyear #young adults in global mission #never alone #joseph #joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat #ELCA #evangelical lutheran church in america #homesick #God #lutheran #theology #Bible #bible verses

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thesinglesjukebox · 6 years

Video

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LUIS FONSI FT. STEFFLON DON - CALYPSO [4.86] To your editor, he'll always be that guy who had a duet on the second Emma Bunton album.

Jonathan Bogart: How do you follow up accidentally having the biggest global single of the modern era? Only a few people have ever had to wrestle with this question in history, and none of them were twenty-year music-industry veterans with a long track record of pan-regional hit-making. "Échame la Culpa" was one way: keep your romantic balladeer persona but try to keep crossing over to the Bieber audience without being saddled with Bieber himself. "Calypso" is another way: lean into novelty hard, pretend Puerto Rico and Jamaica and Trinidad are all the same undistinguished "Caribbean" vacation destination musical genre, mashing up soca and reggaeton and dancehall into a neon goop driven more by melody than rhythm, and pray that credulous Eurovision fans fall for it a second time. [5]

Thomas Inskeep: It sure as hell ain't "Despacito" -- more like a Casio keyboard preset with some "blah-de-blah" over the top, hackwork of the highest order. And music industry, stop trying to make Stefflon Don happen. She's no Cardi B, that's for certain. [2]

Juana Giaimo: Luis Fonsi continues to stay away from ballads -- and we should be thankful for that. This time, he has released a dancehall track that aims to be the song of the summer -- in the northern hemisphere. The beat is fast and the steel pad guides the song with its joyful sound. Stefflon Don is a bit more of a risk, but Fonsi is quickly learning the dynamics of Latin American club music. For example, the chorus starts as quite mellow, but it is suddenly broken with a deeper melody when he sings "Lo que tu digas, te daré." [7]

Tim de Reuse: Aggressively sunny enough to make your pupils constrict, but at least it's aiming for some type of flavor at all, and it tries hard enough that it can't help but accidentally be a little fun. The multilingual 1-2-3 of the chorus, unfortunately, is one of the most un-sexy things they could have written to serve a climactic singalong chant. [5]

Ashley John: Held steady by a backbone of steel drums, "Calypso" guides us up and down through summer's heat. Luis Fonsi's verses and then rhythmic chorus highlight Stefflon Don, who elevates this track from wafting summer single to a strong-willed hit. Stefflon Don flexes her versatility with a sweet, high-pitched verse at first, sounding like a line from teen blockbuster movie: "Don't wanna fight cuz I love when we dancing." Only then switching a few seconds later to a guttural, dominant tone leaving the rest of the song to trickle off slowly once Luis Fonsi takes the reins back. [6]

Katherine St Asaph: It's good for what it is -- a flimsy, saccharine follow-up to an unexpected smash, making the same mistake as countless sudden stars past that a song is guaranteed a hit just for being genial. [5]

Will Adams: Fun fact: my first encounter with calypso -- or the idea of it -- was with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. "Benjamin Calypso," much like "Under the Sea" and now Luis Fonsi's "Calypso," serve less as examples of specific Caribbean genres and more shorthand meant to evoke the feel-good tropicalia of a Wheel of Fortune prize package. The designs for another global smash -- high-fructose corn syrup backing; counting up in different languages -- are respectively obvious and awkward, but the most concerning aspect of this is Stefflon Don getting stuck with yet another dud of a feature. [4]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#luis fonsi #stefflon don #music #latin music #music video #new music #music writing #music reviews

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musicforfour · 3 years

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The Monkey and the Onion, arranged for SATB Music by Graham Gouldman (10cc) Lyrics by Tim Rice I’m trying to remember how I first knew about Tim Rice. It’s probably from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals. I think when I first discovered Musical Theatre, I started with the very big and well known ones, so Lloyd Webber musicals came in quite early on. But I probably found out about Tim Rice when I’m way more deep into Musical Theatre when I started to figure out who were the people behind these musicals that wrote the music, the lyrics, and the book.

I find that Tim Rice is a unique figure in the world of Musical Theatre. He didn’t really start out with a background in Musical Theatre, unlike Andrew Lloyd Webber who was obsessed with the art form from the get go. In fact Tim was more into the pop records (rock and roll even, dare I say) and the current popular music scene. So he had been writing pop songs on his own before he met Andrew to start writing musicals with him.

Besides their first musical which never really got put on until many many years later, they went on to create these classic sung through musicals like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita. Tim continued to write other musicals after the two went their separate ways. He wrote Blondel with Stephen Oliver, Chess (God I love Chess) with Benny Andresson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA (yes, The ABBA), some Disney musicals with Elton John and Alan Menken, and most recently From Here to Eternity with Stuart Brayson.

I think that Tim is unique in Musical Theatre in at least two ways. First is that he came up with these unlikely ideas for musicals, and they may seem odd at first, but he has a way to build a story and a way with words to actually make these weird ideas for musicals work. He is probably the only writer of musicals that is known for writing musicals about biblical stories. He even wrote one with Alan Menken about King David, which I hope it gets produced more often so maybe one day I can watch it in full. One more thing about Tim’s musicals is that he brought back the sung through musicals, like opera but with cooler music. It’s kinda funny that this happened only because he tried to keep the musicals short, like Joseph was first performed in a school concert or Jesus Christ Superstar was first recorded to fit the vinyl album. So yeah, I’ve spent the last four paragraphs explaining why I’m kinda obsessed with Tim Rice, just so I can say that I’ve been listening to his podcast “Get Onto My Cloud”. He started the podcast when the world stopped due to the pandemic in 2020, and he featured so many good background stories about his musicals and/or his songs for the episodes. So there’s this one episode about some one-off pop songs that he wrote, and he featured one of his songs titled The Monkey and the Onion for the English band 10cc. I think when I first heard the title, I wasn’t sure that I heard it right so I rewind it, but I did hear it right. And it was quite a cool song with, dare I say, philosophical lyrics that got to me.

So this song stayed in the back of my mind for awhile, and I have been looking for another song to arrange. I had wanted to do a song by Tim Rice, but I wanted to do something of his that wasn’t so obvious. I had thought maybe I was gonna do something from King David, but I had arranged Alan Menken’s music so I wasn’t really feeling it. So when I remembered about The Monkey and the Onion, I thought it’s now or never and I set out to arrange it.

The original recording of the song has this build up using instruments added on top of other instruments, so when I was arranging I realized I could never match what the original recording was doing ‘cause I was just using four voices. So I had to come up with other kinds of variations to keep the song going. Sometimes I used inversions of the chords for similar passages of music. I gave the melody to different sections (but not the Bass, sorry Basses). At one point I made the sections sing unison, and another point almost at the end I had just one section sing alone.

I also found this plug-in for Musescore that checks for parallel fifths and octaves, so I started to use this to check my arrangement. I knew from the start that writing parallel fifths and octaves is not quite acceptable for four part writing, but I only recently started to see why it’s bad. (Warning, mansplaining ahead) Basically writing parallels fifth and octaves make the parts sound unified, such that the four parts aren’t really four parts since one part is unified with another part when they have parallel fifths or octaves.

I quite like the sound of two notes that are fifth apart, and I’m sure I’ve written a lot of parallel fifths without me knowing. It has this strong solid sound, and I remembered hearing it and really feeling it when I arranged for the first time. But now that I think about it, that time when I tried to arrange Sondheim, I think I wrote way too many parallel fifths that eventually it sounded too full and I couldn’t really go on with the same sound for the next verses. It’s kinda like eating a dessert cake that is way too rich and heavy, that you probably have enough before you finish a slice.

So yeah, besides some parts where the sections sing in unison, I made sure that the four parts for my arrangement this time didn’t have any parallel fifths or octaves. I think each part sounded more clear and I intentionally had some parallel octaves like I bolded some words or underlined a phrase that I wanted to highlight. I like some of the chords that I found for this arrangement, and all in all I’m pretty happy to have found out about this song and to have shared this song by arranging it. Tim Rice’s Podcast “Get Onto My Cloud”, Episode 25 “One-Offs”: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/getontomycloud?selected=BPNET1445446315 Link to score: https://musescore.com/user/4177086/scores/6771052

#10cc #The Monkey and the Onion #Tim Rice

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deniigi · 3 years

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Hey, I was wondering if you knew any fanfics where Marvel characters (Team Red, Sam, Steve, Bucky, the Defenders, Miles, etc)... Deal with Corona and going to the BLM protests? And Peter dealing with Karen’s? I haven’t been able to find any (aside the one where May was the Karen, but...) and tbh I thought there would be at least a few of them, IK people don’t exactly like politics in fanfiction most of the time but this would be so great to read

Hi anon,

The only fic I know of regarding the pandemic is the one that I wrote with team red in the early days of it here:

Shelter Order

I also wrote a chapter in In Technicolor (linked) which looks at Brett's fraught relationship with the police force.

I've also sort of wrapped some ideas about bodily rights in some chapters in In Technicolor. But these stories aren't what I would call in any way comprehensive and they're done through the lenses that I, personally, am able to offer.

I honestly struggle to read fics of contemporary events. I know that that's how some people process things, but sometimes it is difficult for me to read these things and not think that people are capitalizing on a situation for views/kudos/attention. But that's my own problem and something I'm working on, i.e. understanding that I don't/can't aways know the motivation or identities of those who write stories. And I just sort of have to come to terms with that.

#fic #dreamcoats verse #shelter order #inimitable verse

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beamkirk-blog · 4 years

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When I was in high school, I tried out for a school play. It was the first play I had ever tried out for or been in, so I was quite nervous. The play was "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat." Naturally, I wanted to be Joseph, but I didn’t end up getting the part. Other students had more experience and were flat out better than I was. I was given another part (narrator) but was immature and refused to take part at all. I attended a performance of the play with my family, and to this day I can remember how great it was. It was a shame that I could not see the bigger picture and be a part of the show. King David was a loyal servant of God for his entire life. No character more adamantly sings the praises of God than his obedient servant, David, so it is a surprise here in 1 Chronicles to see the Lord choose another king of Israel to build the temple for Him. God tells David via the prophet Nathan that David’s son is the one that God has chosen. Although David was prepared to build the temple, Solomon ended up building it as we still know today. How did David react? The same way he does in nearly every instance that the Lord speaks to him: he praises God, obediently going along with God’s plan. If only I had learned my lesson from these verses! Life doesn’t always give you exactly what you want, but to be part of something incredible and view being chosen to be a part of something special is a gift in and of itself. David realized this; I did not. Remember these verses the next time you are in a similar situation: we are God’s servants and it is a blessing to be one at all. Thought: Have you had a similar experience as mine, when you were not selected for something that you wanted? How did you react? How can you be better and more like David the next time? https://www.instagram.com/p/CGSsXu3IMSC/?igshid=1pc36y7m7zaut

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johnhardinsawyer · 4 years

Text

“Let Us Go Unto. . .”

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

8 / 9 / 20

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Psalm 105:16-22

“Let Us Go Unto. . .”

(The Scene of the Crime)

In the first church I served, right after seminary, there was a delightful woman named Wini Saxon[1] who would attend on a regular basis. By the time I met her, Wini had already lived quite a life. She was one of those incredible people of an earlier generation, who, right out of college, spent several years riding a horse through remote corners of Appalachia with a typewriter strapped to her saddle so that she could keep records for the Frontier Nursing Service. Later, after she got a Ph.D. in French, she worked as a translator for the Michelin tire company. You know. . . as one does.

Not only was she a very smart woman, but she was funny, too. If anyone ever asked Wini where she was from, she would respond with a twinkle in her eye, by saying, “Where am I from? Genesis 37:17. . . Let us go unto Dothan.” You see, Wini was originally from a town in Lower Alabama, called Dothan, Alabama. Now, I’ve never been to Dothan, but I’ve come pretty close. It’s hot down there – plenty of small towns and farmland. Dothan is sometimes referred to as “The Peanut Capital of the World,” and it is named for a certain place in the Bible – a certain place that we find in today’s reading from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 37, verse 17.

I’m not sure that all of the folks who named the town Dothan knew what, exactly, they were naming their town for, but “let us “go unto Dothan,” in the Land of Canaan, this morning, to see what happened there so very long ago.

There was a teenager named Joseph – and, no, just in case you’re wondering, this was not Joseph the father of Jesus. I’ve had people ask me that, before. The Joseph we are learning about today was an ancestor of the father of Jesus. Now, this boy, named Joseph, was the eleventh son of a man named Jacob. You might remember that last week, we heard the story of how Jacob sent his wives and children across the river and wrestled with God and didn’t let go. Anyway, I guess if you have eleven sons – like Jacob did – there are going to be some sons who you end up liking more than others. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite. So, Jacob made a special long robe “with sleeves,” (Genesis 37:3) and gave it to Joseph. Other translations read that Jacob made Joseph “a coat of many colors,”[2] – a “Technicolor Dreamcoat,” if you will – which Joseph wore proudly.

Now, as if Joseph’s many siblings didn’t have it bad enough with their father playing favorites, Joseph was kind of annoying. We learn in today’s reading, that he tells on some of his brothers for doing a bad job while taking care of the sheep. Nobody likes a tattle-tale, even in Bible times. And, when Joseph starts wearing that fancy robe around, flaunting his favored-son status in front of his brothers, they “hat[e] him, and [can] not speak peaceably to him.” (37:4) And then, to top it all off, Joseph tells them all about a dream that he has had, in which his brothers, basically, bow down to him, and so they start to hate him even more.[3]

So, one day, all of Joseph’s older brothers are out, taking care of Jacob’s big flock of sheep and goats, and Jacob says, “Oh, Joseph, my favorite, responsible son, why don’t you go out to check up on your brothers and come back and tell me how they’re doing with my flock. I think they’re at a place called Shechem.” Joseph, the dutiful son, sets out and goes to Shechem, but he can’t find his brothers there. In verse 17, he does run into someone – not my friend, Wini Saxon, but someone else – who says, “Ah, they’re actually up in Dothan, because I heard them say they were going to take the flock up there. ‘Let us go unto Dothan,’ they said.” And, sure enough, when Joseph goes up to Dothan, that’s where he finds them.[4]

This is where today’s story takes a dark turn. You see, Joseph’s brother can spot him from a mile away. Nobody else has a fancy robe like Joseph’s, after all. It’s got to be him. They see him coming and their blood starts to boil. “Here comes that dreamer – that ‘dream-master’,”[5] they say (in the original language) (37:19), and they start talking about how they’re going to kill him. Now, who hasn’t thought about killing their own sibling from time to time – but not actually killing them? These boys in Dothan are not just thinking about it in a figurative sense. They are coming up with a real plan to kill their little brother, and throw his body into a pit, and lie about it all by saying that he was eaten by wild animals. “It’ll be kind of hard for his dream to come true if he’s dead,” they say. (37:20)[6] Ouch!

Thank goodness not all of Joseph’s brothers want him dead, though. One of the brothers – Ruben –convinces them to not kill Joseph. . . maybe just scare him a little bit. So, they grab him, and they take his colorful coat with sleeves off and they throw him down into a pit beside the highway, with no water and no food. And, then, a little later, while Ruben is off doing something, the other brothers see a big caravan going down the road toward Egypt, and they pull Joseph out of the pit and sell him to the caravan people. In the verses right after today’s reading, they take his fancy – now, bloodstained – coat and carry it back to their Dad, telling him the lie about the wild animals eating Joseph. Jacob, their father, breaks down in tears and nobody can cheer him up. And, all of the brothers – including Ruben – keep the secret of what really happens to Joseph. They say nothing. . . for years. Meanwhile, Joseph ends up a slave, down in Egypt.

This is some story, isn’t it? Some dark stuff! Now, I don’t want to leave you with a cliffhanger, but if you tune in to next week’s service you might just hear what happens next in the story. Or, of course, you could break out your Bible, on your own, and read Genesis, Chapters 39-45.

For today, though, what would happen if we were to just talk about this story as it was told – as if, all we knew was that the brothers silently stayed home with their needlessly grieving father while their brother Joseph went down into Egypt as a slave? Is there any good news that can be gleaned from this story, as it is? You might have noticed that today’s story doesn’t even mention God once. “What is God up to, here?” you may be wondering. It remains to be seen. God remains to be seen.

Sometimes, stories don’t get resolved like we think they should. Sometimes, life doesn’t get resolved. And, I wonder if we’re in such a moment right now. We’re six months into a pandemic that is unlike anything any of us have ever lived through. Four centuries of racial inequality, decades of political division, neighbor not trusting neighbor, fingers tightening around protest signs, or pistol grips, or both. We find ourselves being emotionally strained – as individuals, as a country – beyond anything we have ever lived through. Oh, we’ve weathered wars and terrorist attacks, before. We’ve weathered economic downturns, before. We’ve seen what evil people can do to other people. And we’re not surprised by what happens between Joseph and his brothers. We’re horrified, but not surprised. We’ve seen it before. We see it everyday.

But even though the experts say that a vaccine to Covid-19 will be widely available sometime – maybe six months from now, maybe a year from now – we still don’t know exactly when. Nor do we know if or when any of the other things that are wrong with the world will be resolved. Just about everything is hanging in the balance, and it all seems to have an impact on us, and our families, and our neighbors, and people we will never know – and the ending remains to be seen. We’re watching for it. We’re waiting for it. But we just don’t know how or if or when this insane chapter of our lives will come to an end.

I would ask if you’re okay with all of it, but I think I know the answer because I’m not okay with any of it. As a person of faith, I trust that God is up to something in the midst of all of this. But right now, it seems like all of us are stuck down in a pit – wondering if or when we’ll get out. And what will happen if and when we do. . .

In just a moment, as the Affirmation of Faith in today’s service, we will be reading part of the Westminster Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church – a document from nearly 400 years ago[7] – that outlines what people believed. The part that we’re reading today talks about the providence of God – how God is in control, whether we understand it or not, whether we see God at work, or not. The authors of the Westminster Confession, who were no strangers to difficult times, write that the “the most wise, righteous and gracious God” will leave, for a season, God’s own children to temptation and corruption as a way to encourage them to be humbled and to be more dependent upon God.[8] I really wrestle with this idea. Is this what is happening to Joseph in today’s story? Is this what is happening to us, right now? Has God really left us until we figure out just how much we need God?

Maybe one way of interpreting these words for the 21st Century is that we will always be living in a time in which God is humbling us and calling us to embrace a new way of life – on the way to a deeper understanding of the Holy. The time in which we are living – right now – just seems particularly humbling for just about all of us.

But, our story is on the way toward something good. We just don’t see it yet. . . the ending is not clear. It’s like we’re standing on the road in Dothan – at the scene of the crime – watching Joseph being led away in chains and his brothers heading for home, wondering what on earth God could do with this big mess of a story. It’s like we’re standing at the cross on Good Friday, not knowing whether Easter Sunday is on the way or not. It’s like we’re standing in a place of hurt, and worry, and pain, waiting for a moment of light, and hope, and redemption. . . and resurrection.

There might be some who would tell us, “Well, that’s life,” or “That’s death,” or “It is what it is.” But I really wrestle with that idea, too. Because I believe in a gracious God who is bringing a new heaven and new earth into reality right before our very eyes. I can’t see it yet, but I trust that it is on the way. And if, during this humbling season, you and I are called to look for this new heaven and new earth – maybe even work toward this new heaven and new earth – a lot harder and more diligently than we ever have, then maybe this is our task.

Friends, hear this good news: our story isn’t over yet because God’s story is not over yet. Don’t give up. All will be well. All will be well.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

----------

[1] https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charlotte/obituary.aspx?pid=86991746.

[2] See King James Version.

[3] See Genesis 37:5-8.

[4] Genesis 37:12-17. Paraphrased, JHS.

[5] Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004) 210. Note 19.

[6] Paraphrased, JHS.

[7] The Westminster Confession of Faith was written in 1646, 374 years ago.

[8] The Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2016) 154, 6.028.

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shanedakotamuir · 4 years

Text

Taylor Swift’s “Beautiful Ghosts” might be the best part of the Cats movie

Universal Pictures

The new song Swift wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber has a lot to teach us about cats, “Memory,” and fangirls.

“Beautiful Ghosts,” the song that Taylor Swift put words to for Tom Hooper’s upcoming Cats movie, has arrived — and guess what? Swift might be Cats creator and famed Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ideal lyricist.

Lloyd Webber, a.k.a. ALW, is the man who brought the world Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and one of the most recorded songs in theatre history, “Memory” from Cats. (Estimates for the number of artists who’ve covered the song range from 150 to 600+.) ALW is notorious for writing musicals with beautiful music and weak lyrics. But “Beautiful Ghosts” makes a compelling argument that what every ALW musical needs is a shrewd lyricist who was once a teenage girl — and who, consequently, is not embarrassed to embrace the gushy romantic heart of his music.

The song was released November 15 as promotion for film ramps up ahead of the movie’s December 20 release date. And while the new trailer that followed sent us into a grim, slow meltdown, “Beautiful Ghosts” is a good song that suggests niceness can still emerge from this trainwreck of a film.

Here are five reasons “Beautiful Ghosts” is worth a second listen, or several.

1) It adds to our understanding of Victoria, the White Cat

Believe it or not, this cat you’ve never heard of before is our main character.

“Beautiful Ghosts” isn’t a showy end-credits pop song; it’s a new song inserted into the plot of the show. I use “plot” very loosely. Cats the musical is based on the work of great modernist poet T.S. Eliot, set to music by ALW. It’s about ... cats choosing who will go to cat heaven. (Yes, really.)

Not many people remember how weird the plot of Cats is because the only Cats detail most people care about is “Memory,” — a song that musicologist Jessica Sternfeld summarized as “a hit song of massive proportions, by some estimations the most successful song ever from a musical.” But “Memory” itself is such a weird song.

It’s performed by a character named “Grizabella, the Glamour Cat,” a lone, starving alley cat who was once a famously beautiful cat (?!) before she became a friendless, down-on-her-luck feline sex worker (?!?!). She “haunted low resorts” and was exiled by all the cats, until her depression and despair, articulated in “Memory,” finally provokes their sympathy — for which her reward is ... getting to die.

Yup. That’s Cats!

“Beautiful Ghosts” will follow “Memory” in the upcoming film. The cat who sings it, Victoria, is principally a dancer, and in the musical her character is creepily portrayed mainly through her dawning sexual awakening. But in Hooper’s film, Victoria has a bigger role: Now, the entire story is framed through her point of view, and Victoria is a younger mirror of Grizabella.

In “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria echoes “Memory” and reflects on Grizabella’s tragic life, as well as her own. “Memory” keeps calling for “new life,” while through “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria transitions from “Memory’s” sadness to a joy that’s all her own — through the realization that she loves the life she has. Where “Memory” is fuzzy, with vague hints of former happiness, “Beautiful Ghosts” weaves a mini-narrative of Victoria’s life: Cast onto the streets, apparently by cruel former owners, she distrusts other cats, but eventually befriends them and comes to love her life. With this one song, she goes from being opaque and silent to having depth, complexity, and a backstory that doesn’t involve her being a sex object.

2) It helps us understand “Memory”

Even though “Beautiful Ghosts” is sung by Victoria to Grizabella, it also gives us crucial insight into Grizabella’s life. When Victoria sings lines like, “Should I take chances when no one took chances on me?” she’s simultaneously referencing her own life and Grizabella’s: Grizabella at least knew a time when she was loved and admired, and had human companionship to look back on. Victoria has only known rejection.

In a recent radio interview, Swift described her approach to creating the song — which involved contrasting Victoria’s life with Grizabella’s:

‘Memory’ is Grizabella singing about how she had all these beautiful, incredible moments in her past. She had these glittering occasions and she felt beautiful and she felt wanted and now she doesn’t feel that way anymore.

This is fanfic on Swift’s part. While this glittering history can be implied, it’s not literally in the lyrics to “Memory,“ or anywhere else in Cats — the most concrete detail “Memory” offers is that Grizabella once enjoyed “days in the sun.” It’s a huge bonus to see Grizabella given a more concrete backstory that has nothing to do with her, uh, hanging out in brothels.

“Beautiful Ghosts” explains that Grizabella was “born into nothing” but now has memories of “dazzling rooms” and a time she was not just beautiful, but loved. In essence, Swift has not only crafted a satisfying character song for Victoria — she’s deepened Grizabella and “Memory” too.

3) It’s clearly a song that could be sung by a cat

This is hard! “Memory” couldn’t manage it — the song does not remotely sound like as if it’s sung by a character who is a cat. But from the first line of “Beautiful Ghosts” (“follow me home if you dare to”) the song feels like one that could be sung by a cat — one who has wandered the streets, hearing the voices of its fellow cats in the dark. Victoria sings of the “wild ones” who “tame the fear” within her as she longs to “get let into” the rooms inhabited by the humans she once knew and yearned for love from. These are bittersweet lyrics, but more importantly, they’re lyrics that pretty clearly describe the life of a cat.

The extent to which Swift has thought about how cats feel becomes increasingly apparent when you realize that “Beautiful Ghosts” is a hymn to found family and the alley cat existence, the freedom of a life lived on the streets, and the beauty of, well, a gang of stray cats. (If this is also maybe starting to sound like a metaphor for marginalized communities finding strength in each other after being turned out of their homes, well, nobody knows how to appropriate queer pride like Taylor Swift.)

4) It hints at what a new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical could be like with a smart lyricist who embraces his romanticism

youtube

The typical trade-off with Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals is that his lush, lofty melodic lines take priority over lyrics. This approach works to make his songs popular — after all, studies have shown that sweeping, ascendant melodies make people feel intense emotions. But if the lyrics are weak — for example, if characters say lines that feel overblown, generic, or irrelevant to the story they’re in — then the musical as a whole can suffer.

The general wisdom among musical theater fans is that ALW was only truly great when he was composing with his earliest collaborator, the brilliant lyricist Tim Rice. The ALW/Rice shows (Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita) are fantastic — witty, satirical, and incisive, ranging from complex political themes to rollicking whimsy and charming pastiche. But as good as they are, it’s obvious that they weren’t the kind of shows ALW really wanted to write, because after the team split up, ALW wrote a series of increasingly sentimental shows, from 1982’s generically sad Song and Dance to 1989’s bonkers melodrama Aspects of Love (which I love).

ALW’s later shows’ scores were often gorgeous, full of beautiful melodies. But the plots were often too soapy, and he bounced around between lyricists who frequently paired his music with asinine words. When ALW was working with someone equally as or more talented than he was, he managed to create popular, lasting shows, including Cats and Phantom of the Opera, helmed by the late great director Hal Prince. But ALW didn’t always work with equals who could rein him in. And so he only kept getting more extravagant in his desire to combine deeply emotional musical motifs with schmoopy, overblown storylines. In other words, post-Rice, ALW has always been hampered by his own self-indulgence and the lack of a lyricist as good at writing lyrics as ALW is at writing music.

That combination of shrewd songwriting and passion is what propels the final verse of “Beautiful Ghosts” into something truly great.

5) “Beautiful Ghosts” has a surprise twist ending

Taylor Swift learned a lot from brilliant country songwriters, and one of the common country song traits she likes to carry forward is the “twist.” That’s when the final stanza upends the original meaning of the song and shifts the refrain into something new, surprising, and even richer.

Throughout “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria has emphasized the fact that Grizabella still has her memories: “at least you have something to cling to ... at least you have beautiful ghosts,” she sings, and the ghosts are the memories of Grizabella’s life of being beautiful and adored.

Finally, when Victoria has her epiphany that she’s happy with her friends, and she loves her alleycat life, she shifts from singing enviously to Grizabella about the “beautiful ghosts” of her memories. Instead, she sings, “So I’ll dance with these beautiful ghosts.”

Only Taylor Swift could turn a metaphor about lost memories into a literal description of cats that is also a metaphor for found families and friendship. Don’t argue with me, this is perfect.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/338d6zM

#Vox - All

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