Kate's Blog

Playlists

I don't always write to music, mainly because I write when my daughter is napping and we live in a small apartment so I can't blast music. Also, I don't like wearing headphones. But occasionally, when I get a babysitter who takes my daughter to the playground on a beautiful day like today, I can be alone in the apartment and write with music playing. Loudly. Bliss!

So I compiled a playlist for what I'm working on now, which is a women's fiction called Upper East and I shared the first sentence with you a while back. This is a story about two women whose lives collide as they live in the same apartment building. It is also about how we deal with the reality of aging and death, as there is a woman in their apartment building who is ninety-three years old and they both help to take care of her. Anyway, I like to choose my playlists carefully but also from the heart: the songs have to resonate with the story in both tone and lyric. So here is my playlist for Upper East (and if I knew how to link to youtube videos of the actual songs I would, but I am fairly technically hopeless.)

The Best Laid Plans by James Blunt
Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Greenday
Cat's in the Cradle by Harry Chapin
The Crane Wife 3 by The Decemberists
Stewart's Coat by Rickie Lee Jones
Thinking About You by Radiohead

That's all so far. Over and over again. If anyone has any suggestions of songs they think might fit this mix...

As an aside, I played Cat's in the Cradle for my 12 year old daughter awhile back and when we got to the middle of the song, with the line, "What I'd really like, Dad is to borrow the car keys, See you later, Can I have them please?" We both stared at each with tears in our eyes. I love this song--but it makes me teary every time I hear it. Interestingly, I went to college with Harry Chapin's son. What a legacy he had to live with! If you've never heard this song, go to itunes or youtube or somewhere and listen to it. Especially if you're a parent. I guarantee you will be moved.

And I'll leave you with a line I finished with today:

Everything felt precarious, a tottering pile of china, or a tree with too-ripe fruit. Things were going to fall; they were going to bruise or break.

Labels: Harry Chapin, Upper East, writing life, writing news

posted by Kate Hewitt at Friday, March 18, 2011