(I started doing these when Sterling Hill Road came out, so there’s none for the earlier books. But when I have time, maybe I’ll go back and make some.)
Sterling Hill Road
I love Donovan’s Season of the Witch, but the Lana Del Ray version just fits Polly Grace’s “curses for hire” vibe so much better. Also, while this volume is a James-centric story, it’s really more about the women around him, as is this playlist. There’s Polly Grace (Season of the Witch), then there’s his eleven year old niece Penny (Fifteen), who’s at the center of this mystery. And badass 1920s agent Alice LeRoux (And She Was) whose case has been picked up by the team.
And you know how authors will sometimes say that they wrote an entire book around a single scene they envisioned and couldn’t get out of their head? The shadow figure peeling itself off of Krissy’s bedroom closet wall was that for me.
Also, I was a couple drafts in before I realized Penny had the same name as the teacher whose spirit was trapped in the Jarvis Street School in Book 2. Since it isn’t a common name, I was going to change it in the final draft. But it just suited this almost-teenage girl so well – with her frenemies with money and magic, a crush on her uncle’s meanest teammate, and the same fascination with the paranormal that led James to the Foundation – that I kept it as it was.
Bigmouth Strikes Again – The Smiths
Sweetness / Sweetness I was only joking when I said / By rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
The Skeleton in the Closet – Louis Armstrong
You never heard such unearthly laughter, such hilarious groans / When the skeleton in the closet rattled his bones
Fifteen – Taylor Swift
Well, count to ten, take it in / This is life before you know who you’re going to be
Season of the Witch – Lana Del Ray
And when I look out my window / So many people to be
And She Was – Talking Heads
Now she’s starting to rise / Take a minute to concentrate / And she opens up her eyes
Roses Manor, Weston
Roses Manor, Weston is a weird book. Honestly, it might be the weirdest in the series so far, with the only competition maybe being St. Margaret’s Way. There’s a lot going on and the mystery itself is intentionally very convoluted. And while it’s resolved to the extent that the Foundation requires it to be, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Like, what the hell is the Princess? And that’s just for starters.
This playlist is meant to reflect that weirdness, starting immediately with the Super Mario Bros theme that obviously goes into England Dan & John Ford Coley, because why not? But the whole book is sort of about creeping up to different edges, personally, professionally, and healthwise. There are trippy elements like Clint Eastwood and Sleeping Queen to reflect the nature of the game Sixteen Roses and the ways it ensnares Gabriella as she investigates, raw emotion like This Time Tomorrow for Graham, whose view of his work and his place in it are shaken by the death of a student, and the pretty straightforward inclusion of Boys Don’t Cry for the two boys who spend the entire first third of the book pretending that their feelings aren’t hurt as they lash out at each other. Little Mermaid is for Gabriella, who can’t catch a break with Elliot in the picture, while I’d Really Love to See You Tonight is for them too.
I love a good yacht rock song.
Super Mario Bros Theme – Koji Kondo
“doot doot doot do do do doot”
I’d Really Love to See You Tonight – England Dan & John Ford Coley
“But there’s a warm wind blowing the stars around / And I’d really love to see you tonight”
This Time Tomorrow – Brandi Carlile
“Though you may not be afraid of walking in the darkness / You will feel like a stranger in this land”
Little Mermaid – Ash Tuesday
“You’re in your spaceship / I’m at my nine to five / Trying to be the kind of girl I think you’d like”
Boys Don’t Cry – The Cure
“I would say I’m sorry if I thought that it would change your mind / But I know that this time I have said too much / Been too unkind”
Sleeping Queen – Amythyst Kiah
“She came to me in a dream / A siren with broken wings”
Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz
“Picture you getting down in a picture tube / Like you lit the fuse / You think it’s fictional, mystical, maybe”
72 St. Margaret’s Way
The playlist for 72 St. Margaret’s Way is a journey through a nightmare. James is dosed with a love potion during an investigation and ends up infatuated with a woman who wants to use him to keep the Foundation from finding out about her business selling these potions. And since this is a James POV story, her control is weaved through the narration for the first part of the book. This is where Chemistry comes in, with a driving, disorienting beat that carries over into his painful recovery as the rest of it deals with the psychological torment he feels in the latter part of the story, enduring an antidote that makes him hallucinate as he deals with the grief and guilt of what he was forced to do. The playlist starts quiet, with The Alien, and ends quiet, with Mayday’s outro, “there’s a man, and he’s overboard” as James, completely broken, finally leaves headquarters with no plans to return.
The Alien – Manchester Orchestra
“And made a pact with you and God / If you don’t move I swear to you I’m gonna make you”
Oil (feat. Stevie Nicks) – Gorillaz
“I got lost, intangible / But that’s the place you reach when / You can’t help yourself anymore”
Kid Codeine – The Delines
“Hey Kid Codeine / I’m always pissed off”
Boy with a Coin – Iron & Wine
“A boy with a coin he found in the weeds / With bullets and pages of trade magazines”
Chemistry – Gigi Perez
“Crying doesn’t suit you well / Don’t you know I’ll never tell a soul about our secret life”
Mayday – Dispatch
“Mayday mayday mayday / There’s a man and he’s overboard”
O’Toole House
O’Toole House is about the aftermath of 72. St. Margaret’s Way, but particularly how it impacts the rest of the team. They’re dealing with the usual business of monsters and demons, but everyone’s stability has been shaken by what happened to James. First Few Desperate Hours is literally for those first few days that he’s gone, when everyone needs to figure out how to keep going. This theme continues with Helpless, a cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young’s classic, for the ways in which they are, in fact, helpless to change so much. Out of Control is on there specifically for Gabriella, with the line “and I wish that I could tell you, it’ll only be a dream” tied directly to her waking James from actual nightmares and trying to reconnect as he drifts away.
Then there’s the actual case, a demon house that is not quite what it seems. Nobody Dies is here for both the way they are trying to save Nick Bana from the demon deal he made years ago, and his faltering relationship with his preteen daughter.
And if I’m doing a demon story, of course Robert Johnson has to be on there. In this case, Hellhound on My Trail seemed the most appropriate.
Anyway, I managed to fit Oingo Boingo and The Mountain Goats on yet another playlist. You’re welcome.
First Few Desperate Hours – The Mountain Goats
“Let the good times roll on /Through these first few desperate hours”
Helpless – Molly Tuttle and Old Crow Medicine Show (written by Neil Young)
“And in my mind, I still need a place to go / All my changes were there”
Nobody Dies – Thao & the Get Down Stay Down
“What to say, what to say, what to say / Who could bother / With a father”
Hellhound on My Trail – Robert Johnson
“And the days keeps worrying me / There’s a hellhound on my trail, a hellhound on my trail”
Out of Control – Oingo Boingo
“And I wish that I could tell you / It’ll only be a dream”
