After a long day at work and a long commute home, I need to get the clutter out of my head so I can concentrate on my characters. A little background music helps me relax, and I selected a bunch of songs that sort of fit the mood of my novel and created a writing playlist on my iPod. There are too many songs to listen to them all in one sitting, so it takes me awhile to get through them all. I thought I'd share that list with you all.
(I bet you can tell which artists I like best, and...um...excuse my love for those 80s and early-90s hair band ballads!)
Here's my extensive playlist (the ** ones I could listen to over and over):
You and Me~Lifehouse
Collide~Howie Day**
The Day Before You~Rascal Flatts
Broken~Seether w/ Amy Lee
China~Tori Amos
Silent Night~Bon Jovi
Break Down Here~Julie Roberts
Suddenly~LeAnn Rimes
Holy Water~Big & Rich
Here Is Gone~Goo Goo Dolls
Be the One~Poison
Damaged Goods~Jesse Valenzuela
I'm With You~Avril Lavigne
Let Love In~Goo Goo Dolls
Lay Your Body Down~Poison
Don't Know What You Got (Til It's Gone)~Cinderella
Life Goes On~Poison
Become~Goo Goo Dolls**
Wild Is the Wind~Bon Jovi
What Hurts the Most~Rascal Flatts**
Alabama~Cross Canadian Ragweed**
Again~Lenny Kravitz
Fallen~Sarah McLachlan
Holes~Rascal Flatts
Feel the Silence~Goo Goo Dolls
Through Glass~Stone Sour
Without You Here~Goo Goo Dolls**
Everything Changes~Staind**
Far Away~Nickelback**
The Flame~Cheap Trick
Completely~Jennifer Day
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad~Def Leppard
Far and Away~Suzy Bogguss
I Won't Forget You~Poison
Feels Like Today~Rascal Flatts
Keep Holding On~Avril Lavigne
As Long as It Matters~Gin Blossoms
Bless the Broken Road~Rascal Flatts
Stay With You~Goo Goo Dolls**
Only Time Will Tell~Poison**
The One~Gary Allan
Whatever It Takes~Lifehouse
How I Feel~Martina McBride
Breath~Michelle Branch**
A Real Fine Place to Start~Sara Evans**
Do any of you listen to certain songs to get the creative juices flowing? Feel free to share!
22 comments:
"Do any of you listen to certain songs to get the creative juices flowing?"
Yes, one song immediately stuck out for me. "Wild Is the Wind" is a fantastic song!!
Nice list, Anna. :D
Oh I loved seeing this post. While I can't really listen to music while I write I have to have music for when I work on my bookbinding. Lately I've been listening a lot to music by Kate Nash, The Weepies and the soundtrack to Juno.
I'm going to make note of some of your playlist songs and check 'em out on iTunes. I need some new music :)
I have a standing NaNoWriMo playlist -- mostly Rockapella, Petra, ABBA, Mark Knopfler, the Beatles...
I do, too. After I get my story going, I create a specific soundtrack for it that I play over and over for that specific piece. For one I'm working on now, I have a lot of Daughtry and Nickelback. What can I say....this character is pretty angry.
Jeannie: "Wild Is the Wind" has always been my favorite Bon Jovi song. The "New Jersey" album rocked!
Iliana: I'm so glad you liked the post. I was hesitant to post it because I didn't think it would be interesting. LOL I need some new music, too, so I'll check out the groups people mention here. And, btw, you make lovely books!!
Christine: I love love the Beatles! Not so much the young Beatles, but toward the end. Those are some great songs!
Karen: I have a lot of Daughtry on my iPod. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who can listen to certain songs over and over when they write!
what no ce ce?! I'm glad to see that staind made the list!
I love You and Me. Aw such a great song. To put myself in a creative mood, I like to listen to Hawaiian slack key guitar music- very relaxing. :-)
To old to recognize many of the songs on the list. Bon Jovi is pretty cute though. My son list is for working up a sweat.
How come nobody listens to Billy Joel?
I love the song Name by Goo Goo Dolls (which I notice is missing) it is one of my favorite songs ever.
Music definitely ignites my creative fires!
Fly Like an Eagle gets me going. Or for instrumental background I like 60's & 70's jazz. Miles, Coltrain, those cats. But when I really get into the writing ZONE I like silence.
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Serena: There are a few Poison songs in my playlist, but Samantha 7 just doesn't create the right mood. LOL
Marie: I love guitar! Never listed to "Hawaiian slack key guitar" but I believe you when you say it's relaxing.
Pam: I never was a Billy Joel fan. :( Not that his music is bad, it just doesn't do anything for me.
Amy: I love "Name." Actually I should add that to the playlist! But when I created the playlist, I'd just added the "Let Love In" album to my iPod, so I think that's why most of the songs come from that.
Marvin: It's never quiet in my house! I prefer the music to the sports games and the video games, etc. LOL
Great list, Anna.
I love seeing other people's playlists.
Far Away by Nickelback is on one of my running playlists.
I see a few here I need to add :)
I REALLY like a lot of the songs on your playlist! Collide by Howie Day is one of my favorites as well! If you are LeAnn Rimes fan, have you heard her song called "What I Cannot Change"--it is one of my new favorites!
I admire that you can write in the evening. It's morning for me or nothing. :(
I can't really write to music unless it's an instrumental and sometimes not even then. I really like big, epic soundtracks like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, & The Chronicles of Narnia.
Tori and Sarah would definitely be on my writing playlist (if I wrote). Alabama by CCR is one of my favorite songs--love them!!
I love "You and me". That was really big when I lived in Spain, so it brings back super sweet memories. There were several others on the list too....what a great list!!
I wish I wrote more often...I feel pretty vulnerable and self conscious when I do, I like to write poetry though.
Shana: When I first put "Far Away" on my iPod, I played it over and over and over. Thankfully, I'm not sick of it yet!
Laura: I first heard "Collide" when it was played during an episode of Third Watch (I loved that show!). Haven't heard that LeAnn Rimes song, I'll have to check it out. I haven't added any new music in quite some time.
J. Kaye: I'd love to write in the morning, but I'm up at 4 am, on the train at 5 am, and starting work at 6:30 am. I'm lucky in that I get home at a decent time, and I've always been a night owl. I can't stay up as late as I used to, though.
Ladytink: I haven't heard those soundtracks. One of my favorites is "Legends of the Fall." Serena used to play that one all the time when we lived in the dorm together. It was nice to fall asleep to.
Trish: I finally know someone who liked CCR!!! Cool!!!
Bethany: I love how when you hear a certain song it brings you back to when you first heard it or back where you were in your life when the song was popular. I feel more self conscious when I write poetry.
I have a few friends that went to Oklahoma State in Stillwater so I became familiar with CCR through them. I went to Texas A&M for college and saw them several times at the various bars over the years that I lived in College Station and even met them once. I don't listen to country quite as often as I used to (because our radio stations in Dallas suck), but I have all their older stuff on my ipod. Texas Country and Red Dirt Country are my two favorite country sub-genres.
haha--sorry to talk your ear off...I'm always excited to find someone who shares similiar music tastes.
Trish: Feel free to talk my ear off! I enjoy gabbing online! I bet CCR put on a great show! I don't follow country too much these days either. Actually I don't follow much new music these days. I read way more than I listen to music, and I have plenty of songs to keep me occupied when I'm in the mood for tunes.
Okay...so I've been lurking and reading via Google Reader. But you mention music and I had to jump in.
I love "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" I get very little work done but I have a really good time for those few minutes.
My soul is happy.
Happy writing...
Dana: Thanks for de-lurking! Feel free to join in the discussion anytime!
I like that song, too. And it's so freeing when your soul is happy! :)
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