With the book releasing officially on Tuesday, I wanted to share the music that helped me write it. A few songs are actually found in the book itself, others play as a “soundtrack” to particular scenes, and others are mostly just mood music for the story as a whole. I’ve added notes on each song below the YouTube window.
You can also find this playlist on Spotify if you’d like to listen to it while you read the book. *laugh* That is, if you’re a big ol’ dork like me.
1 ~ The Kills – DNA
General mood music. I imagine Miranda walking very purposefully down the Austin streets to this one – it’s got that “head tilted downward, walking toward the camera and looking like a badass” kind of feel.
2 ~ Ingrid Michaelson – Incredible Love
A background song with a nice groove; there’s a scene where Miranda, Jonathan, and Cora go out for a drink where this might be playing, or snatches of it could be background for one of the many scenes of our characters having important conversations.
3 ~ Tori Amos – Iieee
I love this one primarily for the lyrics and the beat. It’s a slow-and-sexy dancing song. I’m not sure exactly where it would fit in the “movie,” but it was definitely a mood inspiration for a lot of the book. It would also be great for a shagging scene.
4 ~ Silversun Pickups – Seasick
Another song for the city scenes or anything that requires brooding.
5 ~ October Project – Take Me as I Am
This one I imagine in the ballroom scene, particularly while the various Signets are making their grand entrances. It makes me think of couples turning on a dance floor.
6 ~ Birdy – Shelter
Music for a moment where Miranda and David are in bed – not during the fun stuff, but after, in the quiet. Either that, or with the strong piano component Miranda might be playing it at some point.
7 ~ Double O Zero – The HiHis
This is definitely a Stella and Lark song – they’re the two young human Witches we meet midway through the book. It has that young and free vibe. The first time we meet them, they stop for coffee, so this song could be playing on the sound system at the coffeehouse.
8 ~ Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting
Okay, this one is actually in the book; early on Miranda is practicing it, and later we see her play it on stage. The thing is, the way I hear her performing it is different from how it was recorded. I imagine it played by a single piano and sung quietly, like a secret between the singer and the audience. (Which is basically what it is in the book – it starts off as Miranda joking with the audience but she really enjoys performing it, and it becomes her favorite cover.) If the book is ever made into a movie I want to beg and bribe Johnette Napolitano to record a piano version of it.
9 ~ Katie Melua – No Fear of Heights
This one is also in the book. Miranda sings it to Stella.
10 ~ Bif Naked – Lucky
More mood music. Sort of my nod to the show that inspired my generation: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (It was on the Buffy soundtrack.)
11 ~ Sophie Ellis-Bextor – You Get Yours
The beat and bass line of this song sound like fight music to me. There’s always plenty of fighting in the Shadow World.
12 ~ The Civil Wars – Poison and Wine
This may seem like an odd choice, but there’s a very specific place I imagine it in the book: the very last scene, quiet in the background. It has a sorrowful feel, but not a bombastic one; you could even call it a gentle song, though the lyrics are loaded with pain, like “I don’t have a choice and I still choose you.” The song, in my head, ends right as the book ends, with the last “I always will” landing on the last line of the book.
13 ~ Live – Forever May Not Be Long Enough
End credits. Just pretend like it was never in The Mummy Returns.
