Music matters. It’s what we turn to when we want to ‘feel’ something – to love, to hate, to mourn, or to connect to something or someone.
The day has come, my debut novel has finally hit the shelves, and begs the question ‘how did I do it?’…with the aid of music. I’m making good on my promise to release some Easter Eggs piecemeal-style, including trivia and behind the scenes info. For this first one, I’ll tell you what songs I listened to when writing this novel and the reasons why (spoiler free)…
Hunting High and Low (a-ha) – it’ll come as no surprise to some who’ve followed me and know the origins of my story that I am an a-ha fan – (an 80’s Norwegian band), but the lyrics here are very powerful and achingly romantic…and fitting, given the main characters literally lose each other at one point. I won’t tell you how it plays out. You’ll need to read the book to find out. When I actually looked at the origin of the lyrics, it turns out it was a love song written by band member Pal to his real-life long-distance sweetheart (who he later married). I think it resonated with me that anyone could search that hard and fast for the one he loved:
Hunting high and low…high…
There’s no end to the lengths I’ll go
To find her again
Upon this my dreams are depending
Through the dark
I sense the pounding of her heart
Next to mine
She’s the sweetest love I could find
I’ll always be hunting high and low
Hungry for you
Watch me tearing myself to pieces
The idea of a strong, independent man being so fragile and vulnerable because of his love for another is very poignant, there is no other option other than ‘tearing myself to pieces’ – I noticed in the pronunciation when the band sing it, sounds like ‘tearing’ as in tear as in to cry, not how it translates into English, ‘tearing’ as in shredding up the place. It could just be their interpretation of the lyrics – we’ll never know for sure without the luxury of being able to ask them in person…
Take On Me (a-ha) – both the original and acoustic version are both as important to me. The latter Morten sung during The Masked Singer and broke down the words, so was more apparent about taking a chance on a new love, but he won’t hang around too long for you, but in any case, he’s there right now, for all his strong cheekbones and swagger, and those beautiful blue eyes you would endure any manner of monsters to battle alongside him. And if it’s been a while and I want to revisit the MMC, I’ll just listen to a few a-ha songs to reacquaint myself.
Bang, Bang (featuring Ariana Grange, Jessie J and Nicki Minaj) – Wildly different in sound from the last, this is the song where Amy dances in her bedroom. I chose it mainly because the lyrics are quite in your face and she wants to appear to be a sexual, sensual being. I wasn’t allowed to make reference to the lyrics for copyright reasons, but for trivia, this is the song I wanted.
Bang-bang into the room (I know you want it)
Bang-bang all over you (I’ll let you have it)
Just wait a minute, let me take you there (ah)
And wait a minute ’til you (ah, hey!)
Elbow – One Day Like This. I’ve always liked this song and I chose it for them to dance to as it’s very romantic with its slow, chilled out strings, for all the lyrics imply it’s the end of the world, but it’s OK because they’ve got each other. Again, I couldn’t use the lyrics in the book, because of that darned copyright, but the lyrics are so beautiful here they are, I feel they really spell out how Joel feels about Amy:
Someone tell me how I feel
It’s silly wrong, but vivid right
Oh, kiss me like a final meal
Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight
‘Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light
Yeah, lying with you half awake
Oh, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day
I Miss You – Clean Bandit – I listen to this when I’m editing or trying to get back into the MC dynamic – they have a very tempestuous, love-hate relationship, and start as enemies to lovers. This song is about a breakup, but they can’t get over each other, and the fear of moving on. We all know that gut-wrenching moment when we see our old love with someone new:
And I know we’re not supposed to talk
But I’m getting ahead of myself
I get scared when we’re not
‘Cause I’m scared you’re with somebody else
So I guess that it’s gone
And I just keep lying to myself
I can’t believe it
I, I miss you, yeah I miss you
One Last Time and No More Tears Left To Cry – Ariana Grande – the first video by this artist is on the theme of the apocalypse, so very apt here and it ends with her embracing her love while the world crumbles around them.
Green noise and brown noise – no this isn’t the name of an emo group. It’s what is called background noise, usually a constant sound like rain and/or thunder, which has no lyrics but it really helps me focus when I’m writing first drafts.
But how you keep going, when you’ve got the monumental task of writing a novel, filling that blank white page with something meaningful? When the words are there, and you’ve got to do edits for what feels like the one hundredth time? Battling weekend breakfasts, kids swinging on your legs and you’ve got a deadline to meet, what do you listen to that will numb the pain, keep your brain drumming to the beat of lyrical thought. What song will encapsulate the romance between the main characters, will make them want to start an argument only to end up with them kissing or killing each other? Music is how. Music matters…
If you can, go and fire up on Youtube, armed with a copy of my book and watch the songs I’ve listed here and see if it changes your perspective on my eco thriller, which is available from amazon and all good bookstores.
If you’ve read my book already, please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon.
Lucy Ghose - writer 