Five Books, Five Songs: Through The Large Four-Chambered Heart

I had difficulties coming up with a song for my work-in-progress, so I asked the two main characters, Rosy and Jaz, for their opinions. Rosy immediately nominated Vincent by Don McLean, because Vincent van Gogh is her favourite artist and he makes an appearance in the book.

“It’s a very brief appearance, though, isn’t it?” I said. “I was hoping for a song that’s about the entire book.”

“Oh, right,” Rosy said. “You want something science-y, then. Never fear, I will use my amazing research skills to find a song for you.” She flipped open her laptop. “What about Weird Science by Oingo Boingo? Or She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby? Or Science Friction by XTC? Ooh, here’s a good one – Science Genius Girl by Freezepop! Or how about Biology by Girls Aloud? If only that song was a lot smaller. They could have called it Microbiology …”

I went off to find Jaz, who said she didn’t know anything about music but wanted to see what Rosy had discovered. When we returned, Rosy was still at it.

“Did you know that there’s a band called Placebo? And there’s a song called Bad Medicine. But I think you should go with a song from They Might Be Giants – they have loads of science songs. This one’s my favourite.”

“Is this song funny?” I asked. “Because the last song I chose for Five Books, Five Songs was really sad, so I need something cheerful.”

“It’s funny,” Rosy assured me. “Also, there’s a giant squid on the album cover.”

“But the lyrics say ‘koala bear’,” said Jaz, peering over my shoulder at the computer screen. “Koalas aren’t bears, they’re marsupials.”

“Well, They Might Be Giants aren’t Australian,” said Rosy. “Or scientists. You can’t expect them to know very much. They were probably getting koalas confused with drop bears.”

“At least they understand how the blood circulation system works,” said Jaz.

“William Harvey would love this song,” said Rosy, nodding.

“Right, then,” I said. “It’s decided. Mammal by They Might Be Giants. Okay?”

“Okay,” said Rosy.

“Okay,” said Jaz. “But, Michelle?”

“What?”

“You should stop messing about on the internet and get back to writing our book now.”

So I did.

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More in Five Books, Five Songs:

1. The Rage of Sheep – Hester’s Request
2. A Brief History of Montmaray – The Sea Is Writhing Now
3. The FitzOsbornes in Exile – Doing The Lambeth Walk
4. The FitzOsbornes at War – We’ll Meet Again
5. The Work-in-Progress – Through The Large Four-Chambered Heart

Five Books, Five Songs: We’ll Meet Again

“We’ll meet again,
Don’t know where,
Don’t know when …”

The FitzOsbornes at War is about saying goodbye, so the song I’ve chosen today is Vera Lynn singing one of the most famous (and saddest) songs of the Second World War, We’ll Meet Again.

A girl standing in the ruins of Battersea in January, 1945, after a V2 raid. Photograph taken by Toni Frissell, US Women's Army Corps.
A girl standing in the ruins of Battersea in January, 1945, after a V2 raid. Photograph taken by Toni Frissell, US Women’s Army Corps.

More in Five Books, Five Songs:

1. The Rage of Sheep – Hester’s Request
2. A Brief History of Montmaray – The Sea Is Writhing Now
3. The FitzOsbornes in Exile – Doing The Lambeth Walk
4. The FitzOsbornes at War – We’ll Meet Again
5. The Work-in-Progress – Through The Large Four-Chambered Heart

Five Books, Five Songs: Doing the Lambeth Walk

“We play a different way
Not like you, but a bit more gay . . .”

Poor Sophie and her family have a lot to contend with in The FitzOsbornes in Exile, what with governesses trying to turn them into young ladies and aunts trying to marry them off to vile bachelors and assassins trying to shoot them. It’s a good thing they have Julia to distract them from their worries. For instance, she tells the FitzOsbornes all about Me and My Girl, which she has just seen in the West End, and then she teaches them her favourite song and dance from the show. Here’s a clip from a more recent Broadway production, starring Robert Lindsay as Bill, the Cockney barrow boy who shows the Mayfair toffs how to do the Lambeth Walk.

More in Five Books, Five Songs:

1. The Rage of Sheep – Hester’s Request
2. A Brief History of Montmaray – The Sea Is Writhing Now
3. The FitzOsbornes in Exile – Doing The Lambeth Walk
4. The FitzOsbornes at War – We’ll Meet Again
5. The Work-in-Progress – Through The Large Four-Chambered Heart

Five Books, Five Songs: The Sea Is Writhing Now

“Under the water, I saw it lying there
Creamy skin, lots of flowing golden hair
It was alive, that I know
I saw it gesture to me with the ebb and the flow . . .”

'Ophelia' (1895) by Paul Albert Steck

If you’ve read A Brief History of Montmaray, those lyrics might bring to mind a certain spooky scene (actually, several spooky scenes) in the book, especially if you replace “golden hair” with “raven hair”. The lines are from a beautiful and haunting song called From A Million Miles by Single Gun Theory.

I’m not sure how well-known Single Gun Theory is outside Australia (not that the band was ever terribly famous within Australia), but apparently their music has featured in several films and television series. If you like the dreamy, ethereal sound of From A Million Miles, you will probably enjoy Like Stars In My Hands, the 1991 album featuring that song, and their subsequent album, Flow, River Of My Soul. Single Gun Theory hasn’t produced an album since 1994, but lead vocalist Jacqui Hunt released her debut solo album a few years ago.

More in Five Books, Five Songs:

1. The Rage of Sheep – Hester’s Request
2. A Brief History of Montmaray – The Sea Is Writhing Now
3. The FitzOsbornes in Exile – Doing The Lambeth Walk
4. The FitzOsbornes at War – We’ll Meet Again
5. The Work-in-Progress – Through The Large Four-Chambered Heart

Five Books, Five Songs: Hester’s Request

A couple of weeks ago, Genevieve asked me a good question about the FitzOsbornes’ tastes in music, which got me thinking about all the musical references in my books. Here’s the result – five blog posts, each featuring a book I’ve written (or am writing) and a song connected with that book.

Today, I’m going to talk about the most music-filled book I’ve written, The Rage of Sheep, which features dozens of references to 1980s pop music. How can I possibly choose just one song from that book?

Well, at first I thought it would have to be Sheep Go To Heaven by Cake, because two lines from that song appeared as an epigraph in the novel’s initial draft. However, my editors pointed out that quoting lyrics from songs was not a good idea because a) it usually takes ages to track down a song’s copyright holder, which is usually a music publishing company, and b) they usually refuse permission to quote their lyrics unless you agree to pay them thousands of dollars. As I didn’t have the time, energy or money for any of that, I confined my epigraph to a quote from a long-dead writer whose work was out of copyright1. Sheep Go To Heaven is a great song, but it’s not actually in the finished novel.

That’s why I decided on one of the songs that appears in the final chapter of The Rage of Sheep. You know how lots of YA books with a high school setting end with a school dance, and the dorky heroine turns up looking unexpectedly beautiful in a new dress, and the popular guy suddenly realises she’s his One True Love (or else, the heroine suddenly realises her best friend has been her One True Love all along) and all the popular girls realise how mean they’ve been and embrace the heroine, and she forgives them, and the scene ends with them all linking hands and dancing in a big, happy circle? Well, none of that happens at the end of The Rage of Sheep, except it does involve a school dance2. And the DJ does play Hester’s favourite song, which is also (by a remarkable coincidence!) one of my own favourite songs. It’s pretty hard to dance to it, but the lyrics are a wonderful mix of gloom and joy, hope and cynicism, sheer nonsense and deep meaning. It’s by XTC and it’s called Senses Working Overtime.

More in Five Books, Five Songs:

1. The Rage of Sheep – Hester’s Request
2. A Brief History of Montmaray – The Sea Is Writhing Now
3. The FitzOsbornes in Exile – Doing The Lambeth Walk
4. The FitzOsbornes at War – We’ll Meet Again
5. The Work-in-Progress – Through The Large Four-Chambered Heart

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  1. It was James Whistler. If you want to know what he said, you’ll have to read The Rage of Sheep. ↩
  2. By the way, the most memorable scene in a YA novel involving a school dance? The climax of Dreamrider, by Barry Jonsberg. ↩