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This Altogether Thunder. eight songs for susan pevensie.
I didn't mean to do a Susan fanmix, but songs kept reminding me of her, so here they are, along with my assorted babbles and drabbles. I know traditionally you make a front cover graphic and a back cover graphic, BUT I am lazy so I combined them into one. I also linked to Youtube videos that use the song where I can so you can listen to them beforehand.
On to the music.
Download the RAR file here.
1. Alison Krauss feat. Sting, "You Will Be My Ain True Love" [listen]
And as you walk through death's dark veil,
The cannon's thunder can't prevail,
And those who hunt thee down will fail,
And you will be my ain true love.
Susan in LWW. This song is pretty much Pevensies/Aslan/Narnia? The second-person imbues a sense of prophecy. I mean, these Blitz evacuees, these KIDS, fall into a magical land and then they spend the next fifteen years being rulers of a Golden Age. They were blessed by Aslan and supported by destiny; they were untouchable.
2. Little Dragon, "Twice" [listen]
Thought I had an answer once
But your random ways swept me along
Colossal signs so I got lost
With so many lovers singing soft.
Post-PC, Susan to Aslan. The ‘two men in wonder steady gone under’ I imagine to be Peter and Caspian. ‘One mirror holding us dearer’ is probably England. Either way, she was just getting used to being in England again when she got called back to help Caspian. And now she’s permanently booted from Narnia and she’s like, “WTF, what do you want from me?”
3. Sufjan Stevens, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" [listen]
Once in the backyard,
she was once like me,
she was once like me.
This is the Pevensies on Susan, though I think of it more as Peter on Susan. Lucy’s too buoyant for such sentiments and Edmund isn’t that emotional. Despite whatever Lewis writes about Lucy being Peter’s favorite sister, I tend to think of Peter and Susan as the unit (SURPRISE), being parental and stuff. As eldest brother and High King, he expects to wield authority and Susan is the most receptive to that, because she doesn't tend to color outside the lines. (It’s partly why she assimilated in England more than the others: she doesn't like being on the outside, so she tries harder.) In England, Susan is different but NOT REALLY, and this is what gets his goat, because Peter recognizes her poise and diplomatic charm when she’s delighting the dance-hall or some prep school coterie, but these familiar things just make the differences more glaring.
I don’t have the original album sleeve, so I don’t know if that last capitalized ‘Someone’ in the lyrics is intentional or just a typo, but it’s kind of perfect. Lowercase someone = Susan. Capitalized someone = Aslan. And Peter tries not to be resentful because he’s better than that, he loves Aslan better than that. He talks to Susan obliquely about Job, but she doesn’t listen.
Oh Sufjan Stevens. You are always applicable to Narnia.
4. Nick Drake, "Clothes of Sand" [listen]
Clothes of sand have covered your face
Given you meaning but taken my place
So make your way on down to the sea
Something has taken you so far from me.
This is so much Aslan’s song to Susan, it’s ridiculous. Aslan’s weird to figure out though, being both sentient and an impersonal force of nature. He’s forgiving but unbending, inscrutable but receptive to cuddles. He is both above you and beside you. (My Judeo-Christian angst, let me show you it.)
5. Tom Waits, "I'm Still Here" [listen]
You haven't looked at me that way in years
Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear
God, I love Tom Waits. This is Susan’s reply to the two previous song. For all that her siblings are accusing her of desertion, she hasn’t gone anywhere. They accuse her of betrayal, but it’s not like she loves her siblings any less. As for Aslan and Narnia, in her heart of hearts she knows they exist, but she just has to survive somehow. She has been taught that Aslan’s love is great but, again: she’s still here.
The succinctness of the song is so great too. Just, how matter-of-fact it is compared to the passive-aggressive despair of the Sufjan song and the disappointed accusation of the Nick Drake song.
6. Jump, Little Children, "Cathedrals"
In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is
Susan away from home. Susan is a nomad not just across space, but across time. Her siblings are trying to find Aslan by a different name here, but Susan has to believe that things are what they are. She goes to New York with her parents and they visit the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and its icons are faded and worn with age and its majesty cheapened by tourism, and if a house of God can’t escape the ravages of time, then what hope is there for her?
But she likes America, and especially New York. People immigrate here from all over the world and, because all their pasts are different, what binds them together is the future. It’s not like in England, who is engorged with its own legacy, is romanced by it. Susan has learned to be wary of the past, and she is strangely touched by how no building in this country is more than a few centuries old. (Cair Paravel, white and gleaming; Cair Paravel, in ruins and thirteen hundred years. I have outlived my destiny, she thinks, and then, as usual, she pushes it out of her mind.)
7. REM, "Sweetness Follows"
It's these little things, they can pull you under
Live your life filled with joy and wonder
I always knew this altogether thunder
Was lost in our little lives
But sweetness follows
Susan, after the failtrain debacle. Sure, there is sadness and frustration at how she will never be able to rebuilt bridges with her family now, but dammit, if there’s anyone who knows how to pick up the pieces and make the best of the world shitting all over you, it is Susan Pevensie.
8. Emiliana Torrini, "Today Has Been OK" [listen]
Life has been insane but
Today has been okay
Post-TLB Susan further down the line. Sad things happen and life is imperfect, but she is no longer frightened of the past. She takes things one day at a time. I will end things here with her uncertain future, because as much as I want her to join her siblings in Aslan’s Country, I also want her to move on beyond the destiny she has outlived and blaze her own trail. So I dunno.
In conclusion: I <3 Susan Pevensie, yay!
On to the music.
Download the RAR file here.
1. Alison Krauss feat. Sting, "You Will Be My Ain True Love" [listen]
And as you walk through death's dark veil,
The cannon's thunder can't prevail,
And those who hunt thee down will fail,
And you will be my ain true love.
Susan in LWW. This song is pretty much Pevensies/Aslan/Narnia? The second-person imbues a sense of prophecy. I mean, these Blitz evacuees, these KIDS, fall into a magical land and then they spend the next fifteen years being rulers of a Golden Age. They were blessed by Aslan and supported by destiny; they were untouchable.
2. Little Dragon, "Twice" [listen]
Thought I had an answer once
But your random ways swept me along
Colossal signs so I got lost
With so many lovers singing soft.
Post-PC, Susan to Aslan. The ‘two men in wonder steady gone under’ I imagine to be Peter and Caspian. ‘One mirror holding us dearer’ is probably England. Either way, she was just getting used to being in England again when she got called back to help Caspian. And now she’s permanently booted from Narnia and she’s like, “WTF, what do you want from me?”
3. Sufjan Stevens, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" [listen]
Once in the backyard,
she was once like me,
she was once like me.
This is the Pevensies on Susan, though I think of it more as Peter on Susan. Lucy’s too buoyant for such sentiments and Edmund isn’t that emotional. Despite whatever Lewis writes about Lucy being Peter’s favorite sister, I tend to think of Peter and Susan as the unit (SURPRISE), being parental and stuff. As eldest brother and High King, he expects to wield authority and Susan is the most receptive to that, because she doesn't tend to color outside the lines. (It’s partly why she assimilated in England more than the others: she doesn't like being on the outside, so she tries harder.) In England, Susan is different but NOT REALLY, and this is what gets his goat, because Peter recognizes her poise and diplomatic charm when she’s delighting the dance-hall or some prep school coterie, but these familiar things just make the differences more glaring.
I don’t have the original album sleeve, so I don’t know if that last capitalized ‘Someone’ in the lyrics is intentional or just a typo, but it’s kind of perfect. Lowercase someone = Susan. Capitalized someone = Aslan. And Peter tries not to be resentful because he’s better than that, he loves Aslan better than that. He talks to Susan obliquely about Job, but she doesn’t listen.
Oh Sufjan Stevens. You are always applicable to Narnia.
4. Nick Drake, "Clothes of Sand" [listen]
Clothes of sand have covered your face
Given you meaning but taken my place
So make your way on down to the sea
Something has taken you so far from me.
This is so much Aslan’s song to Susan, it’s ridiculous. Aslan’s weird to figure out though, being both sentient and an impersonal force of nature. He’s forgiving but unbending, inscrutable but receptive to cuddles. He is both above you and beside you. (My Judeo-Christian angst, let me show you it.)
5. Tom Waits, "I'm Still Here" [listen]
You haven't looked at me that way in years
Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear
God, I love Tom Waits. This is Susan’s reply to the two previous song. For all that her siblings are accusing her of desertion, she hasn’t gone anywhere. They accuse her of betrayal, but it’s not like she loves her siblings any less. As for Aslan and Narnia, in her heart of hearts she knows they exist, but she just has to survive somehow. She has been taught that Aslan’s love is great but, again: she’s still here.
The succinctness of the song is so great too. Just, how matter-of-fact it is compared to the passive-aggressive despair of the Sufjan song and the disappointed accusation of the Nick Drake song.
6. Jump, Little Children, "Cathedrals"
In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is
Susan away from home. Susan is a nomad not just across space, but across time. Her siblings are trying to find Aslan by a different name here, but Susan has to believe that things are what they are. She goes to New York with her parents and they visit the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and its icons are faded and worn with age and its majesty cheapened by tourism, and if a house of God can’t escape the ravages of time, then what hope is there for her?
But she likes America, and especially New York. People immigrate here from all over the world and, because all their pasts are different, what binds them together is the future. It’s not like in England, who is engorged with its own legacy, is romanced by it. Susan has learned to be wary of the past, and she is strangely touched by how no building in this country is more than a few centuries old. (Cair Paravel, white and gleaming; Cair Paravel, in ruins and thirteen hundred years. I have outlived my destiny, she thinks, and then, as usual, she pushes it out of her mind.)
7. REM, "Sweetness Follows"
It's these little things, they can pull you under
Live your life filled with joy and wonder
I always knew this altogether thunder
Was lost in our little lives
But sweetness follows
Susan, after the failtrain debacle. Sure, there is sadness and frustration at how she will never be able to rebuilt bridges with her family now, but dammit, if there’s anyone who knows how to pick up the pieces and make the best of the world shitting all over you, it is Susan Pevensie.
8. Emiliana Torrini, "Today Has Been OK" [listen]
Life has been insane but
Today has been okay
Post-TLB Susan further down the line. Sad things happen and life is imperfect, but she is no longer frightened of the past. She takes things one day at a time. I will end things here with her uncertain future, because as much as I want her to join her siblings in Aslan’s Country, I also want her to move on beyond the destiny she has outlived and blaze her own trail. So I dunno.
In conclusion: I <3 Susan Pevensie, yay!