Because the novel I'm writing takes place in the late 1960s and in the 1970s, I have mood music to take me traveling back there. This is the opening song for a certain set I play. It's a theme song, of sorts, and it gets me in the mood to write:
Now I'm telling you, if you can listen to that first two minutes and not feel something special, well, all I can say is, sorry about that. (P.S. Turn it up LOUD. Make that, DAMN LOUD. Let it seep inside you. There. You just took a music toke.)
Other songs on this particular playlist include:
Rickie Lee Jones - Young Blood
Post Toastee - Tommy Bolin
Run - Pink Floyd
Layla - Eric Clapton pretending there were others, well, yeah, Duane Allman, a Southern boy par excellence, saved his ass AND did the amazing guitar opening, but yeah, Eric.
Statesboro Blues - Allman Brothers
Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones
The Year of Living Dangerously - from the movie soundtrack, same name
....and some others.
(I may add to this post later, but my word count is waiting. So, chance are, I'm listening to one of the songs above, or one of the thirty others on this playlist, that get me in a certain mood, and take me back to a certain place.)
How about you all?
Do you like silence when you write, or certain songs, or something else?
Monday, June 9, 2008
Getting in the Mood
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20 comments:
Wow, that playlist is DH's idea of great music. He would be in heaven at your house. Please, let him move in. Then I wouldn't have to listen to it any more.
Signed
An eighties music tragic forced to listen to the music choices of a seventies music tragic
Oh, and I prefer to write to silence.
I'm a big Seventies music fan, and some of the early Eighties. And I like some of the current stuff which somehow echoes the music of those decades. My tastes are pretty eclectic though.
I like to have music in the background, but not something I like too much because then I listen to the songs instead of writing.
I'm guessing you mean On The Run from Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd? Run Like Hell from The Wall was Eighties.
Dark Side of the Moon was engineered by Alan Parsons, who went on to form the Alan Parsons Project. Quite different.
Hey McK,
You husband had some good taste. Tell him when he's over this way, he can stay with us. If he golfs, even better.
I can't write all that well in silence. It's too loud and distracting. At least, non-moving silence is. My mind works better when the rest of me is moving - I think I've written a decent chunk of my novel while driving. (Dangerous, but true.) Or traveling.
I write better if I have a wall between the 'real world' and me - and, since I can't always leave physically, something else has to take me away. And now, when I hear certain songs, my brain knows it's writing time. Like a trained seal. Or Pavlov's dog.
Hi ril,
Yes- the track from Dark Side of the Moon. I'd forgotten about Alan Parsons, and I didn't know about that connection. So thanks for that.
Are you in the States?
I've tried writing with music playing, but I don't hear it, and then I forget to put it on next time I sit down to write, so I gave up on that. There's usually a lot of noise where ever I go. I guess I've learned to block it out.
Absolute silence — notwithstanding the odd chirping bird, the occasional meaow of a cat and the inevitable swish of eyelashes.
I can't be doing with people, noise or meaning. Plunge me into a sensory deprivation tank with paper and pen. Or a train. I'm looking forward to being 974 when I can travel for free. A day on a train to York and back, writing — what a treat.
As for music, I am fortunate enough to have grown up in the 60s and 70s, so some of my bone marrow cells resemble members of the Beatles — and SLADE. When the 80s arrived, I hid in a bunker for a few years — but it was massively overcrowded and I had to get out. Club Tropicana, drinks are free. I'm not a violent type, but there's something about George Michael that makes me want to kick his balls till they fly from between his legs. Same with Joni Mitchell — only she's already been done.
Are you in the States?
Yes, they let me in.
Silence or classical by choice. But I have been able to write with any noise going on. Seem to have less tolerance for that these days. Can't tune out the world like I used to. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
It depends very much on the moment, the story, and the music. Certain music is right out like tunes that have stories in them. Sometimes quite loud is just right. I've written many a paper at least to AC/DC. And then sometimes I want nothing. Just varies. I do use music sometimes to generate a certain mood in me.
Good stuff, Robin, though I am more of a Clash boy than Pink Floyd.
When I'm writing, silence or classical is best. When I'm programming, any music can be on, as long as I like it. Though research shows that silence actually is better. A book I read 10 years ago (I think it was Peopleware) by two really smart MIT professor guys showed that noise is--prepare to be shocked--a distraction.
Actually, it's a great book, and one of their observations was that programmers solving programming problems did not lose speed or accuracy in their programming when working to music; what they lost was creativity. The programmers working to music tended to come up with solutions that were less elegant than their counterparts who worked in silence. (This was in a controlled, experimental environment, and they did it in such a way as to mitigate the inherent human differences between the subjects.) Fascinating.
I love music. It SOOO totally gets me in the mood.
The video is loading....
Will return after I have a listen.
Hmmm...Not my favorite Zeppelin song, but I love Zeppelin.
Hey you all,
Looks like we're all over the map on this one!
Well, I hope they don't mind music being played in libraries, as ling as the headphones don't blare sound out from the volume being crzy high.
That's where I'm going next - because, well, I'll tell you why, next post.
I like—are you ready for this?—classical. I can't write to anything else except silence. My favorite is 16th Century, Palestrina and the like. I also like ancient Greek music. (Can you tell I was a Music Composition major in college?)
Oh, yeah. And film music, as long as it's classically based. I can't write to rock or pop or jazz (though I love listening to all those). But I love the score to LOTR and stuff like that. It's just the right amount of over-the-top drama.
I can't believe you don't like Joni Mitchell, blogless. Or did I read that wrong? I'm kind of with you on the George Michael, thing, though.
Robin, you nailed it with that choice of video. Took me straight back to the high school days. I remember a lot of that footage from The Song Remains the Same, which I saw numerous times at the midnight movies. Thanks for taking me back, those were some good ol days.
Hey freddie-
I like classical as well - depends on what I'm doing. I like Vivaldi, Wagner, Bach and Beethoven. (Yeah- I know. All over the map.)
I also like Gregorian chants, and I freaking love bagpipe music. Weird, but true! I usually don't write to these, though.
I played piano and bass when I was in grade school. Get this - I played the bass in 8th grade in the Catholic Youth Orchestra. The bass was as tall as I was. They had to carry it on for me. Wish I hadn't stopped playing it!
What instruments do you play?
Hi wood,
Are you with your Dad? Hope all is well.
I think we have close to the same musical taste, kid.
Pete,
meant to say before - what you said about creativity and sound/no sound around was really interesting. i'm trying to think about how that relates to writing first drafts versus editing.
I really loved reading the book; they did a lot of research and experiments into productivity in knowledge worker types of environments. It appears there may be a second edition that is $30+, but I bet you could find the original used.
Anyway, you come away with the distinct impression that cubicles are not much different from bathroom stalls. But you may have already had that impression.
One of the worst distraction devices ever invented: The telephone. I disliked the telephone before reading this book and have grown to loathe it since.
Yep. I hate cubicle life - even when they're large enough and they look like an office - there's no privacy and no office. It's a crummy environment to think well in.
The book sounds really interesting.
And I'm with you re: phones. I use mine all day at work because I have to - when I'm home, I pick and choose when I pick up the phone. It seems most peopl have a compulsion to answer - but that doesn't include me. I figure - we're paying for it, so I'll use it the way I want.
I'm really behind, I know! But I really enjoyed the music toke.
I write to silence, I really don't like noise. And definitely not anything with words, that totally interferes with my own words. What I do is listen to "inspirational" music (that ties in, in some way) in between - while I cook or during a break. That way I'm still thinking about what I'm writing.
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