Shadow Songs

Collaboration
Name:	Shadow Songs
Members:
Date(s):	late 1980s, early 1990s
Focus:
Fandoms:
External Links:
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Shadow Songs was a VCR Vidding-era collective consisting of Tashery S. and Gayle F.

One well-know vid they created was Data's Dream, a multifandom vid.

Gayle and Tashery both vidded with other vidders under other names; see also Sarran Songs.

Their Songtapes

Like most vidding groups of the VCR-era, songtapes were created on a "as needed" basis. New vids were added to the tape as they were created. Multiple versions of their songtapes circulated among fans in the 1980s and 1990s. The vidders took great pains to control the quality of their vids, asking that fans contact them directly rather than getting a degraded copy from a friend of a friend. Unlike most vidders of the time they did not charge for the costs of the tape and postage. Instead they sent them as gifts to subscribers of the Rainbow Noise newsletter or accepted blank video-cassette tapes in return.

In 2005, Morgan Dawn digitized a selection of their Blake's 7 and Wiseguy vids from their master videotapes and offered them briefly on DVD.

Sample songtape from 1993

one of their songtapes from the 1990s

Blake's 7

• Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads
• Precious Pain - Melissa Etheridge
• 2,000 Light Years from Home - The Rolling Stones (Tashery with Jill)
• Big Science - Laurie Anderson
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz (Tashery with Jill)
• Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
• No Fear, No Hate, No Pain - Eurythmics
• Love is a Stranger - Eurythmics
• Pirate Ships - Judy Collins
• The Universe Song - Monty Python
• Yellow Submarine - Beatles
• Science Fiction Double Feature - Rocky Horror
• Continental Drift - Rolling Stones

Mixed Fandoms

• One Man Magical Show - Julia Ecklar (Sherlock Holmes)
• End of the Night - Doors (Miami Vice)
• Constant Craving - K D. Lange (Vice)
• No Fear, No Hate, No Pain - Eurythmics (Vice)
• Old Souls - Phantom of the Paradise (Star Trek)
• Into the Night by Julee Cruise - Twin Peaks (Twin Peaks)

Blake's7

• Beastie - Jethro Tull
• Desperado - Reah Carrick
• Evening Falls - Enya
• Every Breath You Take - The Police (Tashery with Jill)
• Shades of Shadow - Julia Ecklar
• Lovers in a Dangerous Time - Bruce Cockburn
• Exit-U2
• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
• Exile - Enya
• Under Stars - Brian Eno
• Soolin (to Old Grey Coat) - Reel World

Editing Styles

In 2017, Morgan Dawn digitized additional copies of their songtapes. After viewing them, so many years later Tashery wrote:

"Gayle and I noticed this difference in our editing: when a new line began a new image sequence, Gayle cut the image in when the singer started singing. I cut the image in on the beat. Maybe more obviously, Gayle's editing responded more to lyrics and mine more to music, but there are big exceptions to that. Look at what Gayle did with the Universe song! To me, the beginnings of lines/image sequences is the surest way to tell Gayle's solo work from mine. More sure than theme or music, since we exchanged ideas and used songs recommended by each other. Vidding together we'd take turns putting in alternate cuts so out collaborations have both kinds of timings about equally. Jill's editing was to the beat, too, and in other ways I don't think I could now tell Jill's and my editing, in the 2 VCR days, apart."

List of Their Fanvids

All vids below are credited to Shadow Songs (Gayle and Tashery) unless otherwise indicated:

Blake’s 7

• 2000 Light Years from Home by The Rolling Stones (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Beastie by Jethro Tull (Blake's 7)
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place by The Rolling Stones (Blake's 7)
• Burning Down the House by The Talking Heads (Blake's 7) (Gayle, Tashery and Jill )
• Children of the Fall I by Julia Ecklar (Blake's 7)
• Children of the Fall II by Julia Ecklar (Blake's 7)
• Dance Without Sleeping by Melissa Etheridge (Blake's 7)
• Dancing with Mr. D by The Rolling Stones (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Desperado by Reah Carrick (Blake's 7)
• Don't You Need by Melissa Etheridge (Blake's 7)
• Early Morning Dreams by Pete Townshend (Blake's 7)
• Evening Falls – Enya (Blake's 7)
• Every Breath You Take by The Police (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Exile by Enya (Blake's 7)
• Exit by U2 (Blake's 7)
• Fixing A Hole by The Beatles (Blake's 7)
• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper (Blake's 7)
• Here Comes The Flood by Peter Gabriel (Blake's 7)
• He's A Man by Madonna (Blake's 7)
• I Don't Work For A Living by Malcolm Dalglish and Grey Larsen, writers and performers. From their album The First of Autumn on Appalshop Records (Blake's 7)
• If I Only Had a Brain by Ray Bolger, The Wizard of Oz (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Lay My Love by Brian Eno/Cale (Blake's 7)
• Let's Misbehave by Irving Aaronson (song by Cole Porter) (Blake's 7)
• Love Is A Stranger by Eurythmics (Blake's 7)
• Lovers in a Dangerous Time by Bruce Cockburn (Blake's 7)
• Lullaby (Spider) by The Cure (Blake's 7)
• Jaws Movie Theme/Mack The Knife from "3 Penny Opera" (Blake's 7)
• Missionary Man by Eurythmics (Blake's 7)
• Murder by Numbers by The Police (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• No Fear, No Hate, No Pain by Eurythmics (Blake's 7)
• Not Even Close by Tim Finn (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• One More Kiss, Dear by The New American Orchestra, from Blade Runner (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Pirate Ships by Judy Collins (Blake's 7)
• Place Your Hand by Melissa Etheridge (Blake's 7)
• Plastic Fantastic Lover by Jefferson Airplane (Blake's 7)
• Precious Pain by Melissa Etheridge (Blake's 7)
• Red Red Wine by UB40 (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Regrets by Eurythmics (Blake's 7)
• Road To Nowhere by The Talking Heads (Blake's 7)
• "Science Fiction/Double Feature" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack (Blake's 7)
• S.O.S. by Tim Curry (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Sean Flynn by The Clash (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Shades of Shadow by Julia Ecklar (Blake's 7)
• She Moved Through The Fair by The Chieftains and Van Morrison (Blake's 7)
• Some Enchanted Evening from the soundtrack "South Pacific" (Blake's 7 and some clips from "South Pacific")
• Something by The Beatles (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz (Blake’s 7) (Tashery and Jill (as Sarran Songs)
• Soolin (to Old Grey Coat) by Reel World (Blake's 7)
• Sooner or Later by Madonna (Blake's 7)
• The Bug II by Mary Chapin Carpenter (Blake's 7)
• The Clasp by Jethro Tull (Blake's 7)
• The Lumberjack Song from Monty Python (Blake's 7) (this is a solo Jill vid but appears on copies of the Shadow Songs songtapes)
• The Man That Got Away by Judy Garland (Blake's 7)
• The Universe Song by Monty Python (Blake's 7)
• This Is Not Love by Jethro Tull (Blake's 7)
• Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler (Blake's 7)
• Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star by Steeleye Span (Blake's 7)
• Under Stars by Brian Eno (Blake's 7) (Avon/Callie)
• Under Wraps by Jethro Tull (Blake's 7)
• Vow of Vengeance by Julia Ecklar (Blake's 7)
• Walk Awhile by Fairpoint Convention (Blake's 7)
• Walking and Falling by Laurie Anderson (Blake's 7)
• When The Night Comes by Joe Cocker (Blake's 7)
• When You Are A Jet from West Side Story (Blake's 7)
• Wicked Game II by Chris Isaak (Blake's 7) (Avon/Blake)
• Yellow Submarine by The Beatles (Blake's 7)

Wiseguy

• Nights in White Satin by Moody Blues (Wiseguy) (Sonny/Vinnie) (Tashery and Lynn C.)
• Black Knight's Work by Cat's Laughing (Wiseguy)
• Cocksucker Blues by Rolling Stones (Wiseguy)
• Eyes of Your Ghost by ? (Wiseguy) (Frank/Vinnie)
• Heartbreak Hotel by John Cale (Wiseguy)
• How Can I Tell You by Cat Stevens (Wiseguy)
• Jumping Jack Flash by the Rolling Stones (Wiseguy) (Sonny/Vinnie)
• Losing My Religion I by REM (Wiseguy) (Frank/Vinnie)
• Losing My Religion II by REM (Wiseguy) (Sonny/Vinnie) (Tashery and Lynn C.)
• No Way To Say Goodbye by Leonard Cohen (Wiseguy)
• Put This Fire Out by Toni Childs (Wiseguy) (Sonny/Vinnie)
• Reason To Believe by Reah Carrick (Wiseguy) (Sonny/Vinnie)
• Vatican Rag by Tom Lehrer (Wiseguy) (Frank/Vinnie)
• Wicked Game I by Chris Isaak (Wiseguy) (Sonny/Vinnie) (Gayle and Lynn C.)
• You Don't Have to Play Me Backwards by Joan Baez (Wiseguy) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)

Miami Vice

• Constant Craving by K D. Lange (Miami Vice)
• End of the Night by The Doors (Miami Vice)
• No Fear, No Hate, No Pain by Eurythmics (Miami Vice)

Star Trek

• The Bug I by Mary Chapin Carpenter (Star Trek (Kirk) )
• Old Souls by Phantom of the Paradise (Star Trek)

Multiple Fandoms

• Data's Dream by Enya (Multiple Fandoms)
• The One by Elton John(Multiple Fandoms) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)

Other Fandoms

• Come To My Window by Melissa Etheridge (VR5) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)
• Dust by Fleetwood Mac - Lawrence of Arabia
• Getting To Know You from The King & I (Columbo)
• Into the Night from the Twin Peaks soundtrack (Twin Peaks)
• One Man Magical Show by Julia Ecklar (Sherlock Holmes (Granada))
• She's Not Dead by Perfume Trees (English Patient (movie) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)
• The Journey by Loreena McKennitt (LOTR) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)
• Until The End Of The World by U2 (Pointbreak (movie)) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)

La Femme Nikita (TV)

• Acrobat by U2 (La Femme Nikita (TV)) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)
• Crush by Garbage (La Femme Nikita (TV)) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)
• Running To Stand Still by U2 (La Femme Nikita (TV)) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)
• Windmills Of Your Mind by Sting (La Femme Nikita (TV)) (Gayle and Morgan Dawn)