For a reminder of who these folk are and what they "look" like, please visit this post.
Ingrid Brewster is my heroine, and to her have fallen a few slightly incongruous selections. The first is Red Eyes by Switchfoot. The ebb and flow of the melody speaks for itself, and I've always pictured Miss Brewster as something of an insomniac. (What are you waiting for, the day is gone? / I said I'm waiting for dawn. / What are you aiming for out here alone? / I said I'm aiming for home.) Furthermore, Ingrid is a very honest, home-y sort of being, and this song has always reminded me of a sunrise through the bay windows of a comfortably cluttered front room - which is just where Ingrid belongs. My second song for Ingrid is All The Stars by The Wailin' Jennys. This was something of a last-minute find, and I'm not sure musically how well it fits. But Ingrid being a writer, the following lines struck me as something she would say: You don't know me / You know one side of a story...
Next comes the hero, Darjeeling Falcon. This man gives me fits over everything! To suit his frantic-yet-oddly-sensitive nature, he would have I Don't Need A Soul by Relient K. Lyrically, he's adopted practically the entire song as his own - but I won't let him regurgitate the whole thing here, however much he tempts me... 'Cause if you close your eyes and listen close, / You can hear the chapter close / And it's all rebound with better clothes / And you like the way the story goes... I also gave this chap Coldplay's How You See The World. 'Tis just very... Falcon: Is there something missing? / There's nobody listening / Are you scared of what you don't know? / Don't wanna end up on your own? / You need conversation, / And information. / You're gonna get it right sometimes. / Just wanna get it right sometimes...
Lady Jane Grey, completely fictional and nothing to do with the historical figure. Her character is something of an enigma to me. She is one of those characters on whose existence the entire novel could hang without requiring me to put her in a single scene (she'll turn up later anyway, but I'm only saying - she doesn't need to). As such, I can't decide what to make her when she does turn up. Her music took a rather wistful, tragic-yet-dreamy flair to it - and all she did was disappear. (I don't think she'll turn up murdered, even. I'm not sure about that. This thing began as a children's story, and I can't quite bring myself to turn it into a murder mystery - at least not killing off Lady Jane. Perhaps the hired lackey or something. But not her.)All that said, I hope these songs fit. First comes a lovely little piano-orchestral piece by Murray Gold called Four Knocks. (Yes, this is off a Doctor Who soundtrack. No, I am not exaggerating when I call this piece tragically-dreamy. Messr. Gold can write some pretty fantastically gorgeous stuff. Take my word for it.) I can't explain this any more than the previous paragraph and my own suspicions that Lady Jane did not have a particularly happy life (this is why - but never mind; there'll be time for that later). Her second tune is I Live Alone, by Sky Sailing. Because Lady Jane does.
We were seventeen, longing to live in between the earth and the stars.
So I suggested we’d grow up fast and not be the last,
And look where we are...
So I suggested we’d grow up fast and not be the last,
And look where we are...
This next fellow's easy. I've known William Taylor's songs ever since his character tromp-stomped all over my charming story. (Now, Darjeeling, be civil...) At any rate, his first and foremost is Gentleman, by Between the Trees, because I can just see William's surly brain churning out the words from behind a sullen expression: Do you ever wonder what it would be like / To stick around long enough for me to be polite? / I swear I am a gentleman, I swear this is true / But you don't even care to notice, / You just act like you do... I'm afraid William was thwarted in love once, and has never gotten over it. But in spite of being such a disagreeable spirit, he still earned another: Dirty Second Hands by Switchfoot. The song is essentially about the thievery of time from an oblivious individual, and William (not for lack of trying to gain anything) has lost a lot of and to time.
Are you really as tough as you think?
You blink and you're over the brink.
You bleed but your blood runs pink,
With dirty second hands, dirty second hands.
You blink and you're over the brink.
You bleed but your blood runs pink,
With dirty second hands, dirty second hands.
We're almost there! Edgar Ceylon, who is proving to be the best character of the story in terms of overall soundness and virtuous quality. He's a good deal older than the others, of course, and his maturity and steady paternal nature give him a one-up on Falcon in particular. That is not to say he does not make mistakes of judgment; he has simply discovered before any of the rest what it takes for something to have worth. This is largely lavished on his family, but as we see him primarily in action at work, so I chose This Is Why We Fight by The Decemberists. Ceylon is the sort of character who wouldn't jump if Napoleon and the Spanish Inquisition collectively said "boo!" from behind him. (The fact that the end of the track rambles on about a limping dog was just enough irony to seal the deal...) This is why, this is why we fight,
Why we lie awake.
This is why we fight.
And when we die, we will die
Why we lie awake.
This is why we fight.
And when we die, we will die
With our arms unbound,
And this is why, this is why we fight.
And this is why, this is why we fight.
Secondly, and secondarily, he also has Change the World (Lost Ones) by Anberlin (If I could write one letter to the world as we know it, / I would list these rhymes that mean everything to me, / Heartache temporary, bullets only stop your blood / Pain will live on and on / In everyone, in everyone...) I like to think that, rather than being a total cliche, this song highlights a lot of the virtue and balance that Edgar provides as Falcon's conscience and encourager.
The infamous Outlaw, York, gave me a run for my money - but I suppose I should have expected as much from such a widely-reputed scallawag. Have you heard of the blind harper, how he lived in Hogmaven town?
He went down to fair England, to steal King Henry's wanton Brown.
I think the idea of an Outlaw nicknamed The Stallion came from my love of English folklore and ballads. Because York is there, somewhere, flitting in and out from between the dead love songs and the damp sound of cicadas under an Oklahoma silver maple on a hot evening. Thus it seems only fitting that Kate Rusby's The Blind Harper make an appearance; the Harper's a cheeky enough crook, and he steals horses.
Something tells me (though I can't say for sure) that deep down, The Stallion is more of a misfit and a hipster than an outlaw. I don't know if he's done anything actually dreadful yet; part of me suspects a tremendous anticlimax in all this. Nevertheless, he likes his wild existence in the forests and moors, whether he is terrible around civilization or not. So - a little misfitten hipster music seemed appropriate: The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) by Arcade Fire.
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains, and there's no end in sight.
I need the darkness; someone, please cut the lights.
And I must reveal my favoritism here. York got a third. I Am Still Running, by Jon Foreman (no favoritism there, either... cough!). Because somewhere, deep down inside, I think my outlaw flees more than he fights. (I had no idea the pain would be this strong. / I had no idea the fight would last this long. / In my darkest fears the rights become the wrongs. / I am still running. I am still running.) This might be unmerited sentimentalism on my part.
Finally, I don't think a post on Character Soundtracks would be appropriate without mentioning the overarching theme song for the story: Scenic Route, by Jars of Clay. Don't turn your back on me, or read in between my words.
This song is one of my all-time favorites, and I find it fitting on so many levels. The story is told from a story-teller's perspective, and the song is about being willing to watch stories unfold (and the analogies used are a story-teller's analogies). It all matches very well in that way. But I think it belongs with the story mostly because it is a song about relationships, and our tendencies to rush through them as things to finish rather than taking time to adopt them as lifestyles, read them like books. And the story really is about a whole lot of people, in their friendships or romances or whatever they turn out to be, trying to figure out a story...
We're just sitting, like novels we've picked up but never read through.
You think you know my ending; I think I know yours too.
Great idea! I love tying in music into my writing, so I may have to steal this idea. =)