This post is from a piece I was asked to write about music and writing:
I like to listen to music while writing but my choices are
limited because I just cannot write while anything with a lyric is playing. I
am so interested in writing of any kind that I become too easily distracted by other
people’s words to write my own. As a result, I am usually restricted to tuning
into Classic FM, so most of my gritty, contemporary crime stories are written
while the music of long dead composers plays gently in the background.
Music does feature in my books. I figured David Blake, my
white-collar gangster anti-hero would spend a fair bit of time in night clubs,
so I researched the kind of music that would be played in them these days and
was quite surprised to pick up a taste for R&B along the way. I found
myself driving around with Rihanna and Black Eyed Peas CDs in my car and Flo Rida
or Neo blasting out of the radio. Down with the kids? No, it’s more of a
guilty, private pleasure. If I attempted to bust some moves to Rihanna, I’d
look like one of those embarrassing dads trying to dance at a wedding.
If I’m really looking for a bit of inspiration to get the
words flowing or to drag me away from the twin, distracting evils of Facebook
and Twitter, I’ll play a film score. I’ve always been a film fan and my writing
is more influenced by films than books if I’m honest. I love soundtracks and
these days, with the advent of YouTube, it’s even easier to find obscure scores
from long forgotten movies or TV shows. I’m a fan of Ennio Morricone,
particularly his score for ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ and John Barry’s themes
from, ‘The Ipcress File’, ‘The Persuaders’ and the Bond films never seem to
diminish with age. Hans Zimmer, composer of ‘Gladiator’ amongst others, writes
some stirring stuff to help gee up the word count and it doesn’t get more
atmospheric than Trevor Jones soundtrack for ‘Last Of The Mohicans’.
Ipcress File Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2Jw6_Xgszk
I’ve never been able to pick up a copy of my all-time
favourite film soundtrack, so I have to summon it up from YouTube whenever I
feel the need to hear it again, which is often. The theme for ‘The Long Good
Friday’ is simply terrific. Francis
Monkman’s pulsating score might sound like it was distinctly of-its-time but
still provides the perfect backdrop for London’s top boy, Harold Shand’s
arrival at the airport, ten minutes into the film. Bob Hoskins doesn’t even have
to emote at this point. The theme tells us everything we need to know about
Shand. He’s nails and you wouldn’t mess with him……unless you happen to be the
IRA of course, which sets us up for possibly the finest climactic scene of any
British film ever. Hoskins face, as he is driven away at the end of The Long
Good Friday, to the strains of Monkman’s brilliant theme, lives long in the
memory.
The Long Good Friday theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAXxYKave6o
A couple of years back, I managed to get hold of the
soundtrack for the classic British gangster film ‘Get Carter’, which has a
particular resonance for me. My first book ‘The Drop’ has been described as “A Get
Carter for the 21st Century”, partly because the two stories share a
common gangster theme but primarily because ‘The Drop’ is also set in Newcastle
(though the original book ‘Jack’s Return Home’ by Ted Lewis is famously not based
in Tyneside). Roy Budd’s soundtrack is one of those scores that’s instantly
recognisable. ‘Get Carter’ is a very good film that becomes a terrific one because
the incidental music lends it an instant ambience of understated cool. It even
makes up for Michael Caine’s ludicrous accent; a Geordie returning to his
homeland? I don’t think so, unless the Elephant and Castle is actually a
district of Wallsend. Somehow it doesn’t matter and ‘Get Carter’ is still a
classic.
Get Carter theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoa3OTJfWIY
When my second book ‘The Damage’, came out, I was
interviewed on TV for the first time. The ‘North East Tonight’ reporter asked his
cameraman to film me walking up and down the mean streets of Newcastle. I was
eager to please but more than a little self-conscious. I didn’t expect much
from the end result but was pleasantly surprised when they aired the footage. I
was no better looking, cooler or harder than normal - I look like a chubby
Peter Beardsley on a good day - but, as I made my way through the dimly-lit, pedestrian
tunnel behind Newcastle Central Station they played a bit of background music
that I instantly recognised; the theme from ‘Get Carter’. The reporter
concluded that, “Forty one years on from Get Carter, Newcastle may have another
gritty gangster thriller to define its character in the eyes of crime novel
readers.” I don’t do cool; never have, never will but that was……almost cool. So shoot me know. Thanks to
Roy Budd’s iconic theme, that short walk, captured on film, was easily my
finest hour.
