Songs to write Loving Wives stories to

[gunhilltrain]

And if we're doing LW songs, there has to be a BTB one.

Of course, the Beatles were such nice chaps.

The Beatles had their share of personal dramas I guess. Can someone think of a Rolling Stones song that would fit? Well, "Under My Thumb," but I've always hated that song.

 

[lovecraft68]

Has anyone posted this one, the ultimate scorned woman cheating anthem?

Thing oozes pure venom.

But I suppose if I were taken advantage of by two "stars" before the age of 18 I'd be bitter too.

 

[lovecraft68]

Melissa Etheridge Like the Way I do. She rocks the shit out of this. Great bassline too.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Buddy Holly had a very funny take on it. It sounds so upbeat and bouncy, but the narrator is finding out what is really going on.

 

[gunhilltrain]

One heartfelt confession inspires another? That's a classic LW trope there.

Also? Same band, with the back and forth about a relationship falling apart and the questions of how much either of them ever actually loved each other versus whether they were using each other to get what each wanted. Hell, I can think of a dozen different spins on that.

I don't think they were just using each other at the beginning. She just outdid him in whatever show business field he introduced her to. The result was sad but inevitable, perhaps. Would make a good story but it would have to be written by someone with a knowledge of an entertainment industry. (I don't think they are architects!)

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't think they were just using each other at the beginning. She just outdid him in whatever show business field he introduced her to. The result was sad but inevitable, perhaps. Would make a good story but it would have to be written by someone with a knowledge of an entertainment industry. (I don't think they are architects!)

Essentially this is Ike and Tina Turner minus the abuse.

 

[Djmac1031]

(edit) Suggested approach to this thread if you join - try to share something about a song and why it's meaningful for the theme, don't just post a link. For bonus points, listen to something that somebody else has posted first and comment on that too.

I mentioned this performance in another thread, but thought it deserved a bit more. Supertramp were on top of the world in 1979, and 'Another Man's Woman' captures them at their musical best, particularly with the outro and Rick and Roger's duelling piano and guitar. The lyrics, to me, reflect a lot of the chaos and confusion of relationships that feature in a lot of LW stories - they're all about hurt and uncertainty and the churn of emotions around that.

There's a hell of a lot of hair on stage, too.

LOVE Supertramp but admit I've never heard this one. A nice reminder I need to dig a little deeper into their catalog.

 

[lovecraft68]

Carrie Underwood.

 

[Djmac1031]

Here's a classic I'm surprised hasn't gotten mentioned yet. Probably make a good BTB:

I can see her lying back in her satin dress
In a room where you do what you don't confess

Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs
Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs

She's been looking like a queen in a sailor's dream
And she don't always say what she really means

Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feeling better, when I'm feeling no pain
Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feeling better, when I'm feeling no pain

I can picture every move that a man could make
Getting lost in her loving is your first mistake

Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it's a sin
When I feel like I'm winning, when I'm losing again

I can see her looking fast in her faded jeans
She's a hard-loving woman, got me feeling mean

Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feeling better, when I'm feeling no pain
Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs

Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it's a sin
When I feel like I'm winning, when I'm losing again

 

[Actingup]

(Snip)

Plus, I've been dying to play with an unreliable narrator. Bitter man who is reflecting on a failed marriage and trying to spin himself as the good guy trying to save her when he's been the only one causing her any hurt.

I think the unreliable narrator might be a massive challenge if it’s in LW, because much of the audience will want him to be the good guy. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it though!

I tried to play with the unreliable narrator in my first LW story. He was a good guy helping the female MC exit a toxic marriage but his honeyed, virtue-laden narrative minimised his own sneaky role in triggering the end of the marriage and the deaths of the husband, his lover, and his cousin (and love rival for the woman), enabling the narrator to get together with the woman himself. The story rated its socks off but nobody seemed to pick up on his manipulations, even though some readers judged the female MC to be a dangerous woman.

 

[Djmac1031]

From The Counting Crows comes a song with a title that would make a great LW title: A Murder Of One.

Of course, it's not actually about murder. It's a guy singing to a woman trapped in an unhappy, unfulfilling relationship, telling her to stop wasting her life and step outside of it with him.

Lyrics:

Blue morning, blue morning,
Wrapped in strands of fist and bone
Curiosity, kitten
Doesn't have to mean you're on your own.
You can look outside your window,
He doesn't have to know.
We can talk a while, baby,
We can take it nice and slow.

All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream

Well, are you happy where you're sleeping?
Does he keep you safe and warm?
Does he tell you when you're sorry?
Does he tell you when you're wrong?
Well, I've been watching you for hours
It's been years since we were born
We were perfect when we started
I've been wondering where we've gone

All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream

Well, I dreamt I saw you walking
Up a hillside in the snow
Casting shadows on the winter sky
As you stood there counting crows

One for sorrow, two for joy
Three for girls, and four for boys
Five for silver, six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told

But there's a bird that nests inside you
Sleeping underneath your skin
Yeah, when you open up your wings to speak
I wish you'd let me in

All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream
Open up your eyes,
you can see the flames, flames, flames
Of your wasted life,
you should be ashamed

Yeah, you don't want to waste your life, baby
You don't wanna waste your life now, darling

Change, change, change

I walk along these hillsides
In the summer 'neath the sunshine
I am feathered by the moonlight falling down on me

I said, I walk along these hillsides
In the summer 'neath the sunshine
I am feathered by the moonlight...

… Change, change, change

In the spirit of @Actingup request to talk more deeply on why the song fits the theme...

While the song is from the man trying to convince her to cheat with him, his argument is how unhappy she is with her current partner, and how controlling he is.

"Are you happy where you're sleeping?
Does he keep you safe and warm?
Does he tell you when you're sorry?
Does he tell you when you're wrong?"

He's not asking her to leave her partner for him so much as have a secret affair:

"You can look outside your window,
He doesn't have to know.
We can talk a while, baby,
We can take it nice and slow."

He points out how unhappy she is. Although we can wonder if she's truly unhappy or the singer is simply trying to convince her she is:

"All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream
Open up your eyes,
you can see the flames, flames, flames
Of your wasted life,
you should be ashamed"

Whether or not she winds up having the affair is left up to the listener. Maybe she's tempted, or maybe the singer is simply obsessed with her and trying to sway her. It's open to interpretation.

 

[Erozetta]

I think the unreliable narrator might be a massive challenge if it’s in LW, because much of the audience will want him to be the good guy. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it though!

I tried to play with the unreliable narrator in my first LW story. He was a good guy helping the female MC exit a toxic marriage but his honeyed, virtue-laden narrative minimised his own sneaky role in triggering the end of the marriage and the deaths of the husband, his lover, and his cousin (and love rival for the woman), enabling the narrator to get together with the woman himself. The story rated its socks off but nobody seemed to pick up on his manipulations, even though some readers judged the female MC to be a dangerous woman.

The challenge for me is to tell the story in a way that verifies he's an unreliable narrator without having to hit people over the head with the idea that he's an emotionally manipulative asshole tinting the narrative to make himself out to be the good guy throughout.

These are the lyrics I'd focus on:

You got a diamond as a heart
You shine in the dark
And you live for the nightlife

(This would be about how they met and how he expected her to "settle down" once they got married.)

You're rough around the edges
But underneath you're precious
So I try to be your daylight

(Honeymoon stage of the marriage. He doesn't like what she says and what she wants to do,but he thinks if he just shows her the way, she'll come around.)

I gave you everything I had
When you didn't even ask
'Cause I didn't understand

(Pushing his ideas and wants for the relationship onto her even when she's telling him to stop.)

That you like when it rains
'Cause you're addicted to pain

(From his pov, he sees the bondage sessions as an addiction he wants to cure her of, but from her pov, staying with him is the addiction.)

I never wanted to say to myself I was wrong
You didn't wanna be changed
You didn't wanna be saved

(This is a case of false admission. He tells her he understands, he demonstrates what she's been trying to tell him and says he accepts it.)

I had an ego as a brain
And you drove me insane
That I couldn't ever fix you

(Slipping back into the abusive patterns, blaming her for everything going wrong.)

And that's the reason that I stayed
When you put me through all this pain
But I'd do it, do it all over again

(End of the relationship. Her walking away finally. He has not let go of the relationship and is in fact stalking her andis still trying to work out how to fix her and get her back.)

The ending is in my head and it's grim.

 

[Actingup]

The challenge for me is to tell the story in a way that verifies he's an unreliable narrator without having to hit people over the head with the idea that he's an emotionally manipulative asshole tinting the narrative to make himself out to be the good guy throughout.

These are the lyrics I'd focus on:

You got a diamond as a heart
You shine in the dark
And you live for the nightlife

(This would be about how they met and how he expected her to "settle down" once they got married.)

You're rough around the edges
But underneath you're precious
So I try to be your daylight

(Honeymoon stage of the marriage. He doesn't like what she says and what she wants to do,but he thinks if he just shows her the way, she'll come around.)

I gave you everything I had
When you didn't even ask
'Cause I didn't understand

(Pushing his ideas and wants for the relationship onto her even when she's telling him to stop.)

That you like when it rains
'Cause you're addicted to pain

(From his pov, he sees the bondage sessions as an addiction he wants to cure her of, but from her pov, staying with him is the addiction.)

I never wanted to say to myself I was wrong
You didn't wanna be changed
You didn't wanna be saved

(This is a case of false admission. He tells her he understands, he demonstrates what she's been trying to tell him and says he accepts it.)

I had an ego as a brain
And you drove me insane
That I couldn't ever fix you

(Slipping back into the abusive patterns, blaming her for everything going wrong.)

And that's the reason that I stayed
When you put me through all this pain
But I'd do it, do it all over again

(End of the relationship. Her walking away finally. He has not let go of the relationship and is in fact stalking her andis still trying to work out how to fix her and get her back.)

The ending is in my head and it's grim.

That is a challenge! I wonder if it would work to have duelling narrations, flipping between her point of view and his, both sounding entirely reasonable but diverging in their interpretation of events?

 

[Erozetta]

That is a challenge! I wonder if it would work to have duelling narrations, flipping between her point of view and his, both sounding entirely reasonable but diverging in their interpretation of events?

That's definitely one way I'm looking at doing it. The other is dueling POV between husband and the person who does the bondage sessions. No direct crossover between the two of them, both showing two very different images of the same woman. Leave it up to the readers to decide whose version is accurate. (It will be apparent by the end.)

 

[gunhilltrain]

Essentially this is Ike and Tina Turner minus the abuse.

This Dire Straits song has a similar theme, but they both started out at the bottom. "I dreamed your dream for you, and now your dream is real. How can you look at me as if I'm just another one of your deals?"

 

[gunhilltrain]

Here's a classic I'm surprised hasn't gotten mentioned yet. Probably make a good BTB:

I can see her lying back in her satin dress
In a room where you do what you don't confess

Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs
Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs

She's been looking like a queen in a sailor's dream
And she don't always say what she really means

Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feeling better, when I'm feeling no pain
Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feeling better, when I'm feeling no pain

I can picture every move that a man could make
Getting lost in her loving is your first mistake

Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it's a sin
When I feel like I'm winning, when I'm losing again

I can see her looking fast in her faded jeans
She's a hard-loving woman, got me feeling mean

Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feeling better, when I'm feeling no pain
Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs

Sundown, you better take care
If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it's a sin
When I feel like I'm winning, when I'm losing again

I think he is already aware that he is losing her, and he knows he probably can't do anything about it. It's a theme of regret. He knows that he took the relationship more seriously than she did. It's only a matter of time now before she's gone. "And she don't always say what she really means."

 

[Djmac1031]

I think he is already aware that he is losing her, and he knows he probably can't do anything about it. It's a theme of regret. He knows that he took the relationship more seriously than she did. It's only a matter of time now before she's gone. "And she don't always say what she really means."

I agree; the relationship has soured, he's not SURE she's cheating on him but he certainly has his suspicions.

And he also sees other men falling into the trap of her charms:

"I can picture every move that a man could make
Getting lost in her loving is your first mistake."

 

[Abbafan]

4 pages in and no one has mentioned me and mrs jones? I always thought of that as THE cheating song. Maybe I missed it. Loving wives includes cheating, doesn't it, not just stories about guys who are into their wives being with other people? If I'm wrong, ignore this reply.

 

[Actingup]

4 pages in and no one has mentioned me and mrs jones? I always thought of that as THE cheating song. Maybe I missed it. Loving wives includes cheating, doesn't it, not just stories about guys who are into their wives being with other people? If I'm wrong, ignore this reply.

We have the collective output of thousands of years of anguished songwriting to draw on in this thread. Nobody had yet mentioned Me and Mrs Jones, but thank you for addressing the issue!

 

[PennyThompson]

There's a band from the early 2000s, Pedro the Lion, and they had an entire concept album about a disintegrating marriage that ends in political scandal and murder It's a great album but the lyrics are just brutal...

We were walking, holding hands
With our bare feet in the sand
And the seagulls overhead
When I broke the spell and said

I could never divorce you
Without a good reason
And though I may never have to
It's good to have options

But for now I need you

This is how we multiply
Pity that it's not my wife
The friction of skin
The trembling sigh
This is how our bodies move
With everything that we could lose
Pushing us deeper still
The sheets and the sweat
The seed and the spill
The bitter pill yet undiscovered

 

[Actingup]

There's a band from the early 2000s, Pedro the Lion, and they had an entire concept album about a disintegrating marriage that ends in political scandal and murder It's a great album but the lyrics are just brutal...

Ouch! Brutal indeed. Now that you've shown your mastery of Appalachian storytelling, surely Loving Wives is the next frontier you'd want to conquer, Penny?

 

[PennyThompson]

Ouch! Brutal indeed. Now that you've shown your mastery of Appalachian storytelling, surely Loving Wives is the next frontier you'd want to conquer, Penny?

I don't think I have it in me to write a story that angry and mean...

The only way I could imagine myself writing in that category would be if it were something weird and funny, and I'm not sure that audience would enjoy it

 

[lc69hunter]

The basis for a lot of the starts of LW stories

 

[Actingup]

I don't think I have it in me to write a story that angry and mean...

The only way I could imagine myself writing in that category would be if it were something weird and funny, and I'm not sure that audience would enjoy it

*Some* of the audience would, and you would get lots of interesting feedback from different camps (see my lower rating stories.....)

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Plus, I've been dying to play with an unreliable narrator. Bitter man who is reflecting on a failed marriage and trying to spin himself as the good guy trying to save her when he's been the only one causing her any hurt.

Oh, that'll go over really well in LW, I'm sure. ; )