Soundtrack Sunday – “Little Sparrow”

Typically Soundtrack Sunday posts have included the entire playlist for a book, but then that means I usually only post a couple a year. A friend has been posting individual songs and talking in more detail, though, and I thought I’d maybe start doing that to keep up with blogging more. I usually only have a sentence or two about a particular song on a playlist when, often times, I could write a lot more.

Today* is for an unreleased book, and it just recently wove its way onto the playlist.

I’ve heard “Little Sparrow” a bunch of times and always liked it, but this was an example of something hitting at the precise right moment last week. Before I write, I build a basic playlist that grows and changes as the book does, but at least gives me a starting off point; other times I hear something and it gives me an entire entry point into a character or scene.

If you’ve read the jacket copy for Yampellec’s Idol or the first chapter in the back of Shiva’s Bow (or what was included with Emaleth’s Cat a few weeks ago), you of course know Livi’s mother at long last makes an appearance in the main series after several vague mentions of abandoning the Talbot family when Livi was about five.

I love Marta Talbot. She is deeply complex, with a system of values and morals that can be seen one way by other characters (and the reader) but that make entire sense to her. Entire scenes play completely different ways to her than they do to Livi, and it’s fascinating to be in her head even though her POV is not shared with the reader.

“Little Sparrow”, though, is what really gave me her as a character. Partially lyrically, but also in terms of the mood and tone of the song. I can see her singing it to Livi in warning, notes of bitterness and a righteous anger. Sometimes a character chooses a song and whispers in my ear, “This–this one is mine”–that was the case here, even if I haven’t uncovered all the details yet.

Beyond that, I’ll leave to you to discover when (eventually) you get to read the book.

All ye maidens heed my warning
Never trust the hearts of men
They will crush you like a sparrow
Leaving you to never mend 

*Thankfully I had already written this post last week and just had to hit “Publish”; my remaining elderly cat hasn’t been doing well since Friday and fretting over him is about all I have mental bandwidth for right now. Fingers crossed I don’t lose him on Christmas, but… *gestures at 2019*