Sunday 8 September 2013

A Theme-song for a book? Whoever Heard of Such a Thing?



(Sorry may not work on some devices)

I have a theme-song for my book... As ridiculous as it may sound.
Yes I know it's not a movie or tv show or anything that would make sense to bring out a soundtrack to... After-all, you can't hear a book... Well you could, if you were to buy an audio one but that's not the point.
Books ordinarily don't lend themselves to theme-songs because we read with our eyes not our ears. And I think the logistics of putting audio tracks within a book cover  would be difficult and expensive. Having said that, they are able to put music into greeting cards. And let's not forget the good portion of the world who has moved on from paper books to electronic versions... A media that is capable of containing audio files... So is the idea of a theme-song for a book so ridiculous after-all?

Well I for one would never have even thought to have a song related to my book, it just wouldn't have occurred to me since its not exactly a done thing but this theme-song wasn't intentional it sort of happened itself upon me.

Sitting in my car waiting for my kids to get out from school one day, I found myself half listening to the music on the player and partially stuck with thoughts of my story floating around in my mind after a particularly heavy session of writing. When WHAMMO the words of the song started blending beautifully with the motion picture running through my head and in that instant I knew that this was the theme-song to my book. 


Well why not I ask... What is the difference between a movie and a book? I'll tell you... One plays in front of your eyes and one plays in front of your minds eye. 
When I read (as I'm sure is your experience too) I see the story play out in my head just like a movie... Quite frankly that's what I like about books. So if a theme-song to a movie can enhance ones experience and lift it to another level... Why not a book? 

So this song by Aussie band (very appropriate) Eskimo Joe is called Setting Sun and while it has a more modern sound I find in fits nicely with the older period of the book. When I hear certain parts of the song or certain lyrics, my mind recalls particular moments in the story. I love that happening in any movie and I love it happening with my book. Enjoy! 






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