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A story without sound lies too dead on the page. Imagine “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster,” by Jon Franklin, without the pop … pop … pop of the operating-room sensors. Or Tom Wolfe‘s “The Girl of the Year” — the 1964 New York magazine classic on “it” girl Jane Holzer — without the manic rhythms:
She is gorgeous in the most outrageous way. Her hair rises up from her head in a huge hairy corona, a huge tan mane around a narrow face and two eyes opened—swock!—like umbrellas, with all that hair flowing down over a coat made of … zebra! Those motherless stripes! Oh, damn!
(The swock makes it.)
There’s often another layer of audio in literary journalism, in the form of referenced songs. Mere mention of the songs and their artists enhances scene and helps establish setting, character and mood. Good journalists, as they report, notice what is playing during the road trip or the ocean cruise or the juke-joint visit or the hospital stay. The songs signal something different each time: optimism, grief, mystery, terror. To acknowledge that ear for detail, we give you The Music of Narrative — 21 songs from unforgettable pieces by Joseph Mitchell, Ariel Levy, Madeleine Blais, Joan Didion, Elizabeth Gilbert, Hunter S. Thompson, Evan Ratliff, David Foster Wallace and more, with music by Mississippi John Hurt, Herman’s Hermits, Peaches and Herb, Joshua Bell, Edith Piaf, Lou Reed …
Happy weekend — enjoy.
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“Shake Your Groove Thing” | Peaches and Herb | 1978
From “Shipping Out,” by David Foster Wallace, Harper’s, 1996
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“As Long As the Grass Shall Grow” | Johnny Cash | 1964
From “Travels in Georgia,” by John McPhee, The New Yorker, 1973
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“Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio” | Les Brown | 1941
From “Silent Season of a Hero,” by Gay Talese, Esquire, 1966
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“Beginning of a Great Adventure” | Lou Reed | 1989
From “Thanksgiving in Mongolia,” by Ariel Levy, The New Yorker, 2013
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“Sous les Ponts de Paris” | Edith Piaf | 1950s
From “Mister Lytle,” by John Jeremiah Sullivan, The Paris Review, 2010
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“Eadie Was a Lady” | Ethel Merman | 1932
From “Lady Olga,” by Joseph Mitchell, The New Yorker, 1940
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“No Milk Today” | Herman’s Hermits | 1966
From “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” by Joan Didion, Saturday Evening Post, 1967
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“You Are My Sunshine” | Mississippi John Hurt | 1970
From “Juke Joint,” by Walter Bernstein, published in Keep Your Head Down, 1945
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“Here Comes the Rain Again” | The Eurythmics | 1983
From “The American Man, Age 10,” by Susan Orlean, Esquire, 1992
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“Wee Small Hours” | Frank Sinatra | 1954
From “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” by Gay Talese, Esquire, 1966
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“Hurt” | Nine Inch Nails | 1994
From “The Things That Carried Him,” by Chris Jones, Esquire, 2008
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“All I Want Is You” | U2 | 1988
From “Upon This Rock,” by John Jeremiah Sullivan, GQ, 2004
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“Aquarius (Let the Sun Shine In)” | The Fifth Dimension | 1969
From “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved,” by Hunter S. Thompson, Scanlan’s Monthly, 1970
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“Fifty Years” | Hermit Thrushes | 2011
From “Vanish,” by Evan Ratliff, Wired, 2009, and now Creatavist
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“Chaconne” | Bach, Partita No. 2 in D minor | 1717-1723
played by Joshua Bell
From “Pearls Before Breakfast,” by Gene Weingarten, the Washington Post, 2007
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“Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” | Bruce Springsteen | 2002
From “Never Let Go,” by Kelley Benham French, Tampa Bay Times, 2012
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“Whipping Post” | Allman Brothers | 1969
From “The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon,” by Elizabeth Gilbert, GQ, 1997
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“You Made Me Love You” | Al Jolson | 1913
From “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” by John Updike, The New Yorker, 1960
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“Cracklin’ Rosie” | Neil Diamond | 1970
From “The House that Thurman Munson Built,” by Michael Paterniti, Esquire, 1999
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“Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” | Irving Berlin | 1918
From “Zepp’s Last Stand,” by Madeleine Blais, Tropic magazine, of the Miami Herald, 1979
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“Ramblin’ Man” | Allman Brothers | 1973
From “Still Life,” by Skip Hollandsworth, Texas Monthly, 2009