7: Novel Soundtrack

Novel Soundtrack

Rachael Trunnell

 

1. You Don’t Know Me by Verinice Buerling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYF6JcRC5cg

Yeah
I heard you got something to say to me
Ain't you got got some judgements to pass on me
Don't go and get shy, now
You ain't got a problem's too big in your mind
Normal little flaws I know you'll find
But your slander can't hold me down
I'll hold a mirror up to your face
So you can analyze yourself instead of me

You don't know me
You don't know me
Stop the inquiries
I keep my business to myself
Quit the lecturing
Oh, I'm so done
You don't know me
You don't know me, no
Stop the inquiries
I keep my business to myself
Quit the lecturing
Don't lecture me, no

Talk about how easy it is to see
All the things I don't think are wrong with me
And your eyes are piercing through me
Notice how my body's shaped differently
Developments are sneaking up gradually
Who gave you the right to put your judgements on me
Only God'll judge me
I'll hold a mirror up to your face
So you can analyze yourself instead of me

Is it right, is it wrong
I don't care move along
I know who I am I know where I belong
Are you blind are you drunk
Can't you see I've become
Much stronger than you ever thought I would be
Oh... I'm coming and I don't stop
And you'll never, never hold me down

You don't know me

Novel Events: In the first chapter of Their Eyes Were Watching God, all the readers know is that there is a woman coming into town, and everyone has an opinion of her. Janie talks to her friend Pheoby about life and about peoples’ judgments. Janie tells her story to Pheoby only after they’ve discussed how much people have talked about Janie behind her back.

Novel/Song Connection: This song’s themes revolve around how people need to find the facts, stop judging, and worry about themselves. It is similar to what Janie says to Pheoby, “To start off wid, people like dem wastes up too much time puttin’ they mouf on things they don’t know nothin’ about” (Hurston, 6). Janie makes similar statements to Pheoby at the end of the novel when she is done telling her story.          

 

2. So This is Love by Ilene Woods                         

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnxupEXxrTI

So this is love, Mmmmmm
So this is love
So this is what makes life divine
I'm all aglow, Mmmmmm
And now I know
The key to all heaven is mine
My heart has wings, Mmmmmm
And I can fly
I'll touch ev'ry star in the sky
So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of
Mmmmmm
Mmmmmm
So this is love

Novel Events: When Janie was a teenager, she beheld a pear tree’s blossoms and compared them to love. She thought that marriage and love were synonymous. Since she viewed love as joy and beauty, she also viewed marriage that way.

Novel/Song Connection: “So this is Love” is widely known as being the song from the movie, Cinderella. Through its words and simplistic tune, it portrays love as both beautiful and enchanting, just as Janie viewed love.

 

3. Child’s Heart by Shannon Nicole

You wouldn't mess with a child's mind
You wouldn't be unkind
Who are we fooling, anything's not fine
You shoved me out of line

Single file, down the aisle
You're the reason that they made this rule
To protect us from that smile
This pain is anything but mild

'Cuz we're all not as strong as we pretend
We only bend to be broken in half
Don't try to laugh
'Cuz our suppression only leads to depression

Yeah, you're playing with a child's heart
With a child's heart

You mold me like I'm just your work of art
What a great head start
You stole from a child's heart

I wouldn't be somebody that I'm not
Don't put me in the box
I'm holding on to everything I've got
Can't put me on the spot

You may think that I'm dramatic
Well, there's a reason that I feel this way
I'm still reeling from the static
'Cuz in your eyes it doesn't matter

You only get one go-around
So I'll make every second count

I'm not your work of art
What a great head start
You stole from a child

Novel Events: When Janie married Logan, she quickly saw that love was not as she imagined it would be. He wanted her to work for him, and he didn’t treat her in a way that was very loving.

Novel/Song Connection: This song talks about a man messing with a child’s heart. It relates back to the book perfectly as the end of chapter 3 says, “Janie’s first dream was dead so she became a woman”. When Logan married Janie, she still thought like a girl (a child), but he killed her dreams and she had to grow up.

 

4. Quiet Violence by Sharon Kenny

If you hit me with words you don't say, it still hurts
So I'll hit you back by biting my tongue
And we'll have a war without any volume
And I will remember, I'll just remember the sounds we used to make

But memories have no noise
Memories have no voice

Our tragedy, it lies in the silence
The still of the storm
The quiet violence
It's wrapped itself in blankets and pillows and gone to sleep
Our tragedy is the mouths with no motion
The questions we ask, but the answers unspoken
We sit here together, we laugh and we smile but we bleed.

We sat in the back row together
I couldn't really see above the tall people sitting in front of me
So I closed my eyes real tight and I listened
And I can remember, I still remember we didn't need to speak

But memories have no sound
Memories can't speak out loud

Love is not implied
Love is not implied
Love is not implied
Love is not implied

Novel Events: After Janie had been married to her first husband Logan for a while, he started to act more and more demeaning towards her. The book says that Janie “knew now that marriage did not make love” (25). This view continued on after she had been married to her second husband, Joe, for a while.

Novel/Song Connection: Janie and Logan, and Janie and Joe acted like a husband and wife in public, but in private, as the song said, “Love is not implied”. Once Janie married Joe, she decided to bite her tongue instead of argue back. She used “quiet violence”.

5. Titanium by David Guetta                                                         

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N2emv41f6E

You shouted out
But I can't hear a word you say
I'm talking loud not saying much
I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet
Shoot me down, but I get up

Cut me down
But it's you who'll have further to fall
Ghost town and haunted love
Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones
I'm talking loud not saying much

I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away
Ricochet, you take your aim
Fire away, fire away

Stone-hard, machine gun
Firing at the ones who run
Stone-hard as bulletproof glass

You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
I am titanium

Novel Events: Before Joe died, Janie talked back to him and insulted him in public. Then, Joe got sick and again when he was about to die, Janie went to his room and spoke her mind to him despite the fact that he always tore her down with his words.

Novel/Song Connection: This song is significant in the way that it ties into the novel because it represents how Janie’s worldview changed and how she decided to handle things differently. Instead of quietly taking the insults Joe threw at her, she finally spoke her mind and told him that he didn’t have as much power over her as he thought he did.

 

6. Everything That You Ever Wanted by Hawk Nelson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgqC24I_7Zc

I walk the line
Leave it all behind
I've been waiting forever

Let's go back in time
When I could read your mind
So, I've been waitin'

It took the season's going by
To know it's not my fault

I tried to be perfect
Tried to be honest
Tried to be everything
That you ever wanted

I tried to be stronger
Tried to be smarter
Tried to be everything but you

It's been so long
Since you've been home
I used to wait up forever

I used to say a prayer
Wishing you were there
And I'm still waiting

You told me once
You'd show up
But I fell for that before
I fell to pieces

Then I woke up to no one
Just a picture of Jesus
And a house left in pieces

And it took the season's going by
To know it's not my fault

I want you
I need you
I want to
Believe you

I tried to be perfect
Tried to be honest
Tried to be everything
That you ever wanted

I tried to be stronger
Tried to be smarter
Tried to be everything but you

Novel Events: Once Joe died, Janie’s worldview once again changed. She realized that she resented her grandmother for some of the things she manipulated Janie into doing.

Novel/Song Connection: This song represents Janie’s past and present. She had been trying to please her grandma by doing what Nanny said. Later, she realized that though she did make choices, her grandma made Janie do things her way, while Janie only wanted to please her.

6. We Never Change by Coldplay                     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYpwfbNFQXA

I wanna live life, never be cruel,
I wanna live life, be good to you.
I wanna fly, never come down,
And live my life,
And have friends around.
We never change, do we?
We never learn, do we?
So I wanna live in a wooden house,
I wanna live life, always be true,
I wanna live life, and be good to you,
I wanna fly, and never come down,
And I live my life, and have friends around.
We never change do we? No, no,
We never learned to leave.
So I wanna live in a wooden house,
Making more friends would be easy.
Oh and I don't have a show to say,
Yes, and I sin every single day,
We never change, do we?
We never learned to leave.
So, I wanna live in a wooden house,
Making more friends would be easy,
I wanna live where the sun comes out.

Novel Events: Again, after Joe died, Janie made another shocking statement that revealed her changing worldview. She said, “Most humans didn’t love one another nohow…When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over”. She then says that men ruined it by trying to destroy one another.

Novel/Song Connection: This song represents Janie’s new view of man, and is significant in regards to the theme of the novel. It represents how Janie felt that humans did not change from their sad state, but still she “had tried to show her shine” (90). The wooden house represents how Janie does not want to live in the “glass house” of people who judge and criticize others.

8. Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot

I've been watching the skies
They've been turning blood red
Not a doubt in my mind anymore
There's a storm up ahead

Every thing I have I count as loss
Everything I have is stripped away
Before I started building
I counted up these costs
There's nothing left for you to take away

I'm on fire fighting for control
I'm a fighter fighting for my soul
Everything inside of me surrenders
You can't silence my love
You can't silence my love

Hello hurricane
You're not enough
Hello hurricane
You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows
Boarded up
All your dead end fury is
Not enough
You can't silence my love

Yeah I said hello hurricane

Novel Events: Janie had finally found true love with Tea Cake. He loved her and treated her like a friend. They then moved to the everglades where there would eventually be a storm that would cause many problems for Tea Cake and Janie.

Novel/Song Connection: This song talks about how hard times cannot always silence love. This is significant because the song represents the kind of love that Janie always wanted but never experienced until Tea Cake came along. She finally believed that love in marriage existed, and that not even a “hurricane” (which unfortunately literally happened in the book) could stop their love.

 

10. Waiting for the Storm by David Ford

Oh search the places I have been
To understand this sorry state I’m in
The only answers I could find got lost in my tiny mind
Somewhere so many years ago

And oh my Lord, I can’t believe
All the crimes that are accused of me
And now my memory’s all shot
Don’t know if I’m guilty or if I’m not
Still I try to clear my name

Well, all I can do is wait and see
If sweet salvation will come and rescue me
And all this weary flesh and bones
I still walk this path alone
Waiting for a storm

Well, I've heard it often said
There’s only one sure thing
So I’ll brace against the storm
But I’ll be hoping, I will be hoping
That the springtime will come

Maybe the sky above will break
Now I’m hanging on for pure survival’s sake?
So ashamed of what I've done
And I’m scared of what’s to come
So I’ll be waiting for a storm

I’ll be the one to take the fall
For all these sorry---------all
And clutching at the shortest straw
A martyr without a cause
Just waiting for a storm

Oh no
All this weary flesh and bone
I still walk this path alone                                                                                                              Just waiting for a storm

Novel Events: One of the most significant parts of the story is the part for which the title is named. During the storm in the Everglades, Janie and Tea cake sat in their house and waited to see what would happen. Page 159 says that their souls were, “asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were questioning God”.  This is significant because it is at this point in the story that Janie stopped questioning other people’s actions, but directly questioned God. Later, Tea Cake died, and Janie had to be tried for his death. She did not know if she would be freed or be charged with murder, so she just had to wait and see.

Novel/Song Connection: This song connects to the novel in multiple ways. The most obvious is that Tea Cake and Janie were literally waiting for a storm in the everglades. Less obvious, is that they were questioning God, and waiting to see what would happen. This is a reoccurring theme  as the novel goes on and Janie is tried for Tea Cake’s death.

 

10. Far Away by Lecrae                                      

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnoHCwUsbNs

Far, Far Away, Far Away, Far Away (you feel so)

Far, Far Away, Far Away, Far Away

Hopeless,
I can spell it, I can smell it in the air,
A lot of people wonder if You still care,
And are You still there, Cause I lost it all.
I keep calling Your name, but do You hear my call?
And are You still involved? Or am I left alone?
I wander the streets, ‘cause I no longer have a home.
My Brothers all gone. My Sisters all gone.
My family and my friends ain'tgonna be here in the mornin'
You see me here mournin'
They say You feel my pain, They say You went through it,
say to die is to gain
But I ain't gained nothing. I lost everybody.
Now I'm loosin' my mind and my faith is all I got
I'm still holding on, that's why I still prayFeelin' empty inside, I can't make it through the day
I don't know what else to do, I don't know what else to say
I'm talking to You now, but I promise that You feel so far.

Far, Far Away (You seem) Far Away (You seem) Far Away (So, So)
Far, Far Away (You feel) Far Away(You seem) Far Away (So, So)
Far-Far, Far Away (You feel) Far Away(You seem) Far Away (You're So, So)
Far, Far Away(You feel) Far Away (You seem) Far Away (So...)

Dear Hope, been waitin' on you for awhile now
Been cut so deep that I ain't sure if I can smile now
Look at this devistation,
Look at the pain and sorrow,
Somebody fed me lies and promised me a bright tomorrow.
I know the God I follow, is bigger than disaster
Big enough to handle any evil that harasses us.
But I feel like He passed us. Pain overtook us
Buildings tumbled over head as the ground shook us
God have You forsook us?
Are Ya still with me?
I know Yousave souls, I trust You to forgive me
Relief can you hear me? Hey Rest can you get me?
Hey Peace can you see me, hey Love can you hear me?
I don't know what to do. I ain'tlookin' for answers
I just need You to hold my hand through this cancer
Tell me You never left, even in the midst of death
Breathe on me I'll do anything to feel your breath!

For God Alone
Oh My Soul, Wait In Silence
For My Hope Is From Him
He Is My Only Rock And My Salvation
My Fortress- I Shall Not Be Shaken

On God Rests
My Salvation
My Glory
My Mighty Rock
My Refuge is God
Trust In Him At All Times People,
Pour Your Heart Out Before Him
God Is A Refuge For Us

Far, Far Away (He’s not) Far Away (He’s not) Far Away (He’s not. You know my God. He’s not.)
Far, Far Away (He’s not) Far Away (He’s not) Far Away (He’s not. You know my God. He’s not)
Far, Far Away (He's not) Far Away (No. He's not) Far Away (My God is not!)
Far, Far Away (He's not) Far Away (He's not) Far Away (He's not)

We Love You Lord, We Love You Lord,
We Trust that You are Not that Far Away
We Love You Lord, We Love You Lord,
We Trust that You are Not that Far Away
Help Us Be The Church,
Help Us Be The Church...
To Love Your People,
As they Love the World.

Amen.

Novel Events: After Tea Cake’s death, Janie had to deal with different emotions. She was devastated that the one person who truly loved her and who she truly loved was gone. Though the reader might have expected her to be bitter at God, she did not seem to be in the end.

Novel/Song Connection: Just as Janie’s view of God first places Him as far away and then portrays Him as closer and more personal, so does the song. In the end when Janie was talking with Pheoby, she said that everybody had to do two things, “They got tug go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves” (192).

 

11.  My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion

Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you,
That is how I know you go on

Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on

Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go till we're gone

Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold to
In my life we'll always go on

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

You're here, there's nothing I fear,
And I know that my heart will go on
We'll stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

Novel Events: In the very end of the story, Janie said that, “Tea Cake came prancing around her where she was…He could never be dead until she herself had finished thinking and feeling” (193). To Janie, Tea Cake would never be dead to her until she was dead.

Novel/Song Connection: This song perfectly illustrates Janie’s worldview when it comes to her love of Tea Cake.  She does not view him as dead, but thinks he lives in her heart. He “goes on” just as her heart does.

 

12. Paradise by Coldplay                                

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbVz0jP722g

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
So she ran away in her sleep
Dreamed of para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Every time she closed her eyes
Whoa-oh-oh oh-oooh oh-oh-oh

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
And the bullets catch in her teeth

Life goes on
It gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear, a waterfall
In the night, the stormy night
She closed her eyes
In the night, the stormy night
Away she'd fly.

And dreamed of para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Whoa-oh-oh oh-oooh oh-oh-oh

She dreamed of para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Whoa-oh-oh oh-oooh oh-oh-oh.

So lying underneath those stormy skies.
She said oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.
I know the sun must set to rise.

This could be para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
This could be para- para- paradise
Whoa-oh-oh oh-oooh oh-oh-oh.

Novel Events: A significant theme throughout the book was Janie’s view of people in the world changing. She first was innocent and believed in true love and marriage. Then, she saw that love did not mean marriage, that people judged others harshly, and that prejudices existed. Finally, she chose to love and not judge others even though she lived in a broken world.

Novel/Song Connection: This song represents Janie’s life and changing worldview from the beginning to the end of the novel. In the beginning, she “expected the world”, but it “flew away from her reach”. In the end, Janie’s worldview was that she did not just have to dream of paradise but that, “this could be paradise”.