I’ve always loved music. I can’t play an instrument to save my life, but I love music. There is some kind of emotional connection that happens for me that I didn’t realize until recently, doesn’t happen to everyone. Especially early in my writing, rather than try to explain an emotion a character felt, I’d just mention a song that was playing, expecting that the reader would understand exactly how the character felt. (Turns out, that doesn’t actually work; so, kids, don’t try this at home.) But while there may not be a direct communication of emotion through music, I do think sharing music is important, in that it creates bonds between people. I think songs sometimes touch us in ways that words alone cannot.
I also love creating mixtapes. Or playlists, these days, I suppose. Yes, it’s nice that, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I can put together more than fifteen(-ish) songs, and have a little more variety in what I listen to. But that was part of the challenge--and fun--of a mixtape. And now, dear reader, you get to be the beneficiary. No longer will my brilliant ideas of a list of songs that have claps in them, or songs to listen to when you learn that one third of your fifth grade class (because there were only 3 of us in the class) died in a car accident, languish forever in a notebook for no one to see until I have died and my family (or whoever) is cleaning out my stuff. Instead, I’m sharing it with the world! So without further ado, here is my first mixtape: music to write by.
The Luckiest by Ben Folds Five
Hero (live) by Steve Taylor
Rain by Brian Crain
Freshmen by The Verve Pipe
Love, Salvation, and the Fear of Death by Sixpence None the Richer
02.17 AM by Blue Foundation
Goner by Twenty One Pilots
Feels Like the End by Shane Alexander
Samson by Regina Spektor
Second Best by Pedro the Lion
Comptine D’Un Autre Ete by Yann Tiersen
Messes of Men by mewithoutYou
Jesus by Brand New
Came Here to Forget by Blake Shelton
Forgiven by Alanis Morissette
I am resisting the urge to provide commentary for each of the songs (in part because I rather doubt you actually care, in part because when I try to write music commentary I worry that I’m not doing it correctly and then eventually give up on a bunch of half-written ideas, and in part because I don’t like the precedent that sets for future playlists that I may not have the time or desire to do but feel like I have to because it’s what I did at the beginning and that lack of consistency bothers me). But I will comment on the list as a whole. My complete writing playlist has about 300 songs on it. They all tend to be fairly quiet, and rather melancholy. These songs were culled from that list because they solicit a particular emotion for me every time I hear them, regardless of how many times I hear them. Many I’ve been listening to for a decade or more, and they still affect me. I hope you enjoy the list.
Comentarios