Selections from a Writing Playlist

I tend not to write as well when it's quiet. Ambient noise, as in a crowded coffee shop, is great. Failing that, I listen to music when I'm writing. As I prepare to start a new novel, I'm going through my collection and picking out music that will form a playlist as I write. As with Correction Road, this playlist isn't set in stone; some pieces will stay on the playlist for years, other ones I'll find less successful and will remove after a couple weeks. Here's a few highlights from the Correction Road writing playlist:

Ohio Air Show Plane Crash - Joe Henry:

Just before the crash, I was at the rail. I remember now somebody shouting, but I couldn't hear too well. And when he went into a dive we all came to our feet, and just like he meant to nose into the lake, he did so, perfectly.

Joe Henry has a narrative quality matched by few singer/songwriters. I put him up there in that highest echelon of storytellers with the likes of Tom Waits, Tom Russell, and Johnny Cash. Ohio Air Show is from one of his earlier albums, and while I like his later albums better, this song is flawless. The lyrics form a deeply personal and moving account of how we interpret the relationships in our life around specific, memorable and sometimes horrific events. At least, that's what I get out of it. And I love the way Henry sings that last phrase quoted above, with a pause on either side of 'so', so that it could be heard as I've punctuated it above, or as He did, so perfectly. I think I like that second, subtlely different reading.

Neverending Math Equation - Modest Mouse:

The universe works on a math equation that never even ever really even is ending, and Infinity spirals out creation. Were on the tip of its tongue, and it is saying, We aint sure where you stand. You aint machines and you aint land. And the plants and the animals, they are linked, and the plants and the animals eat each other.

With songs like Neverending Math Equation (or 3rd Planet, which has also spent time on my writing playlist), Modest Mouse has this wonderful voice that I've described as hillbillies talking about metaphysics. And obviously Modest Mouse aren't hill-billies. I was surprised to see them on a late-night talk-show earlier this week, styled as geek-rockers, very different look from the last time I saw them live; but anyone who listens to their lyrics can tell that they are far more intelligent than they often let on. Anyway, the characters in my story are not hill-billies either, but they definitely share with MM that way of talking about very big, important questions in simple terms, trying to apply these things to their lives in a search for meaning. I'm fascinated by string theory; not only the theory itself (which I don't pretend to understand on any sort of deep, meaningful level), but also the way that these abstract edges of math and sciences have startling similarities to systems of belief and faith.

Red, red, red - Fiona Apple:

I don't understand about complementary colors and what they say. Side by side they both get bright, together they both get gray. But he's been pretty much yellow, and I've been cryin' blue, but all I can see is red, red, red, red, red now. What am I to do? I don't understand about diamonds and why men buy them. What's so impressive about a diamond, except the mining? And it's dangerous work trying to get to you too. And I think if I didn't have to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill myself doing it, maybe I might not glisten so much for you.

There's a lovely, accurate description of complementary colours, which one might not understand without some knowledge of colour theory. And then she ties all that in with the diamond industry. It's clever, and she's got a lovely, unusual voice. As with either of the songs above, she's really working hard to find the perfect metaphor; a plane crash, string theory, colour theory: these are the sorts of metaphors that hold deep and interesting meaning.

That's all I have time for now, but I've had probably about a hundred songs in this writing playlist at various times, and perhaps I'll do this again with a few more favorites.