An old pal of mine, Sally WEIGEL, wrote a fantastic novella a year or so ago called “Too Young to Fall Asleep.” It’s a story about Catherine, a teenage girl who opts for military service instead of college and gets wounded in action while in Iraq. In an outpatient hospital, learning to live with her new condition, Catherine is forced to come to terms with latent questions regarding her youth and identity. It is dense character study and a great first book from such a young author. It can be purchased here!

Anyway, as promotion for the novella, the CCLaP has set Sally up with a virtual book tour of sorts. However, instead of going to different book stores around the country, Sally is going to be featured on a number of different blogs. For her stop at The TEENAGE Head, I asked Sally to write about how music inspired her writing, especially considering that the title of the novella comes from a Radiohead lyric.

Below is a mini-playlist of songs that in some way shaped “Too Young to Fall Asleep.”

“My Iron Lung” by Radiohead

Too young to fall asleep,

Too cynical to speak,

We’re losing it, can’t you tell?

These lyrics appeared in the first draft of the novella and eventually helped me title the piece. They show the main character’s restless character but also play into the post traumatic stress that Catherine deals with when she returns from Iraq.

“Adventure.exe” by Final Fantasy

Owen Palett sings about wishing for a more dangerous life, mimicking Catherine’s self-questioning thoughts.

“Androgynous” by The Replacements

One of my favorite Replacement songs, and it’s fitting for the novella due to the protagonists’ androgyny. When she returns from Iraq, Catherine “forgets the annoying yet comforting banter between her sisters, loses the memories of drinking whiskey with her fellow soldiers, unable to think of anything but how her old feminine features

are now unrecognizable.”

“My Drug Buddy” by The Lemonheads

I played this song non-stop during the winter I wrote the novella. Even so, I’m surprised to find that it has the highest play count on my iTunes. Either I left it on repeat one day or this song just doesn’t get old.

“It’s a Fire” by Portishead

I always put Portishead in the same category as Radiohead since both bands push themselves toward a very high level of originality that I think Catherine would have tuned into.

“Cars Can’t Escape” by Wilco

This song never made it on to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot due to Jay Bennett’s leave (he co-wrote the song) but I can’t get over these lyrics. It’s a perfect song about a past love, which Catherine deals with as she comes back from Iraq to find that her best friend has moved on.

“Head Spins” by High Places

I caught onto this song during the winter of ’08. The tune has a mesmerizing female voice singing about dislodged thoughts.

“Bukowski” by Modest Mouse

This song reminds me of Vince, Catherine’s roommate in the outpatient hospital, whose outspoken, slightly rude tendencies would definitely make him a Bukowski fan.

“Walk On” by Neil Young

Again, Neil Young was inspiration for Vince’s character, and he continuously reminds Catherine about the time he ran into Neil Young at a bar in Dresden.

“Is This It” by The Stokes

Figured a Strokes song is a must for any story about high school.

“Teenagers” by Department of Eagles

I downloaded this album around the time I was writing “Asleep”. The album has a youthful tone, with lyrics about broad, life affirming questions or laughing so hard one falls down. I wanted to play into this tone in the novella as well. A lot of Catherine’s motivation behind going overseas is to force herself to grow up but I think the ending just reiterates her youth.

“Let Down” by Radiohead

A favorite Radiohead song of mine. Intense build and vivid lyrics.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 6:50 pm and is filed under Hepcats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.