Listening to Joan Baez and now I have a Band AU question if you'd be so inclined: who sings Diamonds and Rust just a bit too emotionally (possibly while staring down the person who's making them feel emotional about the song), and under what circumstances?
What an absolutely cracking ask!!! <3
I’m going to start by embedding the song and posting the lyrics because it’s absolutely gorgeous and definitely has a place in the Band AU:
Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall
As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust
Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed
Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there
Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid
Well, I don’t think there’s any doubt whatsoever that it’s being sung about Francis. The blue eyes, the ‘good with words and keeping things vague’, the harsh reviews of the singer’s poetry... And that leaves us with, uh, a number of options.
I was inclined to say Philippa when they’re pretending they can’t possibly be together in Checkmate, but the song maybe has a bit too much finality for that? Or at least more distance in terms of timing than the AU really allows for. There’s a feeling in it I could see Oonagh pulling off, but, bless her, she’s got an ‘interesting’ voice, not a balladeer’s voice, and ten years after Francis I don’t think she would feel that nostalgic about it, what with having Marthe all to herself instead. It’s definitely a song for lovers, so not one for Marthe to sing about him, or Kate. Jerott...hmmm, I find the idea appealing (perhaps predictably). He would have to have come a long way in terms of emotional vulnerability and taking himself less seriously though. I can see him trying not to listen to the lyrics because they hurt when it comes on the radio though.
Nope, I think this is a Catherine d’Albon song. I haven’t quite decided who the d’Albons are in the AU - other than très chic, très français - but they must be musical because they’ll be around for Eurovision or the Berlin scene in 1983 (Queens’ Play). Catherine probably meets Francis then, and I wonder if she’s actually seen her Dad having Feelings about this song before it becomes relevant to her later on, too.
If she plays it at a festival or gig where she knows Francis is going to be there, I’m sure Philippa will be there too, and there’s scope for her singing a song that is lyrically blatantly about Francis, but looking at Philippa throughout because that’s where her real regrets lie... Solo on stage with her guitar, glancing coyly at the wings when the lyrics really hit home, Francis making himself meet her eyes though it’s uncomfortable and Philippa holding his arm and wondering about the intensity in Catherine’s expression when she looks at her and not just Francis.
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