Rare Birds

We're over the moon: Top 10 songs with a lunar legacy from a Leo (with sun inAquarius)

Photo by Michelle Watson/CatchlightGroup.com
Movie still from A Trip to the Moon by George Melies
Movie Still by Georges Méliès

On Monday, the moon enters into my astrological sun sign Leo. And Tuesday is a full moon. So it's no wonder I've been feeling energized, optimistic, and kind of, well, weird!

Apparently, the combination of Aquarius Sun and the Leo Moon has the potential to bring out powerful energies in people, no matter what their sign. A New Orleans friend of mine has referred to me more than once as, "a f---ing Leo!" and I don't disagree. As a Leo, I'm already patting myself on the back for all the wonderful things I'm gonna do this week.

Musicians have always loved a full moon, and I am no exception. To celebrate this energy I feel flowing through me and vote for a better future, I present to you my first top 10 list for CultureMap, top 10 songs about the moon.

1. "There's a Moon Out Tonight" Performed by The Capris

I've always loved Doo-Wop, but I hadn't heard this particular song until a year or two ago when I discovered Kenneth Anger's beautiful film Rabbit's Moon which uses several Doo-Wop songs for its soundtrack. The timbre of each voice in this group and the crazy harmonies they create together, especially for the last line of the song, speak to dreams of a life beyond the fire escapes and mean streets of Queens or any other urban landscape.

2. "Blue Moon" Performed by Elvis Presley

This is the track to drop on any Elvis Presley-hater who can't fathom the man as an innovator and not an imitator. Presley always knew when he was copping from the best, like Big Mama Thornton. But when, as in this song, he combined his love for crooning like Dean Martin with a high-pitched cry that is pure hillbilly, the world heard something new. Even today, this recording sounds like music from the future.

3. "Moonlight Drive" Performed by The Doors

Strange Days and their self-titled debut before it, explicitly referenced Weimar-era theater, Greek myth and tragedy, and American rural blues. This track, leading off with a lyric that could have right out of Tin Pan Alley, features a truly badass solo from guitarist Robby Krieger, and just when you think it can't get any scarier, Morrison's ad-libs at the end of the song sends it all over edge.

4. "I'll Shoot the Moon" Performed by Tom Waits

Time is not linear. And as Waits himself once sang, "…it's time, time, time that you love…" Here's a song that could have fallen out of the sky above Brecht and Weill's City of Mahagonny. Everything that's new is old again.

5. "It's Only a Paper Moon" Performed by Ella Fitzgerald and the Delta Rhythm Boys

Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and Billy Rose, music by the great Harold Arlen. This might be my favorite vocal version of this song. Somehow, Fitzgerald manages to sound upbeat yet melancholy in her delivery. And those backgrounds from the Delta Rhythm Boys on the first verse? Spooky…

6. "The Moon Looked Down And Laughed" Performed by The Virgin Prunes

The virgin what? Everyone I've met who prides themselves on knowing their '80s music has given me a blank look when I drop the name of this underrated band. This Irish collective had as much to do with performance art as they did art song, and unlike their more famous brethren, never really managed to make music for the masses. Be warned, this track is pretty tame compared to most of their repertoire.

7. "Moon River" Performed by Audrey Hepburn

Lyrics by Johnny Mercer, music by Henry Mancini. My understanding is that this is Mancini's absolute favorite version of this song.

8. "The Whole of the Moon" performed by The Waterboys

Like most musicians, I have a radio inside my skull that sometimes surprises me with what it plays and other times, I wish I could somehow unplug. Thankfully, earlier last week, I woke up with this particular song stuck in my head. What a groove!

9. "Alabama Song" Performed by Lotte Lenya

Weird "American" lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, Krautrock-meets-ragtime music by Kurt Weill. This 1927 composition was written with Lotte Lenya's unique voice in mind, and Lenya recorded and recorded the song several times throughout her career. Lenya's brilliance as an actor is evident in this clip, although for some reason, probably due to censors, the "pretty boy" verse was omitted for this performance for early 1960s television.

10. "Silver Moon" Performed by David Sylvian

Last cut on this virtual mixtape with this track is from David Sylvian's album Gone to Earth. Sylvian's recent output is only getting further and further away from songs like this one, although he can't seem to exorcise his innate compositional gift for melody. To all my fellow Leos, and all the other signs out there, I bid you, goodnight.

unspecified

Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

---

Queer is now playing in theaters.

movies film