Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten list prompt. This week it’s about music and books. I’ve decided to combine this week’s top ten list with a recent tag, since it was also music related. The Orang-utan Librarian tagged me to do the Playlist Shuffle Tag. (The tag requires putting my music player on random, and listing the first 15 songs to come up, no skipping! I’m cheating a bit by doing only 10.) Here are my songs, and the books whose soundtracks I think the songs would belong on, if books had soundtracks. Wish me luck… 🙂
10. Hooked on a Feeling – Blue Swede
Since I think of Guardians of the Galaxy whenever I hear it now, I had to come up with something suitably spacey and full of action. I chose Chindi by Jack McDevitt.
9. Heartless – Heart
Remember I am talking about book soundtracks and not movies for this one! (Besides, any Pendergast movie that doesn’t have Pendergast as a character never happened, as far as I am concerned. 🙂 ) This would be my theme song for the creature in Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
8. Lights – Ellie Goulding
The Lights in the Sky are Stars by Fredric Brown – one has absolutely nothing to do with the other beyond their respective titles, but when I tried to think of a book, this is what popped into my head!
7. Dangerous (featuring Joywave) – Big Data
I haven’t read You by Caroline Kepnes yet, but after listening to these lyrics and reading this book description, I think this song would be a perfect fit.
6. Fall in Love – Phantogram
I think this would fit Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. The song is about falling in love but has a dark feel to it that I think fits poor Christine’s situation.
5. Demons – Imagine Dragons
This one popped into my head right away – Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz.
4. Chandelier – Sia
This one was easy – The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Here’s a song about drinking to drown your sorrows, and book to show you why that is a terrible idea!
3. When We Were Young – Adele
This one may sound strange, but I’m going with The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. It’s a story of being young and having to grow up too fast, and it just feels right to me.
2. Radioactive – Pentatonix and Lindsey Sterling
This one is just so perfectly post-apocalyptic that I have to go with The Passage by Justin Cronin.
1. Burning Bridges – One Republic
It has to be The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I hesitate to give my reasons in case you haven’t read the book, but never have I read a story where someone had to just let go so many times….
Whew! I did it. Instead of tagging 10 bloggers though, I’m inviting everyone reading this post who’d like to give it a go to post their own playlist. Be sure to leave me a link if you do it, and as always, leave me a link if you have a Top Ten post this week so I can check it out.
Ah! I like how you did this week’s topic! I didn’t even think about which books would fit a song. But then again, I don’t get music and books being paired up. Just me, I guess.
Great job and great list!
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Thanks – it took some stretching to pair them up….
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I love Demons by Imagine Dragons and Ashley Bell is on my TBR list.. Also, Chandelier is perfect match with The Girl on the Train. Great list!
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Thanks Alex! 😄
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I laughed out loud when I saw your pick for Chandelier. The Girl on the Train is definitely a cautionary tale about excessive drinking!
Here’s my TTT.
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Isn’t it? 😉
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This is awesome! I love that you did it this way!! It was such a great idea
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Thanks for the tag that gave me the idea! 😀
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You’re welcome 🙂
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Ok officially loving this and totally playing along. Your choice for Chandelier is absolutely perfect! 🙂
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Yay, and thank you!! 😀
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Awesome list! Heartless is one of my favorite songs by Heart, so I had to comment on that one! 🙂 I love that old school Lights in the Sky cover, and Lindsey Stirling is awesome. What a fun list. 🙂
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As hard as it was to come up with some of the books, it was fun to do! 😀
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Well done – that must have taken ages. I just did a very cheeky take on the theme this week – I’m absolutely useless with lyrics (or getting the words right!)
Lynn 😀
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I admit some of mine are based on title and have little (or nothing) to do with the lyrics. 😉
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I agree with Carrie – you are very impressive, Erika! I tried. Got ten songs, but wasn’t doing very well at coming up with books for them all. Here’s what I did get matched:
There is a Time – The Hamilton Co. Bluegrass Band paired with J.K.Rowlings’ “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” All sorts of time travel there. The song is about our lives and time passing.
Pretty Polly – The Dillards paired with Pearl R. Meaker’s “The Devil’s Music” – ok, I know it’s my book, but Pretty Polly is a traditional murder ballad and the book deals with murder ballads.
Come Back To Me In My Dreams – River Ramblers paired with J.K.Rowlings’ “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” Harry isn’t actually dreaming, he’s having visions, but it was what popped into my head. The song is actually a lost love type song.
O Death – Ralph Stanley paired with Isaac Asimov’s “A Pebble in the Sky.” The time that the main character ends up (accidentally) transported to is a damaged Earth that can only support a set number of people – so when people turn 65 they are humanely euthanized. One of the lines in the song is, “O Death. Can you spare me over for another year?”
Let Him Go On Mama – John Hartford paired with Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn.” The song is about a mid-20th century Mississippi River man, not an 1800’s one, but it always makes me think of Huckleberry Finn. I love a line in the chorus talking about the river, “It’s too thick to navigate and it’s too thin to plow. So let him go on Mama, don’t put him down for it now.”
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I have to admit I”m not familiar with most of your songs, Pearl! I’m going to have to check them out since I AM familiar with the books that you have paired them with. It will be fun to see if I can see the connection too. 🙂
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Hahaha 😀
Most people won’t be familiar with them. That’s what happens when most of what one listens to is out of the “popular music” stream. They are all bluegrass/folk songs. My hubby and I do a fantastic arrangement of our own for “There Is A Time” which was written and first performed by The Dillards. Most bands do it fast, typical of bluegrass, but we do it slower. The version listed above is performed by a bluegrass band from New Zealand. 🙂
Most of these songs, by these artists, can be found on YouTube.
John Hartford – Let Him Go On Mama – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OETPXV7BufY
Hamilton Co. Blugegrass – There is a Time – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P0vzM2xjwc
The Dillards – Pretty Polly – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9jH4F4N2OA – This is a live recording, and I think the only recording of them doing Pretty Polly. I quoted a line from the introduction for my book The Devil’s Music – “There’s a need for murder in every culture.”
Come Back To Me in My Dreams – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHci30QrE3Y – I couldn’t find the River Ramblers – they are a regional band that my husband and I are good friends with. They do have some stuff on YouTube, but not this song. The link is for 5Pickers and their version sounds the most like the River Ramblers one.
Ralph Stanley – O Death – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xmRWj7gJEU – The song is an old one that was first recorded in the late 1920’s, but it’s older than that. Ralph Stanley sang this version for the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” This song, and this version, just gives me the chills.
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Thanks for the links! Now I will check them out for sure. 😊
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what a great idea! Oh gosh, I don’t know if I could fit songs to books like that. Fantastic job! My TTT
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Thanks Carrie – this was one of the hardest ones I’ve done in a while! 🙂
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i bet! I am tres impressed! 🙂
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😀
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