by Shilpa Saravanan, editor-in-chief & Rojas Oliva, managing editor
The Roar is proud to present our new weekly series FRIDAY PLAYLISTS, where we drop you, the students of Consol, into a drama-filled moment of history and ask you what song is playing.
Without further ado, here’s this week’s moment:
The year is 1911. You are the impressively middle-named British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, and your goal is a clear one: to be the first person to reach the South Pole. You set off with your team of five men across the frozen tundra. Four months of backbreaking trekking in hardly survivable conditions later, you arrive on January 17, 1912! Upon your arrival, you remark:
“Great God! This is an awful place.”
But hey, you’re the first! Right?
The next morning, you discover the remains of a Norwegian camp, along with a letter by the real first person to reach the South Pole, Roald Amundsen, which he politely asks you to deliver for him. Heartbroken, you turn to face the difficult journey home. Very quickly, you begin to run low on supplies and your daily progress dwindles to a near standstill. The prospects of reaching safety disappear.
Your last journal entry is as follows:
“I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more. R. Scott. Last entry. For God’s sake look after our people.”
Eight months later, the members of your party who stayed at the base find your expedition team’s frozen bodies. There were no survivors.
Below is this week’s playlist, created by asking what song is playing while Scott reads the infamous letter. We’ve included links to all the songs, and you can find a link to an 8tracks playlist here.
“Hooked On A Feeling.” Blue Swede.
Junior Josh Vessel. “Because it’s just that feeling that I wasn’t the first.”
“Don’t Stop Believing.” Journey.
Junior Mikel Giles. “Though I guess they did.”
“Pinball Wizard.” The Who.
Freshman Eli Durand-Ganz. “It says wizard in the title. Only a wizard could beat me.”
“Cheeseburger In Paradise.” Jimmy Buffett.
Senior Cody Kaecker. “I wish I was there.”
“The Dora Theme Song.” Joshua Sitron
Freshman Phuc Ha.
“Agony” from Into the Woods. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Sophomore Allison Wenzel.
“Go Your Own Way.” Fleetwood Mac.
Sophomore Andrew Pham.
“That song from Frozen…Let it Go.” Idina Menzel
Sophomore Ross Villanueva. “Because they’re frozen!”
Want to learn more? Read the Wikipedia page here.
