I finished my short story this noon. Woo! It feels good to be finished with a project!
Well, okay, maybe not finished in the classical sense of the word, to quote one of my favorite movies. 🙂 The first draft, though, that’s done, and it feels awesome, except for one little thing…
I’ve got a song stuck in my head.
So this ghost story calls for sensory cues, like the smell of roses and snippets of an old song (“Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, for those inquiring minds out there). I discovered over the weekend that the song I had in mind actually had lyrics, and I was able to find an old recording of it online. If you’ve seen Titanic, then you’ve heard the song – it’s one of the numbers that the string quartet plays as the ship is sinking. I have that version on CD, and now I have the Billy Murray recording from 1911 (which you can listen to and download here) as well. Woo!
But to get the proper mood, I had to weave the song throughout the story. And to get myself in the proper mood, I listened to the song on repeat all.weekend.long. Now it’s stuck in my head, Billy Murray singing over the Titanic soundtrack version, which let me tell you, is a little strange. It’s also kind of fun, though – I haven’t fallen this hard for a song in quite a while.
In my search for info on the song, I learned quite a bit about ragtime, and now I’m on a major ragtime kick. It’s a shame the genre died out so quickly because the music is really interesting, and I notice something new every time I listen to the songs (“Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer” in particular).
What about you? What kind of music gets you in a writing mood? Have you ever fallen in love with a song on your writing playlist and listened to it non-stop?
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Suddenly they all died. The end. 
Good songs; and yes, I often get a song stuck in my head while writing and it’s always a different one. It’s like my subconscious is a juke box on random play.
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Same here. I think this song’s on its way out, finally, but I still have revisions to do, so I’m sure I haven’t heard the last of it. 🙂
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I’ve been told many times my mixes sound like they were made by someone suffering from severe schizophrenia. It’s not uncommon for a playlist to jump from Rolling Stones to Mozart to Public Enemy to Johnny Cash to Frank Sinatra (And yeah I have The Entertainer on one of my playlists too.) A lot of times when I write though, I don’t like to get distracted by lyrics, so I’ll put in something without any. (Like the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack.)
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Sounds like my kind of playlist! I’m the same way – if I have a playlist, it’s usually full of instrumental music so that I don’t get distracted and try to sing along. I have a couple chant stations on Pandora that are good, too (Gregorian chant and Byzantine chant) – they help get me in the right place for my fantasy books, but they’re not distracting. 🙂
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songs often stick on my head on repeat for days – I don’t know if it means I like them but… LOL!
Don McLean’s song “empty chairs” always makes me want to write something beautiful. I never manage it, but the desire is there.
ha ha! this one is fun – I can see how it might drive someone crazy!
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Don McLean has so many awesome songs – “Vincent” is the one that makes me want to write something beautiful because it’s such a gorgeous song (though I actually prefer Josh Groban’s version). And “American Pie” is a classic. 🙂
The thing about “American Pie,” though, is that I’ve heard “The Saga Begins” a few too many times because I sing those lyrics every time I hear “American Pie.” 🙂
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Yes and yes!! I actually bought that album for Vincent 🙂
“So, my, my, this here Anikin guy may be vadar someday later, now he’s just a small fry.” Ha ha!!
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“…He left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye, sayin’ soon I’m gonna be a Jedi…”
Woo! “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” has been displaced! 😀
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