The Trouble With Being God

Music Selection (Suggested Listening)

Posted by William under Music

If you’ve read TheTrouble With Being God or are at all familiar with the book, you know the book also includes footnotes for suggested listening for key parts of the story.

I’ve recently gotten a few questions and other feedback regarding these selections, and wanted to clarify one thing: the songs suggested are not the songs I was listening to while writing those sections of the book.  In fact, despite my tremendous love (or unhealthy addiction) to music, I seldom write with music on in the background. I frankly find it to be distracting, as I tend to have a hard time not listening to what music is playing.  Therefore, when I write I tend to either do so in silence, or with something lacking decipherable lyrics, like Sigur Ros.

So, if the songs in the suggested listening playlist aren’t what I was listening to whille writing those passages, then what are they?

They’re exactly what I claim them to be - what I consider to be the perfect musical (and emotional) companion to the particular section of the book they are tied to. During the course of writing The Trouble With Being God I would oftentimes come across a song that struck a chord with me as embodying exactly what was going on in the story, sometimes emotionally, othertimes literally, and was the perfect way to get that across through another (albeit borrowed) artistic medium.

Listen to the Soundtrack for The Trouble With Being God

Posted by William under Music

If you’re at all familiar with my new novel, The Trouble With Being God, you already know one of the key components of the book is the set of footnotes for suggested listening for key points of the story.  While this listening is by no means necessary to enjoy the book, I do feel they add to the overall story, as they were painstakingly chosen through a process of basically listening to thousands of songs and knowing when a song playing was perfect to tie in with a key plot element.

Since I’ve worked in the music publishing industry for almost a decade, I know how difficult it can be to license songs for a project, the inevitable necessity to jack up the price for any book/CD package if one were available and the fact that people prefer to listen to music via many different mediums (online, downloads to iPods, old-fashioned CDs, etc). Therefore I opted not to pursue directly licensing songs for the book.  The other, perhaps less obvious benefit, of this is that I was able to select exactly the songs I felt were most perfectly matched to what I was going for in the storytelling, rather than being forced to simply choose from a batch of licensable songs which were simply “good enough.”  Basically, throughout this project my goal was to not have to sacrifice anything and to produce exactly the final experience I envisioned.

While you’re reading The Trouble With Being God (you have already bought a copy, right?), you do now have an option to easily hear the songs featured throughout the suggested listening soundtrack.  To hear the songs, just visit the “About the Music” page through the link at the top of the site, scroll down and you’ll have access to hear everything online (although I have to admit, I do prefer the studio version of Wilco and Billy Bragg’s “One By One” but as of this writing the only version I could find for free streaming was the live one from Wilco’s Kicking Television).

Of course, if you’re simply curious as to what music made the cut, or if you just want to get a feel of The Trouble With Being God, you can listen to the soundtrack now even without buying a copy of the book.

Playlist Now Available Through iTunes

Posted by William under Music, book

At the suggestion of a reader, the suggested playlist for The Trouble With Being God is now available as a playlist through iTunes. The links throughout the site here on beinggod.com still will connect to Amazon, as it Amazon allows you to purchase through the web, and all of their music is DRM-free MP3, but if you prefer to shop at the iTunes store, you can now get the songs through the official The Trouble With Being God: Suggested Playlist iMix.

New Intro Song Selected for TTWBG

Posted by William under Music, book

After much deliberation, I have decided to change the opening song recommendation for The Trouble With Being God. In the first draft, the song suggestion was “Soul Auctioneer” by Death In Vegas - but due to the fact that the song does get a bet long and repetitive, as well as the fact that it is nearly impossible to find the song online it has been replaced.

The new intro song is Shuffle Your Feetby Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, from their Howlalbum. It actually gets across the mood of the opening a bit better than the original selection, and on top of that is shorter and much more “organic,” which is the feeling I wanted in the writing.

Book Playlist MP3s Now Available for Download

Posted by William under Music, book

Nearly all the songs from the suggested playlist for The Trouble With Being God are now available for purchase and download in mp3 format from Amazon.com.  I’ve gone through the full playlist and have added links for all songs that are available (meaning about two songs currently are not), and have added a link to them at the bottom of the Being God website.

As the book is posted online and songs come up within it, I will also link directly to Amazon to listen to a preview or download the full song.  As it stands, Day One only has one song, and since I cannot find it online anywhere I haven’t listed it in the online verison of the book yet… but in case you are curious, the book should start with the song “Soul Auctioneer” by Death in Vegas.