Contingency Songs

[Hannahrain]

You're nearing the end of a long trip home from an overseas vacation. Your experience was quite satisfactory - even transcendent if you're into that sort of thing - but you're exhausted and unable to interact with the rest of the world on any level other than observational, so you choose to spend the flight lightly dozing while glued to your worn and battered mp3 player. Poly-blend clad human externalities murmur around you as you melt into your chair, barely able to register the drink cart's heft as it lumbers past your aisle seat. You think only of your own bed, your dog, your wife, the sweet smell of your family detergent, the peculiar way you have to tweak the handle on your shower to adjust to the perfect temperature, the sound of your hard soles scuffling up the wet stones leading up to the door you can't wait to walk through. You're cycling these thoughts like slides on a carousel when the plane jars abruptly and starts spiraling down hopelessly into oblivion. There's nothing you can do. There's nothing anybody can do.

What song will you play on the way down?

[Wheres the beef?]

The James Zabiela essential mix.

[greghead]

First impulse:

[TallGuyCM]

First impulse:

.......absolutely one of their best songs. Shit's like valium for the ears. This was my very first favorite song of theirs that wasn't from one of the big 3 albums.

[SoulDischarge]

O Superman.

[Miroir Noir]

[Miroir Noir]

"Lucky" is probably too obvious.

[amyzzz]

[captncrzy]

No song will be able to overcome the shrieking sounds of the damned in the cabin.

[Hannahrain]

You're wearing a pair of Bose TraumaBlocker™ noise-canceling headphones. Answer the damn question.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

[captncrzy]

Fuck that shit. I'm blowing the door and sailing out with my jetpack.

[Hannahrain]

The rest of the passengers club you to death for being obstinate. To re-examine your choice and try again, return to page 72.

[bmack86]

[PotVsKtl]

Nothing fancy.

[Hannahrain]

It's Christmas Eve 1944. You're in the trenches with your stalwart be-helmeted brethren, and you're all fading quickly. You've long been out of ammunition, as has the enemy in their trench opposite, and there's nothing left to do but sit and wait - wait for action, wait for arms, wait for death. Over the past few days the men have been gambling with games crafted of shiny pebbles and sphagnum, but even their interest in winning the precious few remaining cigarettes is waning. You can see the fight leaving their eyes one by one, like streetlights fading to burnout on a dark empty street long neglected. You don't blame them and in fact feel yourself, too, growing weary with each passing hour, but it's Christmas Eve goddamnit and you won't have your men let the holiday pass without so much as a mention. With your hand in your pocket, you thumb the dog-eared picture of your family back home and hear the lilting angelic voices of your children singing carols in years past. You know what you have to do. You start singing. Your voice is loud and booming and you've picked a good, strong non-christmas tune. One by one, the men perk up and join in. Merry Christmas, gentlemen. And a happy New Year.

What song do you choose? You're not bound by reality's musical chronology. Additionally, you may pick one song for rousing allied troops and one for rousing axis troops if desired.