Driving to the evil day job this week, I have a long commute, I got tired of listening to the DJs rambling about unhappy events in their lives so I hit the play button on the CD player. My husband had some angry rock music in the player, which didn't suit my mood. I pulled out my selections and opened it to something I hadn't listened to in ages.
The Eurythmics. It was their greatest hits CD.
As I listened to the first song, Love is a Stranger, my repect for Annie Lennox and David Stewart grew. (If possible. I respect them as artists already.)
"Love is a danger
Of a different kind
To take you away
And leave you far behind
And love love love
Is a dangerous drug
You have to receive it
And you still can't
Get enough of the stuff"
Writing is an art of words. We can't use color or pictures to explain what we want to express, we use emotions. I listened to Annie sing her words, I really listened hard, and rediscovered my love for her work. As a romance writer, I know it's not easy to express how love can make a person feel and in the song, she describes many of the facets of this emotion.
"It's savage and it's cruel
And it shines like destruction
Comes in like the flood
And it seems like religion
It's noble and it's brutal
It distorts and deranges
And it wrenches you up
And you're left like a zombie"
"It's guilt edged
Glamorous and sleek by design
You know it's jealous by nature
False and unkind
It's hard and restrained
And it's totally cool
It touches and it teases
As you stumble in the debris"
And yet, after all these descriptions, she says,
"And I want you
And I want you
And I want you so
It's an obsession"
Perfect. LOL. Because we know, we all desire things that are not good for us.
I get inspired by songs, many writers do. I think most people who are passionate about books are passionate about music. They go hand in hand, like painting and drawing.
I'm happy to have found this CD still my collection and I'm still listening to it on my way to the evil day job.
What songs have affected you and why?
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9 comments:
I find romantic inspiration from most anything by Anna Nalick, The Cure, and Depeche Mode. That's so true about my passion for books and music; I love to enjoy both, though I've recently started writing without music. It's odd and depends upon my mood, I guess. Thanks for sharing this!
Well the one song that inspired me was a song called Behind Blue Eyes by the Who. This song sums up my hero in A Vamp to Remember. My hero is one step from being the villain and he wants to be better for the woman he is falling in love with. And this song really fits how he thinks of himself.
Behind Blue Eyes
No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
No one knows what it's like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies
But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That's never free
No one knows what it's like
To feel these feelings
Like I do
And I blame you
No one bites back as hard
On their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through
But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That's never free
When my fist clenches, crack it open
Before I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool
If I swallow anything evil
Put your finger down my throat
If I shiver, please give me a blanket
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat
No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
One of my favorite songs is Fine Again by Seether. The line "I feel the dream in me expire, and there's no one left to blame it on" sometimes hits home for me.
My all time favorite love song is Bryan Adam's "Everything I Do (I do it for you)". I get shivers everytime I listen to it...
I know most of my books have sound tracks, like movies. LOL
If I don't have the sound track I know I'm not ready to write the story.
I love the Eurythmics, especially their early techno-stuff. Some of my books have songs running through them, because I was inspired to think of a plot-point by the words, and felt a need to pay homage to the song by incorporating it somehow into the story. But I can't usually listen to anything with words while I'm writing.
Annie,
Your so right. Music inspires me, too. But I don't think it's the romance that I notice. It's the characters. Pink for instance. I love her song "So What". She's hurt, she's angry but she will sure as hell make it without him.
Many of my books have soundtracks or the main characters have theme songs. I created a Viking like culture and their theme is Nickleback's "Burn it to the Ground".
For my current WIP I have a song for a scene. Breaking Benjamin's "Anthem of the Angels". I see a woman's body laid out a top a stone coffin with a man resting up against the side, waiting to see if his beloved (in my story his daughter) rises as a vampire. He wants her to live but knows she won't ever be the same. Here's a piece of the lyrics:
"White walls surround us
No light will touch your face again
Rain taps the window
As we sleep among the dead
Days go on forever
But I have not left your side
We can chase the dark together
If you go then so will I
Chorus:
There is nothing left of you
I can see it in your eyes
Sing the anthem of the angels
And say the last goodbye"
Later on he repeats "your dead alive". If you haven't heard it check it out on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-SCnf9tkTk
Brannan
I draw a lot of inspiration from songs from musicals. Usually there's so much emotion pouring off the actors through their voices, it brings my emotions to the forefront.
I love 80s music though, too. Gotta love the Eurythmics!
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