Macbeth Final Project (8 Song Playlist)

Bright Eyes - Arienette

The fragile keep secrets gathered in pockets,
and they'll sell them for nothing; a cheap watch or locket.
That kind of gold washes off.

And the sad act like lepers, they stick to the shadows,
they long to ring bells of warning to tell of their coming
so that the pure can shut their doors.

And the angry are animals, senseless and savage,
they act without order in logical lapses;
they stain their mouths with blood.

So take my hand, this barren land is alive tonight,
the corn has grown stalks that form a wall too high,
but the wind carries sounds that I can't see from beyond that line,
then the stalks begin to sway.

Stay with me, Arienette, until the wolves are away.

Well, the wicked are vultures and they bake in the canyons,
they circle in sunlight and wait for their victims
to collapse and call to them.

And the desperate are water, they will run down forever
as they soak into silence and end up together
in a dark and distant, dark and distant place.

So don't leave me here with only mirrors watching me.
This house, it holds nothing but the memories.
And the moon, it leaves silver but never sleep
and then the silver turns to gray.

Stay with me, Arienette, until the wolves are away.

This song would be played through the opening of the play when Macbeth is at war. The reason (other than my having to put one of my favorite artists in this) is that the music is raw and somber. It would serve as foreshadowing not only lyrically, but by the tone of the song. Lyrical expressions like "gold washes off" express how Macbeth's crown loses its luster as he dehumanizes himself. Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's actions in the play are summed up in one line in this song: "And the angry are animals, senseless and savage, they act without order in logical lapses; they stain their mouths with blood." This describes the actions taken by the couple according to the logical course leading to their foretold future. The stains it leaves on their mouths however never washes off, and Macbeth accepts this while Lady Macbethcommits suicide. Arienette can be interpreted as Lady Macbeth, and the wolves can be seen as Macbeth's guilt issues. The "desperate are water" can be thought of as the people Macbeth governs. The last part of the song speaking of the mirrors, in this context, I like to think of as Lady Macbeth's guilt before suicide.

Disturbed - Haunted

You're broken, so am I.

I'm better off alone,

no one to turn to and nothing to call my own.

Outspoken? So am I.

Explosive words that your world wouldn't understand.

Turn away again.
You're beaten, so am I.

I've got a heart of stone.

No medication can cure what has taken hold.
You're hurting, so will I

when I awake and remember why I've been running from your...

(Chorus)
...world,
dishonored by your world.
Your world;
I'm haunted by your world.

My blood is cold as ice,
or so I have been told;
show no emotion and it can destroy your soul.
Another sacrifice
to a tormentor your world wouldn't understand.
Turn away again.
You're angered, so am I.
A thousand fires burn;
a land of darkness from which I cannot return.
You're aching, so will I
when I awake and discover that I have been damaged by your...

(Chorus)

You're frightened, so am I.
A world of demons wait,
watching the movements and filling my heart with hate.
You're burning, so will I
when I awake and discover how I have been ravaged by your...

(Chorus)

For the play, this song expresses the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It would be played before her death or when they're together, perhaps before the fall of Macbeth.

Verse I: Macbeth internally realizing that they are both broken people, and as Lady Macbeth begins to change him, he knows he isn't headed in the direction he wants. He grows emotionless and knows he can't return things to how they were. Verse II: Macbeth acknowledges who he has become and that sacrifices need to be made so he can continue to reign. He, as a thinking character, knows he is far from the light. Verse III: He knows he'll be punished for his sins. Lady Macbeth burned in suicide, and he knows he'll follow her inside the fire. Chorus: As changes progress, it is Lady Macbeth that has set the changes in motion that lead to Macbeth's demise.

Of course, this is all based on my own personal opinion of the character's feelings outside of what Shakespeare has told us.

Atreyu - Lip Gloss and Black

If I gave you pretty enough words
could you paint a picture of us that works
with emphasis on function rather than design?
Aren't you tired? 'Cause i will carry you
on a broken back and blown out knees.
I have been where you are for a while.

(Chorus)
Aren't you tired of being weak?
Such rage that you could scream
all the stars right out of the sky
and destroy the prettiest starry night
every evening that I die.

I am exhumed, just a little less human and lot more bitter and cold. (x3)
I am exhumed, just a little less human.

After all these images of pain
have cut right through you,
I will kiss every scar and weep
"You are not alone."
Then I'll show you that place
in my chest where my heart
still tries to beat; it still tries to beat.

(Chorus)

Live. Love. Burn. Die. (x4)

I chose this song mostly because of its poetic value; it reminds me of Shakespeare. There is tragedy in it. I imagine this song being played during Duncan's murder. "Emphasis on function rather than design" relates to Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's poor relationship; the two depend on eachother for the sake of obtaining materialistic things rather than functioning better as people. The chorus I find fitting as something Lady Macbeth would say to Macbeth; he should strive to become stronger, and every evening for her drags on in her redundant life while she knows Macbeth's potential to obtain everything she wants, even if he'd "destroy the prettiest starry night" ("starry night" representing peace, as portrayed in Van Gogh's painting) in the process. I believe this song portrays what Lady Macbeth had planned would take place after Duncan's murder rather than the events that would unfold.

Thrice - Beggars

All you great men of power, you who boast of your feats;
politicians and entrepreneurs,
can you safeguard your breath in the night while you sleep?
Keep your heart beating steady and sure?
As you lie in your bed, does the thought haunt your head
that you’re really rather small?
If there’s one thing I know in this life, we are beggars all.

All you champions of science and rulers of men,
can you summon the sun from its sleep?
Does the earth seek your counsel on how fast to spin?
Can you shut up the gates of the deep?
Don’t you know that all things hang, as if by a string,
o’er the darkness, poised to fall?
If there’s one thing I know in this life, we are beggars all.

All you big shots that swagger and stride with conceit,
Did you devise how your frame would be formed?
If you’d been raised in a palace, or live out in the streets,
did you choose the place or the hour you’d be born?
Tell me what can you claim? Not a thing - not your name!
Tell me if you can recall just one thing not a gift in this life?

Can you hear what’s been said?
Can you see now that everything’s grace after all?
If there’s one thing I know in this life, we are beggars all.

This song would be played in the final credits. I chose it because it sums up not only one of the themes of Macbeth, but a theme that revolves around the rest of Shakespeare's tragedies as well as life itself. The tragedy to Macbeth can be found in Macbeth's belief that he is indestructible before he meets his end. Shakespearian tragedy is found in how his characters develop an understanding (usually too late) that they are only mortal, and that's what this song is about.

---------2nd half by Tia McClelland-----------

The Beatles - Oh! Darling
Oh! darling, please believe me
I'll never do you no harm
Oh! darling, if you leave me I'll never make it alone
Believe me when I beg you don't ever leave me alone
(Believe me darling)

When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Well you know I nearly broke down and cried.
When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Oh well you know I nearly broke down and died.

Oh! darling, if you leave me
I'll never make it alone
Believe me when I tell you, you don't ever leave me alone
Oh! darling please believe me
I'll never let you down (Oh believe me darling)
Believe me when I tell you Ill never do you no harm

When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Well you know I nearly broke down and cried
When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Oh well you know I nearly broke down and died

Oh! darling, please believe me
I'll never let you down (Oh believe me darling)
Believe me when I tell you I'll never do you no harm

Though this song is simple and light-hearted it could be featured in the first act when you get acquainted Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship, how it seems like Macbeth depends on her (as an equal) and seems to appease her a lot. A few lyrics to mention is:
"Oh! Darling, please believe me I'll never do you no harm." This describes how Macbeth is very loyal to his wife and how he seems like he'd never do anything to hurt or anger her at all.
"Oh! Darling, if you leave me I'll never make it alone. Believe me when I tell you, you don't ever leave me alone." The nature of this song seems a little more weaker-willed than Macbeth (though he does show a lot of spineless qualities he still holds some more dignity than this song would let on to believe), however I think that if Lady Macbeth left him he wouldn't of been able to commit the murders by himself, hence not wanting her to leave him, I also don't think he'd be happy without her, this is the beginning when he's still passionate about her existence and wants her around.

Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
Her green plastic watering-can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth that she bought
From a rubber man in a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself, it wears her out

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns
He used to do surgery for girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins and it wears him out

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love

But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run
And it wears me out

If I could be who you wanted all the time

Towards the end of Act one Macbeth claims "we must conceal our false heart behind our false faces" in the same vein of this song, Fake Plastic Tress, they were pretending to be something they weren't in order to conceal the guilt. Though this quote fits well I think this song belongs most in Act Two, when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to "put on your nightgown, in case we're called, and seen to be out of bed. And don't get so lost in thought." She's basically telling him to put on an act and pretend to be innocent. A few lyrics that stick out are:
"(...) A rubber man, in a town full of rubber plans, to get rid of itself, it wears her out." The rubber man could be Macbeth because he's constantly pretending to be someone he isn't, rubber plans because their plans always require them to seem like these innocent people that aren't guilty of killing. Also the last line could foreshadow how all of this eventually takes a mental toll on Lady Macbeth and she starts to sleepwalk and relive the murders during those episodes, it ends up wearing her out mentally.
"She lives with a broken man, a cracked polystyrene man, who just crumbles and burns." Again, this could pertain to Macbeth and how he has problems being fake, the guilt eats him up, therefore he's 'cracked'. He doesn't know how to pretend to be fake like Lady Macbeth.
"If I could be who you wanted all the time" In Act one Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth a coward and undermines his masculinity, this lyrics can show self-loathing from Macbeth, or how he may feel weaker compared to her. He isn't a ruthless, evil person in the beginning of the play, and as you know that changes and he ends up surpassing the ruthlessness needed in order to carry out murders.

Joy Division - Dead Souls
Someone take these dreams away
that point me to another day
A duel of personalities
That stretch all true reality

They keep calling me
Keep on calling me
They keep calling me
Keep on calling me

When figures from the past stand tall
and mocking voices ring the hall
Imperialistic house of prayer
Conquistadors who took their share

They keep calling me
Keep on calling me
They keep calling me
Keep on calling me

Calling me, calling me [x2]

They keep calling me
Keep on calling me
They keep calling me
Keep on calling me

This song would fit best in Act three (or possibly Act five for Lady Macbeth when she starts losing her cool). This song would reveal how Macbeth is starting to be haunted with the murders he's committed, specifically Banquo's death, during the dinner scene when he continually sees Banquo's apparition. A few lyrics that are significant are:
"Someone take these dreams away that point me to another day, a duel of personalities that stretch all true reality." This lyric can be about Macbeth being haunted by the murders he's committed. This can also show Lady Macbeth's mental breakdown and how when she sleepwalks she relives the murders she's committed with Macbeth. She would probably like for the dreams to go away. The second part of the lyric that talks about personalities could be how they both pretended to be someone else they weren't.
"When figures from the past stand tall and mocking voices ring the hall." The figure that Macbeth is viewing is actually the ghost of Banquo, though he's talking to a chair the whole time during the dinner he yells at it and questions it. I think Macbeth feels like he's being toyed with, at some point in the play he feels as if Banquo has been mocking him by appearing at the most inconvenient of times to make him feel guilty. A particular part where he feels like Macbeth is mocking him is when he sees the third apparition with a procession of eight kings, the eighth being Banquo with a mirror, smiling.

Nikka Costa - Push and Pull
Mr. Nothing's got a lot
He's got a lot to say
He's good at being what he's not
Gives nothing away
Another day goes on by
And he never speaks his heart
He takes his chance with what he's got
It's too late now to stop

You push and you pull and struggle with the knot
It's tying you up while you're fadin'
You give and you take and take what you got
Round and round 'till it breaks and
You push and you pull and struggle with the knot
It's tying you up while you're fadin' into your lie

Mr. Nothing is late
He's running out of time
He questions whether chance or fate will ever show a sign
Looks to the sky above
For a glimpse of what it means
And never never never make
Make no sense to him

You push and you pull and struggle with the knot
It's tying you up while you're fadin'
You give and you take and take what you got
Round and round 'till it breaks and
You push and you pull and struggle with the knot
It's tying you up while you're fadin' into your lie

You push and you pull it

I feel like this song would fit best at the end of Act five, for the ending credits, because it summarizes a bit of what happened in the play. I also feel like this could fit in the second act and a bit of the first act. A few lyrics that could support both acts are:
"(...) He's good at being what he's not, gives nothing away. Another day goes on by and he never speaks his heart, he takes his chance with what he's got, it's too late now to stop." Though Macbeth wasn't entirely good at pretending to be innocent he did a good enough job to get away with it at first. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were sure to do their best to give no guilt away, though Macbeth didn't like the plan, and it didn't sit well with him he never told Lady Macbeth how he felt about it. Now that they've went through with the plans it was too late for them to falter now, especially Macbeth since he was going to be the new king. Lying and pretending to be innocent is what ultimately caused his demise.
"He questions whether chance or fate will ever show a sign" This could refer to Macbeth depending on the witches' prophecies to help him. In Act five he waited for one of the prophecies to come true, he used it to boost his confidence even though he was starting to doubt them. In the beginning of the play he wondered if the witches were right, but didn't wait to see what happened and took fate into his own hands.
"You push, and you pull, and struggle with the knot. It's tying you up while you're fadin'. You give, and you take, and take what you got (...) It's tying you up while you're fadin' into your lie." I think Macbeth was struggling between being this evil, villainous person, and using his honor and righteousness to actually get higher up, in between this internal struggle he lost his personality and just became emotionless. He eventually ended up fading into this facade he was putting on and became the evil person Lady Macbeth wanted him to be.