I have to have silence when I write. The tiniest thing will distract me. TV? Absolutely not. I would find even C-SPAN utterly fascinating if it meant I could procrastinate sweating over that next paragraph. And forget music. I can’t listen to music because I’ll be writing some description or dialogue, and suddenly the lyrics to whatever song I’m listening to appear on the page. So things were pretty quiet when I was writing The Rules of Forever.
But it turns out that editing is a horse of a different color. I needed that distraction to push me forward. I thought about how important New York City is to this story, and started compiling a playlist of all the songs I could think of that saluted, praised, or honored New York—and of course there are very famous songs that do that (Hiya, Frank. Sorry, you didn’t make the cut.).
But there are so many others that use New York as its setting, or a metaphor, or as a way to delineate character (this is my list—showtunes are well represented here!) Some songs have just a mention, maybe an oblique reference in a song title or a throwaway line, but there is something in each that speaks to the magnitude of New York’s capacious, crannied, constantly-beating heart.
As I listened, this motley collection of songs took on aspects of a soundtrack for The Rules of Forever. Alicia Keys’ modern NYC classic, “Empire State of Mind (Part II)” would feature as the opening credits. It’s the quintessential song for the New York resident— I’m one of millions with a pocketful of dreams, and I know how hard it can be to live here, but it’s worth it. Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” is about the former New Yorker who yearns to come back. (There are several of this kind of song represented.) It’s a perfect closing credits song.
I began to think of U2’s “Angel of Harlem” as Cara’s theme song. Not because she lives in Harlem or because of any lyrical content, but because the jangly guitar and swaggering horns that drive the song are a great analog for Cara’s determination and grit.
Lauren’s theme song is probably my favorite on the playlist—“Native New Yorker” by Odyssey. I remember loving this song as a kid, and wanting to sing it as our family station wagon that only had AM radio traversed the New Jersey suburbs. My older sister told me I wasn’t allowed to sing it because I wasn’t a native New Yorker, but she was born in upper Manhattan in Riverdale, so she could.
This lustrous song of the disco era has a beautiful verse that perfectly sums up Lauren’s mindset early in the book. “And love, love is just a passing word. It’s the thought you had, in a taxicab that got left at the curb, when he dropped you off at east 83rd.” Something tells me you’re going to change your mind, Lauren.
St. Vincent’s “New York” is another favorite. A mournful hymn that I can hear playing over Lauren’s car radio as she drives away from the city to her friend’s baby shower, trying to reconcile the new reality of her faltering relationship with Cara.
“I Happen To Like New York” is a standard mostly associated with Judy Garland, but I have the Bobby Short version here. He performed for decades at the Carlyle, which is where Lauren and Cara enjoyed many sidecars at Bemelmans Bar. And Judy’s daughter Liza’s “New York, New York” gets an implied shout out in the scene where Lauren and Cara are driving to Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve, so it had to be included!
Even though Café Mi Vida would probably play bachata or reggaeton, I couldn’t help feeling that “I and love and you” by the Avett Brothers, Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City,” and “New York is a Woman,” by Suzanne Vega might also be heard in the background as Cara and Lauren made tentative steps back toward each other.
There are so many New York songs that easily fit into the world of The Rules of Forever, and I’d like to think my editing improved with the richness and variety of the music that undergirded it. And since anything worth doing is worth OVERdoing, the playlist contains thirty-eight songs and two and half hours of listening pleasure, posted above should you want to hear it.
If you give it a listen, scroll down to the bottom of this page for email and social media links. Choose your preferred method to get in touch and tell me what you think. Which songs do you approve of? Which have no business being here? Have I forgotten your favorite NYC song? Let me know what it is!