Jock Murphy Words and PicturesThe writing and photography of Jock Murphy

I have written before how important music is to the book. It is one of the few threads that keep Quinn connected to the real world. The book's title comes from a Bob Marley song I found myself listening to obsessively while writing the book (both the Marley version and the amazing duet by Jonny Cash and Joe Strummer, it is a shame that all three of them are no longer with us). In fact, the original title was Billyboys (this will make sense when you read the book). Every song mentioned is one I had heard before, and almost all of them are on my iPod in one form or another (for example I have never heard a swing version of Half a Boy and Half a Man, but have Nick Lowe's original version).

I went though the excersize of cataloging the songs and artists mentioned in the book. Where only an artist is mentioned, I picked a song for them that I though Quinn might mention. Its quite a list:

• Bob Marley,Redemption Song
• AC/DC, Back in Black
• Split Enz, I Got You
• Crowded House, Better be home soon
• AC/DC, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
• English Beat, Jeanette
• General Public, Tenderness
• English Beat, Twist & Crawl
• Cities in Dust, Siouxsie and the Banshees
• The Motels, Total Control
• Genesis, Misunderstanding
• Ramones, Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
• Ramones, I Wanna Be Sedated
• Joni Mitchell, Free Man in Paris
• Richard Thompson, Why Must I Plead
• Elvis Costello, Allison
• Judas Priest, Out in the Cold
• Nick Lowe, Half a Boy & Half a Man
• Seks Bomba, It Takes Two to Tango
• Joe Strummer, War Cry
• Bop Pills, The Cramps
• Patsy Cline, Just Out of Reach
• The Smiths, Girlfriend in a Coma
• Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire
• Dusty 45s, Frosty Mornin'
• The Sugar Daddys, Boulevard
• Billy Idol, Shock to the System
• Patti Smith, Because The Night
• The Gang of Four, At Home He's a Tourist
• Generation X, Ready Steady Go
• Dave Brubeck, Take Five
• The Doors, People Are Strange
• Johnny Cash, I Walk the Line
• Elvis Costello, Oliver's Army
• Chris Isaak, The End of Everything
• Garbage, Untouchable
• Reverend Horton Heat, Baddest of the Bad
• Oingo Boingo, Dead Man's Party
• No Doubt, Hella Good
• Motorhead, Ace of Spades
• Travis, Side
• Dusty 45s, 289 V-8
• Marine Research, Chucking Out Time
• Alanis Morrisette, Head Over Feet
• Thomas Dolby, Silk Pajamas
• Oingo Boingo, Who Do You Want To Be Today?
• Suzanne Vega, Cracking
• The Sugar Daddys, Amtrak
• Manfred Mann, The Mighty Quinn
• Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues
• Chris Isaac, Things Go Wrong
• The Clash, Rudie Can't Fail

It occured to me that it would make a great soundtrack (ala Grosse Pointe Blank's wonderful soundtrack albums). Then I realized I had the power to make one, kinda. iTunes, and the other music services let you make and publish playlists. Since i had iTunes handy I started with that, but will slowly do the same with some of the others.

It was fascinating to see how much iTunes has grown. I was pleasantly surprised to see little bands like The Sugar Daddys, Marine Research, and Seks Bomba represented in the catalog. At the same time the major labels proved to be frustrating. There is no AC/DC on iTunes whatsoever. Some songs -- like the aforementioned Redemption Song -- cannot be bought ala carte. I wish the labels wouldn't be so stubborn about coming into the 21st century. Still I was able to find almost everything.

So given all of that, I humbly present to you the Redemption Songs iMix.