I wanted to share some of the musical
influences that guided me while I worked on Kid
Silver: Alone.
1.) Bottom of the River: Delta Rae’s “Carry
The Fire” –
Hold my
hand.
Oh baby,
it’s a long way down to the bottom of the river.
Hold my
hand.
It’s a long
way down. It’s a long way down.
I heard this song for the first
time on VH1. It was a part of the rare music video blocks that occur in between
shows about drunk women slapping each other. It’s this eerie soul-filled song
with diluted echoes of field Hymns. There’s this call-and-response,
call-and-response rhythm that expresses, at least to my ears, a desperation and
seduction. I don’t know how Kid Silver:
Alone and Bottom of the River fit
together, but they do. Like chocolate and potato chips, it shouldn’t work but
it does. Possibly, it has something to do with Maxwell’s descent into darkness.
The seduction of the gummy, tan Heroin on the tip of his finger. Were he to
snort it up his nose, it’d go a long way down…a long way down.
2.)
Die Young: Ke$ha’s
“Die Young- Single”
I hear your heartbeat t
to the beat of the drums.
Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone.
So, while you’re here in my arms
Let’s make
the most of the night
Like we’re
going to die young.
This one’s a little embarrassing and a little
obvious. Elena dies young in the novel and for some reason, this spoke to her
death. Elena died the way she wanted to. She died fighting and she died loved.
This song is about someone living like they were going to die the next day. I
don’t want to attribute some philosophical depth to a Ke$ha song, but this
song, in particular, isn’t exactly philosophically shallow, either. Also, it’s
just crazy catchy. I could easily listen to it on a loop for a solid hour.
3.) Mayday!!!: Flobot’s “Fight With Tools.”
Spray paint
on the teleprompter
Anchorman
says he sees a monster
There are
bloodstains on his shirt
They say
that he’s gone berserk
This song is all about the
action. It has this revolutionary feel to it. When you listen to it, you can
almost smell the Tear-gas in the air and feel the ground trembling from all the
footsteps. Kid Silver is rising up against a force far greater than himself.
While listening to it, I felt like I was inside Maxwell’s world, fighting
alongside Kid Silver.
4.) O Death: Ralph Shelby of the “O Brother Where Art Thou
Soundtrack”
O Death.
O Death.
Won’t you
spare me over to another year?
Won’t you spare me over to another year?
This song is hopelessness and lonesomeness set to a rhythm . Mr. Shelby
isn’t accompanied by any instruments. It’s just his reedy, Southern voice
singing about a man pleading with Death, asking if he could live for one more
year, one more month, one more week, one more day. Death can not be reasoned
with. It can not be bribed. As Kid Silver stares at the wreckage that had been
the shipping bay toward the end of the novel… As he hears a man cry out in
pain, I hear this song. It’s the song of the lonesome, of the unredeemed.
5.)
Wont Back
Down: Eminem’s “Recovery”
You can
sound the alarm
You can
call out your Guards
You can
fence in the yard
You can
pull all the card
But I won’t
back down.
Oh, no! I
won’t down.
Oh, No!
This is a ‘Jock-jams 101’ kind of
song. Kid Silver is a powerful character, fearless and unrelenting. Won’t Back Down got me into Maxwell’s
mindset. If Kid Silver: Alone is
fast-paced, it’s because Eminem was my goad, stabbing me in the back with a pointy
stick whenever I slowed down.
