Seldom Come By
MUSIC
Seldom Come By
MUSIC
The soundtrack to their lives…
The soundtrack to their lives…
Music to take you back to Seldom Come By
With introductory notes on each piece.
I am not a writer who can have music on when I’m writing. The words in the background do not gel with the words in my head. It’s a no go zone. However music was a key foundation to some of the key scenes in the novel. And music gave me inspiration – while I was driving, walking the hills, doing sit-ups on my swiss ball or just pottering round the house trying to figure out some plot points.
Here are some links to some of the music — modern, classical and in between — that coloured Seldom Come By.
WARNING! Spoilers…
Come here when you have finished reading.
Music to take you back to Seldom Come By
With introductory notes on each piece
I am not a writer who can have music on when I’m writing. The words in the background do not gel with the words in my head. It’s a no go zone. However music was a key foundation to some of the key scenes in the novel. And music gave me inspiration – while I was driving, walking the hills, doing sit-ups on my swiss ball or just pottering round the house trying to figure out some plot points.
Here are some links to some of the music — modern, classical and in between — that coloured Seldom Come By.
Come here when you have finished reading.
WARNING! Spoilers…
You do Something to Me – Bryan Ferry
In the iceberg cave when Samuel says to Rebecca, ‘You’re something.’ That something was completely tied up Wordsworths Tintern Abbey and this song. In the mystifying and hypnotising. When I started writing Seldom Come By I was living in New Zealand. I wrote the opening chapter and this scene shortly thereafter as that was the emotional crescendo I was driving towards in that first section.
PLAY: You Do Something to Me
Canon in D Major – Pachelbel
To me this classical piece conveys that sense of saying goodbye. There’s a sadness to it, a sense that life is slipping through your fingers, you can’t hold it, you can’t stop time, yet hopefully all is not lost, renewal is possible. I think of Lottie most when I hear this, mourning her sons leaving.
Gymnopedies – Satie
I have loved this music ever since I first heard it as a teenager. Its sultry and melancholic at the same time and captures the urbane side of Matthew. And it’s French!
PLAY: 03 GymnopedieNo.1_Satie
There’s a long long trail
Written and published in 1914 and a very popular WWI song. The chorus was Rebecca’s life during the Epistle years.
Old Rugged Cross
This was my maternal Grandfather’s favourite hymn. And as Johnny Cash said, the biggest selling sheet music in the last 100 years. In honour of all those who died in WWI.
Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
This is Matthew’s song during his war years. “Show me a garden that’s bursting into life” is his letter to his mother, longing for a world full of colour and life rather than one filled with grey, beige and death. “Would you lie with me and just forget the world?” is his plea to Lenore to help him take away the war.
PLAY: Chasing Cars
Clair de Lune – Debussy
The soundtrack for Samuel’s life after he returned from Newfoundland, secretly engaged. There was a quiet excitement, combined with a palpable sense of yearning and a simple need for time to pass.
PLAY: 07 Clair-de-lune-Debussy
When you’re gone – Avril Lavigne
How Rebecca felt after Samuel left her after the unforgettable summer of 1917. Rather love Avril’s music clip too – it parlay’s nicely with the military theme and I love the old man as well.
PLAY: When You’re Gone
Keep Holding On – Avril Lavigne
Rebecca’s anthem to herself after Samuel left to go north into the Canadian wilderness. Her lament and prayer for him.
PLAY: Keep Holding On
Better Man – Robbie Williams
Sameul, up north, trying to face himself, come to terms with his life, his pain, his shame, his sense of unworthiness and make the decision to start his life over again.
Don’t give up – Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush
Samuel’s plea to Rebecca when she is upset and despondent about not being able to conceive after several years of married life. Though I see this song with the gender swapped. Rebecca is the despairing Peter. Samuel the hopeful Kate. “You still have us.”
My Funny Valentine – Over the Rhine
At the end of the novel, when Rebecca realises she still loves Newfoundland despite the heartache it caused her. Samuel has long known this and he is amused by Rebecca’s epiphany. This song is their twilight song. “You make me smile with my heart.” A homage to their unwavering love. “Don’t change one hair for me.” They both want to capture that moment forever, in their boat next to that glorious iceberg like the one that brought them together twenty-five years earlier. This song and this version is one of my all-time favourites. The perfect end to Seldom Come By’s music selection.
PLAY: My Funny Valentine
Well written, beautiful, haunting. I need just awhile to let this book settle before I reach for the next, Come What May, but I do know I am in for another treat.
If there is one book to take a risk on this year – make it Seldom Come By. I did, and I have been richly rewarded.
Well written, beautiful, haunting. I need just awhile to let this book settle before I reach for the next, Come What May, but I do know I am in for another treat.
If there is one book to take a risk on this year – make it Seldom Come By. I did, and I have been richly rewarded.
Continue the Journey …
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
