Traveling Down The Rabbit Hole

Lady Midnight is coming out in one week (and a few hours) so in honor of that I’m putting up the playlist. Usually songs remind me of specific characters in general rather than scenes or themes, so I’ve made notes.

Play Crack The Sky: Brand New

(Julian and Emma)

This story’s old but it goes on and on until we disappear. Calm me and let me taste the salt you breathed while you were underneath. I am the one who haunts your dreams of mountains sunk below the sea. I spoke the words but never gave a thought to what they all could mean.

You’ve Haunted Me All Of My Life: Death Cab for Cutie

(Lady Midnight’s own story)

You’ve haunted me all my life You’re always out of reach when I’m in pursuit Long winded then suddenly mute And there’s a flaw in my heart’s design For I keep trying to make you mine And so I wait but I never seem to learn How to capture your diminishing returns I still see you through the eyes of a child Not even thinking we could tame the wild.

“Always Gold” by Radical Face

(Mark and Julian. Ty and Julian, Ty and Mark - brotherhood in general!)

We were tight knit boys Brothers in more than name You would kill for me And knew that I’d do the same And it cut me sharp Hearing you’d gone away.

Malibu: Hole

(A song from my own growing-up period! This one really spoke to me about the power of the ocean, forgetting yourself in the water, and all the people — Cristina, Diana, Emma — who make new starts in Malibu.)

And I knew Love would tear you apart Oh, and I knew The darkest secret of your heart I’m gonna follow you Oh baby, fly away to Malibu Oceans of angels Oceans of stars Down by the sea is where you Drown your scars.

Chocolate by The 1975

I love this one for Emma and Cristina…it was so much fun writing their friendship.

Oh we go where nobody knows With guns hidden under our petticoats No we’re never gonna quit it No we’re never gonna quit it, no Yeah we’re dressed in black from head to toe We’ve got guns hidden under our petticoats No we’re never gonna quit it. no we’re never gonna quit it no

If The Night Is Dark: Seeker Lover Keeper

(Mark)

Well I’m trying to decide 

Should I run, should I hide

Show them tricks and be tamed.

Yeah, it’s true that I’ve changed

But I’m also the sameI’m just playing the game

.If you lay down beside me 

You’ll feel that I’m cold

And I’m empty, it’s true.See the more I reveal 

The more lonely I feel

What was one is now broken, broken in two. 

California, Airborne Toxic Event

(Emma and the way she wants to be remembered.)

And oh, I hope it’s clear: there’s no room for us anymore in the atmosphere, But darling I always liked the desperation in your eyes, The way you’d dance in the glow of the Hollywood Freeway lights. Someday they’re gonna forget about us and we’ll wonder if we were ever good enough. It hit me last night, in this song I heard, I remember the feeling but forget all the words.

Soul Meets Body, Death Cab for Cutie

(Julian, thinking about Emma)

I do believe it’s true That there are roads left in both of our shoes But if the silence takes you Then I hope it takes me too

So brown eyes I’ll hold you near ‘Cause you’re the only song I want to hear A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Fire and the Flood Vance Joy

(The lines First the fire, then the flood, from an old riddle are really important in the book, so it was fun to find this song. Plus it could really cover several couples I can’t talk about yet!)

You’re the fire and the flood And I’ll always feel you in my blood Everything is fine When your head’s resting next to mine Next to mine You’re the fire and the flood

The Trapeze Swinger, Iron and Wine

(It was fun to write about people who’d known each other their whole lives rather than just having met and this strikes me as being about memory and love past and present)

And please remember me as in the dream We had as rug burned babies Among the fallen trees and fast asleep Beside the lions and the ladies That called you what you like and even might Give a gift for your behavior A fleeting chance to see a trapeze Swinger high as any savior But please remember me, my misery And how it lost me all I wanted Those dogs that love the rain and chasing trains The colored birds above there running In circles round the well and where it spells On the wall behind St. Peter So bright on cinder gray in spray paint ‘Who the hell can see forever?’

Death, by White Lies

(Mark, Kieran and others in the Wild Hunt)

I love the feeling when we lift off Watching the world so small below I love the dreaming when I think of The safety in the clouds out my window I wonder what keeps us so high up Could there be a love beneath these wings If we suddenly fall should I scream out Or keep very quiet and cling to my mouth as I’m crying So frightened of dying Relax, yes, I’m trying But fear’s got a hold on me

Ocean Wide, the Afters

(This always read to me as about love, but not necessarily romantic love — some of the most important love in the book is family love, Ty’s and Julian’s, Livvy and Ty, etc)

I’ll stay right here It’s where I’ll always belong Days like this, I wish the sun wouldn’t set I don’t want to forget What made us feel this way You see through all my fears And that’s what got us here

Flaws by Bastille

(The Blackthorns and their secrets)

“You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve, and I have always buried them deep beneath the ground. Dig them up; let’s finish what we started.” 

The Ocean, the Bravery

(Diego and Cristina)

I climbed up a mountain and looked off the edge At all of the lives that I never have led There’s one where I stayed with you across the sea I wonder, do you still think of me? I carry your image always in my head Folded and yellowed and torn at the edge And I’ve looked upon it for so many years Slowly I am losing your face

Jasey Rae, All Time Low

(Julian, and the games he’s forced to play)

I’ve never told a lie And that makes me a liar I’ve never made a bet But we gamble with desire I’ve never lit a match With intent to start a fire But recently the flames are getting out of control

Keane, Love is the End

(Emma and the ocean)