5 songs you need to hear before you read Sword of Honor
(or while you read)
Recently, I was thinking about how important music is to me when I write. I have soundtracks for every series that inspire me or that mean something to the characters–even when I don’t say so in the books.
Those soundtracks are things that have shaped the characters in my mind or helped me push through difficult plot snags or inspired me during scenes I want to get right. Sometimes songs are theme-based and sometimes they strike a chord for the character’s…well…character.
Sword of Honor was the first story I actually included those song titles in right in the narrative, so I thought you might be interested to hear them or check them out from the list below.
But first, some notes:
When I imagined the character of Skye in Queen of Skye and Shadow, I always saw her as a loner in a dystopian world. She’d found an MP3 player loaded with Tragically Hip songs and those earbuds were perpetually in her ears as she played songs from the discography that shaped my own adulthood.
Every time I sat to write the story, this image prevailed.
But it wasn’t who the character wanted to be. The world was too complex (as in how in the heck does the thing get charged already?)
So: Instead of Skye being a fan of the Tragically Hip, she finds someone with an MP3 player loaded with Hip tunes…
And thus the character of Marlin was born.
(BTW: If you’ve read the story, you know Marlin and you know Skye. You know how that MP3 player gets juiced. LOL.)
But if you’re not Canadian, I doubt you know much about ‘The Hip” who fills Marlin’s ears with music pretty much 24/7 because I imagine you’re most likely one of my lovely American readers who is woefully unaware of our most beloved Canadian band of sons: The Tragically Hip.
They, their music, the lyrics, embody our culture in ways that only a Canadian can understand, from East to West and from businessman to artist to fisherman. The lead singer, Gord Downey was a different kind of showman. He told stories on stage. His energy and performance were strangely evocative. He wove a spell around his audience like no other singer I’ve seen.
What the Hip is/was to Canada became painfully clear when Gord Downey was diagnosed with terminal cancer. They did a farewell tour across the country while he struggled to remain healthy enough to perform. You can see the effect the band, and Gord’s life and cancer diagnosis on fans across Canada during their last song played live. [click here for the YouTube video]
There were only so many tickets. The entire country couldn’t see them in person one last time. But they were so iconically Canadian and part of us that our national broadcasting system streamed the last concert live on television and radio and made sure anyone who wanted to watch/listen could do so for free.
I, and a large group of friends go camping at the same time every year. That year, was the same time as the Hip’s final concert. We sat around the campfire together in the darkness with bard owls hooting in the background–adults and children and teens– and listened to CBC as Gord and the Hip played on stage 16 hours away.
I’m a big Hip fan. I’ll always be a Hip fan, and when I craft a writing soundtrack, I always add a few favorite Tragically Hip numbers.
So I thought I’d share with you a few that made the list (and in some cases, the book) as I wrote the first draft. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
(thanks Gord: RIP)
ooops. there was truly one more I couldn’t leave off this list. so you get a bonus
I hope you checked out the tunes and enjoyed the listen.
Maybe I’ll even write a post for each song to explain what relevance or meaning it has to me or the characters or storyline. Leave me a comment on Pinterest or on Facebook or Instagram if you’d be interested in that.
If you’re interested in reading a bit of the Tragically Hip’s history and Gord Downey’s life, you can check it out HERE