The Frankenstein Playlist: Track Two

The Playlist So Far:

• 1- The Creature Lives by Mastodon

Our second track continues the theme of alienation in yesterday's selection, but adds a heaping helping of Oedipal guilt and anger. There's one particular scene where I often think of this track

In many ways, the entire story of Frankenstein is about a child seeking acceptance from his father. I find this particular track to be deeply, deeply in touch with those feelings. Wanting to be close with a parent, yet with sometimes years of misunderstanding and rejection between you. Sometimes outright hatred, but even under that, even at one's most anguished and enraged, there is the deep need to be part of a family. To be loved, despite your failings and weaknesses.

The Creature, as always, is seeking that grace. The tragic element is that he has not the experience or maturity to deal with not getting it. When he is left out in the cold world alone, with no one to turn to for comfort...he can only imagine lashing out.

My Father's House
by Bruce Springsteen



Last night I dreamed that I was a child
Out where the pines grow wild and tall
I was trying to make it home through the forest
Before the darkness falls
I heard the wind rustling through the trees
And ghostly voices rose from the fields
I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path
With the devil snappin' at my heels

I broke through the trees, and there in the night
My father's house stood shining hard and bright
The branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms
But I ran till I fell, shaking in his arms
I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart
Will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts
I got dressed, and to that house I did ride
From out on the road, I could see its windows shining in light

I walked up the steps and stood on the porch
A woman I didn't recognize came and spoke to me through a chained door
I told her my story, and who I'd come for
She said "I'm sorry, son, but no one by that name lives here anymore"

My father's house shines hard and bright
It stands like a beacon calling me in the night
Calling and calling, so cold and alone
Shining `cross this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned