#I wrote this all in an hour I swear I'm delusional at this point

[writer-of-random-things]

Hmm okay so Tumblr-wise I'm supposed to be working on a analysis of a Crane Wives album right now, and I've been putting that off for months (I still haven't gotten past the first sentence). Life-wise...honestly I shouldn't even be on Tumblr considering the stuff I need to sort out. But. Here I am, and I am going to rant about Anais Mitchell--namely, the connections between the lyrics of her solo albums, and those of Hadestown.

The connections I'm about to make have no concrete evidence to back them, by the way; I'm just unhinged.

In her book Working on a Song, Anais Mitchell likens songwriting to gardening; that there are no 'right' or 'wrong' versions of a song, and that beautiful flowers may be discarded, but nonetheless they enrich the soil and bloom into something greater. There is no greater proof of this than her music. Let's look a few examples, shall we?

In Mitchell's first album The Brightness, she has a gorgeous track titled "Your Fonder Heart", in which she sings, "If I cannot take you for a liar or a lover / I'll take you for my brother in arms". In the off-broadway NYTW version of the song "If It's True", Orpheus says, "So I ask you as a brother / And I ask you as a friend / And I ask you as a lover / And I ask you once again / Is it true what they say?" Notwithstanding the similar word choices, both versions ring of an earnestness, and a sense of unity that is amplified in Hadestown's story.

Furthermore, Mitchell often describes the love between Orpheus and Eurydice in Hadestown as "cosmic". In fact, before "Wedding Song" was written, there was a less gritty (but very beautiful) song called "Everything Written", in which the Fates named several constellations, before Eurydice sings: "...When I look into the skies / I lose my head for scale and size / And still you're larger in my eyes / Than any star / You pull on me like gravity / I want to be where you are". The chorus and Orpheus' verse later on in the song echo the idea of inexplicable, cosmic love (this is reflected in the Broadway version, when the lovers lay on stage and stargaze during "All I've Ever Known"). But you know what else echoes cosmic love? "Bright Star", a track on Mitchell's latest solo album. Some lyrics include: "Bright Star / I have sailed in all directions / Have followed your reflection / to the farthest foreign shore" (sounds like Orpheus following Eurydice to the underworld, doesn't it?), and "There's a thought upon me dawning / You have touched a thousand longings / And I don't know who you are", which echoes Orpheus' "I knew you before we met / And I don't even know you yet" in "All I've Ever Known".

In addition, one of my favorite songs in The Brightness is "Old Fashioned Hat"; according to this thread, Mitchell said in an interview (the link is now broken, unfortunately) that the song was autobiographical, being about her husband and falling in love with him over and over again: "Sometimes you look at someone you know so well, and for a moment you don't even recognize them. It's exciting. I hope it happens our whole life". This is even more potent considering the lyrics in the song: "I have loved you for so long / Even when I could only do you wrong /...But you look like a stranger / In that old fashioned hat / And I got a pocketful of change / And I don't wanna go home yet / Clearly I remember when / I used to scratch my poems / On the backs of other lovers / In the darkness of my mind / Back before I made my home / In the marrow of your bones / Now I know your figure like my own / Even from behind". Compare this to Orpheus and Eurydice, who have known each other for centuries, as long as their tale has been told. Every time we sing it again, they meet for the first time, but they've also always loved each other. At the beginning and end of Hadestown, Orpheus and Eurydice look at each other. They know the other so well, and yet they don't recognize each other and thus fall in love all over again. If this doesn't match the lyrics of "Old Fashioned Hat", I don't know what does.

This next one is a bit more niche; in the Edmonton production of Hadestown , Mitchell wrote this line for Orpheus during "Doubt Comes In": "Eurydice / I can hear the birds / In the trees / And the laughter / Of our children on the wind". Mitchell explains, "I wept over it; it felt to me the most tragic thing to invoke these children, and this future, that would never come". In her album xoa, "Now You Know" feels achingly similar: "When I think about dying / I think about children / And when I think about children / I think about you / And when I think about you / I feel like crying / Crying for my youth". Similarly, the next stanza is "And when I think of my youth / I think of my freedom / And when I think of my freedom / I feel so alone / And when I feel lonely / I want you to hold me / Hold me in your arms", which parallels Eurydice's first verse in "All I've Ever Known": "I was alone so long / I didn't even know that I was lonely /... All I've ever known is how to hold my own / But now I want to hold you, too". And these are only the connections between the lyrics. "Now You Know" is a song made out of a train of thought. As a result, the structure of the song adapts a circular logic, similar to how "Why We Build the Wall" from Hadestown is written.

One more! I know I said earlier that the connections would be between Hadestown and Mitchell's solo albums only, but I *had* to include this. I'm not going to add much commentary here. Just take the last lyrics of "All I've Ever Known", when Orpheus sings, "I'm gonna hold you forever / the wind will never change on us / As long as we stay with each other / Then we will always be like this". Okay, you got that? Then compare it to "When I Was Younger", a song by Bonny Light Horseman (Mitchell's folk band): "When I was younger / I told you I loved ya / When I was younger I said things like that / Said I would hold you and love you forever / Love you and never look back".

("Love you and never look back" was the line that made me absolutely feral when I compared it to Orpheus and Eurydice, in case anyone was wondering).

So. That was that. I highly recommend you listen to Anais Mitchell's solo albums, read Working on a Song, and watch this beautiful documentary if you want to learn more.

TLDR; I have Hadestown brainrot. Also Anais Mitchell is a lyrical genius and her advice about recycling lyrics and treating writing like "gardening" is not only wise, but can be seen through her own songs, Hadestown and otherwise. I also apologize for referencing "All I've Ever Known" ten million times, I promise it wasn't intentional.

@still-july @activatebutterflyshield I was going to keep this to myself until I thought "Y'know the only two people who might like this post? Great gotta make it for them" so here I am.