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Also, books and single songs rarely go together in my head. Most novels need something more like a playlist, if not a score. But I'll see what I can come up with.
1. The Host (Stephenie Meyer) + The Story (Brandi Carlisle)
All of these lines across my face
Will tell you the story of who I am...
Oh, but these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true that I was made for you
2. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) + Run to the Water (Live)
Run to the water
And find me there
Burnt to the core but not broken
We'll cut through the madness of these streets below the moon
3. The Testament (John Grisham) + Can't Take the Pain (Third Day)
I can't bear the shame of knowing I was wrong
But I'll take the blame for everything that I've done
But I can't take the pain of leaving you alone
4. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) + I Blame Us (John van Deusen)
I blame us for tragedy
I blame us for living selfishly
But this is all we've known
Calamity
5. Persuasion (Jane Austen) + Only Time (Enya)
And who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose
Only time
6. Girl of the Limberlost (Gene Stratton Porter) + Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer)
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
Silver moon's sparkling
7. Austenland (Shannon Hale) + Take It Like a Man (Michelle Wright)
Boy meets girl, it's a delicate thing
So much time spent wondering
If what you see is what you get
8. The Percy Jackson series (Rick Riordan) + With a Little Help from My Friends (The Beatles)
How do you feel at the end of the day
Are you sad because you're on your own
No, I get by with a little help from my friends
9. Matched (Ally Condie) + So are You to Me (Eastmountainsouth)
As the ruby in the setting
As the fruit upon the tree
As the wind blows over the plain
So are you to me
...and please don't shoot me:
10. Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones) + As Long as You Love Me (The Backstreet Boys)
Doesn't really matter if you're on the run
It seems like we're meant to be
It's not a perfect list, but it's something. :)
What books would you match up with a theme song, and what song would you choose for them?
Great list!! :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read The Host, but I LOVE Brandi Carlile!
ReplyDeleteBrandi Carlile rocks!!
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of matching songs to books, though I match them to people all the time.
I've never thought of it either.
ReplyDeleteReaching deep into the pop music treasure chest, here, for Stephenie Meyer. Given her romantic stories' old-fashioned sensibilities, I think these songs from the very early 1960's fit well:
The first is with a wink to Bella and her popsicle:
Twilight + Popsicles, Icicles (The Murmaids)
Popsicles, icicles, baseball and fancy clothes
These are a few of the things he loves
He loves Levis and brown eyes
And wind blowin' through his hair
These are a part of the boy I love
If you put them all together
Much to your surprise
You'll find a bit of heaven
Right before your eyes
May be silly, but still he is
Just what I dreamed about
Yes, he's the boy that I love
Popsicles, icicles
Popsicles, icicles . . .
New Moon + Only Love Can Break A Heart (an early Bacharach/David tearjerker sung by Gene Pitney)
Only love can break a heart
Only love can mend it again
Last night I hurt you but darlin’ remember this
Only love can break a heart, only love can mend it again,
Give me a chance to make up for the harm I’ve done
Try to forgive me and let’s keep the two of us one.
Please let me hold you and love you for always and always--
Only love can break a heart
Only love can mend it again
The Host + It Hurts To Be In Love (another Gene Pitney tearjerker, pronoun adapted)
It hurts to be in love when the only one you love
Turns out to be someone who's not in love with you
It hurts to love him so when deep down inside you know
He will never want you no matter what you do
And so I cry a little bit (it hurts to be in love)
Ah, I die a little bit (it hurts to be in love)
Day and night, night and day, it hurts to be in love this way.
It hurts to be in love, day and night, night and day...
--Arabella
Thanks, nea barabea!
ReplyDeleteAllison and Masha, I like Brandi Carlile too--what I've heard of her, anyway. Guess I should listen to more, and learn to spell her name properly. :P
Arabella, I LOVE your song picks. Awesome! I've never heard any of them, but the lyrics are perfect.
Yeah, the Popsicles song is almost uncanny, isn't it!
ReplyDeleteOkay, here's one for BD. Perhaps I can peg Eclipse, too:
Ring of Fire + Johnny Cash
Love is a burning thing
And it makes a fiery ring
Bound by wild desire
I fell into a ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire
The ring of fire
The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet
I fell for you like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild
And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
--Arabella
That Popsicles song totally is uncanny! Although, maybe we should let the other readers in on the joke... which, other readers, is as follows: Arabella commented (over at HogPro I think), after reading the wedding night scene in Breaking Dawn, that since Edward's skin was several degrees cooler than Bella's, it would be like making love to a popsicle. I happened to read said comment at work, just after clocking out for the day, and very nearly exploded into a laugh that would've been a bit awkward to explain. :)
DeleteOh, and Ring of Fire = perfect. :D
DeleteThat's BD as in Breaking Dawn + Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash).
ReplyDelete--Arabella
Well, not just the popsicle part, but the rest of the lyrics--he loves baseball, cool clothes, brown eyes, fast vehicles....
ReplyDeleteOkay, here's one for Eclipse (The Doobie Brothers) from Jacob to Bella:
He came from somewhere back in her long ago
The sentimental fool don’t see
Tryin’ hard to recreate
What had yet to be created once in her life
Never coming near what he wanted to say
Only to realize
It never really was
She had a place in his life
He never made her think twice
As he rises to her apology
Anybody else would surely know
He’s watching her go
But what a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power to reason away
What seems to be
Is always better than nothing
--Arabella
"A bit of heaven right before your eyes"--yeah, the Popsicles song is absolutely right on.
DeleteJacob would definitely have resonated with the Doobie Brothers song. I can picture him blasting it in his little shed while working on his car. Or running in time to it playing in his head.
For any who have read The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I imagine that a perfect song to capture Paloma's realizations is Rush's "Dreamline." The most relevant part of the song is:
ReplyDeleteWhen we are young
Wandering the face of the Earth
Wondering what our dreams might be worth
Learning that we're only immortal
For a limited time
And for the developing relationship between Jane and Rochester in Jane Eyre, Yes's "I'm Alive" seems suitable:
Only when you spoke did I realise
Someone broke into your life
How we hurt and never show it
Come into my world, hold me in your arms
There’s a mystery to the touch
How it heals so when we’re broken
I believe that all the fear you’ve had
Can gently fly away
We experience, we hope together
Lost in one embrace
We will love forever, this eternity
For in this love I’m alive, I’m alive....
Funny how we look, how we realise
There’s a freedom in your eyes
How you helped me with your light
How you helped me with your light
I believe this world surrounds us
From the first day to the last
We experience, we live together
Lost in one embrace
We will love forever, this eternity
For in this love I’m alive, I’m alive
Ooh, Carrie-Ann, that's just chilling!
ReplyDelete--Arabella
Absolutely LOVE Enya - she has such a beautiful voice. Third Day is really good too!
ReplyDeleteThat Live song is a pretty great choice for C&P!
ReplyDeleteA little while ago, I realized that one of my favorite albums from high school, the deliriously mopey Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is actually Twilight: The Album. Only with more strings than are mandated even by Twilight.
Yeah, I was pretty happy with the Live/C&P match. :)
DeleteAlso, LOL! I'm impressed with the Twilight pick, especially as it's a whole album. The lyric you quote below sounds very apropos.
e.g., "Thirty-three":
ReplyDeleteSpeak to me in a language I can hear
Humour me before I have to go
Deep in thought I forgive everyone
As the cluttered streets greet me once again
I know I can't be late, supper's waiting on the table
Tomorrow's just an excuse away
So I pull my collar up and face the cold, on my own
The earth laughs beneath my heavy feet
At the blasphemy in my old jangly walk
Steeple guide me to my heart and home
The sun is out and up and down again
I know I'll make it, love can last forever
Graceful swans of never topple to the earth
And you can make it last, forever you
You can make it last, forever you
And for a moment I lose myself
Wrapped up in the pleasures of the world
I've journeyed here and there and back again
But in the same old haunts I still find my friends
Mysteries not ready to reveal
Sympathies I'm ready to return
I'll make the effort, love can last forever
Graceful swans of never topple to the earth
Tomorrow's just an excuse
And you can make it last, forever you
You can make it last, forever you