Saturday, September 5, 2020

#SHEA Ultimate S.O.S. Playlist, Volume 9 (Tracks 41-46)

 


Welcome to the final bi-weekly installment of the Playlist! At least for the time being.

 

Wait, what does that mean…???

 

Exactly what it says. There are many tracks that have yet to be featured, but as of this edition, everyone who has contributed ideas to this point has been mentioned at least once. (THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE DMs, EMAILS AND BLOG COMMENTS!!) From here, I plan to continue featuring new additions regularly—but most likely at the tail end of blog posts about something else #Shea-related. 

 

Which is also to add that new suggestions CONTINUE to be welcomed! Remember to go here for details, and don’t be intimidated if you don’t have a lot to say about the songs you suggest. I hang on to ALL ideas!

 

Without further ado, here are the SIX songs getting featured this time! (yes, there’s a bonus track…)

 

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SONG: “Love Exists” by Amy Lee

 

Songwriters: Michele Canova /Fortunato Zampaglione (English lyrics by Amy Lee)

 

Submitted by: Vale

 

Comments from Me: Here’s yet another song for the Playlist that has roots in another part of the world! The original is called “L’Amore Esiste,” and was recorded by Italian singer/songwriter Francesca Michielin a few years back. Amy Lee (co-founder/lead singer of Evanescence) discovered the song, and eventually translated/ “gave her own spin” on the Italian lyrics.

 

Comments from Vale: “This song is a favorite of mine. The lyrics are beautiful and can apply to both Shaun and Lea at different points in the series. For example, this part:


It can grow in darkness, make its own light

Turn a curse into a kiss

Change the meaning of your world…

“I believe it applies to the final episodes with the earthquake but also with the whole journey of pain they lived since autopsy until they finally came together, it could be more Shaun’s POV because finally his wish came true under the most difficult circumstances.




“While this next part, in my opinion, applies to Lea and her

silence which I’m certain was a silence of love instead of rejection, and then it was her same love for him and lack of love to herself which made her scream those harsh words in ‘Fixation’…”

Love can make you scream
And it can leave you speechless
Love has a thousand stems
But only one flower

 

HEAR IT HERE (Amy’s version)  

HEAR IT HERE (Italian version)  

 

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SONG: “I Do” by Paul Brandt

 

Songwriter: Paul Brandt 

Submitted by: Tony

Comments from Tony:

“I’m going back to my country library for this next one. It’s a tender ballad in which the singer assures his true love that despite her rocky past, she’s found the right place in him. Definitely a ‘Shaun’s perspective’ song.

“The song begins with this recognition and assurance:


I've seen the storm clouds in your past
But rest assured 'cause you are safe at home at last
I rescued you, you rescued me
And we're right where we should be
When we're together


“And a very fascinating chorus that asks – and answers – a series of commitment questions.

Will I promise to be your best friend?
And am I here until the end?
Can I be sure I have been waiting for you?
And did I say my love is true?
Baby I will, I am, I can, I have, I do


“It’s a chorus – and song – about loyalty and commitment. And a perfect one, in my mind, for a character to sing to someone who’s ALREADY his best friend (and he hers)!”



 

HEAR IT HERE 

 

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SONG: “Walking After You” by Foo Fighters

Songwriter: Dave Grohl 

Submitted by: Andreas

Comments from Andreas:




“(Here’s) another song I find quite fitting for the tensions of 3.16/3.17… the lyrics and visuals in the video are pretty self-evident about their relevance for the events in ‘Autopsy’ and ‘Fixation,’ I guess...”

SAMPLE LYRICS

Tonight I'm tangled
In my blanket of clouds
Dreaming aloud

Things just won't do without you



Matter of fact
I'm on your back 

If you walk out on me
I'm walking after you

 

HEAR IT HERE
(This is the music video link Andreas shared)

 

FIND THE LYRIC VIDEO HERE

 

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SONG: “Us” by James Bay

Songwriters: James Bay/Jonathan Green

Submitted by: Pamela


(Welcome to a first-time contributor to the Playlist! And what a great time to remind y’all that YOU can continue to submit song suggestions. Here’s how.)

Comments from Pamela

“I’m big fan of this singer… ‘Us’ could be from both Shaun and Lea's perspective as a couple, and how their faith in each other will help them navigate challenges in their relationship.”

 

SAMPLE LYRICS


After the wreckage

After the dust

I still hear the howling, I still feel the rush

Over the riots, above all the noise

Through all the worry, I still hear your voice




(chorus)

So, tell me how to be in this world

Tell me how to breathe in and feel no hurt

Tell me how 'cause I believe in something

I believe in us

Tell me when the light goes down

That even in the dark we will find a way out

Tell me now 'cause I believe in something 

I believe in us

 

 

HEAR IT HERE 

 

 

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SONG: “Tequila” by The Champs

 (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE RECENT POP/COUNTRY HIT BY DAN + SHAY)


Songwriter: Daniel Flores


Submitted by: Amy Danko

 

Comments from Amy: “I don't think I have to spell out why I chose this one. :-D”




Comments from Me: “'Tequila’ was a #1 hit for The Champs in 1958 on BOTH the pop and R+B charts… a fun-loving instrumental known for its “dirty sax” solo/melody. It’s been covered countless times, and its place in pop culture continues to expand— not bad for a 62-year-old record!

 

If TGD’s writers work “Tequila” into the show… say, perhaps, as a wedding dance of some kind… they could add one more feather in the cap of its pop-culture legacy. Just sayin’!

 

Since “Tequila” is without lyrics (save for the three times the title is shouted), please instead enjoy this clip from when the song was featured in the 1985 film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. (If you want to skip right to the song, it starts at 2:38.)

 



 

OR… you can HEAR IT HERE 

 

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BONUS PLAYLIST TRACK!!!!

 

                               SONG: “Ah! Leah!” by Donnie Iris            


 

Songwriters: Mark Avsec/Donnie Iris


Submitted by: Kelli


I’ve been waiting to spring this for a while 😊

HAVE ANY OF YOU HEARD OF THIS SONG?

 

It was a top 10 hit in Canada… only Top 30 in the U.S. (in 1981), but the biggest solo hit of Iris’ nonetheless (he also worked in the ‘70s with Wild Cherry and the Jaggerz). I was actually a bigger fan of Iris’ follow-up (“Love Is Like A Rock”).

 

Anyway—at first glance, “Ah! Leah!” isn’t a fit for #Shea. The


lyrics depict a couple that has already had its time together, but continues to desire each other whenever they’re back within eyeshot. (Which makes more sense when you know Iris reportedly wrote it with his ex-wife in mind.) And of course, even the spelling of “Leah” is different!

 


But it still kinda works, particularly if you think of it at the time Lea returned from Hershey (start of S2). And I don’t know of any other song that bears her name, so… consider it a “novelty” Playlist entry!

 

 

SAMPLE LYRICS

 

I see your lips and I wonder who's been kissin' them
I never knew how badly I was missin' them
We both know we're never going to make it
But when we touch, we never have to fake it, Leah!

Ah! Leah! Here we go again!



Ah! Leah! Is it ever gonna end?
Ah! Leah! Here we go again!
Ah! Leah! We ain't learned our lesson yet!

 

HERE IT HERE 

 

And if you’re interested in the super-cheesy music video that looks every bit like a typical 1981 low-budget clip, here it is… someone described Donnie Iris here as “Eugene Levy trying to impersonate David Byrne” and I have to concur!

 



3 comments:

Tony said...

And thank YOU, Kelli, for all the time you took grouping and compiling these songs for us all to enjoy! Your way of presenting these posts have really elevated this from simply a set of songs - to a collection of personal insights and experiences! I cannot thank you and the other contributors enough from the bottom of my Shaun and Lea-loving heart!

Given my enjoyment of countdown shows, I actually HAVE heard "Ah! Leah!". It was on one of those "AT40 Flashback" shows in the last year or so, and I was like, "hey, an actual Lea song!" The next-closest thing to me is an intentional misunderstanding of Blondie's hit "Maria" (which, if you want to hear it as such, the chorus can come across as "My Lea").

As for the title of the Donnie Iris song, which was at least a Top 20 Rock hit, I like to pretend the "h" doesn't exist at the end of the title :-)

In my childhood, I didn't even know that "Tequila" was named as such. My earliest memories of it go back to the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, where they were dancing to the song and shouting "Ninjitsu!" It was another 3 years before I would get it right, thanks to another film that fit my demographic, The Sandlot, also featuring the song.

When Amy originally suggested the song, I wondered if my mind would default to Shaun & Lea the next time I heard the song. Sure enough, next time I heard it about a month later, Donnie's sister the Automotive Engineer came to my mind before the other Donnie and his turtle brothers. Thanks, Amy!!

Speaking of TGD and the drink, it's been a while since we've seen Shaun and Lea BOTH have a drink. Not counting 3.15, we have to go back to the Season 1 road trip! He declined her offer of shots in Wyoming; the double-date was totally impromptu (and they weren't on a date with each other); and then 3.18...uh...yeah. Let's bring back the celebratory drink - and throw this song in for good measure!

Vale said...

Hey!!!! Thanks Kelli for including "Love Exists" and also for letting all know there was an original version! Sorry, I guess I didn't make my homework completely hahaha anyway loved to see it there because to me that song is Shea...
As for the other ones I listened them for the first time because I didn't know them, and they are all accurate and they are certainly going to my personal Shea Playlist hehe thanks. The only one that I knew was "Walking after you" because it was part of the OST of the first The X files movie and I love that TV show to death.

Amy D said...

"TEQUILA!"

Actually, when you first asked for songs, Kelli, that was the first one that came to mind out of all the songs I have suggested. I knew it from The Sandlot too, but ever since "Islands" in S1, I forever associate it with Shaun and Lea.

Thanks for such a great countdown!