Writing Soundtrack for The Hellion Prince
Mar. 18th, 2011 01:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matt_doyleThis soundtrack, while it's one that people have inquired about, is a little awkward for me to discuss. I'm only about a third of the way through The Hellion Prince, and while I know what comes next, the vast majority of you do not (exceptions being ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
celebros , elf_amazon , and to some extent handgun & lesyeuxouverts ).
That means that I can share this list with you, and even highlight meaningful lyrics, but in more than a few instances I can't really talk about why these songs are meaningful to me and to the story. Initially, I tried to put these songs in an order that was more or less chronological, based on what in the novel they related to, but the result was... really revealing, and so the order now is mostly the order in which they got added to the playlist. You're free to speculate, however, and there will be no explicit, specific spoilers, save for what Chekov's Gun would already have indicated. So. This should be interesting...
A largely instrumental piece with Russian lyrics, so I can't quote it meaningfully – but if I close my eyes while listening to it, I can see the landscape of the Allotment perfectly.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Carol of the Bells
Again, an instrumental piece (one that brilliantly inserts God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen into Carol of the Bells – damn.) This is more mood music, with the dark, minor-key, rock-and-roll take on classic carols. The social landscape of the Allotment, I suppose.
I need to wash myself again to hide all the dirt and pain
'Cause I'd be scared that there's nothing underneath
But who are my real friends?
Have they all got the bends?
Am I really sinking this low?
Damarhis – especially Damarhis, in the wine cellar in the beginning, awaiting his sedition trial. But this song conjures him in my head very clearly for reasons I can't describe. Not because they're spoilery, just because I don't understand them myself.
Semisonic – Singing In My Sleep
I can hear you sing it to me in my sleep
I can hear you sing it to me in my sleep
Something about this song or its sound is just absolutely right for Hellion Prince, though I almost cut it from this soundtrack three separate times for being too cheerful. But (as Megan rightfully pointed out to me) Damarhis is never, ever alone in his own head. There's always someone to listen to. Usually Belasen.
Disney – I Won't Say I'm in Love
If there's a prize for rotten judgment
I guess I've already won that.
There is a lot of unadmitted romantic feeling in this book, from a lot of surprising directions and between unexpected couples. But the opening lines of the song are all Damarhis.
Aimee Allen – I'd Start a Revolution
All the things that I do you tell me not to
Start walking in my shoes but you stumble don't you
4 5 6 AM I'm up all night again.
I'd start a revolution
As a general rule, teenagers are radical about their politics, and have a tendency towards rebellion against their elders. Teenaged mage-lords are no different, and neither are teenaged princes.
Dave Matthews Band – Grey Street
She says I pray
But they fall on deaf ears
Am I supposed to take it on myself
To get out of this place
Imadria's theme. Once Chapter Ten is up (any day now!), you should be able to see that it fits her, but I certainly can't talk about why.
Cake – Friend Is A Four Letter Word
when I go fishing for the words
i am wishing you would say to me,
i'm really only praying
that the words you'll soon be saying
might betray the way you feel about me.
Damarhis is very confused about who his real friends are. Damarhis's friends are very confused about who Damarhis is.
Then you'd understand me
Why I've felt so alone, why I kept myself from love
And you became my favorite drug
There are, at a minimum, three different relationships in the text this speaks well to, and not necessarily in a romantic sense. Also, Alex Band with longer hair is exactly how I picture Damarhis.
They painted up your secrets
With the lies they told to you
And the least they ever gave you
Was the most you ever knew
These lyrics apply well to the text in general – but the song is about family.
Last night I dreamed the sky went black
You were drifting down and you couldn't get back
You were lost and in trouble so far from home
I reached for you, my arms were like stone
I woke and you were missing
Missing...
I really absolutely cannot comment on this one at all.
Let's turn our wretched debates into action
By diplomacy gain, back a handshake
Tied and unable to tend, to the wounds that were made
So much closer to shame we see but never touch
The personal is political. And the political is very definitely personal.
Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you
And you still won't hear me
Damarhis and Damalien.
Emilie Autumn – If You Feel Better
If it calms your conscience
Making me the guilty one
Take my reputation
Ain't worth much
And it's alright
This song could be applied to Damarhis easily enough – but really, I think, it's Ansira's theme more than anyone else's.
Excuse me too busy you're writing your tragedy
These mishaps
You bubble-wrap
When you've no idea what you're like
Damarhis is a bit of an emo kid – and his ego and upbringing make him more inclined to see how a given situation affects him, rather than seeing the big picture.
The Flash Girls – Personal Thing
Starlight and moonlight and madness and heaven
You made me all that I am; you're forgiven.
Damarhis has constructed himself from lessons learned in a lot of different places – and given the reuslts, his teachers have a lot to answer for.
Oh he's been watching, watching idly
While you were shaking in despair.
He knew you'd come to find a scary stare.
Fool, Damarhis, and a specific scene later in the book.
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmmm that it's all for the best?
of course it is
Mmmm whatcha say?
Mmmm that it's just what we need
you decided this
Damarhis has a lot of influence, and, in his own way, the best of intentions. Unfortunately he also has the worst of judgment, not to mention an exaggerated conception of his own importance.
Muse – Our Time Is Running Out
you will be the death of me
I could take almost any lyric from this song and apply it to the text in ways that you might find shockingly literal.
Never thought I'd fill with desire.
Never thought I'd feel so ashamed.
If Damarhis had only two fatal flaws, the second one would be that his feelings are too strong, and not remotely subject to his control or understanding. Plus, this song has the word 'Prince' in it.
Sometimes
It's just that nothing seems worth saving
I can't watch her slip away.
Damarhis and Imadria. In everything I write, there's one character whose importance is surprising to me, whose story surprises me because I thought it would stay safely backstage. In The Hellion Prince, Imadria is that character – her role in the story was originally divided between her and Pallusine Rainpool, who is now just a very vocal and prominent background character, because Imadria's story eclipsed hers.
Simon & Garfunkel – I Am A Rock
I've built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I picked this song simply for the general sentiment, but when I played this playlist for Megan, she said “Oh. Sabric!” He is not, perhaps, that bitter. But he certainly starts off very reserved.
Evil angel when you're faced with hatred's
Daggers in my honor
This mostly makes me think of the final scene in the book's climax. Make of that what you will.
No there's nothing you say that can salvage the lie
But I'm trying to keep my intentions disguised
Damarhis is both terribly unsuited and perfectly suited to be a double agent. Or a triple agent. It might help if he knew what side he was actually on, or what game he was actually playing. Or it might not.
I can be as humble as the next guy
Or I can blink and make you crumble from the inside
I could be every nasty thing, you ever dreamt a man could be
This works for me as either a Damarhis song or a Belasen song, and it works very well for their relationship in the middle third of the book.
The Juliana Theory – Shotgun Serenade
But you cannot separate the two things I would live or die for.
I'd kill to separate your heart from your head. That's to die for.
Divided loyalties, confused romance, and friends making one another miserable.
The All-American Rejects – Swing Swing
Days swiftly come and go, I'm dreaming of her
She's seeing other guys, emotions astir
Damarhis brought Chrysinthe to the capitol in order to introduce her to Prince and Court. And he's happy enough to have her with him that he really, really hasn’t thought through the implications.
We couldn't help but call it treason
This one has little resonances all over for me, and I can't really pin down a good quote and explain why I think it fits. But the book has a lot of disillusionment and treason.
Everybody wants me to be their angel
Everybody wants something they can cradle
They don't know I burn
The verses are Sabric, and the choruses are either Sabric or Damarhis. Fits with the title of the book pretty well, obviously. Though I admit, I was tempted to reserve this song for a Romance of Blood soundtrack instead... but if I did, there wouldn't have been a 'maybe' in the chorus.
Give me time I will be clear.
Given time you'll understand
What possesses me to right what you have suffered.
I'm in this mood because of scorn.
Damalien. If I had to describe Damalien's initial concept, it would be 'half Melisande Sharizai and half Lucius Malfoy.' He keeps annoying me, however, by having nuanced and human reactions to the things he sets in motion. I was initially going to say that this song was him addressing Damarhis, but it works as well or better if this is a soliloquy to the audience.
Ego Likeness – You Better Leave The Stars Alone
It's a long way down and the dark road is a serpent
But you and I are not so different
It's a long day coming and your faith is crumbling
Do you fear what you might find if you look inside?
Damarhis and Sabric. But also, goddamn, isn't this a brilliant song? You listened to it, right? How do stars feel about being wished on? And on that note, I suppose this song also could work from the perspective of the syncretic ancestor-worship religion in Hellion Prince...
Lately I've been wishing I had one desire,
Something that would make me never want another,
Something that would make it so that nothing matters,
All would be clearer then
That sums up what Damarhis wants pretty well. Unfortunately, the rest of the song illustrates pretty well the fact that he can't have it. There are a lot of lyrics that apply in ways I can't talk about to the end of the book.
Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear
And I can't help but ask myself how much I let the fear
Take the wheel and steer
It's driven me before
And it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal
But lately I'm beginning to find that I
Should be the one behind the wheel
Damarhis spends most of the book catering to the contradictory agendas of others who he perceives as wiser or more powerful or in some way superior to him. And he genuinely wants to be helpful to them all. But he does develop his own opinions, and his own agenda, and face his fear of disappointing others. I'll just leave you to imagine how well that turns out.
My Chemical Romance – Famous Last Words
Nothing you could stay can stop me coming home.
Damarhis, in the end.
It still feels to me like something is missing from this list, though -- if anyone has any suggestions about other songs that might fit, I'd be delighted to hear them.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-30 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 07:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 07:52 am (UTC)Are you hanging out online at the moment? I'm up late trying to get more writing done.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 08:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 08:13 am (UTC)