THE DEEP END OF THE SEA Playlist

Many of you might already know I’m a total music junkie. I think that might be putting it mildly, actually. I adore music. I listen to it all day; I collect songs like other girls collect shoes. (okay. I collect those, too.) Can’t write without it. All of my books have extensive playlists that play crucial roles in helping me craft scenes and characters, and The Deep End of the Sea is no different.

Before I get into the songs, though—I want to point out that, of all my books, this is one of my very favorite soundtracks, filled with songs that touch me deeply. I still listen to it often, because it means that much to me. A lot of the book formed in my mind after hearing John Mayer’s Born and Raisedalbum. Have you heard it? It’s kind of folky, the perfect sort of music for a road trip, all mellow and thoughtful and lovely. Which may not necessarily lead you to think about Greek mythological monsters, but I feel like that album really gets Dusa. Have a listen. See if you agree.

I’ve put together a condensed Spotify list for you to listen to (songs placed in order of their placement in the book), and I also want to highlight some of the key songs from the book for you, since a lot of people ask me when certain songs are important to the story. BUT. If you don’t like spoilers, then just stick to this playlist below. All of the write-ups below the Spotify list are highly spoiler-y.

THE OFFICIAL DEEP END OF THE SEA PLAYLIST

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SPOILERS, WILL ROBINSON.

SPOILERS FOR THE DEEP END OF THE SEA AHEAD!

You have been warned!

Okay. Let’s dish the tunes for TDEotS, okay? My playlist actually has 45 songs on it, but I condensed it above for you all to the key songs and here I condense it further by highlighting the most important of these. Also, you should check them all out. Each song is fantastic!

The Lineby Noah and The Whale. This is the opening of the book—Medusa’s loneliness and struggles are sometimes too difficult to bear. And yet, she keeps putting one foot in front of the other (metaphorically, of course).

But then she’ll ask, as she cleans up the glass,

“Is this the line?

Is this the line?

Is this the line between heaven and hell

Song for Zula by Phosphorescent. This song, friends. THIS SONG. I cannot express how in love with the song I am. I feel like it fits Medusa so well. It’s definitely one of the key songs, feel-wise, to the book.

  You see the moon is bright in that treetop night

I see the shadows that we cast in the cold clean light

I might fear I go and my heart is white

And we race right out on the desert plains all night

So honey I am now, some broken thing

I do not lay in the dark waiting for day here

Now my heart is gold, my feet are right

And I’m racing out on the desert plains all night

A Face to Call Homeby John Mayer. Oh, this beautiful, lovely song. Let’s just say that this song was key to developing the relationship between Hermes and Medusa.

Little by little, inch by inch,

we built a yard with a garden in the middle of it.

It ain’t much, but it’s a start.

You got me swaying right along

to the song in your heart . . .

and a face to call home

Requiem on Water by Imperial Mammoth. This song has to do with a chaise lounge. ‘Nuff said.

And though your arms and legs are under,

love will be the echo in your ears when all is lost and plunder.

My love will be there still

Lose Yourselfby Eminem. This was used during a scene roughly midway through the book that was incredibly difficult to write. You’ll know when you get there. How far are people willing to go to get what they want? How far should they go?

Look,

If you had one shot,

or one opportunity

to seize everything you ever wanted

in one moment,

would you capture it

or just let it slip?

Whole Heartby Cheyenne Mize. Medusa learns that changes in life aren’t always what we hope them to be. This bittersweet song was instrumental in a key transition in the story.

I thought about leaving today—

packing my bags and running away.

I’m really good at these things;

I’m really good at . . . I’ve practiced these things.

Never Leave Homeby Soft Swells. Sometimes a person needs to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and learn to let go and move on. This song was all about Dusa finally taking control of her life. Damn, I love this song. Just listen as swells throughout the bridge. To me, it’s all about hope.

This is not right;

I thought it would be easy.

This is not right;

I thought it would flow.

This is not right;

I thought would be easy.

But she’ll never fall in love

if you never leave home.

Just a Dreamby Nelly. Uncertainty is a terrible thing to live through, isn’t it?

I was thinking ’bout her, thinking ’bout me,

thinking ’bout us, what we gon’ be.

Open my eyes, yeah, it was only just a dream.

So I travelled back down that road,

will she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

Control byPoe. This song has a lot of deep, personal meanings to me from personal experiences in my life. So when it came time for Dusa to confront Poseidon for once and for all, I looked no further than this song. To me, it’s all about taking control back from somebody who should never have had it in the first place.

You thought you could keep me from loving,

you thought you could feed on my soul.

But while you were busy destroying my life,

what was half in me has become whole.

While you were looking the other way,

while you had your eyes closed,

while you were licking your lips

’cause I was miserable,

while you were selling your soul,

while you were tearing a hole in me . . .

I was taking control.

Don’t you mess with me.

Painting by Chagallby The Weepies. Fairy tales love happy endings. Because this song is so gorgeous, I’m just going to give you all the lyrics. Try not to swoon.

Thunder rumbles in the distance, a quiet intensity.

I am willful, your insistence is tugging at the best of me.

You’re the moon, I’m the water;

you’re Mars, calling up Neptune’s daughter.

Sometimes rain that’s needed falls . . .

We float like two lovers in a painting by Chagall—

all around is sky and blue town,

holding these flowers for a wedding gown.

We live so high above the ground, satellites surround us.

I am humbled in this city;

there seems to be an endless sea of people like us.

Wakeful dreamers, I pass them on the sunlit streets.