Dance with Jak o' the Shadows
Gotta say...the Wheel of Time is growing on me again. Like some kind of venomous supercancer that gives you mind control powers while it kills you, I've gotten back into the books. And I'm enjoying them.
Kind of.
I hate Rand al'Thor.
There. I've said it. I think the nominal main character of the books is a little whiny piece of shit who needs to be lobotomized and turned into a wheeled weapons platform.
Mat Cauthom and Perrin are where its at. I love characters who get through life by the seat of their pants and luck alone, and I like Perrin's weird folk hero antics. I can't stand the damn Dragon Reborn.
Mat's also the only character who really gets to sing. "Dance with Jak o' the Shadows" has got to be one of the most catchy, most entertaining fantasy songs I've ever heard. I came up with a tune to it, and its really hummable. More so than my rendition of Mercedes Lackey's "Windrider Unchained" done to the tune of "Down in the West Texas Town of El Paso".
It's also very easy to come up with new verses for, since the basic stanza form is AAAB, and the end of every stanza goes like "to dance with Jak o' the Shadows" (with slight, one word variations at the beginning such as "is" and "and", etc.). You just need to make the verses applicable to soldiers going off to fight, because that's what the song's all about.
Man, I love the image of the last remnants of an army, reforming for the final battle, and as they march towards the attacking troops they begin singing. FIrst one man, then another, then another, various men joining in in their own tune, but from the formation comes a mostly musical song. I think the variability of the verse is also to give soldiers something to think about rather than their imminent demise.
I sung this song at work tonight, and it fits quite well with my repetoire of "songs to keep me focused whilst handling a rush". It's all good.
And now I go to bed. Because I'm really, really fucking tired.
Kind of.
I hate Rand al'Thor.
There. I've said it. I think the nominal main character of the books is a little whiny piece of shit who needs to be lobotomized and turned into a wheeled weapons platform.
Mat Cauthom and Perrin are where its at. I love characters who get through life by the seat of their pants and luck alone, and I like Perrin's weird folk hero antics. I can't stand the damn Dragon Reborn.
Mat's also the only character who really gets to sing. "Dance with Jak o' the Shadows" has got to be one of the most catchy, most entertaining fantasy songs I've ever heard. I came up with a tune to it, and its really hummable. More so than my rendition of Mercedes Lackey's "Windrider Unchained" done to the tune of "Down in the West Texas Town of El Paso".
It's also very easy to come up with new verses for, since the basic stanza form is AAAB, and the end of every stanza goes like "to dance with Jak o' the Shadows" (with slight, one word variations at the beginning such as "is" and "and", etc.). You just need to make the verses applicable to soldiers going off to fight, because that's what the song's all about.
Man, I love the image of the last remnants of an army, reforming for the final battle, and as they march towards the attacking troops they begin singing. FIrst one man, then another, then another, various men joining in in their own tune, but from the formation comes a mostly musical song. I think the variability of the verse is also to give soldiers something to think about rather than their imminent demise.
I sung this song at work tonight, and it fits quite well with my repetoire of "songs to keep me focused whilst handling a rush". It's all good.
And now I go to bed. Because I'm really, really fucking tired.
posted by Derek the Bard at 1:50 a.m.
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