I'd like a little help with this scene...

So heres the situation:

The main character and villain protagonist is at a party. It's not really set in stone what KIND of party it is yet or why it's being thrown, but it's pretty high class.

Him and his two (not evil) companions are there both because A: they are running from a large police force, as well as a group of hero antagonists, two of which are magic users on par and superior to himself.... unless they'd somehow really set him off.

And B: The party is situated on a kind of resort on a cliffs edge, looking out to sea, which in turn is as close as they could get to a storm... which they need to teleport in to.

The spell itself is written on a scroll, which, while being very specific to its location and taking a long time to set up, requires little energy, so non-magic users can use it as well.

Said protagonist decides to stay behind and cause a distraction to buy time. His companions run to the lighthouse on the cliffs edge with the scroll, he stays behind in the outer building and goes to the roof for a better view.

Once there, he nonchalantly knocks out the one guy standing there, and to his surprise finds a few musical cue's.

He decides to himself "why the hell not?" takes to the stage, and starts singing. It works pretty well, he gets the crowd's attention (apparently, he's not doing too bad) and the cops and heroes just circle, unwilling to take him down in full view of everyone and possibly causing a panic. He might give em a wink or a cheerful smile, just to let them know he sees them....

Then the fireworks go off. Countless rockets, poppers, whizzers, and bangs with enough combined explosive power to be classified as military grade, (mostly) all set up to go off at the same time... needless to say it causes a stampede for the exits, and plenty of fiery mayhem.

Maybe he'll soundlessly make his escape... or maybe hell just stand there as everything begins to burn down around him. And then he'll start laughing.

My question is... what should he sing before all hell breaks loose?

edited 3rd Jan '12 3:37:49 PM by Zanzibarwatsiro

"My Way".

Well, I think it would work.

edited 20th May '13 10:20:09 AM by Madrugada

Welcome to Writer's Block. I'm sure that the outcome of that scene will be interesting, despite the lack of context.

By the way, I heard that singing "My Way" during karoke tends to start bar fights in the Philippines, but don't quote me on that.

edited 3rd Jan '12 6:08:14 PM by chihuahua0

"Springtime For Hitler", obviously.

My Way is seconded. But then again I love those scenes where theres an obvious disconnect between song and action, like in Good Morning Vietnam or Watchmen.

Another vote for My Way, but I'd also suggest Come Fly With Me or Strangers In The Night. I'd also recommend having the fireworks start going off during the song, and have him continue singing over them, but that might be tricky if you're not doing a comic or screenplay where you can get that kind of Soundtrack Dissonance.

Actually, you know what? Sympathy for the Devil would be perfect here.

edited 3rd Jan '12 9:02:12 PM by KyleJacobs

Thank you :) I'll check those other suggestions, never got to listen to those before...

Madrugada, "My way"... listening to the lyrics.... my god. It fits ridiculously well actually.

I'll have to cut it down a bit, (the whole song would be a bit much) but a lot of the lines work well with unfettered, and [[Determinator determinator]] type characters. Plus, it's like he's talking to the heroes and telling em all the classic lines of "I did what I had to do", and "It amused me"... IN SONG!

Though I personally think it wouldn't really fit THIS specific scene, yeah it would be pretty perfect if you had this playing for something a little more action packed

P.S. Does anyone happen to know if there's a specific name for the tune that kicks in, before the singing begins? "The 'somethhing-something' started to loop, once ,twice... three times..."- and after much blinking and dry-throat clearing he'll finally swing into it. Rule of Drama, people.

edited 4th Jan '12 1:49:00 AM by Zanzibarwatsiro

I think it's called "the hook". There's a trope page on it called Epic Riff.

Zanzibar: That's why I suggested it.

In your description of the scene, you didn't specify whether he expected to get out alive, or whether he was "buying time" for his henchdudes and expected to be captured/killed/whatever. But deciding to take the stage at a fancy-dancy party to buy time is a move that speaks of a certain kind of style, and My Way works for either situation and has the same kind of style. It's the song I heard in my head as I read the description, even before I got to the question, "What is he singing?".

If it was clearly that he didn't expect to survive the situation and only cared that his henchies got away, I'd have suggested "The Impossible Dream" — it's much the same sort of determination, but more fatalistic.

It's the "introduction" or "intro" (or sometimes the "vamp").

edited 4th Jan '12 7:06:49 AM by Madrugada