If you've heard me or
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seanan_mcguire perform in the past year or so, you might well have heard her amazing song, "
Wicked Girls". It was a pendant prompt song-- that is, it was inspired by one of the beautiful and unusual collage pendants by
chimera_fancies.
(The song has in turn inspired some awesome icons, using many of our favorite wicked girls of song and story,
here and
here and also
here. The icon on this entry was made by me, but was inspired by
talkstowolves; I just wanted the wording and font a little different. The art is from the cover of
Rosemary and Rue, of course.)
You might also have noticed, if you've
heard it more than once, that the lyrics tend to change just a little bit. :)
It was Seanan herself who first came up with the idea, I think when we were rehearsing at the Garcias' place for both Conflikt 2009 and another show at the same rehearsal. See, the original bridge is full of actual wicked girls that Seanan knows:
Mandy's a pirate, and Mia weaves silk shrouds for faeries,
And Deborah will pour you red wine pressed from sweet poisoned berries.
Kate poses riddles and Mary plays tricks,
While Kaia builds towers from brambles and sticks,
And the rules that we live by are simple and clear:
Be wicked and lovely and don't live in fear.So Seanan went "Pssst hey c'mere wouldn't it be fun if we did this?" (It had to be "psst" because Torrey was THERE in the room, and it was meant to be a surprise.) And she whispered to me that we could put Torrey in for Deborah, since Torrey cooks and all, and it'd be neat since I'm the one who sings that line, and hey, we could put in other of our wicked girls who were going to be there, and and and. I marveled that Torrey didn't figure out we were onto something, with all the giggling and whispering and (on my part) quiet squeeing, but I imagine she just thought "musicians are weird," which we give her plenty of cause to think most of the time.
I don't remember the whole bridge for that first time, but I remember that it contained "
s00j is a pirate", and also "Betsy calls music from wires and sticks"; I'm pretty sure
stealthcello just about dropped her bow when she heard it. (oops.)
I have not been in the habit of keeping track of my setlists and posting them the way Seanan and Sooj do; I'm thinking I might start, as could be useful and it's nice to look back on these things like a diary. I tend to forget the setlist as soon as I make it; once
tfabris has put the music in order, I kind of release it to the winds. (I live very much in the
now during a show.) But I'm thinking it'd also be interesting to start keeping track of the bridges, after I noticed Seanan posted the one she used at
Worldcon. (Hee.) Because it's become a habit now, to look around at which of our wicked girls are present, and see who we can fit in. :)
Sometimes I look at it and decide in advance; other times I forget that song's in the setlist until just before the show starts; a few times, I forget completely until we actually start playing, and then I make what is a Herculean effort for my feeble little fox brain and make it up while I'm singing the verses & choruses leading up to it. (It was just such an effort at the Cerulia Rent Party House Concert that led to "Ahna can catch you with paper and sticks," wherein I thought I was exceptionally clever.)
I don't remember which of all the past ones have shown up at which shows. I know Shawna frequently finds herself weaving silk shrouds for faeries, as she knits and so that comes to mind a lot. I know I've used "Autumn asks riddles and Lauren plays tricks", a nod to Lauren's secret ninjahood. I *think* I used "Nicole is a pirate" at Nicole's wedding. (I know I put her in "Goddess" at the Rent Party, with "the girl may work at Wayward but she doesn't miss a beat.") I know once or twice I've sung "Koe poses riddles and Katie plays tricks" (I'm a sucker for alliteration). Seanan's agent Diana made it into the song at DucKon, although I forget where (unstressed syllables can be wedged in as pickup notes, woohoo!). And Sooj and Betsy continue to take their places a lot, as well as Torrey, because, y'know. :)
Oh, right! The power of YouTube
compels you reminds me that Brooke was at DucKon, and Amy McNally was playing fiddle, and Debbie Gates lent her djembe to Sooj to play, and so our bridge at DucKon went like this:
Sooj is a pirate, and Debbie lends drums to the faeries,
Diana will pour you red wine pressed from sweet poison berries.
Brooke poses riddles and Tara plays tricks,
While Amy calls music from wires and sticks...The bridge this past Friday at Soulfood made me happy. For one thing, we never manage to put
bansai8 in, because there's already a Susan in the song, and it'd be confusing. But then I remembered that Tony often calls her "Suse". (One syllable.) I looked around for the rest, and had actually penciled it in, and then I was standing there just before Clint introduced us and realized I could throw in another wicked girl that had never been in the song before! So the bridge I wound up singing, though with a little stumbling since I hadn't written down those last minute changes:
Sooj is a pirate, and Lauren weaves silk shrouds for faeries,
And Torrey will pour you red wine pressed from sweet poison berries.
Suse poses riddles and Sandi plays tricks,
While Savvy can catch you with shutters and clicks...(
gypsy_savina jumped a little and then was very satisfyingly squeeful. Hee. This, my friends, is why we do this. <3)
So, wicked girls, beware. You never know when you might find yourself in a song. :)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
