Revising a soundtrack

I've posted before about soundtracks but after my last post, thought it might be interesting to look at how my soundtrack changes with subsequent drafts.

My first pass at the soundtrack is fairly instinctual, I grab stuff out of iTunes and put it in some sort of order. Things get added or dropped and re-arranged as the draft progresses.

This is what my draft one soundtrack looked like for Lily's book.

1. Delicate - Damien Rice
2. (You Want to) Make a Memory - Bon Jovi
3. Be Bad - Lowrider
4. Elephant Love Medley - Moulin Rouge soundtrack
5. Joey - Concrete Blonde
6. Syrup & Honey - Duffy
7. Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy (this was added during the process!)
8. Angels - John Farnham
9. On Your Shore - Enya
10. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica (this was added)
11. Your Song - Moulin Rouge soundtrack
12. Up to the Mountain - Patty Griffin
13. Miss Sarajevo - George Michael
14. The Closest Thing to Crazy - Katie Melua
15. Who Wants to Live Forever - David Garrett (this was also added)
16. Criminal - Gotan Project
17. Crazy - Icehouse
18. If This Is It - Newton Faulkner (added)
19. Same Mistake - James Blunt
20. Heal the Pain - George Michael
21. Llorando - Angelo Badlamenti (Mulholland Drive soundtrack)
22. Night and Day - John Barrowman (De-Lovely soundtrack)
23. Gravity - John Mayer
24. Inquisition Symphony - Apocalyptica (added)
25. Tragedy - Brandi Carlile (added)
26. Two Gods - Attrition (added)
27. Sex On Fire - Kings of Leon
28. Red - Daniel Merriweather (this was the last song I added)
29. Beyond the Call - John Farnham

There were a couple of others early on that got deleted because they weren't working but I can't remember what they are. I use the soundtrack slightly differently for each book and this one was lots of listening to one particular song on repeat for various scenes (probably because I was doing lots of Write or Die sprints and one song on repeat seems to work better for sprinting right now) though I did listen to the whole thing as well.

To do draft two, I then cut the list down to the songs I was using most or felt really fit the book well. And re-ordered them.

Draft two looks like this:

1. Same Mistake - James Blunt
2. Be Bad - Lowrider
3. Elephant Love Medley - Moulin Rouge soundtrack
4. Crazy - Icehouse
5. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
6. Circus - Britney Spears (new, and oh god, I am sick of this song. Lily loves it though, no idea why)
7. If This Is It - Newton Faulkner
8. Two Gods - Attrition
9. Who Wants To Live Forever - David Garrett
10. Tragedy - Brandi Carlile
11. Water And A Flame - Daniel Merriweather (new)
12. Red - Daniel Merriweather
13. Pleasure and Pain - The Divinyls (new)
14. Angels - John Farnham

Oh and there was some E.S Posthumus used for a fight scene that I never added in.

I'm currently contemplating draft 3. At this point, I think Water and a Flame will go, Almost Lover might go. Superman by Bon Jovi will be added. I might re-instate Beyond the Call. And I possibly need some more instrumental/evocative of the world music though I have no idea what that is. We'll see what the girls want as we get into it. At least it's not the same five Dixie Chicks songs ad inifinitum like my Witch Book *g*