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Dig this version of Woodie Guthrie’s Vigilante Man by Ry Cooder. Cooder is probably best remembered these days for his work on the Crossroads soundtrack and The Buena Vista Social Club. I could tell you that he rips it up, but you can watch for yourself. Enjoy the how the tone of the slide, Cooder’s voice and the words work together to form an image of the story in your head.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4KmbUCwkyE]
Here’s an example of Cooder’s work from the Paris, Texas soundtrack. Without seeing any of the movie, images of heat and dust and desolation spring into my mind as I listen. Melancholy and loneliness drip into my emotional bucket as well.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TCRe3tkYe8]
Now watch with movie footage:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b44paD20O3M]
Spot on, don’t you think?
The best writing analog I can think of is Cormac McCarthy’s writing in All the Pretty Horses:
They rode out along the fenceline and across the open pasture-land. The leather creaked in the morning cold. They pushed the horses into a lope. The light fell away behind them. They rode out on the high prairie where they slowed the horses to a walk and the stars swarmed around them out of the blackness. They heard somewhere in that tenantless night a bell that tolled and ceased where no bell was and they rode out on the round dais of the earth which alone was dark and no light to it and which carried their figures and bore them up into the swarming stars so that they rode not under but among them and they rode at once jaunty and circumspect, like thieves newly loosed in that dark electric, like young thieves in a glowing orchard, loosely jacketed against the cold and ten thousand worlds for the choosing.
It’s that tone and emotion that makes writing richer, almost tangible. What are you doing to layer your writing with tone and emotion?
Musicality in writing is so important. In poetry of course, but also in prose. Loved this post. Excellent choice on the song and on the prose selection.
Thanks! Don’t know if you read any Jeff VanderMeer, but he has a soundtrack to his book Finch (http://murderbydeath.bandcamp.com/album/instrumental-soundtrack-to-the-book-finch). I’ve not read the book yet, but the soundtrack makes me anxious to do so. I wish more books had soundtracks. I think that would be a great way to keep the story resonating long after the book has been read.
That’s awesome. Thanks for the link. And I love the idea of a book soundtrack so much!
I think getting together a soundtrack for your book is a perfect way to add depth and tone. the music spills over into the language…loved the excerpt, by the way. could hear the leather cracking. It’s just got to be always paying attention, y’know? I talk way too much, miss too much. Going to shutup now. 🙂
Paying attention goes a long way. I feel like I’m just now getting better at it.
I use music to inspire my scenes a lot, not Ry Cooder though. I save Ry Cooder for enjoyment, not work. I watched an entire Bruce Willis movie based on the fact that Ry Cooder performed the soundtrack. Can’t recall the name of the movie, but I remember the music. 😉
I was working on a short story in the 19th century US Western Territories so it worked out pretty well. I’ve never seen Last Man Standing, but was always intrigued by it. If you can’t remember the name, it must not have been too good, eh?
Music fires me up when I write, but I don’t think of using it to add tone and mood. Great post! Ry Cooder’s work is amazing.
Just perfect.
It may be that some of what I’ve written is inspired by music I heard at one time or another. Some of Hans Zimmer’s stuff has a great middle eastern flavor of which I can’t get enough.
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