This week’s theme is Bar Backstories, and who better to lead this for us than Sly? We see how he becomes important in the series, but we don’t see him before the Red Letters series picks up. He is also the late night host, the word wise guy, the music debater if you’re there when the patrons fizzle out.

So, what’s a Sly special music list? Besides his theme son that I mentioned a few times? How would the most observant man in the room tempt you to talk with music?

This first one feels like Sly when he finds you still there too late to be normal. After all, there’s going to be a reason why you’re not sleeping when most others are. Plus, there is a real Sly, who has helped me with the series, and besides it being their birthday this week too, this musician was one of the first we debated/shared with each other.

Sentimental Lady – Engelbert Humperdinck

After Sly has read your reasons for staying? It’s time he talks to you, providing that classic stoic ear for listening, and some advice. Yes it might sound like a song, or a poem, or a proverb… Sly isn’t nicknamed a dictionary for nothing. When you have a verbose vocabulary, your ways and tastes may seem a little different.

All This And Heaven Too – Florence And The Machine

And if you are staying long after some advice? You’re going to get his whole night’s playlist. If you are holding out? Be prepared for a pivot conversation. Sly will open up and debate the Beatles (other groups too, but this one the most) for something to talk about. So, he’d rig the jukebox to play back to back Beatles, and ask you to pick which is better, with a why. And if that’s a Sly thing, I leave it to you, my readers, to debate it as well. What Beatles song is better than the other, and why? Bonus points for arguments of both sides. Our nerdy wordy sort would love to see a well thought out debate to counter like a proper devil’s advocate testing you at 3 am…

Yesterday – The Beatles

There could absolutely be a case made for Baby’s in Black, because of Sly’s all black, but that’s more of a bonus debate skill, not the one he’s playing second. There’s a theme here, a way of musically questioning you, that just seems like a song discussion, and not a question for you…

If I Needed Someone – The Beatles

Now, what song would Sly silently slip on with his little robot machine when something crazy happened around the club? A general song might be a small warning about the type of shows you will witness in the series and even in the unwritten pages.

Psycho Circus – Kiss

Stay tuned this week, as Sly gets the triple character treatment. A music Monday mood, a character mood board wardrobe Wednesday, and a little backstory fiction for Friday too.