I’ll start with the stuff that isn’t “me, me, me,” then get on to “me, me, me.”
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a reader who asked what sort of music one would play to accompany the Parker novels.
I honestly haven’t a clue. I seem to have lost the ability to read fiction and listen to music simultaneously somewhere in my mid-twenties.
But if you haven’t, or if you just want to freestyle, take a shot at answering his question in the comments.
I remember sometime back, a reader suggested that Duffy’s “Mercy” would accompany Parker quite well. I tend to agree, as I’m fond of the song. (The Rockferry album, too, minus one or two filler tracks. Here’s a review I wrote under a pseudonym some time ago for a now-defunct music blog. The song listings at the end were originally embedded videos that I guess YouTube pulled.)
Other than that, I got nuthin’. Help a brother out.
Site updates after the video.
Duffy – “Mercy”
As for me, me, me…
Sorry about the lack of posts lately, but I done warned ya. The move is just as complicated as I thought it would be, if not more so, but I’m making progress. I got a fancy new computer for my birthday thanks to some good friends all pitching in, so my technology is running as clean as it ever has. I still have several dozen boxes to sort through, but I can almost move in my dining room. Unfortunately, resolution of the whole situation is being delayed by the start of football, a game I’m completely addicted to. I’m trying to cut down.
I’m hoping to ramp back into things by reading and reviewing some short works, as there is too much chaos to commit to longer ones. That’s a shame, as there are some longer works, particularly The Twenty-Year Death by Ariel S. Winter from Hard Case Crime, that I am eager to read. But it’s something!
I also hope to get that long-promised series of guest posts up, starting next week, and start feeding the Twitter beast again. I can’t promise anything, but at least I have goals!
It will still be some time before we’re fully operational (anyone want to buy a 3-2 in Austin?), but we’re getting there. Thanks everyone for your patience, and please keep checking in. I promise we’re not going away.
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This is a good topic, as I often (but not always) like to have some background music when I read. There are SO many songs I think are apropos to listen to while reading a Parker. Hmmm. Here’s a few off the top of my head:
Gun by John Cale
I’m Not The Loving Kind by John Cale
I Wanna Be Your Dog (live version from TV Eye album) by Iggy Pop
Criminal World by David Bowie
T.N.T. by AC/DC
Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap) by AC/DC (although this may be better for a Quarry novel.
Jam Sandwich by Jimmy Page
Jadoo by Passport
Take The Money And Run by The Steve Miller Band
Hate Zone by Brand X
Only by Nine Inch Nails
And I’ll throw these 5 in for Dortmunder:
Back To Square One by Ernie Isley
No Control by David Bowie
It’s a Mistake by Men At Work
Roll With The Punches by Warren Zevon
I Missed Again by Phil Collins
re: Starting today, I am beginning my J-Term rinaedg -Slacker! I’ve already had to read 900 pages (seriously) for Dean Moore’s SBC annual convention class!re: what was the best sentence you have read this week? I want to respond to this, but my quote is more than a sentence long so, unlike Timmy , I’ll respect your comments section and post the response on my own blog.
The Duffy song is nice, as is Duffy herself–have to check her out sometime (now you know what I meant). It might work for the upcoming Parker film, but not for a straight adaptation, which the upcoming Parker film shall not be.
As to what you’d use for a real Parker adaptation–Jazz, Jazz, and more Jazz. And for variety’s sake, perhaps a spot of Jazz?
Parker lives in a Jazz Universe. His partners in crime, with a few noteworthy exceptions in some of the later novels, are jazz people, who just missed the Age of Rock, and are not in sympathy with it. Like Westlake himself.
Parker himself, of course, is not hearing any music at all in his head (not the kind with notes, anyway). He may well reflexively enjoy it at times (rumor on the street is that it hath charms to sooth the savage breast) but he would never seek it out. He doesn’t have a record collection. He’d never put a coin in a jukebox. He does dance with Claire at a casino once, and apparently he does it well, so he must instinctively know how to move to a beat, since there’s no way in hell he went to Arthur Murray, in a hurry or otherwise.
I could go through my own large jazz collection (almost entirely on vinyl, because I am an old school guy, because music is analog not digital, and because I was collecting at a time when CD’s were pushing vinyl out the door and the bargains were just insane), and find a virtually endless soundtrack.
But there’d be little point to listing tracks when most people reading them wouldn’t be able to hear them in their heads.
But this one is on YouTube–no video. Great jazz doesn’t have videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7B3z0GLt6U
(You may recall that Westlake was originally going to call the book that became “Brothers Keepers” by another title–“The Felonious Monks.”
For some reason, I always think of this one for the scene where Parker and Claire get back together at the end of “The Rare Coin Score”. But it’s from her POV, not his, obviously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM7L1SFxX18
And this one is universally relevant, but it would certainly ring true for many a Richard Stark character.
I never collected these guys, but Westlake mentions them a lot–must have been a fan.
I have my browser set to Google Chrome as the deuaflt. However it seems to show empty image containers which is not the case with FF. A sequel problem since the photo’s we’re numbered and later on been re-edit? Who knows.Thanks 4 the post.
“Criminal World” as David Bowie does it is infinitely inferior to the original, which, in fairness, I never would have heard if Bowie hadn’t covered it. And why he went with the fast version of “Cat People” over the movie version (used to great effect in Inglorious Basterds) on that album mystifies me. Let’s Dance is a decent record that could have been a great one with a tweak here and there.
“Criminal World” – Metro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPLkzskWmq8
“Cat People” – David Bowie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM5mTEavepU (major spoilers)
Thanks, Dave and Chris! I have an afternoon of listening ahead of me.
No trouble–it’s a fun topic. And hey, why is my longer comment still awaiting moderation? :)
Oops. Any post with more than (I think) two links in it goes into pending because it’s often spam, and I always forget to check pending comments because it almost never happens.
I wish there was an option to allow regulars to post links to their heart’s delight, but other than requiring registration, there’s no way to do that.
Cleared now! Even more listening to do.
I figured it was something like that. I never posted more than one link here at one time before.
And now I’ll post one that I forgot–which could serve as the theme song for the Richard Stark heisters in general. Okay, you’d probably want to add “When we want to kill, we kill”, but other than that, just perfect.
Oh, I love the Metro version as well, Trent. Bowie’s version is a bit more uptempo and danceable; Metro’s is more raw and sincere. But I like ’em both. And yeah, I never would have known about Metro if not for Bowie either.
I also agree about Cat People. The movie version is superior. That made no sense. I remember being a bit stunned but pumped to hear it in Basterds. Stunned because it doesn’t fit with the time period, but then again Tarantino did alter history in the end of the film so I guess it’s not a big thing;-) lol
Yeah, that scene’s a stunner.
Bowie was also used anachronistically in A Knight’s Tale, a movie I love but a lot of people seem to hate. I’ve won a few of them over on a second viewing.
Can’t get into that piece that DEW apparently liked. My tastes in Jazz run towards the Fusion movement: Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock & Headhunters, Passport, Brand X. I like hard, funky fusion. Although I do like some Big Band; I was exposed to Gil Evans, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson through my Piano teacher when I was a kid.
I selected some instrumental pieces in the Parker recommendations simply because they are hardcore Fusion that gets me pumped up, namely the Passport piece Jadoo and the Brand X piece Hate Zone (that’s Phil Collins on drums with Brand X; many folks who like Collins the singer don’t realize he’s simply one of the finest Jazz-Rock Drummers alive). Brand X was a 70’s British Fusion supergroup–Bassist Percy Jones was one of the main reasons I started playing Fretless Bass Guitar as a kid, and Passport, from Germany, may be one of the very first Fusion groups anywhere.
I should’ve provided links for my selections; but I was feeling lazy. Sorry;-) lol
I’m not a jazz fan in general, because I don’t care for instrumental music. A few minutes here and there, but not an entire album. It’s a flaw in my ability to appreciate music and I know that, but it is what it is. I do like some vocal jazz.
I know Westlake was a jazz fan, and it makes sense. I think there’s a post or two here where I mention that.
As soundtrack material in a period film? Spot on.
I hear ya, Trent. Jazz ain’t for everybody. As a music student for many years, and many years playing in bands, I’ve heard so many types of music it’s ridiculous, and I can honestly say I can appreciate almost every genre. I find gems in Genres I never thought I’d like. But mainly I’m a Rock guy, I grew up on Zep and the Stones and New Wave, and Progressive artists like the Velvets and Bowie and Roxy Music.
Of course, my mother was/is a HUGE Country/Western fan so I have tons of memories of her cleaning the house on Saturday mornings in preperation for that night’s family/friends Poker game while listening to Freddy Fender, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, The Oak Ridge Boys, etc.
Someone once said there are only 2 types of music. Good and Bad.
But I think Alfred Korzybski would have put it like this: There are only 2 types of music: Music you like, and music you don’t. I prefer that one better.
Btw, Trent, who are your faves? You seem like you have pretty eclectic tastes, but I don’t remember you ever explicitly mentioning your faves.
Nice choices, Chris. Billie’s voice is marvelous, and Monk is… well, Monk. Not another like him. I have to be in a certain mood to get into this kind of Jazz, the chord structures and countermelodies are often dissonant and take getting used to. A friend of mine thrives on this type of Jazz and I hear it a lot when I hang out at his apartment.
There’s a good documentary about Pannonica de Koenigswarter and her relationship with Monk called The Jazz Baroness which I saw a while back that is worth seeking out if you can track it down. It originally aired on BBC and then I saw it later on HBO.
Dave:
Good question. You’re right that my tastes are eclectic. If you’re pinning me down, all-time favorites off the top of my head are Neil Young, Rolling Stones (Exile and before), The Clash, Sonic Youth, Prince, Elvis, and Johnny Cash.
I also have a massive sugar tooth, so I love the Bee Gees and anyone else who does a great three-minute pop song.
Simply put, I’m with Joan Jett. I love rock and roll. Put another dime in the jukebox, baby.
Awesome choices, Trent. I have albums from all of the above in my collection (except for Sonic Youth; I’ve heard of them but will check them out more thoroughly seeing that you think highly of them).
Sonic Youth are terrific. They may have put out a few mediocre records in their long career, but I don’t think they’ve ever put out an outright stinker and they have several stone classics.
Avoid compilations, as they are an album act. Start with Daydream Nation, and if you like it, work forward and backward from there. Not being a jazz fan, I can’t put myself into a jazz fan’s head, but I would think there is a lot about them that would appeal. Lots of riffing and improvisation. I think it was the Bad Moon Rising album (which has one of the greatest album covers of all time) where each song was written on a different guitar. If a guitar broke, they threw out the song that was written on it, because the guitar had been so screwed up with tuning and sonics that they couldn’t reproduce it with another.
That might be self-mythologizing, but I find it believable.
I usually throw on an album/CD that was recorded in the same year as the novel was published. Ya, this means a lot of jazz, but for (I think it was) “Deadly Edge” – which starts off with a rock concert heist – I always went with Led Zeppelin for the intro. My plan went off the rails when Parker made his return in the 90’s ’cause as much as I love me some grunge, Pearl Jam just didn’t fit the bill – so I swung back to classic jazz for that string of novels.
As I’ve said elsewhere, the later run of novels basically involve a time jump–the characters are now living in the Information Age, have cellphones, etc–but culturally, the characters we remember from the earlier books have not moved forward. And really, even the 60’s novels hark back to still earlier decades, particularly the 30’s (which Westlake himself would barely remember, but permeated the gangster films and crime fiction he absorbed growing up). There’s a lot of anachronism in Stark. But at the same time, it’s contemporary literature. No interest in writing about bygone times. It’s all now-now-now-now. Parker lives quite immovably in the present, but that doesn’t mean he lives in OUR present. He defies the laws of time as nonchalantly the laws of men.
Only time Parker even refers to music is in “The Hunter”–a popular song, that refers to a woman with a similar name to Rosie’s. The character isn’t quite fully formed by that point–he says things the Parker of the later books would never say, or even think to himself. But it’s unlikely Parker ever paid much attention to what songs were on the jukebox. It really is just background noise to him. And that’s one sense in which I’m very glad I’m not like Parker. But maybe music is something we humans need to deal with being–you know–human. He doesn’t need it the way we do.
Can’t mix Grunge with Parker; then again I have a hard time mixing Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey with him as well. Zep and Stones catalog is a good soundtrack to the books. I should disclose I was born in the 70’s so some of my preferences may be culturally and age biased.
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Parker is timeless. He exists outside of all know human categories/definitions. I can’t imagine him giving a damn about American Idol, the war in Iraq, Honey Boo-Boo, whatever. He’s like a Great White: he swims and he eats.
At times in my life I thought it’d be cool to be like Parker–but I’m not so sure. Introspection is a vice I occasionally indulge in, as is Nostalgia; two vices Parker doesn’t share.
Plus I couldn’t make it through the week let alone life without my absurd, subversive sense of humor, another thing Parker seems totally devoid of.
Shouldn’t there be a Parker trailer out by now? The film opens in a few months. I’ve seen trailers for films that still had almost a year to go before opening.
Coming to this thread quite late – what can I say? I lead a busy life. Anyway, the rock/pop music doesn’t work for me at all for Parker (it rarely works for me outside of Parker). Jazz, for me, is the perfect accompaniment for crime & noir. Here’s a link to the Black Dahlia Suite (by Bob Belden, musician & producer). Inspired by James Ellroy’s novel, it could be a great soundtrack to a great movie:
http://youtu.be/4ysXEmZEY3w