Hi all. I'm brand new to the NGB. Great stuff here. I just finished AG, my first NG book.

I had an idea that's somewhat related to the 'cast the movie' thread. My apologies if this thread exists – I scanned and didn’t see anything that seemed similar. As I read AG, I started thinking about songs that might express the vibe of the writing.

To my mind there are at least two ways of looking at a list like this. One is as a soundtrack to a movie, which is valid in that each song could express a certain pivotal mood or scene. My song list below could certainly be said to conform to the conventional movie soundtrack model.

Another way to view this list is as a supplement to the book itself. Almost as if there were a hyperlink on the page that you could click or that would play when your eyes reached a certain spot. (it is a fantasy book after all)

Ultimately, expressing Gaiman's writing through song may be an impossible task. Regardless here are a dozen songs that came to my mind as wound through AG. What collection would do it for you? Cheers.

Mr. Bad Example – Warren Zevon

Bring Me To Life – Evanescence

Humans Being – Van Halen

Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm cover of Michael Jackson tune

The Red Wagon – Jane Siberry

The Last Resort – The Eagles

Landslide – Stevie Nicks

Accidentally Like A Martyr – Warren Zevon

Respect The Wind – Edward and Alex Van Halen (guitar and keyboard instrumental)

Pray – Disturbed

Last Dance With Mary Jane – Mr. Tom Petty

The Weight – The Band

(hey! great idea! *thinks about*)


(oh, and welcome!)

sorry, but every time i hear 'Smooth Criminal' i think about this badass Cowboy Bebop/Trigun anime music video i downloaded once... so it won't work for my personal playlist.

i like playlisting books, but its been ages since i read AG

A few songs were actually mentioned in the book...

Dylan's A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (though that was clearly chosen for thematic reasons)

The Velvet Underground's Who Loves the Sun

Those are the only two I can remember Neil mentioning off the top of my head. But let me know if there were any others.

--T.C.

http://thecavebelow.blogspot.com

here's some of the songs that popped into my head while reading AG:

red right hand - nick cave and the bad seeds

not dark yet - bob dylan

how could you forget love - black tape for a blue girl

a deeper kind of slumber - tiamat

ramses, bringer of war - nile

la mer - nine inch nails

whipping post - allman brothers band

beth - kiss (hehehe, i just had to put that in! )

the ballad of matty groves by fairport convention popped into my head.....
lots and lots of mozart......
irish folk music.....

Clutch - Jesus on the Dashboard - The one Clutch song I've actually heard, but it's got such a great sense of creeping inevitability that I think it would be appropriate.

Motörhead - Orgasmatron - The lyrics just fit so well:

I am the one, orgasmatron, the outstretched grasping hand
My image is of agony, my servants rape the land
Obsequious and arrogant, clandestine and vain
Two thousand years of misery, of torture in my name
Hypocrisy made paramount, paranoia the law
My name is called religion, sadistic, sacred whore.

I twist the truth, I rule the world, my crown is called deceit
I am the emperor of lies, you grovel at my feet
I rob you and I slaughter you, your downfall is my gain
And still you play the sycophant and revel in you pain
And all my promises are lies, all my love is hate
I am the politician, and I decide your fate

I march before a martyred world, an army for the fight
I speak of great heroic days, of victory and might
I hold a banner drenched in blood, I urge you to be brave
I lead you to your destiny, I lead you to your grave
Your bones will build my palaces, your eyes will stud my crown
For I am mars, the God of war, and I will cut you down.

Amon Amarth - Death in Fire - OK, so a death metal song is going to turn off a lot off people, but Amon Amarth make such epic, sweeping, incredible Viking death metal that I couldn't leave them out of this list. Death in fire is about the most rousing, driving piece of sound I've ever heard in any genre.

These ones seem obvious to me. I'd need a bit more thought to decide on more tracks, but there should be some Iron Maiden, Death Angel (probably "The Devil Incarnate), maybe some stoner/doom metal...

William Blake's 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' - Ulver.
and the following from the same band
- Perdition City
- A Quick Fix of melancholy

The Sham Mirrors, La Masquerade Infernale - Arcturus

Nighttime Birds - The Gathering

There.

i think the soundtrack for a movie like that should be wholly instrumental.

maybe a bit like the 'Dead Man' soundtrack.

Why not get current artists to write new songs specificaly for the soundtrack? Bands could include:

Tool
Deftones
Cohede and Cambria (the whole SF thing..)

as for already written songs i cant believe noone said Willie Nelson - On The Road Again!

Quientin Tarantino should be paid to watch the movie and put together a soundtrack... he'd end up picking out some obscure track that instantly becomes ewverybody's favorite song

i recon some kronos quartet would go down a treat, and the notwist and jeff buckley and some jouhn martyn, ohh and some deus, and some aphex twin and some buck 65, song for the advancement of hiphop as its all about the blacklands.

I always thought The Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin would work wonderfully

I would make Danny Elfman do the soundtrack. Whatever the movie, a little (or a lot) or Elfman always makes me happy. The book also made me think of the Oingo Boingo song "Mary"

I think James Newton Howard should do the score

I love the idea of this thread, but alot of the songs you put are :-/.

no offence.

If i were putting together this movie, i would seek out some different music. I mean, real different. Get some mix of artists, and have them cover traditional music from various parts of the world.

Artists I think that would do well with this would be

Moby
My life with the Thrill Kill Kult
Alanis - in swing with the songs she did with jonathan elias, not alt rock stuff.
Dave Mathews Band
George Jones - for the bar scene, ha.
Tech N9ne
Sade - for the love scene between bast and shadow
Suicidal Tendencies
Corporate Avenger
Chamber
Alicia Keys
Jane Monheit

oh and Tricky's remix of strange fruit by billie holiday for when shadow is doing the vigil.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Eldi,

I think on the whole a soundtrack to a work like AG should be so all over the place it has no connecting qualities. There should be a common theme or thread to bind them together so the feeling you get is what was desired. True, a few 'out-there' songs help with certain parts, and are needed for the over all effect in certain parts. Again, i think for something as massive as AG should not be a mere mishmash of randomly liked songs, but maybe have a composer which would give the effect of an over all togetherness. The music should have its composer like the book had its author.

<_<

sorry, rambling. I enjoy speculating songs as well. Sarah Mclachlan has some really haunting songs i think would fit in real well for certain parts.

maybe im alone here but i also see some Massive Attack in the mix, no?

quote:

Originally posted by The Lord of YARRR!:
Quientin Tarantino should be paid to watch the movie and put together a soundtrack... he'd end up picking out some obscure track that instantly becomes ewverybody's favorite song

Only if you pay Robert Rodriguez to sit in the room with him and have the two of them mess around the whole time.

Actually, if I understand the way Quentin writes, he has a song in mind as he's working on a scene.

There's a few songs that might work that have already been mentioned. It'd help if I knew what songs go where.