I am blue and not really capable of forming coherent sentences (some might argue that I never had this power!) so I thought it might be fun to be a bit silly and also to anticipate the run-up to Demon’s Surrender. I did a soundtrack for the Demon’s Lexicon here and talked about my Demon’s Covenant songs basically all over the place.
Hence, this post, which is about songs I listened to while writing Demon’s Surrender. (I have left out… some of the country songs. Because people don’t always understand about Patty Loveless and Reba McEntire. But it would just be base lies to leave out Taylor Swift.)
Help I’m Alive, Metric
I tremble/They’re going to eat me alive/If I stumble
Sin, and demons in general, and Anzu in particular.
Centre of Attention, Jackson Waters
You think you’re the sun/The whole world revolves around you/The centre of attention/And everyone is drawn to you
You have to believe in the performance to fool the audience. Sin knows that.
I’d Lie, Taylor Swift
If you asked me if I love him/I’d lie
Taylor Swift is my MUSE. I don’t know why! But also, this song is about love, and lies, and so obviously it fit in.
London Calling, the Clash
London calling to the faraway towns/now war is declared and battle come down/London calling to the underworld
Almost the entirety of Surrender is set in London: though I love skimming around England, in this book I thought it was best to have a crisis point and a focus point.
When You Love Someone, Bethany Dillon
Never felt like such a fool in front of anyone/I guess that’s what you do when you love someone/If I fall I try a little harder and get back up/There’s no way to ever really know/How to protect yourself or predict the outcome/You do anything when you love someone
The nature of love, as the characters are learning it: how painful and humiliating it can be, how stubborn about it you have to be.
Gotta Be Somebody, Nickelback
I’ll be holding my breath/Right up til the end/Everyone wants to feel like someone cares/Someone to love with my life in their hands/There’s got to be somebody for me like that
Alan being a hopeless romantic, emphasis on the hopeless, pining for and idealising human love: Mae, his aunt Natasha, and how he betrays it.
He’s Not A Boy, The Like
He’s not a boy that you can tame/He’s not a boy that you can save
Nick, man. He’s not really a boy at all, is the whole problem.
Short Skirt Long Jacket, Cake
I want a girl with a mind like a diamond/I want a girl who knows what’s best/Who’s fast, and thorough, and sharp as a tack/She’s playing with her jewellery/She’s putting up her hair/She’s touring the facilities and picking up slack
This is cheating, as I used it for Covenant too, but while in Covenant it was for Mae, Annabel and Nick wishing someone would tell him what to do, in Surrender it’s all those things and Sin’s combined resentment, admiration and empathy with a take-charge lady (Mae) and ambition to be one (Merris)
Jack the Giant Killer, The Nields
Go lock your door/I’m strong I’m sure/I’ll knock you down
Sin – Mae being a heroine without magical or asskicking powers is important to me, but I also love asskicking, and it was tremendous fun to write from the point of view of a heroine who could do it. More than that, who’s an athlete – her body her weapon, in several ways. (So much ballet and gymnastics watched!) And then there’s the fact that with Sin I got to explore a very different sibling bond – when your siblings are much younger than you and they’re all you have, you have to be so strong for them.
Tanglewood Tree, Tracy Grammer & Dave Carter
Love is a light in the sky, and an unspoken lie/And a half-whispered prayer/Love is… cold when the summer is spent/In the jade heart’s lament/For the faith of a child
About kids growing up really fast, and that love, the light in the sky, may be a city burning.
Love Remains The Same, Gavin Rossdale
Half the time the world is ending/Truth is I am done pretending/I never thought that I had any more to give/You’re pushing me so far/That here I am without you
What do you do when you lose someone you love – does the love still count? Do you change back, to who you were before that person? If not, how do you change?
Everything Changes, Staind
I am the mess you chose/The closet you cannot close/The devil in you, I suppose
Or, Demons Will Ruin Your Life Forever, Signed, Alan, Jamie, Mae and Sin.
The Book of Love, Peter Gabriel
The book of love is long and boring/And written very long ago/It’s full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes/And things we’re all too young to know
Part of the joy and tragedy of YA is that it’s all about horrible things happening to really young people! And seeing what they do about it, and what gets them through.
Shattered, Trading Yesterday
Yesterday I died/Tomorrow’s bleeding/The future’s open wide/Beyond believing/And I’ve lost who I am/And I can’t understand
Some… bad… stuff… is going to happen? And some… everybody… is going to be pretty upset!
So, who has songs for particular books? I remember I had a playlist for L.J. Smith, back in the day. (She was my Stephenie Meyer in all ways possible!)
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