MAD SWEENEY
Lisa Gerrard- Song of Amergin
This is supposedly the first poem a mortal sang in Irish soil (coming, btw from my native Spain!) . I like to think that Sweeney himself was there to hear it or heard it later.
Jethro Tull- Locomotive Breath
(In the shuffling madness/Of the locomotive breath,/Runs the all-time loser,/Headlong to his death.)
Sweeney in his madness. (As I am writing this, “A Prayer for Mad Sweeney” hasn’t still been released so IDK how the show will tackle his backstory, so I’m basing myself in the Buile Suibhne story.)
Sarah Greene- The Parting Glass
(And all I’ve done for want of wit/To mem'ry now I can’t recall /So fill to me the parting glass/Good night and joy be to you all.)
This would actually be more Essie Tregowan-centric than Sweeney-Centric, really. (Cannot help but imagine her singing a tune of this sort in a most ironical manner as she leaves for America) But then again their stories are pretty much tied.
Pink Floyd- Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun
(Witness the man who raves at the wall/Making the shape of his questions to Heaven/Whether the sun will fall in the evening/Will he remember the lesson of giving?)
Sweeney in his madness, getting accustomed to the New World.
Queen- Death on Two Legs
(Misguided old mule/With your pigheaded rules/ With your narrow-minded cronies who are fools of the first division)
The big damn eff you he wants to say to Mr Wednesday but never will be able to.
Joe Hisaishi- Madness (from Porco Rosso)
Because 1: Every mix needs an instrumental piece. 2: Porco Rosso is a criminally underrated movie (at least within the Ghibli canon) with a magnificent soundtrack. 3: Listening to it I sort of imagined an animated version of the fight between Sweeney and Shadow Moon. (Don’t ask. My mind works in strange ways sometimes. BUT IF THERE IS SOMEONE TALENTED ENOUGH I WOULD PERSONALLY LOVE TO SEE IT. Or just Sweeney and Shadow drawn in Ghibli style. I WOULD LOVE THAT TOO)
