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The Cavaliers Playlist

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

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I’m feeling extremely excited tonight. Ivory Terrors is finally released tomorrow, and that’s the Cavaliers Series completed and four years of work come to an end. Earlier, I did some last checks and double-checks and bits of formatting, but now, I’ve uploaded the book to Amazon and Smashwords and that, substantially, is that. 

Tomorrow, I intend to get emotional on here. I need to do some looking back and some looking forward, and offer some thanks. But for tonight, I’m keeping things fun, with a post I’ve been meaning to write for ages.

Books will always be my first cultural love, but music comes a close second. I’ve often said that when it comes to books, for me, while brilliant prose is always a bonus, the plot is by far the most important element. I take a rather similar view with music. I love a great tune, but it’s the lyrics that make a song for me.  My favourite books often remind me of my favourite songs, and vice versa. And having spent so long thinking about The Cavaliers, it’s unsurprising that there are a number of songs that I always associate with the series. 

I love finding playlists for my favourite books, and I’ve been meaning to put together one for the Cavaliers almost since Oxford Blood was published. The main think that finally made me get round to it (apart from feeling a bit demob happy after the final Ivory Terrors edit) was receiving an email from someone who’d read Oxford Blood, and alongside some other lovely comments, mentioned that, “During the early scenes of Harriet with Tom, before they were actually an item, before she knew what he was. The way they connected without understanding why, I heard Rihanna’s “Stay” playing in my head. Not just the lyrics but also the angst of how she sings them definitely reminds me of Harriet during those parts.”

I hadn’t consciously heard the song beforehand (though I’ve obviously listened to it since) but it made me so happy to think that someone was connecting with something I’d written in just the way I’ve connected with all the books I love. Anyway, here’s my list. You can listen to all of these songs via my Spotify playlist:  

1)Moves Like Jagger (Maroon Five) and Break Your Heart (Taio Cruz)

If you fall for me
I’m not easy to please
I might tear you apart
Told you from the start,
Baby from the start.
I’m only gonna break, break your, break, break your heart. 

I associate both of these songs with the Cavaliers in general. The charming “no girl can resist them” side, and the flip side, where “no girl can keep them.” I think both songs apply very well to pretty much all the members, but they particularly rmeind me of George. 

I don’t need to try to control you
Look into my eyes and I’ll own you
With them moves like Jagger
I’ve got the moves like Jagger

2) A Lady of a Certain Age (Divine Comedy)

Back in the day you had been part of the smart set
You’d holidayed with kings, dined out with starlets
From London to New York, Cap Ferrat to Capri
In perfume by Chanel and clothes by Givenchy

This is a song about how it doesn’t matter how rich and beautiful you are, one day, you’re going to get old. Adelaide French begs to differ. The opening verse sums up her lifestyle, and the (in the song, self-deluding) chorus seems eerily appropriate for a woman who looks like her daughter’s slightly older sister:

“You wouldn’t think that I was fifty three”
And he’d say,”no, you couldn’t be!

3) Love Lust (King Charles) and Love Blood (King Charles)

Well I’ve got love in my blood, and I’ve got you on my brain.
I haven’t got enough blood, I cannot love you enough.
If you’ve got love in your blood, if it is bolder than death
Oh let it spill, let it spill, over the heart you love best.

I mentioned this way back in one of my first ever blog posts on here. I don’t think it’s meant to be about vampires, but the combination of obsessive love and darkness (not to mention all the blood references!) work perfectly. 

Love Blood (a different song by the same musician) also has the slightly discomfiting refrain, “Never let a woman go even when you know she can always be replaced. She can always be replaced.” Firstly, it was utterly bizarre to see King Charles in concert and listen to the whole audience (me included) cheerfully singing along to that chorus. Secondly, all I can ever think of when I hear it is what Harriet always refers to as, “George’s little fan club,” the girls he keeps half-mesmerised so he can call on them whenever they need a snack. 

4) Pretty much anything by Vampire Weekend – if pushed, I’ll go with Taxi Cab

They may be American, but few bands better sum up the atmosphere of Oxford than these guys. I don’t think I’d ever have got Oxford Blood finished without their first album on repeat. This one is less about any specific lyrics, and more about the general preppy mood they conjure up. And then there’s this wonderful quotation from the lead singer about their three albums. You’ve got to like one of your favourite bands referencing one of your favourite books, and I can’t imagine many other musicians saying this,, which reminds me why I tend to love trilogies, and which applies to my novels to some degree:

“It reminded me of Brideshead Revisited,” said Mr. Koenig, who writes the band’s lyrics. “The naïve joyous school days in the beginning. Then the expansion of the world, travel, seeing other places, learning a little bit more about how people live. And then the end is a little bit of growing up, starting to think more seriously about your life and your faith. If people could look at our three albums as a bildungsroman, I’d be O.K. with that.”

That said, I do love the following verse, which reminds me of one of my favourite scenes in the whole trilogy (albeit one I sometimes wish I’d managed to put a slightly better spin on) when Harriet goes to the Cavaliers Dinner with George, shortly after he bit her on the Steele Walk:

In the shadow of your first attack
I was questioning and looking back
You said, “Baby, we don’t speak of that”
Like a real aristocrat

And of course, there’s always Oxford Comma’s rather apt, “I’ve seen those English Dramas too. They’re cruel.”

5) Atlas (Julia Johnson/Gray)

I struggle to put into words just what it is about this song that reminds me of the books. It’s much less easy to relate the lyrics to the plot, but there’s something about it that really catches the same part of my imagination. If Vampire Weekend was the soundtrack to writing book one, her album and King Charles’ got me through Screaming Spires. In particular, it’s these lines, which always make me think of Harriet’s progression through the series. I came so close to emailing the author and asking if I could quote them in the final part of Ivory Terrors:

They say take what you want and pay for it, so I do

They say learn from your mistakes and I learned from you

6) Set Fire to the Rain (Adele)

This is a relatively new addition to the list. It’s a great song about intense, destructive relationships. I’ve suggested before that I steer well clear of this sort of emotional torture in both real life and contemporary fiction, but somehow, for me, everything is better with vampires. The song works well for the whole series, but I’m also going to be ridiculously specific and suggest that you put it on in the background for Chapter Eighteen and a certain section of Chapter Nineteen of Ivory Terrors, because it’s just perfect for it. 

But my knees were far too weak
To stand in your arms
Without falling to your feet

But there’s a side to you that I never knew, never knew
All the things you’d say, they were never true, never true
And the games you’d play, you would always win, always win

I’ll stop there, otherwise I could easily carry on all night. I’m very tempted to do another of these at some point, or maybe even a chapter by chapter run through of one of the books. I hope you’ve found some new songs through this, and don’t forget to grab a copy of Ivory Terrors tomorrow. 

Does anyone else have any songs they associate with the books?

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Awesome Indies Grand Opening Party Day 2: Who is the piano playing dog? Flash fiction fun

22 Thursday Aug 2013

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You may have seen my brief post yesterday about the Awesome Indie Authors launch party. If not, you can find it here:

I put the post up just before bed, having exhausted myself with the lethal combination of a 6K run, a hot bath, a big meal and a glass of wine, and as a result I didn’t really take the time to explain about AIA or the launch party. If you’re familiar with all of that, scroll down for a link to some fun flash fiction, and the longer version of my entry.

Basically, the idea behind AIA is that independently published novels have a bad reputation with a lot of people. And it’s hardly surprising – there are huge numbers of indie books out there, and some are them are utterly awful. Some, however, are just as good as their traditionally published rivals. Awesome Indies tries to track down and promote these self-published works.  I was delighted to come across Awesome Indies a couple of months ago, and even more delighted to have Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires listed on the site. 

This week, the website is having its official launch. As I mentioned yesterday, many of the books (Oxford Blood included) are reduced to 99c (around 77p if you’re English like me) so it’s a great opportunity to pick up some quality books at a cheap price.

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As well as the offer though,  the site has got various fun things going on. Today, the authors were invited to watch a great video of a piano playing dog and then write a very short story about what he was up to. You can see the video and check out the entries here

Much as I love working on The Cavaliers, it was great fun to stretch my imagination and write something else for a change. My original story was about three times too long and I had to cut it down for the official blog, but I’ve copied the full version below.

WHY IS THE DOG PLAYING THE PIANO?

There had been a time when everyone had said that Thomas was the greatest piano player the world had ever known. He’d responded in the same way when the compliments came from professors of music at the finest universities as when they came from awe-struck pretty girls at his recitals: a modest smile, a shake of his head. Inside though, he’d thought they were all entirely correct, maybe even not going far enough.

Ever since he’d been tall enough to reach the keys, he’d improved on the natural gifts he’d inherited from his parents with hours of practise and a ruthless perfectionism. As he’d grown older and the performance requests  had come flooding in, he’d agonised over choosing the perfect songs for each occasion and rehearsed until his performance was flawless.

As time passed, however, he’d slowly begun to realise something : most people could tell the difference between a bad player and a good one, but not between the good and the great. He could sacrifice some of his rehearsal time for an evening with one of his adoring fans and the cheers would be just as loud at the next show.

By the time he was invited to play at Baron Jackson’s 50th birthday party, he’d grown utterly complacent. He’d heard strange stories about the Baron, but he didn’t concern himself with rumours, and Jackson seemed like a pleasant enough man. He was certainly visibly delighted to have Thomas on the bill.

Thomas had been invited to spend the weekend at the Baron’s estate to settle in and familiarise himself with the castle’s antique piano and the acoustics of the great hall. Instead, he’d spent the weekend familiarising himself with the castle’s vintage wine collection and the sounds of the Baron’s more attractive guests. The night of the performance, he had been over-drunk and under-rehearsed, but it hadn’t worried him in the slightest. Neither the expectant, noble crowd nor the imposing grandeur of the hall could dint his confidence. He’d sat down and he’d played well. Not brilliantly, but undoubtedly well. The hall erupted in applause. Every person in the room was delighted. Or at least, everyone but the Baron.  Jackson sat there in stony silence, then dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Feeling suddenly nervous, Thomas had returned to his palatial room. Clearly, the Baron had a more discerning ear than he’d credited him with. When the Baron knocked in the early hours, Thomas had been  expecting a dressing down, perhaps even to be dismissed from the castle without pay. What he hadn’t expected was for the Baron to take place a hand on his shoulder in a fatherly manner. His words had been permanently engraved on Thomas’ mind ever since.

“You have natural talents and you are squandering them because you don’t have to try hard to play tolerably well. But I didn’t hire you to play tolerably well; I hired you because I heard you were the best. I’m afraid I’m going to make it rather harder for you to play, force you to re-learn the virtues of patience, practise and dedication.”

For a moment, Thomas had thought he was going to cut off one of his hands or break some fingers. Once again, he thought of the strange stories he’d heard about the Baron. Instead, Jackson had touched his forehead to Thomas’ and everything had gone dark.

He’d awoken to find himself like this. Stumpy paws, unwieldly claws and an inability to sit properly or to stand on two legs. But his human mind was intact, as was his innate understanding of music.

The Baron had stroked his fur in an amused manner. “You’ll be treated perfectly well, I promise. Your own quarters, plentiful human food and a free run of the castle and its grounds. All I ask in return is that you practise. I dare say you’ll find it rather harder than you’ve been used to, but with your natural talents and your perfect ear, I have no doubt that with enough dedication to your craft, you’ll be playing better than most men before too long. I expect you to perform last night’s repertoire at my next birthday and I expect you to meet my standards. If you do, I’ll give you your body back. If you fail, we’ll keep trying until you get it right.”

That was three months ago, and in the weeks since, he’d practised harder than he ever had in his life, harder even than  as a child under his virtuoso father’s watchful eye. He was getting better each day. Everyone said he played astonishingly well for a small dog. But he was horribly conscious that it would be a long time before they said he played well for a man, still longer before anyone would claim he was the best piano player the world had ever known.

Julia Johnson

27 Thursday Sep 2012

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They say, ‘Take what you want, and pay for it,” and I do.

They say, “Learn from your mistake,” and I learnt from you.

In my late teens, I seemed to be discovering new and obscure music all the time. Probably the most striking example was the time I went to see the Arctic Monkeys for £2 in a dingy Sheffield bar in 2003, but it was far from the only time I took a chance on a new band.

I’m now in my mid twenties. It’s hardly that old, and I still love music, but after a long day at work, it seems so much easier to put on something old and familiar, or at best, someone that everyone acknowledges as the next big thing, than it is to scour the internet for new stuff, ask friends for their recommendations or take a chance on a random gig. Even when someone does suggest a new band to me, it takes effort to actually bother listening to it.

Recently, I’ve got into a few things recommended by my brothers, who are still young, cool and have time to dig through the rubbish so I don’t have to. There’ll be a post about at least one of those bands in a few days, but this isn’t about that. This is about a singer I discovered all by myself, whom hardly anyone seems to have heard of, and who has grabbed me in a way that few musicians have in ages. That singer’s name is Julia Johnson.

Time after time, wondering if I’m going crazy.

Even Atlas couldn’t hold up, all the corners of the world and make it easy.

So what made me a)find out about, and b)take a chance of listening to her?  Well, the classical reference in that last set of lyrics might be a clue, as might her surname. Yes, she’s Boris Johnson’s little sister.

I sort of feel awful for even mentioning that. Whilst I love my brothers, we have sufficient levels of healthy sibling rivalry that I’d be furious if someone ever suggested that the most interesting thing about me was being related to one of them. Certainly, on her website, she seems to avoid mentioning it – http://julia-johnson.com/

However,  I also think she’s missing out on some fairly straightforward publicity. Basically, I love Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, genuine former Cavalier Bullingdon Club member, fluent speaker of Latin and Greek, probably the cleverest and certainly the most amusing politician I’ve ever come across. I’ve been tempted to write a post about this, but I’m saving it for when he becomes Prime Minister. Or possibly President of America. Or maybe both at once.

So when I found it he had a twenty-something sister who was in a band (she’s gone solo now), I couldn’t load up Spotify quickly enough. I have to admit, I came for the “what on earth does she sound like?” novelty, but I stayed because the answer was, “amazing.”

First, she can sing. As you might imagine, coming from that family, she was trained in singing from a young age. Second, she scatters literary and classical references liberally through her songs, and it’s always nice to have that smug thrill of recognising a quotation. Third, the music is beautiful, and fourth, the lyrics are clever and lovely. More than any of that though, there’s just such a gorgeous theme of melodramatic heartbreak running through all the songs that just chimes perfectly with the sort of thing I like to listen to and indeed to write about.

Go on Spotify now* and give her a go. I particularly recommend Elegy and Atlas, but most of the songs are pretty good. There’s also her old band, Second Person (Oh god, a grammatical reference in a band name. Swoon), which are worth a listen too, though I like the solo stuff best.

Go on. Even if you’re not that into music, I bet you’re intrigued to see what she sounds like, whether any of it’s in Latin and what her hair’s like.

*If you don’t have Spotify, then for goodness sake download it. Legal, free music that supports the artist – what’s not to like. It’s one of the very best things about the internet.