Catchpenny is my thirteenth novel. It’s a contemporary fantasy that revels in emotion and fun and outrageousness. The story of a thief named Sid Catchpenny who can walk through mirrors and is called on to find a missing girl, Circe, in a demimonde of Los Angeles’ underground magic scene. It’s also about how the ability to hope is engendered, and the effort it takes to keep it alive. Music runs throughout Catchpenny. These are some songs and artists that are mentioned in the book, and some others that helped me to write it.
Troy by Sinéad O’Connor
Sinéad is at the heart of Catchpenny. Her album The Lion and the Cobra is a touchstone for both Sid and Circe, and also for myself. I spent a summer in my late teens crashing at my buddy’s trailer home where the carpet was stained from a Harley that was often parked inside. I’d sprawl on the carpet, smell oil, put my head between the speakers and listen to Sinéad scream. I wanted some of that feeling of being young and lost and needing powerful music for protection to run through the book.
Confetti by Charlotte Cardin
I listened to a lot of indie/alt pop while writing Catchpenny. Cardin is an artist my daughter and I fell in love with several years ago. Her tour for Phoenix was the first live show we went to coming out of Covid lockdown. “I feel like a zombie, I’ll die at the party, yeah you’ll find my body fully covered in confetti” is one of my favorite lyrics of the last decade.
Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift
I also listened to a lot of stadium pop while writing Catchpenny. Anti-Hero is so on the nose for Sid, I couldn’t resist slipping it into the book. Sid probably hates that he identifies so much with the narrator of this song, but he can’t get it out of his head.
Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar
Sid sings this one at a party when he’s an aspiring rock star. A rock anthem that plays well as a shouty sing-along around a campfire.
Final Girl by Chvrches
Any pop song with a reference to feeling like a final girl is going to get me. I identify this one with Circe’s mom, Iva. A song she might have heard coming from her daughter’s room and then can’t stop thinking about. “Don’t want to find your daughter in a body bag, so I need to get out now while most of me is still intact.”
Gimme Shelter
Munroe, one of the baddies in in the book, played a key role in the chaos at the Rolling Stones’ Altamont free concert. This is a reference to the Stones’ tour documentary of the same name that includes footage from the show.
The Thrill of it All by Roxy Music
Sid wears a trio of band badges that are imbued with special mojo. One of them is Roxy Music. I love this track because it plays against the new romanticism that the band is identified with.
deja vu by Olivia Rodrigo
Somehow I missed the boat on Drivers License and this was the first song of Rodrigo’s that I heard. My daughter was playing it in the car and I was immediately on board. A great breakup song gets right under your skin even if you’ve been happily married for twenty years. Sid watches the ghosts of Tina Turner and Eddie Van Halen perform it at an eternal party in Laurel Canyon.
That’s the Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson
Another tune that Sid sings around the campfire. Just one of the best songs to play on a jukebox. You can see a slow wave of hip swaying spread across the room as soon as the intro hits.
Never Get Old by Sinéad O’Connor
Sinéad is too important within Catchpenny to get just one song here. “Young woman with a drink in her hand, she like to listen to rock and roll, she moves with the music, ‘cause it never gets old” is pure Circe.
Let’s Go Crazy by Prince
Yet another of Sid’s sing-along numbers. I loved the image of a strutting kid slamming this out on an acoustic guitar. How cocky he’d have to be to try and make this work. And then pulling it off and making the party go crazy.
God Save the Queen by Sex Pistols
Sid runs into the Rainbow Room on Sunset to hide from baddies and meets a server in a Pistols t-shirt. Any excuse to put the Pistols on a playlist. I love hearing them back to back with Prince.
Satanist by boygenius
Their album, the record, was on heavy rotation in our house while I was editing Catchpenny. Circe is surely a huge fan. Hard to pick a favorite lyric from this track. It’s all so funny and heartbreaking. “If nothing can be known, then stupidity is holy, if the void becomes a bore, we’ll treat ourselves to some self-belief”.
Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz
Another of Sid’s party songs. Another crowd pleaser. A sneaky tune. You think you’ve heard it was too many times in your life, but then it comes on and it still kicks.
Gold Guns Girls by Metric
More background music from the writing of Catchpenny. A truly weird band, Metric’s lyrics are astonishingly caustic. My favorite musical distillation of 21st century anxiety and paranoia.
In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Sid imagines the ghost of Sinéad singing this song. And so do I. Miss you, Sinéad.
Heroes by David Bowie
And one more of Sid’s sing along numbers. Because it is impossible to have a sing along around a fire without “Heroes.” One of the few songs even I can play.
That’s All Right by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup
But of course I’m thinking about Elvis’ cover. Sid strikes an Elvis pose at one point, primping in a bathroom. Something about Bowie and Elvis back to back that tickles me. Soulmates.
Show Me the Way by Peter Frampton
Another of Sid’s magical band badges. Mr. Frampton. I mean, somehow Frampton Comes Alive was the best selling live album for my entire youth.
Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John with ELO
Xanadu the movie played a significant role in an earlier draft of Catchpenny. That went by the wayside and all that remains is a VHS of the flick being used a kind of instrument of torture. The physical tape, not the movie itself. No haters here.
Liability by Lorde
More musical fuel for the writing of the book. I love the turn when you realize that the narrator of the song is dancing with herself. This could be for Circe or Iva or two of the books baddies, Munroe and Perilous Sue. “They’re gonna watch me disappear into the sun, you’re all gonna watch me disappear into the sun” is one of the great kiss off lines.
Flirtin’ With Disaster by Molly Hatchet
Sid visits a coven of Dungeons & Dragons adepts who have been playing the same campaign for forty years. And listening to the same tapes all that time. No D&D basement was complete in the 80s without a copy of Flirtin’ With Disaster and its Frank Frazetta jacket art.
Hanging on the Telephone by Blondie
Another cassette in the D&D basement. Another band Circe would be into. She’d love the hits off Parallel Lines, but this would be her favorite track. Those drums, Debbie’s syncopated phrasing, right in rhythm with an old payphone dial rotating back into place.
Beautiful World by Devo
Another Sid band badge! Dark song. Comes at you from behind and slams you across the back of the head. The key change and then the lyrics. A song for all weirdos.
Hounds of Love by Kate Bush
For the longest time, Hounds of Love was the touchstone album of Catchpenny. Then season 4 of Stranger Things came along and I needed to adjust. A happy pivot that brought me to Sinéad. But Kate is still in the bones of the book. Thanks, Kate.
Paris is Burning by St. Vincent
Always on in our house. St. Vincent is a direct descendant from both Kate Bush and Sinéad O’Connor. A dream lineup for Sid, Circe, me and my daughter.
Every Breath You Take by The Police
One of the D&D basement tapes. A warped tape that turns this twisted ode to stalking into a gloomy chant. Disturbing fucking song, people.
Crush by Ethel Cain
I love the whole Ethel Cain persona, love her music, love her love of long acid rock country ballads with epic guitar solos. Circe would listen to Ethel with a set of retro headphone in the back row of her algebra class, if she went to school.
Jerusalem by Sinéad O’Connor
One more for Sinéad. A gut punch of a song. “Getting tired of you doing this to me, I’m gonna hit you if you say that to me, one more time.” Boom. No fucking around in that lyric.
Feel Like Dyin’ by Richard Streeter
I needed a song that Sid wrote himself, the hit he never had. Streeter is a friend of mine. I grew up listening to him play and sing his songs. He was generous enough to let me use this song in Catchpenny. Simplicity, heartache, secret sexiness in the buried meaning. “I feel like dyin’ whenever you’re around” is one of the greatest lyrics of yearning ever. Thanks, Rich.
The Parting Glass traditional recorded by boygenius and Ye Vagabonds
This tribute to Sinéad dropped late last year. I played it sitting at the kitchen table, crying by myself. Of course music is magical. Putting feeling in your heart, pictures behind your eyes, dreams in your head.
The 345 by Self Esteem
I adore Self Esteem. I love the performance name she gave herself and how her songwriting backs it up. She was in the background helping me through bleak days. A love song written to herself. Why don’t more people do that? A song for Sid to put on repeat. Don’t fight it, just let it be what it is and give in.