Tuliyollal I love you forever

[fst : ffx] dreams of our fathers

Finally! An fst re-tooling literally five years in the making: my Final Fantasy X mix, now two discs long!

All right, it's not FFX in general, it's more for the previous pilgrimage party and their kids: Lord Braska, Jecht the manatee, Auron the legendary guardian, Lady Yuna, and ... that kid, we never got his name, and now we can't ask, so it's kind of awkward. The original mix was all about them; this is about them even more so!

There are in fact slight spoilers in the writeup, though I feel there's only one spoiler that the game doesn't telegraph from a great distance, and that one has gone unmentioned. Still, skip to the .zips at the bottom if that troubles you.

My guiding principle in choosing music here was 'stuff my father would like'. I think I did well.

dreams of our fathers: a ffx mix

As always, the username is secret, the password is tunnel, and you're going to feel very silly if you have to ask.

And please, if you like the music, go support the artists! That's the best way to show love.

disc one: like a father to impress, like a mother's mourning dress

Bruce Cockburn - Get Up Jonah If there were enough footage of Auron's wandering around during the opening bits in Zanarkand, I would want a video set to this. But there's not, so I'll live with the movies in my head.

Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines Usually DERP DERP DERP is not a sound I associate with the awesomeness that is Okkervil River, but this song's got it in spades -- in a good way, though. Oh, Tidus. ...For those of you who never got the original mix, you'll be pleased to learn this replaced an Enya song. I'm not proud.

Hans Zimmer - Shaman's Song/Stones For A Thousand Years There's really no substitute for the Summoning Song, but this is about as close as it gets.

Sufjan Stevens - For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti Yuna's main theme, with a style of music characterized (I think by drmoonpants, originally) as 'a banjo and a bucket'. Standard joke: Ypsilanti is just south of Bevelle.

Dave Matthews Band - Dreams of Our Fathers The source of the mix's title, in case you didn't pick up on that. We keep doing this pilgrimage thing because we've always done this pilgrimage thing! You know what the definition of insanity is, right?

The Decemberists - Oceanside So once upon a time, wednesday_tea put a Tidus/Yuna mix on fst, and there were some truly great calls on there; I tried not to use many of them, but two of them have just become so burned in my brain as FFX calls that I couldn't pass up on them. This is the first of the two.

Patty Larkin - Island of Time (feat. Cheryl Wheeler) Patty Larkin released a whole album of duets to commemorate her twenty-fifth year of recording awesome music, and this is one of the prettiest off it. Poor Auron, lost even at home.

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dam Would Break As I said in the last writeup, boy, you're not the only one who had a crush on your summoner. ...And this is the last song for a little while that was also on the original one-disc mix.

Cat Stevens - Fill My Eyes Time for a small flashback break! And yeah, I know the guy goes by Yusuf Islam nowadays, but you can't fault me for an old recording.

Patty Griffin - Rowing Song Sad summoners are sad. Yuna and her dad get to share a lot of the same music, but the story handles them in very similar ways. Make of parallels between her and Tidus and their fathers as you will.

Mike Doughty - Your Misfortune I like this as a Jecht song because it's got the same twangy guitar sound as Jecht's theme does on the original score, and it's got that good unbridled who's-your-buddy? optimism.

Mice Parade - And Still It Sits In Front Of You Operation Bad Idea, Part One. This song has this weird, sad samba feel to it -- which is an odd description, all right, but go with me on it.

Tom McRae - Mermaid Blues Operation Bad Idea, Part Two. Truth be told, my initial push to re-do this entire mix came from finding this song and wanting so bad to have it on here.

Low - Belarus I love the weird, cold sound of this piece; it reminds me of Djose. Sometimes I listen to music with only one of my earbuds in, and when this song comes up, if I've only got the left one in, I'm always afraid something's gotten broken because all the vocals come out of the right.

Philip Aaberg - Kimiko This track is from the score to The Shape of the Land, a movie about Naomi Uemura, a mountain climber who died on Denali; Kimiko was his widow's name. Lonely, pretty piano music that I have deeply associated with my father -- and one of three that I appropriated from my other FFX mix (for my FFX fic); sort of like being under the ice and hearing the music from above.

Loreena McKennitt - All Souls Night Even though the title looks suspiciously Christian to my eyes, I'm fairly sure I read somewhere that this is a song about a Japanese (I think) festival of remembrance for the dead, wherein hundreds of candles are set alight and afloat on a river, where they are carried out to the sea. Now making all stops on the Farplane!

Girlyman - St Peter's Bones I've got to side with Rikku on this one -- to hell with the Farplane, let the dead rest. Girlyman, by the way, are the best ever, and though I love this version of the song, I have a deep and special place in my heart for this crap-quality live recording that I've listened to about ninety bajillion times. I understand if you like the canned one better, but I couldn't leave out something that important to me.

Nick Drake - Clothes of Sand A pretty little song about having your girlfriend leave you to go marry someone else while you get swept off by a giant manatee and dropped into a desert of blonde people. ...That second part may not be accurate.

The Mountain Goats - Maybe Sprout Wings I'm impressed with the way these last four tracks hold together so well, really -- all four so guitar-heavy, and the last two even in the same key! I love Yuna to bits because of how tough she is, right up to the point of being willing to go through with the whole business of getting married just to get a chance to basically kill a dude what needs killing.

Dan Beahm - Erika's Waiting Wedding crashing, Al Bhed-style! This track is by a local Ohio artist I have tsukikoushi to thank for. (Ooh, apparently he's got a new version of Half as Cool as Han Solo, I've got to get that.)

Bruce Cockburn - Strange Waters ...Man, that transition is awesome. Er, excuse me. I generally try to avoid using the same artist more than once on an fst, but I feel this exception is acceptable. In the spirit of trying to find substitutes for the original score's fantastic pieces, this replaces the first play of 'Suteka da ne?', and makes for much more aggressive underwater makeout music.

disc two: ring them bells, ye heathen, from the city that dreams

Paul Simon - Further To Fly Okay, on to disc two and the Calm Lands! Tidus thinks everybody should just stop this whole ritual suicide business, but everyone knows you don't listen to the dumb protagonist. This isn't the best track off his Rhythm of the Saints album, but that's like saying something isn't the best piece of chocolate in the Godiva store -- big deal.

George Winston - Japanese Music Box (Itsuki No Komoriuta) A piano lullaby for climbing That Fucking Mountain. I love Gagazet, and love to hate it, because it's so well-done -- combine how easy it is to get lost, the way pre-battle party dialogue tapers off pretty quick, and a creeping terror of what happens to the human body at high altitudes, and you've got a very memorable area.

Kate Bush - A Coral Room This song is somewhat atypical Kate Bush; it's still weird, but it's much less experimental, and much more just her and a piano, singing a song for her dead mother. Music for the Zanarkand-that-wasn't....

Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street ...And the Zanarkand-that-was, including its creepy caretaker with more forms than should be expected from a reasonable mid-boss. This version works better in context on the mix, I feel, but can be substituted with this acapella version by the Virginia Gentlemen, and I don't care what you think about college acapella, turn up the volume, put on your headphones, and listen to the bass on the last verse

Sting - A Thousand Years Literally a thousand years! And really, once you've seen this AMV, it kind of sticks.

Joseph Arthur - Honey and the Moon The second stolen piece from wednesday_tea's mix; this one in particular became very dear to me very quickly. I like that all the songs on I managed to get specifically for Tidus have a persistent optimism in both tone and lyrics.

Vienna Teng - Nothing Without You And Yuna's response, which is much sadder. Screw you, she sings like an angel.

Chris Walla - Everybody On Okay, I had to put in one last happy-ish song for rallying all the people of Spira before we descend into unrelenting tearjerker territory. This, by the way, is the other guy from Death Cab for Cutie -- no, not that guy, the other guy.

R.E.M. - Sweetness Follows If there's one thing I would criticize about the game, it's that they don't spend nearly enough time with Tidus and Auron's relationship, because Auron is the best worst surrogate father ever.

Ben Folds - Still Fighting It Standard joke: Jecht doesn't actually work at Arby's. For starters, I don't think they make uniforms big enough to fit his manatee butt. Ha, I laugh to distract from how this song makes me cry like a kicked puppy.

Indigo Girls - Cedar Tree And a new call, this one for Auron's being sad about his dead buddies. ...Kinda gay, it's all right.

Poe - If You Were Here Oh, and speaking of things that make me cry: that's Poe, her daughter's voice, and old recordings of her (now-deceased) father.

Onelinedrawing - Superhero Loving summoners sucks, kiddo.

Carly Simon - Let the River Run Don't judge me for excessive '80s, this song is awesome. I told raininariver that it was for the good part of going to beat Sin, and she said, '...Which part is that?' Well, it's the part where you get to save the lives of a bunch of people and release a bunch of others from a thousand years of misery!

Bob Dylan - Ring Them Bells And the not-so-good part. Yeah, my commentary really drops off about the time where I start tearing up in public if I'm not careful. I guess my point is, Auron is awesome.

Tori Amos - Merman Lullaby for the daughter of Braska and that last scene on the airship.

Richard Thompson - King of Bohemia And in the aftermath, Auron's response -- like death ever stopped him before from adding in his two cents, and if there's anyone who understands getting left behind, it's that guy. This is the substitute for the second playing of 'Suteki da ne?', and I stand by my claim that if this man's voice doesn't affect you somewhere deep, you may want to check and make sure your soul hasn't gone missing.

Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream From the album A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea, though I swear I didn't just pick it for that title. raininariver's complaint about the original mix was that it ended on that last track, which is such a crushing way to end, so I added this as sort of a spiritual post-credits piece. If you like the original awfulness, just shuffle this one back in somewhere near the beginning of the first disc.

Duncan Sheik - Beyond the Sea And a little epilogue. I'm not sorry.

(also copying in the notes for the original mix, linked at the top:)

DREAMS OF OUR FATHERS: AN FFX FST

Bruce Cockburn - Get Up Jonah Auron woke up thinking about Turkish drummers. Didn't take long; he doesn't know much about Turkish drummers. A song for standing atop the buildings, watching the tide your best friend roll in. sounds like: A sexy, sexy man-voice and some guitars and drums. I'd like to say IF YOU ONLY GET ONE SONG about this one, but I'm saving that for later. Nonetheless, if you only get two or three, make sure this is one of them.

Enya - On Your Shore Well, now we're in this crazy place, they're afraid of computers, there're frickin' monsters, Auron's turned into a seagull, and I bet they've never even heard of hair product. Great. Just great. sounds like: Enya, all slow and dreamy.

Hans Zimmer - Shaman's Song/Stones For A Thousand Years I love the original Sending Song, and there's not really a lot you can do to replace it, but this is perhaps the next best thing. Music for dancing over a bunch of submerged caskets while praying your wacky burial rituals don't ruin your water supply. We're really not in Kansas anymore. sounds like: Old men singing, then heavy synth pseudo-African choral stuff. Hans Zimmer is one rockin' dude.

Sufjan Stevens - For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti Yuna's song. Ypsilanti is, of course, just south of Bevelle. (Cue SUPER BONUS PRESENT #1.) sounds like: A banjo and a bucket and the most heartbreakingly beautiful thing you've ever heard. You getting one song? Make this one it.

Dave Matthews Band - Dreams of Our Fathers See, we're just like our dads, who did this ten years ago, only Auron's still here, except he looks a lot older now, and besides we're kind of flirting with one another, and I really hope they didn't do that, because that's kind of gay. sounds like: Dave Matthews at his less melodic.

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dam Would Break A song about self-control and composure and holding everything inside like good little Yevonite monks and summoners, and how very fragile a state that is; alternatively, you're not the only one who had a crush on your summoner, boy-o. sounds like: Alternative angsty guitar-laden boy-rock.

Loreena McKennitt - All Souls Night Music for the farplane, and also for our dads, who are still dead. Er, mostly. sounds like: Haunting and kinda Celtic, kinda.

Paul Simon - Further to Fly This song's opening line speaks for itself: 'There may come a time / When you’ll be tired / As tired as a dream that wants to die....' sounds like: A little less African than the rest of the Rhythm of the Saints album, but not by much.

Bruce Cockburn - Strange Waters Spira isn't really much like Africa. Except, you know, for the zebras and walking dead. sounds like: Aforementioned sexy man-voice, really hollow and creepy guitar. If you've been downloading my fsts and still don't know what Bruce Cockburn sounds like ... look, all I'm saying is, it's not my fault.

Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street A song for the Zanarkand residents, and also for the dead city's crazy-ass butterfly-like caretaker, who has two more forms than any reasonable demi-boss should be allowed. Can we say daddy issues? I knew we could. (And also, SUPER BONUS PRESENT #2 takes the form of the Virginia Gentlemen doing an amazing acapella version -- listen for the bass, he's the one way down there on the bottom.) sounds like: Creepy and about Anne Sexton, who is almost, but not entirely, unlike Yunalesca.

Sting - A Thousand Years Don't kill me for putting this on there. It's not hyperbole; it actually is a thousand years. And if you've seen the music video, you'll never be able to un-associate it. sounds like: ....Well, Sting.

R.E.M. - Sweetness Follows Auron's kind of an odd father figure, but also a very good one. He's very gruff, though, and sometimes when he tries to be comforting he hasn't shaved in a while and his cheeks are very prickly. sounds like: Look, I can't do all your mid-90's pop culture education for you.

Ben Folds - Still Fighting It Okay, so Jecht doesn't actually work at Arby's. That doesn't mean he isn't sorry to his son for being such a giant fuck-up. And, uh, manatee. sounds like: Mopey piano boy-rock. Everybody knows it sucks to grow up.

Poe - If You Were Here Jecht Spheres mean backstory! It's got to be kind of weird, being eighteen and learning about your dead parents from what are essentially home movies from when they were not too very much older than you. sounds like: Poe and her father. Yes, those are actual recordings of her deceased father. Creepy, huh?

Afro Celt Sound System - The Persistence of Memory Just remember, no matter where you go, you can't go further than the memories of the people who love you. No matter how hard you try. Dammit. sounds like: Little bit of African, little bit of Celtic, lotta bit of !Peter Gabriel.

Tori Amos - Merman All right, this is where I have to stop being quite so flippant, because this is the portion of the fst where I start getting sniffly. 'Go to bed / the priests are dead' isn't your typical lullaby, but by the time the maesters have started turning into pyreflies on you, you know it's true. sounds like: Tori Amos lullaby. Do not play for actual children.

Richard Thompson - King of Bohemia This is sort of this mix's replacement for 'Suteki da ne?', a.k.a. 'that song that makes you run for your tissues'. I think the image on SUPER BONUS PRESENT #3 sums it up nicely. sounds like: If this man's voice doesn't make you sob, you have no soul. I'm just saying. If you're doing the get-two-or-three-songs thing, make this another definite one to grab.