Songs From Moving Forward
Chapters 7 and 8
All of the songs on this page are the songs sung by characters in Moving Moving Forward chapters 7 and 8. Unlike previous chapters, I made videos for every song mentioned in the story (and there were a ton of them). To keep this page from being too massive, I have embedded the same playlists used in the chapters. A complete track list has been provided for each playlist, and you can navigate to a specific song by either clicking the button of the top right corner of the video or by clicking the left or right arrow buttons to get to the desired track.
Noah's Songs
Noah sings these songs after Scott leaves at the beginning of Moving On. Unlike the other playlists in these chapters, these songs were sung over the course of several sessions. All of these songs have the same themes of lost love and a sense of hopelessness.
Track list for this playlist:
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Audience Songs
In an effort to get Noah out of his funk after Scott leaves, Will holds an intervention of sorts while at karaoke one night. While these songs don't all fit the specifics of how/why Scott left, they all have a message of "I'm better off without you in my life". Most of th songs in this playlist are performed by unnamed audience members, but in the track list below, I specify when a specific character sings a song in the story. Also, for the record, I actually refer to this scene in my notes as 'the intervention', but I may have been on a How I Met Your Mother kick at the time. On an unrelated note, the dog we recently adopted was originally named 'Legend'. Her new name is... wait for it... Deri. Legend Deri.
Track list for this playlist:
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Mike's Song - Fuck You
Performed by Lily Allen
This is the final song that is sung by audience members in Chapter 7 of Moving Forward. Mike sings this as his first appearance (chronologically). After hearing the song, Noah agrees to talk to Mike, and slowly a friendship forms, which culminates with the two sleeping together just before the story begins. As the name implies, it contains explicit lyrics and is NSFW. However, it's an adorably cute and upbeat song. Certainly there's been someone you just want to look at, smile cheerfully, and say "Fuck you very much" as chipperly as possible. If so, this song is for you. This is also one of my personal anthems.
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Mike's Song - Paparazzi
Performed by Lady Gaga
This is the first song to be sung in 'present' timeline in Moving Forward. Noah's songs were sung over the course of several weeks, and all the audience songs (through Mike's performance of Fuck You) took place in one night a few months before this performance. Put yourself in Noah's shoes, and think how you would feel if you knew someone liked you more than you liked them, and they made eye contact while singing "I won't stop until that boy is mine". It's no surprise that Noah quickly broke things off with Mike, even though he hadn't yet decided how to deal with Scott's sudden reappearance.
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Scott's Songs
Five months after Scott left Noah without even the courtesy of a Dear John letter, Scott reappears at karaoke and unapologetically sings songs about how he is incomplete without Noah. He then practically demands Noah take him back once finished. Suze intervenes, and suggests Noah get a chance to think before giving Scott an answer, or Scott's answer may have been Noah's fist making contact with Scott's jaw.
Track list for this playlist:
I had an interesting revelation when writing Chapter 8 of Moving Forward. When I chose these songs, Scott and Noah were just about to visit Richard and Lydia for the first time in Moving On (even before the second karaoke scene in Moving On). I was in Scott's mindset when writing, and I was absolutely positive that these were the perfect songs for Scott to sing. I didn't think much of it again until it was time to write this chapter. By that point, I was used to writing from Noah's viewpoint. As a result, I actually cringed when I saw the songs I was going to include. There's no apology. There's no sense of an apology. There's just a theme of 'we belong together'. I nearly scrapped my plans, and have Scott sing Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" or Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word". In the end, I decided to stick with the original plan. Scott really would have chosen these songs, since getting back together would seem like such an obvious choice to Scott. |
Suze's Song - It's All Coming Back To Me Now
Performed by Celine Dion
Suze loves drama, and can't help but meddle a bit while Noah struggles with what to tell Scott. She is a true friend, and will support Noah no matter what he decides, but she also wants to make sure there's a good show to be had. Granted, she'd already given suggestions as to what songs she thinks Noah should sing depending on if he decides to take Scott back or tell him to take a hike.
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Noah's Song - Hallelujah
Performed by Fitz Phadraig
Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah is considered by many to be a classic love song of sorts. There's definitely a hauntingly romantic aspect of the music and some of the lyrics, and it is often used in romantic montages (and is possibly best known from Shrek). However, the lyrics are really quite depressing when you focus on them. This song has been covered countless times, and Leonard Cohen wrote over 80 verses that he performed in various combinations during live shows (the versions I found performed by him rarely included the most famous first verse, for example). Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright's versions are probably the best known. When I decided to include this song, I spent a lot of time deciding exactly which verses I would include. With the exception of the first verse, I found a version by Leonard Cohen that contained the verses I wanted in the order I wanted them, but his versions aren't nearly as expressive as Buckley's or Wainwright's. At that point, I decided to record my own version. My absolute favorite version is the one performed by Allison Crowe. It's so expressive and you can feel the anger, passion, and hurt flow out of her as she sings. I found a recording of just the piano from her version, and used that as the base for my recording. The microphone was a bit sensitive with ambient noise, so there's a lot of static, but after countless takes (and tears), I decided to just make do with what I had. If I ever have the option, I may remake this with better equipment.
For me, Hallelujah is not a love song, but a song about finding peace. And for that reason, it's a perfect choice for Noah to sing to Scott when he's decided that he has had enough. The lyrics last verse, which is the only one not among the most-often recorded, are as follows:
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