Max's Musings

Soundtrack, Feb 25, Falling in Love Again

I've spent most of yestreday and today writing a short story. Well, doing that and making bread and seafood ceviche. The story--still very much first-drafty--is {item:2335764

It's based on another well-known tale, from another era. I think I managed to include all of the essential plot elements from the source material. See if you can guess what it's based on. There are hints galore.

Anyway, a good part of this story takes place in a piano bar, so I've got a wealth of songs to fill out the month in just this one story. It's also a romance, and the song that motivated the romance element is this haunting performance by Marlene Dieitrich.



Dietrich first sang the song in the 1930 movie Der Blaue Engel, an erotic story of obsessive love. It was later translated into English and she sang it again for American audiences. It became her signature. The most sexually explicit verse in the original German lyrics never got translated into English--see this review   in The Guardian if you're interested in the details.