The soundtrack of you
Greetings from Blighty!
I’m back in the UK for a couple of weeks catching up with friends and family and I’m currently in Brighton, where I saw this street art on the wall and it made me chuckle so I thought I’d share it with you.
There’s something about the cheery pictures from street artist My Pen Leaks pasted above another piece bemoaning ‘Broken Britain’ that really tickled me and kind of sums up how I see the UK currently - there’s a lot to moan about but us Brits are always able to have a good laugh and look on the bright side too.
Anyway, in other news, I’m going to be interviewed this evening (Sunday 23rd June) on a radio show called On the Edge.
It’s all about finding the courage to take a leap of faith when you know you need to change something in your life.
I was initially booked to talk about the leap of faith I took when I gave up my home to become a nomad writer and travel the world last year. But then I had a pre-show chat with the host, Jules Herd, and we realised that there have been other times in my life when I’ve taken similar leaps of faith so we’re going to talk about those too, and more specifically, how I found the courage to transform rock bottom into rocket fuel and turn things around.
Jules likes each of her guests to pick the music she’ll play for their section of the show so she set me the really fun task of choosing eight songs that have formed the soundtrack to key moments in my life.
I thought it might be helpful for her if she knew why I’d chosen each track, so I wrote a couple of lines for each song.
Here’s what I sent her…
London Calling, The Clash - I played this song to death when I was a teen, to motivate me to study for my A levels so I could get to uni and escape the council estate I grew up on.
Norwegian Wood, The Beatles - anything by the Beatles reminds me of Liverpool, where I went to university. I dropped out of uni after two years when I had a crisis of confidence and gave up on my writing dream because I didn't think I had what it took or was posh enough to be a writer. But I absolutely loved Liverpool and it remains one of my favourite places. I was in a wonderful long-term relationship with a scouser and he used to play Norwegian Wood on his guitar and sing it to me [hello Stevie if you’re reading this!] , so it always brings back lovely memories.
Lose Yourself, Eminen - this was my theme tune after my marriage broke up and I was a single mum trying to make it as a writer. I loved the film 8 Mile and found it so inspiring as I think Eminem is a genius wordsmith and I could really relate to the theme of being a writer from 'the wrong side of the tracks' in the middle class world of publishing.
Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, Fleetwood Mac - I love the hopeful message of this song so much that I wrote a YA novel inspired by it and with the same title, which ended up winning 3 book awards and being nominated for the Carnegie Medal.
Breathing Underwater, Emili Sande - I went through a very difficult time a few years ago due to the ill health of a loved one. I was on a long-haul flight from America at the time they finally started getting better and I found this song on the in-flight entertainment and loved it so much I played it over and over for hours. To me it will always symbolise finding the light at the end of the tunnel, and hope in difficult times.
Could You Be Loved, Bob Marley - reminds me of my trip to Jamaica that changed everything and set me off on my nomad writer travel adventure
Plastic 100c, Sampha - The first place I went to when I left the UK to go travelling was Paris. One day I was wandering around Montmartre and I turned a corner to find two guys street dancing. This was one of the songs they danced to and it was such a beautiful moment I cried tears of happiness at my new life and how magical everything seemed now I was finally living my dream.
What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong - this is a song I always come back to because it reminds me to search for the wonder in every moment and inspired the title of my weekly Substack letter, Wonderstruck.
I’m sharing this with you today as I thought you might find it fun to do a similar exercise. And of course you can always pick a more specific theme for your soundtrack. For example, you could create a playlist of tunes that bring back happy memories. Or a soundtrack of your favourite places, or favourite person or people.
In this day and age of Spotify and other streaming services it’s never been easier to create playlists - although I have to admit I do feel wistful for the days of mixtapes, even when they started to unravel and you had to rewind them with a pencil!
And music has such an incredible ability to transport us to a time or place and influence our mood.
Please feel free to tell me about a favourite tune of yours, and why you love it so much, in the comments or a reply.
And if you’re interested in listening to the show this evening you can find it online here . I’ll be chatting to Jules from 8 - 9pm.
Wishing you a wonderful, tuneful week!
Siobhan