countdown's playlist

Last July I wrote that I had assembled a soundtrack for Countdown. Go here to find that post, and a listing of all songs, along with a snippet from the book that each song corresponds to.

There are 45 songs altogether, all available at on iTunes as a special iMix. You can download one or two, or all 45, as I did. I had thought to make a mix with a "core list" of tunes as well, but I'm finding that that core list is different for each reader.

As I know the book so well, and have lived with it so long, it's thrilling to me, to hear Shirley Jones start with:

When you walk through a storm, 
hold your head up high
and don't be afraid of the dark!
At the end of the storm 
is a golden sky
and the sweet, silver song of a lark!


You'll see snippets from "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the first scrapbook that anchors Countdown. Now you can hear the song and become lost in Franny's world. You can move from the multiple meanings of the "You'll Never Walk Alone" beginning, to the theme from "How The West Was Won," as Mr. Mitchell stands with his hands on his hips like John Wayne, after the air raid drill, and tells students and teachers, "it's just a drill, folks."

Then you move to "I'm Just Wild About Harry," as the opinionated biography of Harry Truman is next... and then right into Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," to JFK... and JFK's reply.


Each song carries you through the narrative and is, truly, part of the narrative, in just the way that songs, poetry, spoken word are part of our personal narrative of our lives. Listening to this iMix, I am reminded, too, of how very rich the early sixties was in song and word -- Broadway tunes (Carousel, West Side Story, Camelot) take their place alongside Sam Cooke, James Brown, Elvis, Sunday morning hymns, Sousa marches, "The Wonderful World of Color" and "Here's Johnny!"

Anthony Davies reads "In Flanders Fields." You'll find part of JFK's speech to an anxious nation on October 22, 1962, as well as the terribly un-pc "Jose the Astronaut" by Bill Dana. Also, a young Cassius Clay reciting his iconic poem, "I Am The Greatest." You won't be able to listen to it without laughing.

Martin Luther King, Jr. makes an appearance with a snippet from his speech "We Shall Overcome," with the marvelous quote, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," and the famous ending words, "Walk together, children, don't you get weary! There's a great camp meeting in the Promised Land!" It thrills me every time I listen to it.

There is a treasure trove of spoken word in this iMix, as well as the songs of the day -- all mentioned in and important to the whole that is Countdown, and all amplified in this mix of sounds of the early sixties. From folk ("Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" by Peter Paul and Mary) to pop ("Runaway" by Del Shannon), to early rock and roll/rhythm and blues ("Do the Locomotion" by Little Eva, "Night Train" by James Brown), and even hymns ("In the Garden") and John Thompson Piano tunes (remember "Spinning Song"?). Even Mitch Miller's "Sing Along With Mitch" rendition of "Side by Side." A rich, rich time in our history.

Doris Day sings "Que Sera Sera," which always takes me back to my mother singing that song... and in Countdown, "Que Sera Sera" anchors a scrapbook. A key song anchors each scrapbook section, and others are mentioned in the text.

You can access the iTunes mix here, in this post, and at the home page of One Pomegranate on the right-hand sidebar.

If you run into a glitch (as I did; I need a special codec or something), you can go to the iTunes store, search for "Shirley Jones" and then click on her album "Then and Now." When that comes up, look for "Top Rated Mixes" in the left column (you may  have to scroll down), and there you'll find "Countdown 1962." Then you can pick and choose what you want to hear.

The Duck and Cover film is included in the iMix, as Franny has to watch it in school. Here is another look at that film, on YouTube. Amazing that we used to think that would save us. Actually... I wasn't fooled for one minute. I think lots of ten-year-olds were smarter than this, and weren't buying the propaganda.


Or were we? We just wanted to be safe and sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in Glee Club, and play Nancy Drew after school, try to play "Spinning Song" on the piano, eat TV dinners on a weekend night, or visit that new-fangled restaurant that wasn't really a restaurant: McDonald's. We wanted to ride our bikes in the woods, fall in love, have a best friend to tell all our secrets to, and spend long, lazy afternoons day-dreaming about what we would be when we grew up.

In Countdown, Franny wants all these things, too. Mostly she just wants to feel that she has a chance to grow up.

In celebration of the publication of Countdown, I'm giving away two copies of the iMix "Countdown 1962." Just leave a comment for me, ON THE BLOG,  and I will use a random number generator to select two winners. If you're reading this on Facebook or Jacketflap or in email, etc., you'll still need to leave a comment on the blog, here.

You'll need iTunes as well, since I'm going to gift the entire mix through iTunes, and will need to send it to your iTunes account.

So come on, come on, and do the locomotion with me! I'll close comments and select a winner by [the end of this week (Saturday, May 8).] THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO JULY 1!

27 comments:

  1. *covets*

    Such a fantastic collection of early 60s memorabilia! I don't have an iTunes account, but I'd set one up stat, should the Random Number Generator choose me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I knew, or hoped, that the Theme from "A Summer Place" would be on the list. It still stops me in my tracks when I hear it. I am of an age that most of those songs are in my head. And many are in my heart as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great mix, Deb--and what a rush of memories this entire post brought. Spinning Song--I think I drove my parents crazy with that one. Hah!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the idea of sharing this book and the music with my kids in school!
    K. Moyer

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deborah, this is so smart! For a while I had a storyline where my MC's uncle would give him an iPod preloaded with songs --but I didn't know how to make the tunes accessible to the reader. Leave it to you to totally transform reading into a multi-media art. Still waiting for my copy of Countdown to arrive, but I've read the first chapter online and am blown away--(pun intended, but in a good-not nuclear holocaust-way).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can't admit that I was a kid in that year . . . the Beatles were yet to hit these shores, so "The Twist" was the next big thing coming up, and my toddler self was caught on 8mm film doing the twist to my family's amusement. Put me in the drawing!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is a very cool idea. I have soundtracks for my novels, but mostly I just play the same thing over and over and over ... Till just hearing it takes me back to the page. And the Web adds a dimension to writing that wasn't available before. When I wrote ads (eeg, I know) I always lamented the size of the page. How much info, how little space. Now a link opens the world. So wide. Excited for the book and thrilled for you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Multi-media usage at its best! What a brilliant idea. I know that there will probably be songs in the book that I won't know when I read it despite my mother's good sense to raise me on music from the 60s. What a way to engage readers in the text in a way that compliments the reading rather than overtaking it. Bravo once again to your creativity.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I thought this was so fascinating to have a mix of songs to accompany the book. It was a thread that worked it's way throughout the book. What a treat!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Deborah, Happy, happy birthday young woman! You deserve a life full of joy and love and fabulous music from the sixties. A birthday in the lovliest part of the spring...what a nice time to celebrate birth and rebirth. All my love and fingers crossed *I* pull the lucky number - tee hee! xo

    ReplyDelete
  11. I wonder if the Duck and Cover vid was only used in certain parts of the country because I don't remember it at all. We had air raid raid drills and we had to walk home as fast as we could. They even timed us to see how long it would take. So, in Colorado, when the sirens went off, we stopped what we were doing and ran home.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just turned 60 this week, and feel as if this blog could have been written by me, about me. I start my new life in Massachusetts in about six weeks. I'm so excited about COUNTDOWN. I suspect it will help me recapture my own "lost years."

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm going to do a plug for another blog I follow:
    http://lauramitolife.blogspot.com/2010/05/countdown.html
    Laura is a 4th grader who lives near Indianapolis. She is in the process of reading/reviewing EVERY. NEWBERY. WINNER. EVER. And, in her "spare time" she's reading books that are Newbery contenders for this year, which is where you come in! Anyway, take a look and comment - she'll be pretty excited! Happy birthday and mother's day!
    -Sam B. from Cincinnati

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have been in love with this play list since you shared your idea for it way back when. Please toss my name into the hat; I'd love to win it and share it with my houseful of eager readers. They believe my arrival in the mid-sixties was ancient history but they still bop to some of these songs. This'll show 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What an awesome list of notable songs! I can't wait to get my hands on my copy of Countdown. This playlist, by the way, would be a wonderful asset to a Social Studies teacher.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have to admit that I don't actually know a lot of these songs, but some are quite good. Moon River I'm particularly interested in hearing again. I think it's one of the songs that would make up the soundtrack for The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald. If you haven't read it, then you should.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, and I should have left my email address...

    melissa [at] yabookshelf [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fabulous idea! I bought Countdown this past Thursday and could not put it down. I lived in Florida in the early part of '63 but as a kindergartener I was unaware of what was going on in the world. Your book was a fantastic window to that time! I can't wait for school to start in the fall to book talk with my students! Add me to the drawing!

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a phenomenal format for a book of this nature! I love how you paired different media to tell a compelling story of a critical time in our history. I was transcended back in time through your novel! You made this time period come back to life for me. It really struck a familiar chord since I grew up in the flight path of Andrews AFB just a few short miles away from Camp Springs Elementary!Looking forward to the next two books in this trilogy! Kudos to you, Deborah!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I love your books and would love to win the playlist. I am an elementary school media specialist in Northwest Georgia who loves to read and share quality young adult and children's books. Can't wait to read Countdown. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I want it! What a fabulous idea! Did I comment already? I love you!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wow! Love the mix! The book is already so packed with all of the amazing visual stuff, I can't imagine how, er, dreamy it would be to listen along.

    I'm loving the Duck and Cover video, too.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm hooked! I just listened to the entire playlist, and I have to applaud you for putting together such a time capsule of the period! Thanks for taking me back almost 50years! I hope that I will be so lucky as to win this great collection!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I definitely want to be entered. You already know that I think an entire DVD should/could be added to the book.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm so psyched to read Countdown as a child of the 60's and a teacher who does multi-genre class projects. This book will be a super addition to my library of mullti-genre books as well as an awesome read. I haven't been this excited about a new trilogy since Hunger Games!

    e-mail PKeefe1845@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Just finished the book and can't wait for the next one! You took me on a magical mystery tour of my childhood that could not have happened without all of the allusions to the sights and sounds of those crazy days. What really pulled on my memory strings, though, was your mention of WPGC! If I had a dime for every hour of listening to that station, I'd be a wealthy woman! Thanks for enriching my memories! Got my fingers crossed for winning the playlist!

    ReplyDelete

Howdy. Moderating comments to prevent spam. I'm sure you're not that. Thanks for your thoughts! Write on, warrior on. Make art.