Beautiful Melodies

“I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.”

-Tom Waits

Love that. A lot of music is a blend of words and, um, music. Obviously. What I mean is a song can have the most beautiful sound or the softest voice but the lyrics can be dark or the singer’s can have, well, the same kind of voice that Tom Waits has. The contrast between these two elements is fascinating to me, and I think that’s what he means.

If you like Tom Waits, I get it.

If you hate Tom Waits, I get it.

Additionally, if you’ve never given Tom Waits a fair chance, I get it.

I think our brains are so overstimulated and overwhelmed these days we don’t usually give anything enough time to properly process a lot of entertainment and information. There’s just too much of EVERYTHING. I do this all the time. I see a book, it may be a title I’ve heard intriguing things about, I’ll read the summary that is on the back or the inner flap of the dust jacket, and that usually determines if I will pick it up or not.

Essentially we need to be hooked and intrigued immediately. If we hear about a new show that everyone loves, we might give it a chance but if we don’t like the first ten minutes of the first episode of the first season, there’s a good possibility we’ll quit. A lot of literature and movies requires a slow, gradual build-up before momentum kicks in and unfortunately the reader or viewer may not give the thing a fair chance.

I am not a super huge Tom Waits fan but I think there’s a really good chance one could hear one of his songs and haaaaaate it and decide he’s terrible.

Again, I get it.

Buuuuut I think he’s one of those artists that if you gave him a chance you could probably find at least one song you really like. He’s quite versatile and he has songs that sound like it was recorded in a junkyard (and knowing Tom Waits you’d probably be right) and songs that are so beautiful you’ll break your own heart.

And we are off track again. I have no idea why I was so surprised I was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago.

What I think he was referring to in the above quote was his appreciation for a beautiful song with dark lyrics that are kind of jarring if you pay attention to the words and not letting the melody distract (or possibly deceive) you. Two wildly different creative and audio decisions but they somehow work together, despite assuming it wouldn’t.

This is the mindset I have when I do a photo shoot. I love wearing an outfit that looks completely out of place in the location I’m in. One reason is I love the contrast, such as when I wore a gown at the mall.

Or beautiful lingerie in a old, decaying warehouse.

Or a stunning dress in a graffiti covered alley.

The other reason I like such photos like these is imagining what story could be behind the picture. I mean, there’s the story of the photo shoot itself, but what if the image was part of a narrative? Like, why is the prom queen descending an escalator?

I would love to work with a writer and do a project that tells a story using photos. Something along the lines of “Once Upon a Time a Princess explored the enchanted shopping mall…”

Any writers out there???

Love, Hannah