A Musical Interlude

Is it possible to marry music to the paranormal?  I’m not referring to the usual bombastic sounds of a church pipe organ from those old Hammer films or the screaming chorus of Exorcist II.  I’m talking about regular everyday music that we hear on the radio or on VH1 or MTV.  Could music coalesce with a story about the murder of a 17-year-old girl?

Let’s consider the story itself, the girl in question sneaks out of her Pearl City home late one night and meets a friend of hers just up the street.


They drive out to Makua on the Leeward coast where they join a party just outside of Kaneana Cave that’s already in progress.  It turns out that they are the only two females at this impromptu drinking session.  As the night progresses, the girl’s friend and one of the other boys make themselves scarce, leaving only the girl with six of the remaining boys.  The more the boys drink, the bolder they become until they are finally forcing themselves on the young girl.   She makes a run for it and disappears into the black depths of the cave across the street, the boys go after her and when they find her, they rape and murder her.

With what you’ve read so far, what song comes to mind?  If it’s taking too long for you to think of something then you’re over thinking, but if a song has automatically popped into your head then you’ve already let the story come out to you and you have more than likely felt as if you were IN the story.

For myself, as the story progressed I thought of Stealer’s Wheel and their offering of Stuck In The Middle With You.  In the course of this story, we meet another main character that has come to the cave to look for solace and peace away from the troubles of his personal life.  Seconds later, he hears the heroine in our story run into the cave and, through some strange event, he is able to communicate with the murdered girl through a window in time.  It is plain to him that the girl is in distress and rather than help her, he decides to leave and not involve himself but, as we all know, it doesn’t turn out that way.   Therefore, I thought that Stuck In The Middle With You best described his circumstance.

Well, I don't know why I came here tonight

I got the feeling that something ain't right

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair

And I'm wondering how I'll get down those stairs

Clowns to left of me

Jokers to the right

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

Yes, I'm stuck in the middle with you

And I'm wondering what it is I should do

It's so hard to keep this smile from my face

Losing control, yeah I'm all over the place

Clowns to left of me

Jokers to the right

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

Well, you started off with nothing

And you're proud that you're a self-made man

And your friends they all come crawling

Slap you on the back and say:

"Please!"

"Please!"

Trying to make some sense of it all

But I can see it makes no sense at all

Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?

'Cuz I don't think that I can take any more

Clowns to left of me

Jokers to the right

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

Well, you started off with nothing

And you're proud that you're a self-made man

And your family all come crawling

Slap you on the back and say:

"Please!"

"Please!"

Well, I don't know why I came here tonight

I got the feeling that something ain't right

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair

And I'm wondering how I'll get down those stairs

Clowns to left of me

Jokers to the right

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you

Stuck in the middle with you

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you...

The chance meeting takes place moments before he witnesses her murder.   At the conclusion of the story another song came to mind just as I was typing out the last sentence, which was Allison written by Elvis Costello.  However, I managed to attach Linda Ronstadt’s YouTube video version of the same song from her “Living In The USA” album.  Let’s take a look at the lyrics:

Oh, it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl

And with the way you look, I understand that you were not impressed

But I heard you let that little friend of mine

Take off your party dress

I'm not gonna get too sentimental

Like those other sticky valentines

'Cause I don't know if you are loving somebody

I only know it isn't mine

Allison, I know this world is killing you

Oh, Allison, my aim is true

Well, I see you've got a husband now

Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake?

You used to hold him right in your hand

But it took all that he could take

Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking

When I hear the silly things that you say

I think somebody better put out the big light

'Cause I can't stand to see you this way

Allison, I know this world is killing you

Oh, Allison, my aim is true

My aim is true

Of course, if you Google the name of the song you will find the meaning or intent behind Costello’s composition.  For myself, the lyrics represent the life or circumstances that the female character in the story would never come to know.  Would that life have been a favorable one, or one of an abusive relationship, which the song describes?  Other stories stand on their own without a song or a picture added on, the words paint a picture and bring you into the depths of the story and make you feel as if you are right there witnessing everything as it happens. 

Sometimes there are ghost stories that have a hint of romance in them, but in those few and far in between circumstances there is a story like “Kaua ‘Elua.”  A man searches for the ghost of his ex-wife in an effort to reconcile one last time before her spirit moves on.   For me, the perfect song that matched this effort was “Pretty Face/Jealousy” by Roland Cazimero.

The lyrics describe the playful kind of love the local couple shared before life interrupted and their marriage went south.   The song itself lends a healing element to the story and seems to cleanse the widower of his self imposed guilt over his deceased ex-wife.

Pretty face, what’s your name? And is that smile for me?

And am I fortunate enough to have your love?

Pretty face, shining eyes, skin so soft and nice,

 could it be that what we have is right?

Cause in my heart I get excited, and you can see why I can’t hide it

Cause I’m for you and you’re for me, pretty face

This jealousy, made me blind, this jealousy too late made me see

Just how much I loved you now that you’re not with me

Pretty face, heart of gold, you’re so good to me

Forever I will be there by your side

Pretty face, call it love

Cause I’m in love with you, thank you for the love you give to me

To feel your arms no more, to feel your lips no more, I want to love you

Now that you are gone away from me

Just couldn’t think, just had to do, just didn’t know that I would hurt you

But hurt you I did, but I’ll hurt you no more

The hurt that I feel, I alone will endure

Oh pretty face, heart of gold; you’re so good to me

Forever I will be there by your side

Pretty face, call it love

Cause I’m in love with you

Thank you for the love you give to me

Cause in my heart I get excited

And you can see why I can’t hide it

I’m for you, you’re for me,

Pretty face

I know that some of you are wondering if there is a ghost story that requires a song like,

“Mmm Bop?”  Sure, if there’s a story somewhere about a washed up boy band that died in a plane crash and is perhaps haunting an old recording studio, then a song like that would be perfect.  Who knows?

In short, music always seems to find the right time to insert itself in to these compositions while simultaneously knowing when to stand back.  Sure, many of my stories stand on their own without the aid of a song but for those few that are accompanied by the strains of a haunting melody, they lend that slight push that sends the reader over the edge. 

For my final offering, I have to take you back in time to a place where a local waitress works at a roadside eatery right off of Mahukona road in Kawaihae.  At a very young age, her elder Uncle took her infant son from her late one night, never to be seen again.   She was all of fourteen years old when this took place, when we meet her in this story; she is fifty-three and the loss of her child is the cross she bears.  You can see it in her demeanor and in the way she carries herself, it’s become a part of her physical make up, almost like a beautiful sadness.  In the restaurant where she works is an old jukebox that was brought in by the cook in order to lend some atmosphere to an otherwise drab location.  One afternoon, a young Hawaiian man walks in to the establishment and orders some food and a drink.  Afterwards, he makes his way over to the jukebox where he inserts a quarter and picks out a song.

Hey mister, that's me up on the jukebox.

I'm the one that's singing this sad song.

Well, I'll cry every time that you slip in one more dime

and let the boy sing the sad song one, one more time.

Southern California, that's as blue as the boy can be,

blue as the deep blue sea, won't you listen to me now.

I need your golden gated cities like a hole in the head,

just like a hole in the head, I'm free.

Hey mister, that's me up on the jukebox. I'm the one that's singing this sad song.

Well, I'll cry every time that you slip in one more dime

and let the boy sing the sad song one, one more time.

I do believe I'm headed home. Hey mister, can't you see that I'm as dry as a bone.

I think I'll spend some time alone,

yes, unless you've found a way of squeezing water from a stone.

Let the doctor and the lawyer do as much as they can.

Let the springtime begin. let the boy become a man.

I done wasted too much time just to sing you this sad song.

I done been this lonesome picker a little too long.

Hey mister, that's me up on the jukebox. I'm the one that's singing this sad song.

Well, I'll cry every time that you slip in one more dime

and let the boy sing the sad song one, one more time.

I've been spreading myself thin these days, don't you know? Goodbye.

This composition written by James Taylor has become the waitress’s them song through out her life if you think about it, but it also becomes a conversation piece for the young man and the waitress in the scene that follows.  Unfortunately, I can’t tell you anymore about it because this story is in the process of becoming a book, so you’ll have to wait and read it for yourself once it hits the shelves.  Apologies.

What we have seen thus far tells us that music in a story has many facets, many purposes, and many reasons why they figure in nicely with a ghost story.  I’d like to leave you with one last song; if you read it over carefully, you will more than likely have second thoughts before you ever weave it into one of your own stories.  This is Timothy sung by a group known as The Buoys that was released in 1971.  This was their one and only hit.  As you read the lyrics to this song, try to figure out what this tune is all about. You’ll be surprised.

Trapped in a mine what had caved in

And everyone knows the only ones left

Were Joe and me and Tim

When they broke through to pull us free

The only ones left to tell the tale

Was Joe and me

Timothy, Timothy, where on earth did you go

Timothy, Timothy, God why don't I know

Hungry as hell, no food to eat

And Joe said that he would sell his soul

For just a piece of meat

Water enough to drink for two

And Joe said to me, I'll take a swig

And then there's some for you

Timothy, Timothy, Joe was looking at you

Timothy, Timothy, God what did we do

I must have blacked out just 'round then

'Cause the very next thing that I could see

Was the light of the day again

My stomach was full as it could be

And nobody ever got around to finding Timothy

Timothy, Timothy where on earth did you go

Timothy, Timothy god why don't I know

Timothyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Yeah

Timothy

Timothy (fade)

 Thanks for reading and pleasant dreams.