Jukebox 2017

Thank you for writing or drawing for me! I'm within_a_dream on AO3, and I have a tag of previous letters if you want to see more of my requests/get a better idea of what I like.

I've requested fic and art for all songs/canons. I've tried to give fic-suitable prompts and art-suitable prompts, but I am not an artist so art prompts are a little harder for me. If the fic prompts grab you as an artist (or the art prompts grab you as a fic-writer), go wild!

My only DNW is pregnancy/childbirth. I'd rather not see pregnant characters in art, and in fic I'd prefer that no one be pregnant during the course of the story.

General likes include: fantasy, sci-fi, and historical settings; supernatural elements (especially ghosts, fairies, and changelings); unconventional narrative voices and unusual art styles; the Comes Back Wrong trope; unreliable narrators
I like any (or no) relationship configurations--m/m, f/f, m/f, poly, gen, and everything else are all good by me! I've got no preferences for point of view and tense, either. I am fine with all levels of violence/gore and sex. As long as you don't include my DNW, I am very easy to please!

Peace Beneath The City- Iron & Wine

Lyrics, Song

Tell me more about this city! How did these various corpses die, and how does it all connect to the "peace beneath the city"? There are so many figures mentioned in the lyrics that I’d love to see depicted in fic or art: the mother of a soldier, the well-dressed boy, the “pig with a bullet in his brain”, the girls wandering through the strip mall, just to name a few. I picture this as an urban fantasy sort of setting (fairies are my absolute favorite mythical creature, and if you work them in I will love you forever), but if your inspiration takes you in a different direction, I'd love to see what you come up with too.

The song seems to weave all these images together seamlessly, and I'd love a piece of art that captures how these bodies and people are intertwined with the city.

Saint John- Cold War Kids:
Lyrics, Song
We hear a little bit of the narrator's story, but I'd love to see it fleshed out more. How long has he been in jail? Does he really have hope that he'll be pardoned? How does his sister feel about what happened? This isn’t mandatory by any means, but given the genre and tone of the song, I assumed the narrator’s race was a large factor in him being arrested/sent to death row (especially with the way he specifies that it's the "white boys in their stay-pressed slacks" invading the town), and I'd love a work exploring this.

Artwise, the lyrics are so vivid, and I’d love to see something capturing the energy of the verses (the mobs of college boys and the way their hands “fidget electric”, the sister’s fear, John’s desperation), the weariness of the chorus (I just love the way the tempo drags when the song reaches the refrain), or both.

Frozen Man- James Taylor
Lyrics, Song
Taylor was inspired to write the song after seeing a National Geographic issue with a photo of John Torrington's corpse, and that in turn is how I found the song, as I have a ridiculous fascination with preserved corpses of all varieties. (Fair warning, if you google Torrington, lots of pictures of his exhumed body come up.) But the main thing that interests me about the song is the narrator's return to life, cobbled together and thawed out after what should have been his death. This hits me right in my love of the "comes back wrong" trope, as well as my love for time-travel stories in which people from the past get to explore our present.
I'd love a work that takes the backstory Taylor grants the frozen man in his song, one that draws on Torrington's life and death, or one that disregards both to come up with a different story entirely. The part of the story that grabs me is the death and resurrection, and I'd love to see anywhere that that takes you.

Art-wise, I'd love to see the details of what this thawing and medical intervention did to the Frozen Man, or any of the scenes from the song (I especially love the lyrics where he visits his grave, and sees the graves of his family).

Furnace Room Lullaby- Neko Case
Lyrics, Song
I love me a good murder ballad, and this song is so atmospheric and eerie, with plenty of room for interpretation in the lyrics. I love the imagery of the narrator drawn down to the basement, and the heartbeat that echoes all night. Is the narrator being haunted by guilt, or by the ghost of the murder victim? What led to the crime? I'd love a fic that fleshes out the relationship between the narrator and the person she sings to, and explores what happened between them, and/or one that plays with the guilt the narrator feels (whether you take the heartbeats and hauntings described as figurative or literal). In art, I'd love to see something that captures the claustrophobic and dark sound of the song, and/or some visualization of all the imagery the song employs.

Scuffle- Dessa
Lyrics, Song
I absolutely love the anger in this song. I don't have a clear idea of what I'd like in terms of setting, so run wild--set it in the rap scene, in Golden Age Hollywood, in a royal court, anything you'd like. I love the narrator's defiance in the face of the gossip, and the conflict of reacting and proving them wrong versus playing it cool until you can make your escape.

I also love the way the song blends the consequences of gossip and rumors with tangible physical damage (the fat lip, the broken wings), and I'd love to see this imagery in art (plus, on a shallower note, I'm always up for women getting roughed up while they rough others up).

The Ghost of Genova Heights- Stars
Lyrics, Song
My favorite part of the song is the contrast between the suburban setting and the supernatural haunting. Where and how did the ghost die, and how did he end up back in Genova Heights? The lyrics (Genova Heights are hard to leave) suggested to me that something about the suburb draws in souls, or the sameness of the neighborhood keeps ghosts locked inside it, but I'm down for wherever the song takes you.

I also love the imagery of the ghostly communications:

He taps upon the glass when I'm asleep
So now I keep my window closed at night
S.O.S. in Morse code when the wind blows...

I'd love to see these in your gift, in art especially.

I'd also love to see more of the relationship between the ghost and the narrator. Are they lovers? Friends? Siblings? How does the narrator feel about the haunting?