Playlists? And you thought this was a book, didn’t you…
It is. However, the book deals a lot with people and culture, which is also something that music is influenced by (and influences, depending on who you ask). When I was writing this book, many songs felt like they were made for the chapters that I was writing. Originally, in fact, I had planned to include lyric excerpts at the beginning of every chapter. Unfortunately, contacting Madonna’s record company and asking to use their lyrics without paying them was… well, daunting to the say the least. I did contact Righteous Babe Records and got permission to use lyrics for the concluding chapter, but that’s just a taste of the musical soundtrack for “Beauty and the Beast.”
Here’s the songs, in order of appearance, whose lyrics I wanted to use in each chapter:
- Stand Still, Look Pretty by The Wreckers
- What it Feels Like for a Girl by Madonna
- Innocent by Our Lady Peace
- Paper Bag by Anna Nalick
- Virus of the Mind by Heather Nova
- Television, Television by Ok Go
- Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers
- So Beautiful by Dashboard Confessional
- Miniature Disasters by KT Tunstall
- Not a Pretty Girl by Ani Difranco
Of course, those were chosen from a longer list and there’s many, many songs that relate to the issues I was talking about. Below are songs that would work well with any of the topics, discussed in the book or have a body-positive focus. If you have any suggestions, send them to me or leave a comment and I’ll add them here.
- One Girl Revolution by Superchick
- Accident by Lisa Loeb
- Story of a Girl by Our Lady Peace
- Butterfly Girl by Jaylene Johnson
- Company Car by Switchfoot
- Gone by Switchfoot
- Who Will Save Your Soul by Jewel
- 32 Flavors by Ani Difranco
- I.Q. by Ani Difranco
- Shroud by Ani Difranco
- At Seventeen by Janis Ian
- Problem Girl by Rob Thomas
- Imperfection by Saving Jane
- Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
- Sharada by Sky Sweetnam
- Unpredictable by Sky Sweetnam
- You Love to Sing by Copeland
- Hey Girl by Dashboard Confessional
- Let’s Talk by Hannah Georgas
- Everybody’s Got a Story by Amanda Marshall
- Proud by Tegan and Sara
- …
