Music is one of the core elements to A BEGINNING AT THE END, and I’ve been asked by readers about some of the further details. Two of the three leads talk about music a lot, most of the characters are named after musicians (specifically, within the 1990s New England indie scene), and one of the leads is a former pop star.
Music is also one of the core elements to myself. I still say that working at Tower Records was the best job of my life, and the old Tower motto of “No music, no life” is how I feel. Music infiltrates everything I do and has helped me through some really horrible times.
So it made sense to crystalize all of this into a playlist for A BEGINNING AT THE END. I know different writers do different things with them, but I tried to take this as a bit of an approach to a soundtrack.
It’s broken up specifically into opening credits, thematic songs, in-character music preferences, and closing credits. Also, this tells you a hell of a lot about my own personal taste in music.
Opening Credits
Belly - Human Child
Themes
Quarantine: Ladytron - Tomorrow
Survival: Leonard Cohen - Who By Fire
Metro: Dum Dum Girls - Trees & Flowers
Reclaimed: Emmylou Harris - Every Grain of Sand
Moira: Radiohead - No Surprises
Krista: The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
Rob: LoveSpitLove - Am I Wrong?
In Character
Moira: Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Krista: Joy Division - She’s Lost Control
Rob: Interpol - The Heinrich Maneuver
Closing Credits
Chvrches - Death Stranding
Here is the embedded playlist. I hope you’ll load it up, then read a little more about the meaning behind each song below.
These songs lyrically hit the themes of the book. As in, if there was a movie or a show, these could work as opening/closing credits songs.
Opening credits: Belly - Human Child -- the irony being that characters are named after Belly musicians, but when I heard these lyrics while doing final edits, everything lined up with the idea of memories “wrapped in gauze” and “I’m not here to save you”
Quarantine: Ladytron - Tomorrow: “So if you freeze tomorrow, come back lucky” sums up the hopes and fears of the world going into quarantine
Moira’s overland survival gang: Leonard Cohen - Who By Fire -- a meditation on faith, atonement, and doubt that turns a traditional prayer into a question of what’s ahead
Metro living: Dum Dum Girls - Trees & Flowers -- a stark, aching cover of a Strawberry Switchblade song about agoraphobia. “the sun has risen to my window, my world of my home sweet prison”
Reclaimed Territory: Emmylou Harris - Every Grain of Sand (Bob Dylan) -- yes, this is a cover but I prefer Emmylou to the Dylan original. Reflective, melancholy, and hopeful, like commune life in the new world.
Moira: Radiohead - No Surprises -- a quiet life with no surprises is what Moira wants, or what she thinks she wants.
Krista: The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio -- loneliness, isolation, desperation, and all that good stuff. My personal fave song from my fave National album.
Rob: Love Spit Love - Am I Wrong? -- this lost gem from the mid 90s comes from Richard Butler of Psych Furs. It’s about things slipping out of your control, fate imploding on you: “lay the blame on luck”
In Character
Moira: Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue -- Moira is mostly into 30s/40s vocalists but of modern artists, she’s into singer/songwriters.
Krista: Joy Division - She’s Lost Control -- Krista loves punk and post-punk. This is one of her driving songs.
Rob: Interpol - The Heinrich Maneuver -- Rob doesn’t really listen to music, though like all lapsed people, he still clings onto his teen soundtrack, so basically popular alt-rock circa 2006-2010. (also one of my fave Interpol songs)
Closing credits
Chvrches - Death Stranding -- is it cheating to use another post-apoc hopepunk soundtrack song? Too bad, this song fits perfectly. “You can take my heart/hold it together as we fall apart/maybe together, we can make a mark”
If you’ve read A BEGINNING AT THE END and associate a different song with it, I’d love to know. You can always find me on Twitter, especially if you want to make Duran Duran references.
