Mood Music
- foxhovel
- Nov 13, 2019
- 3 min read
Nowadays at my age (the age where you use words like ‘nowadays’) I don’t listen to music very much. Or rather, I don’t really pay attention to it. I can’t tell you who the latest artists are or the lyrics to their latest hits. But I was younger once and had your standard but not terribly impressive music collection. Almost all of it has nothing to do with anything. However, there was an exception; a particular album that actually served as a soundtrack while I worked on the later chapters of On the Rocks; Don Henley’s 1989 album End of the Innocence.
You probably know the album, old as it is. It was fairly popular and peaked at #8 on the billboard charts. I tried to find some video or audio clips but they seemed a bit elusive to me. You kids today probably have all kinds of ways to access it, so knock yourself out. If all else fails, you can try and use the links provided at the end of the post if you really want to hear some snippets from the tracks discussed below.
Anyway, there were three of the lesser tracks that I would listen to again and again while I wrote, because they seemed perfectly suited to the scenes at hand and always help put me in the mood. First, there was a track that was something of Reverend Tubwell’s theme song; a stinging indictment of the rising Christian Right and the Moral Majority of the 1980s titled Little Tin God;
A new age is dawning on fewer than expected
Business is usual, that's how the headline read
Some shaky modern saviors have now been resurrected
In all this excitement you may have been misled
But, from little dark motel rooms to "Six Flags Over Jesus"
How are the mighty fallen, so the Bible said
You don't have to pray to a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might fear the reaper, you might fear the rod
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don't have to holler, "please, please"
No, you never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god
Then there was the aptly named Shangri-La, with lyrics that seemed to narrate our incognito heroes as they approached the notorious speakeasy;
Hey! There's a whole lotta people Wonderin' who you are They think you walk without a care in the world But they've been wrong so far
You had no idea Just what was waiting out there Never thought you'd carry the weight of the world On your pretty blond hair
And of course, the chorus:
This ain't no Shangri-La To you no Shangri-La This ain't no Shangri-La Nobody knows no Shangri-La
Later, while working the pages where our heroes have rattled the hornet’s nest (get it? Because Shangri-La used to be the U.S.S. Hornet? Oh never mind). Anyway, while they had to make their escape in a hail of bullets, I would play the track (again and again); I Will Not Go Quietly:
Woke up with a heavy head and I thought about leavin' town I could have died if I wanted to, slipped over the edge and drowned But, oh no baby, I won't give up that easy, no Too many tire tracks in the sands of time Too many love affairs that stop on a dime, welloh baby Think it's time to make some changes 'round here The chorus became Banner Lyme’s theme song:
Yeah, I'm gonna tear it up Gonna trash it up I'm gonna round it up Gonna shake it up Oh now baby, I will not lie down I added my own subtext to the lyrics:
I'm brave enough to be crazy (Lyme’s reckless bravado) Strong enough to be weak (Arthur’s willingness to trust in Natalie) I see all these heroes with feet of clay Whose mighty ships have sprung a leak (Romanov, Tubwell, Kropatkan, take your pick) And I want you to tell me darlin' Just what do you believe in now? (So many hidden agendas) Turn this thing around I will not go quietly I will not lie down I will not go quietly The pounding beat with Henley signature percussion, backed up by Axl Rose no less, really kept me in the zone while crafting those pages.
I haven’t really listened to any tunes while crafting the sequel yet, but rest assured if I do, they will be songs recorded before you were born. As I said, I don’t really have much to do with music anymore. Anyway, here are the links.
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