INVINCIBLE SUMMER Playlist: Song 12

SONG #12: "Hello Helicopter" by Motion City Soundtrack.

YEP. Cheating again. A little less this time, since this is faaar from my favorite Motion City Soundtrack song (though I still love it because, I mean...Motion City Soundtrack).

It's hard for a song to fit a mood better than Hello Helicopter fits Chase's 3rd summer. We're talking here about serious existential angst, but there's also the sense that you're sharing this angst with someone. This song is about "us," not "me."

And I think that's appropriate here, because Chase and Noah are, in every sense, with every pun intended, going down together.

The excerpt is from one of my favorite scenes. Noah's just home from, er, visiting Melinda, and he and Chase are standing on the deck, playing guitar, and trying to use her as a metaphor.

SAMPLE LYRIC:

Hello helicopter, have you heard the news?
No one gives a shit about the things they do
We all waste and consume, destroy and ruin everything we touch
It's easy not to think when you're not told that much

I'm not saying anything you haven't heard before
I'm just trying to understand the way we are


CORRELATING PASSAGE:

“And she talked about you,” he says.

“God, she always talks about you when I'm with her. Noah kisses me softer than that.”

“Chase is so much more passionate.”

“Noah takes his time.” I play a minor chord.

“Chase doesn't hesitate like you do.” Noah digs an almond out of the ice cream and tosses it off the balcony. “God. Why do we come back to this girl, Chase?”

--p. 180



PLAYLIST SO FAR:

1) "Turn Up The Sun" by Oasis
2) "Island in the Sun" by Weezer
3) "Just Like Heaven" by Gatsby's American Dream
4) "Bigger Than My Body" by John Mayer
5) "New Soul" by Yael Naim
6) "Across the Universe" by Rufus Wainwright
7) "Boys of Summer" by The Ataris
8) "Slang" by Def Leppard
9) "City Hall" by The Fray
10) "The Worst Part" by Motion City Soundtrack
11) "Time Won't Let Me Go" by The Bravery
12) "Hello Helicopter" by Motion City Soundtrack

INVINCIBLE SUMMER Playlist: Song 8

SONG #8: "Slang" by Def Leppard.

So...to put it super plainly, this is the sexiest song I know.

It's filthy and dirty and really hot, both in the sexy sense and the sense that you are doing it stuck to leather seats in the back of someone's car, probably still wearing half of your bikini, no makeup, sweaty. Pretty is something you gave up several days and several sunburns earlier.

So we're at that part of the book.

If you've read any of the summaries of Invincible Summer, you'll know that Chase and his brother are sleeping with the same girl.

It's not what the book is about.

But it's there, and it goes something like this.

SAMPLE LYRIC:

Slang with me, I don't wanna get my hands dirty
Slang with me, I just wanna get soakin' wet
Slang with me, I don't wanna get my hands dirty
All I ever wanna get is slang

It's my intention to be your obsession
(Mi pasion, mi obsesion, queria que eastuvieras conmigo)
It's my obsession to be your addiction

CORRELATING PASSAGE:

God, maybe she knew I would tell him. Maybe she wanted us to fight over her like hungry animals. I want to tell her that I can tell when I'm being used, but this seems like a lofty statement when I don't think I've ever been used before.

--p. 145



PLAYLIST SO FAR:

1) "Turn Up The Sun" by Oasis
2) "Island in the Sun" by Weezer
3) "Just Like Heaven" by Gatsby's American Dream
4) "Bigger Than My Body" by John Mayer
5) "New Soul" by Yael Naim
6) "Across the Universe" by Rufus Wainwright
7) "Boys of Summer" by The Ataris
8) "Slang" by Def Leppard

INVINCIBLE SUMMER Playlist: Song 6

SONG #6: "Across the Universe" by Rufus Wainwright.

One of my favorite covers. If you haven't heard it, it's really beautiful, and the video (featuring a baby Dakota Fanning!) is amazing as well. I absolutely love the original Beatles song (I have every Beatles song memorized, including the ones in German. Thanks Mom!) and the cover gives it a sunnier feel, which worked well for IS. It's a little more intense but at the same time more joyous. It's definitely a different feel from the original, but the song is strong enough to be able to withstand anything anyone does to it, I'm pretty sure. The version from the movie Across the Universe is also beautiful.

One of the reasons this version really worked for me is the passion and the level of insistence in it. "Nothing's gonna change my world" is an ambiguous statement--is it a peaceful statement, a refusal of something, or a regret?--and this version puts a lot of power behind that line. So I hear a refusal in it. I'm not going to allow anything to change my world. And that works very well for Chase.

The thing is that Chase's world isn't exactly normal, which is why I chose the passage I've chosen for this song.

I mentioned in the last post that there's a turning point here, and it's the shift to the romantic/sexual/whatever part of the book, when things get less simple for Chase. Except that lack of simplicity isn't just about the girl next door.

It's just a little thing. And this whole element is in little things. But it's worth confirming, I think.

Some reviewers have mentioned that there are weird moments between the siblings. That there are times that relationships seem uncomfortably intimate, and almost...incestuous. I picture them kind of whispering this, with a sad little glance my way, like, poor hannah didn't notice this.

So let's just say that yes, I noticed it, and that this isn't the kind of thing I would do accidentally. Full stop.

SAMPLE LYRIC:

Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world


CORRELATING PASSAGE:

We're quiet, lying in the sand, watching the stars, while Lucy crawls slow circles around us. I drop a few more notes.

I say, “Can I ask you something?”

She exhales. “Of course, Chase.”

“What's the deal with you and Noah?”

She laughs. “What's the deal with you and Noah?”

--p. 95



Playlist so far:

PLAYLIST SO FAR:
1) "Turn Up The Sun" by Oasis
2) "Island in the Sun" by Weezer
3) "Just Like Heaven" by Gatsby's American Dream
4) "Bigger Than My Body" by John Mayer
5) "New Soul" by Yael Naim
6) "Across the Universe" by Rufus Wainwright

Teaser Now, Video on Thursday

Chase and that chick from the cover, Melinda Hathaway.

EDIT: because it isn't really clear in context, the bolded words are in sign language, between Chase and his little brother Gideon.

--

Cake.

I sign tomorrow, not that time means anything to a six-year old.

Cake now.

Birthday tomorrow.

I try to distract Gideon with the sunset over the ocean, but he’s not having any of that. Then Shannon and Noah run past with the dogs at their heels, and his hands scream at me to let him down so he can chase them.

“Be careful!” I yell after him.

From behind me, Melinda laughs. “All these years and you still shout at him.”

I turn around and watch her walk towards me, long arms swinging against the hem of her skirt. I look away. My siblings and her siblings are all running around barefoot together. “Habit, I guess. I have two other siblings to yell at.”

“And number three on her way. You excited?”

“Yeah, totally. Hoping it’ll. . . ” I drift off, my eyes following Bella as she collects seashells down by the shore.

“Was there a sentence to be completed there?”

I smile. “Put us back together. I’m hoping it’ll put us back together.”

She puts her hand in my hair. “Something got you down, Chasey?”

“I was just telling Claudia about how stuff used to be, and it’s just so. . . used to be.”

She nods and slips her hand back into the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie. “Noah used to be around more.” But she’s not with Noah now, even though he’s here. She’s standing here with me, and I don’t know why.

I say, “Noah used to be around a lot more. But that feels forever ago.” I rub my hair. It’s dry as dust. “Before we knew that Gid was deaf, I guess. Made stuff get complicated.”

She says, “You guys do okay, though. I mean, he’s happy. Playing with Bella and Shannon.”

“He can’t talk to them. We can barely talk to him.”

“What’s the point of talking?”

“We’re talking right now.”

“But we’re not saying anything.”

There’s a particularly loud wave, and I watch them all stay on their feet before I breathe. I wish Noah would get the dogs further away from the water, so I could relax for a minute, enjoy the smell of Melinda’s perfume.

“What you just said,” I say. “Was that Camus?”

“No, silly.” Her fingernails stroke my cheek, and then her lips press onto their tracks. “That was Hathaway,” she whispers.