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between_time_and_42I finally have the time to post some more about this, so here's a little bit of backstory on how I'm choosing to adapt Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway for my story, SF: ALS. First, however, I wanted to make some quick notes about SF: ALS:
-I went to an in-person NaNoWriMo write-in on the last day of November, even though I had already won. It was very fun to meet more local writers, although I had no energy by the end of it! Part of that may have been the social interaction, or it may have been a combination of the social interaction + spending creative energy at the same time.
-I'm still close to the beginning of Part 2. Everything I've written so far has set up the next big part of the plot- Ziggy & Pink's ill-fated tour of America, which is where they meet Rael, Mylo, and Xyloto. I can't wait to actually get them to America, because not only am I finding the Mylo Xyloto sections to be surprisingly fun to write and I can't wait for them to meet Ziggy & Pink, this is also the section where Pink officially catches feelings (though he won't admit to it until Part 3) and there are some VERY cute moments coming up that I'm sure I will simply melt over when it's time to write them.
-I edited the first two chapters of Part 1 and saved them as a draft on AO3. So excited to edit more, even though I don't usually like posting in-progress works, but I still really want to get Part 1 out by Christmas. After that, I can take all the time in the world to get the rest of it out since I don't have a specific deadline. (I think it would be cool if I end up posting the final part on my birthday next year, though, seeing as it was on my birthday when I first started writing the original Concept Album Extravaganza.)
-After I finish editing Part 1, I'll probably take a break to write out Pink's entire backstory, since I feel like I need to get that straight before I continue much further. I'm particularly concerned about filling the gap between Pink's childhood/early adolescence and his adulthood, since the album and movie's narrative glosses over that period of time.
Now, time to talk about some more concept albums and their stories...
The way I'm treating The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in SF: ALS is unique in that it's the only concept album I'm using where the album's story happens AFTER the events of SF: ALS. Thus, it means that I can't develop Rael as a character TOO much, because he goes through his most significant character development during the events of The Lamb. But it does allow me to not have to make a decision on how The Lamb actually ends. While The Lamb is an incredibly surreal story to begin with, the ending of the album is particularly oblique. The plot of the album follows Rael, a juvenile delinquent from New York City, who is knocked into a mysterious underworld. After spotting his brother John in said underworld, but quickly being separated, Rael sets off to find him and possibly escape with him. Eventually, through a series of events too long to explain here, Rael ends up facing a difficult choice. He can go alone through a portal that leads back to NYC, or he can rescue John from drowning, which would mean giving up his chance at returning home. He chooses to save John, jumping into the river and hauling him out of the water. Once they're on shore, though, Rael notices that something is wrong with John. "Something's changed... That's not your face! It's mine. It's mine!" After this, the album closes with the song "It," which describes... something, referred to only as "it," finally closing with the lines "It is real. It is Rael. 'Cause it's only knock and know-all, but I like it." The album's liner notes unhelpfully explain that at this point, both Rael and John's bodies are "outlined in yellow," before they and their surroundings dissolve into a "purple mist." The End. "Have fun figuring THAT one out," I can almost hear Peter Gabriel laughing to himself. (And no, this album wasn't made under any influences, Peter Gabriel's mind is just Like That.)
While I have my own personal interpretation of this ending, it's highly allegorical any way you look at it, so there wasn't any way to translate that into SF: ALS. Instead, I decided to reach backwards and explore Rael's past, which is touched upon during two songs on The Lamb. "Back In NYC" mentions how Rael was sent to the Pontiac Reformatory when he was young and was released at the age of 17. The album liner notes further explain that he had run away from home at a young age and tried to join a street gang, but it wasn't until he was sent to the Pontiac that the gang showed him any respect. Throughout the song, Rael sneers at the idea that there's a soft side to him underneath his tough exterior. "Who needs illusion of love and affection when you're out walking on the streets with your main line connection?" He also targets the liberal crowd who offer him charity: "You progressive hypocrites hand out your trash, but it was mine in the first place, so I'll burn it to ash." Both of these lines have become my keys to interpreting Rael, basically helping me find my way in to the character. I imagine that Rael is a fundamentally mistrustful person- mistrustful of authority, and mistrustful of interpersonal relationships. All he really wants is to keep himself and his gang alive, so he'll leap upon any opportunity he can to pursue the almighty dollar (usually by stealing things, I imagine). He doesn't much care about whose side anyone is on- if they're abusing their power and privilege, they deserve to be ripped off. So when Ziggy and Pink arrive in town on tour, Rael couldn't give a fuck if they make good music. All he knows is that NYC has been under strict regulations ever since it was announced that the Earth is running out of its resources, and yet the city's authorities are rolling out the red carpet for something as trivial as a concert tour. These people, Rael decides, need to be taken down a peg. So he sneaks into their after-party... and what happens next will be revealed in SF: ALS, but basically, Rael gets a whole lot more than he bargained for once he meets Ziggy & Pink.
The other aspect of Rael's mistrust- his mistrust in personal relationships- comes about at the end of the song "Back In NYC." A refrain says, "As I cuddled the porcupine, he said I had none to blame but me. Held my heart, deep in hair. Time to shave, shave it off." The album liner notes explain that Rael envisions a "stainless steel razor" shaving his heart to the accompaniment of "romantic music." This then leads into a mournful-sounding instrumental called "Hairless Heart," which I suspect is probably the "romantic music" that Rael is listening to. While the symbolism may be confusing, I've always interpreted the hair growing on Rael's heart as his emotions, which a line from later in the liner notes when Rael sees his home again through the portal supports: "His heart, now a little hairy..." The jury's still out on what the porcupine means (the liner notes imply that it's a real porcupine that Rael finds, though that's such a random image that I assume it has to be a symbol for SOMETHING, while some fans have proposed that "cuddling the porcupine" is a VERY weird euphemism for masturbation, which weirdly enough would fit in with the theme of the next song, but I always thought, well... Peter Gabriel is great at making up sexual euphemisms ("I want to be your sledgehammer," anyone?), but that seems a little too esoteric even for him. But I could be completely wrong). However, Nathaniel Barlam's animated version of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (which is a fan work, not an official adaptation) interprets the porcupine as a stuffed porcupine, which Rael received from his "first romantic encounter." Which brings us to the second song on the album that describes Rael's backstory, "Counting Out Time."
Until I saw the animated interpretation of The Lamb, I thought that "Counting Out Time" was a very random, even gratuitous addition to the narrative. Basically it tells the story of Rael's first time, which ended (according to the liner notes) after 78 seconds, leaving the girl he was with "not even mildly titillated." It's a hilarious song, complete with a super awkward sounding synth solo and Rael, who learned everything he knew about sex through a book, insisting that "I'm a red-blooded male, and the book said I could not fail!" But the animated interpretation ties this moment into Rael's later decision to hide his emotions away, suggesting that the shame from Rael's encounter was so great that he decided to give up on romance entirely. Aside from the "who needs illusion of love and affection" lyric, another line from "Back In NYC" supports this: "I've tasted all the strongest meats and laid down them on colored sheets." This is Rael bragging about his sexual exploits, and the animated interpretation implies that Rael gave up trying to have a real relationship in favor of casual sex.
I love the animated version of The Lamb very much, and therefore have decided to adopt the headcanon that it posits about Rael's failed romantic encounter fueling his selfish behavior (when it comes to interpersonal relationships, that is- I honestly can't blame him for his feelings about authority figures). And this is going to come into play in SF: ALS when Rael falls for Mylo while living with Mylo & Xyloto's gang... though Mylo is already falling for Xyloto. I'm not sure yet how exactly it's going to be resolved (especially since Rael can't go through any character development where he learns that it's okay to be vulnerable and to value others over himself, because those are the lessons he learns as a result of The Lamb's story), but I'm looking forward to finding out!
Another thing I'm semi-borrowing from the animated version of The Lamb is Rael's connection to his brother John. When I first wrote CAE, I imagined that John and Rael lived on the streets together, and Rael supported John and looked out for him. However, the animated version of The Lamb suggests that Rael left John behind when he ran away from home, and he's felt guilty about it ever since, which is probably why he becomes so devoted to finding him again after running across him in the underworld, despite John refusing to help Rael multiple times. I have a LOT more that I could say about them and their relationship, but it's getting late and I should probably wrap this post up soon. So I'll leave with this:
There is one part of the ending that I have to make sense of, and that's what the line "That's not your face! It's mine!" is supposed to mean. Here's where I epically screwed up when I first wrote CAE. I thought that John had been a figment of Rael's imagination the whole time- as in, Rael never had a brother to begin with. Now, I think that the whole reveal should be taken a lot less literally, because John's presence should be taken a lot less literally. I don't think it's really John that Rael is seeing in the underworld, but some projection of him, representing Rael's guilt over having left his family and cut contact, and serving as a tool to teach Rael empathy and to prioritize others over himself. At the end of the narrative, when Rael sees his own face on John, it shows that his choice to rescue John saved his soul, therefore he was saving both his brother and himself. John could also represent the vulnerable part of Rael that he buried so long ago, and now he's finally getting back in touch with himself and his emotions. However you look at it, I think it's safe to say that while the version of John that Rael sees is not "real" necessarily, he certainly did/does have a brother named John who was definitely NOT a figment of his imagination. Now I have to decide just how relevant John is going to be to Rael's story in SF: ALS, because it would be strange to not mention him once... but rest assured, John is definitely real (as real as Rael! But is Rael really real? Food for thought...).
-I went to an in-person NaNoWriMo write-in on the last day of November, even though I had already won. It was very fun to meet more local writers, although I had no energy by the end of it! Part of that may have been the social interaction, or it may have been a combination of the social interaction + spending creative energy at the same time.
-I'm still close to the beginning of Part 2. Everything I've written so far has set up the next big part of the plot- Ziggy & Pink's ill-fated tour of America, which is where they meet Rael, Mylo, and Xyloto. I can't wait to actually get them to America, because not only am I finding the Mylo Xyloto sections to be surprisingly fun to write and I can't wait for them to meet Ziggy & Pink, this is also the section where Pink officially catches feelings (though he won't admit to it until Part 3) and there are some VERY cute moments coming up that I'm sure I will simply melt over when it's time to write them.
-I edited the first two chapters of Part 1 and saved them as a draft on AO3. So excited to edit more, even though I don't usually like posting in-progress works, but I still really want to get Part 1 out by Christmas. After that, I can take all the time in the world to get the rest of it out since I don't have a specific deadline. (I think it would be cool if I end up posting the final part on my birthday next year, though, seeing as it was on my birthday when I first started writing the original Concept Album Extravaganza.)
-After I finish editing Part 1, I'll probably take a break to write out Pink's entire backstory, since I feel like I need to get that straight before I continue much further. I'm particularly concerned about filling the gap between Pink's childhood/early adolescence and his adulthood, since the album and movie's narrative glosses over that period of time.
Now, time to talk about some more concept albums and their stories...
The way I'm treating The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in SF: ALS is unique in that it's the only concept album I'm using where the album's story happens AFTER the events of SF: ALS. Thus, it means that I can't develop Rael as a character TOO much, because he goes through his most significant character development during the events of The Lamb. But it does allow me to not have to make a decision on how The Lamb actually ends. While The Lamb is an incredibly surreal story to begin with, the ending of the album is particularly oblique. The plot of the album follows Rael, a juvenile delinquent from New York City, who is knocked into a mysterious underworld. After spotting his brother John in said underworld, but quickly being separated, Rael sets off to find him and possibly escape with him. Eventually, through a series of events too long to explain here, Rael ends up facing a difficult choice. He can go alone through a portal that leads back to NYC, or he can rescue John from drowning, which would mean giving up his chance at returning home. He chooses to save John, jumping into the river and hauling him out of the water. Once they're on shore, though, Rael notices that something is wrong with John. "Something's changed... That's not your face! It's mine. It's mine!" After this, the album closes with the song "It," which describes... something, referred to only as "it," finally closing with the lines "It is real. It is Rael. 'Cause it's only knock and know-all, but I like it." The album's liner notes unhelpfully explain that at this point, both Rael and John's bodies are "outlined in yellow," before they and their surroundings dissolve into a "purple mist." The End. "Have fun figuring THAT one out," I can almost hear Peter Gabriel laughing to himself. (And no, this album wasn't made under any influences, Peter Gabriel's mind is just Like That.)
While I have my own personal interpretation of this ending, it's highly allegorical any way you look at it, so there wasn't any way to translate that into SF: ALS. Instead, I decided to reach backwards and explore Rael's past, which is touched upon during two songs on The Lamb. "Back In NYC" mentions how Rael was sent to the Pontiac Reformatory when he was young and was released at the age of 17. The album liner notes further explain that he had run away from home at a young age and tried to join a street gang, but it wasn't until he was sent to the Pontiac that the gang showed him any respect. Throughout the song, Rael sneers at the idea that there's a soft side to him underneath his tough exterior. "Who needs illusion of love and affection when you're out walking on the streets with your main line connection?" He also targets the liberal crowd who offer him charity: "You progressive hypocrites hand out your trash, but it was mine in the first place, so I'll burn it to ash." Both of these lines have become my keys to interpreting Rael, basically helping me find my way in to the character. I imagine that Rael is a fundamentally mistrustful person- mistrustful of authority, and mistrustful of interpersonal relationships. All he really wants is to keep himself and his gang alive, so he'll leap upon any opportunity he can to pursue the almighty dollar (usually by stealing things, I imagine). He doesn't much care about whose side anyone is on- if they're abusing their power and privilege, they deserve to be ripped off. So when Ziggy and Pink arrive in town on tour, Rael couldn't give a fuck if they make good music. All he knows is that NYC has been under strict regulations ever since it was announced that the Earth is running out of its resources, and yet the city's authorities are rolling out the red carpet for something as trivial as a concert tour. These people, Rael decides, need to be taken down a peg. So he sneaks into their after-party... and what happens next will be revealed in SF: ALS, but basically, Rael gets a whole lot more than he bargained for once he meets Ziggy & Pink.
The other aspect of Rael's mistrust- his mistrust in personal relationships- comes about at the end of the song "Back In NYC." A refrain says, "As I cuddled the porcupine, he said I had none to blame but me. Held my heart, deep in hair. Time to shave, shave it off." The album liner notes explain that Rael envisions a "stainless steel razor" shaving his heart to the accompaniment of "romantic music." This then leads into a mournful-sounding instrumental called "Hairless Heart," which I suspect is probably the "romantic music" that Rael is listening to. While the symbolism may be confusing, I've always interpreted the hair growing on Rael's heart as his emotions, which a line from later in the liner notes when Rael sees his home again through the portal supports: "His heart, now a little hairy..." The jury's still out on what the porcupine means (the liner notes imply that it's a real porcupine that Rael finds, though that's such a random image that I assume it has to be a symbol for SOMETHING, while some fans have proposed that "cuddling the porcupine" is a VERY weird euphemism for masturbation, which weirdly enough would fit in with the theme of the next song, but I always thought, well... Peter Gabriel is great at making up sexual euphemisms ("I want to be your sledgehammer," anyone?), but that seems a little too esoteric even for him. But I could be completely wrong). However, Nathaniel Barlam's animated version of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (which is a fan work, not an official adaptation) interprets the porcupine as a stuffed porcupine, which Rael received from his "first romantic encounter." Which brings us to the second song on the album that describes Rael's backstory, "Counting Out Time."
Until I saw the animated interpretation of The Lamb, I thought that "Counting Out Time" was a very random, even gratuitous addition to the narrative. Basically it tells the story of Rael's first time, which ended (according to the liner notes) after 78 seconds, leaving the girl he was with "not even mildly titillated." It's a hilarious song, complete with a super awkward sounding synth solo and Rael, who learned everything he knew about sex through a book, insisting that "I'm a red-blooded male, and the book said I could not fail!" But the animated interpretation ties this moment into Rael's later decision to hide his emotions away, suggesting that the shame from Rael's encounter was so great that he decided to give up on romance entirely. Aside from the "who needs illusion of love and affection" lyric, another line from "Back In NYC" supports this: "I've tasted all the strongest meats and laid down them on colored sheets." This is Rael bragging about his sexual exploits, and the animated interpretation implies that Rael gave up trying to have a real relationship in favor of casual sex.
I love the animated version of The Lamb very much, and therefore have decided to adopt the headcanon that it posits about Rael's failed romantic encounter fueling his selfish behavior (when it comes to interpersonal relationships, that is- I honestly can't blame him for his feelings about authority figures). And this is going to come into play in SF: ALS when Rael falls for Mylo while living with Mylo & Xyloto's gang... though Mylo is already falling for Xyloto. I'm not sure yet how exactly it's going to be resolved (especially since Rael can't go through any character development where he learns that it's okay to be vulnerable and to value others over himself, because those are the lessons he learns as a result of The Lamb's story), but I'm looking forward to finding out!
Another thing I'm semi-borrowing from the animated version of The Lamb is Rael's connection to his brother John. When I first wrote CAE, I imagined that John and Rael lived on the streets together, and Rael supported John and looked out for him. However, the animated version of The Lamb suggests that Rael left John behind when he ran away from home, and he's felt guilty about it ever since, which is probably why he becomes so devoted to finding him again after running across him in the underworld, despite John refusing to help Rael multiple times. I have a LOT more that I could say about them and their relationship, but it's getting late and I should probably wrap this post up soon. So I'll leave with this:
There is one part of the ending that I have to make sense of, and that's what the line "That's not your face! It's mine!" is supposed to mean. Here's where I epically screwed up when I first wrote CAE. I thought that John had been a figment of Rael's imagination the whole time- as in, Rael never had a brother to begin with. Now, I think that the whole reveal should be taken a lot less literally, because John's presence should be taken a lot less literally. I don't think it's really John that Rael is seeing in the underworld, but some projection of him, representing Rael's guilt over having left his family and cut contact, and serving as a tool to teach Rael empathy and to prioritize others over himself. At the end of the narrative, when Rael sees his own face on John, it shows that his choice to rescue John saved his soul, therefore he was saving both his brother and himself. John could also represent the vulnerable part of Rael that he buried so long ago, and now he's finally getting back in touch with himself and his emotions. However you look at it, I think it's safe to say that while the version of John that Rael sees is not "real" necessarily, he certainly did/does have a brother named John who was definitely NOT a figment of his imagination. Now I have to decide just how relevant John is going to be to Rael's story in SF: ALS, because it would be strange to not mention him once... but rest assured, John is definitely real (as real as Rael! But is Rael really real? Food for thought...).
