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Popular Music Plays In Darkness

by Popular Music

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1.
Somewhere 03:48
There's a place for us Somewhere a place for us Peace and quiet and open air Wait for us somewhere There's a time for us Someday a time for us Time together with time to spare Time to learn Time to care Someday Somewhere We'll find a new way of living We'll find there's a way of forgiving Somewhere Somewhere Somewhere There's a place for us A time and a place for us Hold my hand and we're half way there Hold my hand and I'll take you there Somehow Someday Somewhere
2.
I know a place not far from here It's not far away, love, but if you come I know a place where we'll be alone And we'll talk of life, the way love used to be I know a place not far away And we'll find a way through the city streets We'll find a way through the mad rushing crowd And we'll talk about the way love used to be I know a place not far from here It's not far away, love, but if you come I know a place where we'll be alone And we'll talk about the way love used to be
3.
Heigh ho Who is there? No one but me my dear. Please come Say how do the things I'll show to you A stroke as gentle as a feather I'll catch a rainbow from the sky and tie the ends together Heigh ho I am here Am I not young and fair? Please come Say how do the things I'll show to you Would you have a wondrous sight The midday sun at midnight Fair maid, white and red, Comb you smooth and stroke your head How a maid can milk a bull And every stroke a bucketful
4.
I know all there is to know About the crying game I've had my share Of the crying game First there are kisses Then there are sighs And then before You know where you are You're sayin' goodbye One day soon I'm gonna tell the moon About the crying game And if he knows Maybe he'll explain Why there are heartaches Why there are tears And what to do to stop feeling blue When love disappears I know all there is to know About the crying game I've had my share Of the crying game First there are kisses Then there are sighs And then before You know where you are You're sayin' goodbye Don't want no more Of the crying game Don't want no more Of the crying game Don't want no more Of the crying game Don't want no more Of the crying game
5.
Philadelphia 03:53
Sometimes I think that I know What love's all about And when I see the light I know I'll be all right I've got my friends in the world I had my friends When we were boys and girls And the secrets came unfurled City of brotherly love Place I call home Don't turn your back on me I don't want to be alone Love lasts forever Someone is talking to me Calling my name Tell me I'm not to blame I won't be ashamed of love Won't last forever
6.
It's true that all the men you knew were dealers Who said they were through with dealing Every time you gave them shelter I know that kind of man, it's hard to hold the hand of anyone Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind You find he did not leave you very much, not even laughter Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild He'll never need to deal another He was just some Joseph looking for a manger He was just some Joseph looking for a manger And then leaning on your window sill He'll say one day you caused his will To weaken with your love and warmth and shelter And then taking from his wallet An old schedule of trains, he'll say I told you when I came I was a stranger But now another stranger seems To want you to ignore his dreams As though they were the burden of some other Oh, you've seen that man before His golden arm dispatching cards But now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter Yes, he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter And you hate to see another tired man Lay down his hand like he was giving up the holy game of poker And while he talks his dreams to sleep you notice there's a highway That is curling up like smoke above his shoulder It's curling just like smoke above his shoulder So you tell him to come in sit down But something makes you turn around The door is open you can't close your shelter You try the handle of the road, it opens, do not be afraid It's you my love, you who are the stranger It is you my love, you who are the stranger Well, I've been waiting, I was sure We'd meet between the trains we're waiting for I think it's time to board another Please understand, I never had a secret chart To get me to the heart of this or any other matter Well, he talks like this you don't know what he's after When he speaks like this you don't know what he's after Let's meet tomorrow if you choose Upon the shore, beneath the bridge That they are building on some endless river Then he leaves the platform for the sleeping car that's warm You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter And it comes to you, he never was a stranger And you say okay, the bridge or someplace later And leaning on your window sill He'll say one day you caused his will To weaken with your love and warmth and shelter And then taking from his wallet An old schedule of trains, he'll say I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger
7.
I can't give you all my dreams Nor the life I live You and I know what friendship means, That's all we got to give Who will take your dreams away Takes your soul another day And everyone you've ever loved You drove them all away Please, don't stand too close to me, Can you hear my heart? Take my warmth and lean on me Until we have to part Who will take your dreams away And who will sing this sad refrain? And who will love you when I'm gone And hold you til this tender end?
8.
Bedazzled 02:52
(Ooooh, I'm bedazzled) I don't care (Ooooh, I'm bedazzled) So you said (You knock me out) I don't want you (You blast me off) I don't need you (You burn me up) I don't love you (You plug me in) Leave me alone (You switch me on) I'm self contained (You light me up) Just go away I'm bedazzled I'm bedazzled I'm bedazzled (You glimmer) I'm fickle (You glitter) I'm cold (You shimmer) I'm shallow You drive me wild You drive me wild You fill me with inertia (You knock me out) Don't get excited (You blast me off) Save your breath (You burn me up) Cool it (You plug me in) I'm not interested (You switch me on) It's too much effort (You light me up) Don't you ever leave off? I'm bedazzled I'm bedazzled I'm bedazzled (You glimmer) I'm callous (You glitter) How dull (You shimmer) You bore me I'm bedazzled I'm bedazzled I'm bedazzled I'm unavailable
9.
There may be trouble ahead But while there's moonlight And music and love and romance Let's face the music and dance Before the fiddlers have fled Before they ask us to pay the bill And while we still have the chance Let's face the music and dance Soon we'll be without the moon Humming a different tune and then There may be tear drops to shed So while there's moonlight And music and love and romance Let's face the music and dance
10.
Where have all the good men gone And where are all the Gods? Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds? Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night I toss and I turn And I dream of what I need I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong And he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the morning light Somewhere after midnight In my wildest fantasy Somewhere just beyond my reach There's someone reaching back for me Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat It's gonna take a Superman to sweep me off my feet I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong And he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the morning light Up where the mountains meet the heavens above Out where the lightning splits the sea I could swear there is someone, somewhere Watching me Through the wind, and the chill, and the rain And the storm, and the flood I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the morning light He's gotta be sure And it's gotta be soon And he's gotta be larger than life I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the morning light He's gotta be sure And it's gotta be soon And he's gotta be larger than life I need a hero I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the end of the night
11.
Gotta get off Gotta get Have to get off of this ride Gotta get hold Gonna get Have to get hold of my pride When did I get Where did I How was I caught in this game When will I know Where will I How will I think of my name Somewhere ahead Waits a hope Waits a heart That will know how I yearn Know how I yearn Yearn for a dream For a face with a smile And a look of concern When will I learn? Gotta get off Gonna get Off of this merry-go-round Gotta get off Gonna get Need to get on where I'm bound When did I get Where did I Why am I lost as a lamb When will I know Where will I How will I learn who I am
12.
Smile 05:08
Smile though your heart is aching Smile even though it's breaking When there are clouds in the sky You'll get by If you smile Through your fear and sorrow Smile and maybe tomorrow You'll see the sun come shining through If you Light up your face with gladness Hide every trace of sadness Although a tear may be ever so near Smile though your heart is aching Smile even though it's breaking When there are clouds in the sky You'll get by If you smile Through your fear and sorrow Smile and maybe tomorrow You'll find your life is still worthwhile If you just smile

about

TITLES: POPULAR MUSIC PLAYS IN DARKNESS

FADE IN:

INT. LOS FELIZ APARTMENT – DUSK

OUR STORY opens in a haunted apartment on the eastern edge of Hollywood — the parlor’s yawning interior originally designed during the industry’s Golden-era by session players in the 20th Century Fox orchestra. The room is preserved in perfect mid-century detail: a Steinway the size of a station wagon sits in the corner, draped in a dust cover; the walls are dark with reverberant wood-paneling, saturated with a half-century’s worth of cinematic string rehearsals and impromptu chamber run-throughs. There are inexplicable sounds at night.

This is the place that Popular Music comes from. It’s where — following a cataclysmic collapse of confidence — Zac Pennington (former leader of the group Parenthetical Girls) has been generously invited to crash for a couple of months. It’s also where — paralyzed with writer’s block and eager for escape — Pennington persuades Australian composer Prudence Rees-Lee to join him in a humble experiment.

Armed with a Tascam 8-track cassette recorder, a small arsenal of analog synthesizers and rhythm boxes, and a shortlist of songs written for films, Popular Music begins as a deconstruction of the musical language of 20th Century cinema. The songs are borrowed indiscriminately, with silent era standards (“Smile”) sharing tape alongside sexplotation obscurities (“The Way Love Used To Be”), but as the tapes speak with one another, throughlines emerge: these are songs of hope against hope, of longing, of lost causes; songs aching for the horizons of “Somewhere” — a vanishing point sunset painted on a soundstage backdrop, forever out of reach.

Using Hollywood’s own texts, Popular Music engages in a conceptual dialogue with the myth of cinema — an attempt to embody the very literal darkness of sitting silently in an unlit auditorium, alone together, at the altar of an industry built on a semi-religious devotion to the escape fantasy.

CUT TO:

INT. UPSTATE NEW YORK BARN – 1 YEAR LATER

Escape fantasy fully realized, the duo relocate to a remote corner of the Northeast, completing the song cycle beneath the cathedral ceilings of a turn-of-the-century barn near the Massachusetts state line.

The cassettes have evolved now — expanded with Rees-Lee’s sumptuous arrangements for string quartet, live percussion, plus atmospheric overdubs courtesy of long-time Parenthetical Girls collaborator Jherek Bischoff. The resulting record is a cohesive concept piece — a dozen haunting threnodies for the darkened theatre. To Hollywood, with love and horror.

FADE TO DARKNESS

credits

released November 20, 2020

Arranged, recorded, performed and produced by Popular Music.

Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk. Aural counsel by Jherek Bischoff. Special assistance from Brendan Byrnes.

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Popular Music Los Angeles, California

Psalms for simple people.

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