Live Through This by Mindi Scott is a compelling story about what happens when you're a victim to something that you don't quite understand yourself. Though the subject matter contains issues that may be hard for some to read about; I feel that Mindi Scott has done a beautiful job of giving this story a voice that everyone needs to listen to.
Today on my blog, author Mindi Scott has stopped by to share some of the musical elements sprinkled through out this novel. As someone who loves music like me, it's an honor to share her reasons why she chose certain songs and/or musical moments to be represented in this story.
Mindi says... I’m not a musician, but I am a big fan of listening to music. (My husband, Dwayne, happens to be a drummer, by the way.) There are at least ten songs that are referenced in my latest book, Live Through This, so I thought it would be fun to give you some back story about three of those songs.
1. “Tequila” by the Champs
Dwayne played drums in his high school marching band. One year, there was a bit of an upset when parents voiced concern that maybe “Tequila” wasn’t appropriate for teenagers to play at school events. It didn’t go any further than that, but the students were pretty upset that the inappropriateness had ever come up for discussion.
For the book, I stole that anecdote and included a short narrative about how the previous school year, someone’s parents tried to have “Tequila” banned. The students fought to keep it and won, so it became their celebration song. Hooray! (Although, in real life, I cringe every time our local high school’s marching band plays that song. It’s kind of . . . inappropriate? Ha!)
2. “Creep” by Radiohead
When I was in college, I had a secret, tiny crush on a guy. Let’s call him Sam. Once, I told our mutual friend James (not his real name either), “Every time I hear that one Radiohead song, I think of Sam because of the lines, ‘You’re just like an angel. Your skin makes me cry.’”
James got all quiet and moody after that. As it turned out, he had a secret, not-so-tiny, crush on me, so my casual mention of his friend’s pretty, pretty skin didn’t go over well.
In my book, Coley and the guy she likes, Reece, play this game where one gives an over-the-top compliment by quoting lyrics and the other has to guess who performed the song. (They don’t exactly admit to this, but it’s really just a way for them to say how they feel without having to own the words.) In an early scene in the book, Coley quotes from my favorite line in “Creep.”
3. “Live Through This” by Hole
This isn’t a song title; it’s actually the name of Hole’s second studio album. There is, however, a song on that album called “Asking for It,” which includes the line: “If you live through this with me, I swear that I would die for you.”
Out of over 100 potential titles that I turned in for my first novel (all of which came from song lyrics), Live Through This was the one that my editor and agent both liked the best. In the end, we went with Freefall for that book’s title, but when I started writing this one, I called it Live Through This from the start. It’s never been anything else.
Several months after Live Through This was completely revised and turned in to my editor, I watched Gone With the Wind for the first time. I then learned that Hole’s album title had come from a line in that movie: “I’m going to live through this, and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again.”
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Huge thanks to Mindi for sharing this. One of my favorite aspects of the story is when Coley and Reece use song lyrics to finish a sentence, but really we knew those lyrics meant so much deeper.Side note: I got the chance to meet Mindi last June while I was visiting Seattle. She is such a sweet, sweet person! We had a good time walking around the wharf and grabbed lunch at a local seafood restaurant. I read her debut novel, Freefall, awhile back and since then she's always stood out as a favorite author of mine. It was an amazing experience to finally meet her!
Also, be sure to wish Mindi a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! It's today ;-)
Live Through This is now available. Grab your copy here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Find out more info through Mindi Scott's website.
Follow her on twitter: @mindi_scott
I totally think we played "Tequilla" in band as well. I'm not sure if anyone ever complained or if we just played it at practice sometimes?
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to read this book!
I loved reading this! I'm a 90's gal so it's a given that I love Radiohead and esp. "Creep"... Hole was pretty cool too, until Kurt died and quit writing all their songs (oh you know he did) :) Cool stories from the author though and I definitely want to read this book... I love books with song references!
ReplyDeleteLoved her little stories about the different songs! Radiohead is one of my favorite HS/90s bands! Sounds like a great book too!
ReplyDeleteI loved what Mindi had to say about these songs. It definitely makes me feel like I have a little more insight into the book, which I cannot wait to read!
ReplyDeleteGinger - Thanks so much for sharing my musical guest post and for being a part of the Live Through This blog tour! You are so very sweet and I'm glad we were able to meet up that day. I hope we can do it again.
ReplyDelete(Also, I keep looking at the picture of us and wonder what exactly was going on with my hair. Ha ha!)