2.28.2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'd Pair with a Theme Song

This topic is going to be a challenge for me. I don't often turn on the radio. On the other hand, I married a man who does, so this ought to be easier than I expect.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Do come join the fun...

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?

17 comments:

  1. I haven't read The Host, but I LOVE Brandi Carlile!

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  2. Brandi Carlile rocks!!

    I've never thought of matching songs to books, though I match them to people all the time.

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  3. I've never thought of it either.

    Reaching 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

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  4. Thanks, nea barabea!

    Allison 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.

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  5. Yeah, the Popsicles song is almost uncanny, isn't it!

    Okay, 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

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    Replies
    1. 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. :)

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  6. That's BD as in Breaking Dawn + Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash).

    --Arabella

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  7. Well, not just the popsicle part, but the rest of the lyrics--he loves baseball, cool clothes, brown eyes, fast vehicles....

    Okay, 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

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    Replies
    1. "A bit of heaven right before your eyes"--yeah, the Popsicles song is absolutely right on.

      Jacob 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.

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  8. 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:

    When 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

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  9. Ooh, Carrie-Ann, that's just chilling!

    --Arabella

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  10. Absolutely LOVE Enya - she has such a beautiful voice. Third Day is really good too!

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  11. That Live song is a pretty great choice for C&P!

    A 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.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I was pretty happy with the Live/C&P match. :)

      Also, LOL! I'm impressed with the Twilight pick, especially as it's a whole album. The lyric you quote below sounds very apropos.

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  12. e.g., "Thirty-three":

    Speak 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

    ReplyDelete

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