Jen Fawkes’s debut novel Daughters of Chaos is masterfully told, a magnificently layered narrative that amazes as it unfolds.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
“Dazzling historical fantasy . . . Both the historical and fantastical elements come alive in Sylvie’s suspenseful narration, which is interwoven with the text of the imaginary play. Fawkes wows with this wildly original tale.”
In her own words, here is Jen Fawkes’s Book Notes music playlist for her debut novel Daughters of Chaos:
In Daughters of Chaos, priestesses of an ancient cult of female power control men with their song. Posing as prostitutes in a Nashville brothel known as the Land of the Sirens, they covertly teach their customers about the women who’ve shaped our world, after which their clients—convinced they’ve had the wildest, most passionate night of their lives—can’t wait to return for further indoctrination.
It seems only fitting, then, that my playlist for this book be made up of songs sung by literal Sirens, i.e. some of the most gifted, powerful, bewitching female vocalists of the modern era. Not only can these songstresses peel the paint right off the walls, they also have plenty to say about surviving as a woman in a patriarchal world while complicating binaries such as sacred/profane, order/chaos, and male/female.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “Strange Things Happening Every Day” (1944)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe—the Godmother of Rock and Roll—was born in Cotton Plante, Arkansas. A guitar prodigy, Tharpe was performing gospel with her mother by the time she was six. As an adult, Tharpe mixed traditional spirituals with electric guitar, boogie-woogie piano, and a tongue-in-cheek vocal style that managed to simultaneously praise and question. “Strange Things Happening Every Day,” the first gospel track to chart on the Billboard Harlem Hit Parade, may be the first rock and roll song, and Tharpe recorded it in response to those who objected to her playing sacred music in night clubs and dance halls. Tharpe’s interest in the relationship between the sacred and the profane—a theme that runs throughout Daughters of Chaos—is clear in “Strange Things Happening Every Day.”
Sinead O’Connor, “Troy” (1987)
Sinead O’Connor was a revelation for those of us coming of age in the mid-late 1980s, and this song, first heard on cassette in a friend’s overcrowded beater, was my introduction to the Irish Siren. But back then, I had no idea “Troy” was based on William Butler Yeats’s “No Second Troy,” a poem in which he condemns Maud Gonne, the Irish revolutionary whom he loved unrequitedly, of being another Helen—a beautiful woman who destroys people as she has no Troy to burn. Like Daughters of Chaos, “Troy” is lushly orchestrated and calls back to multiple armed conflicts—the Irish War of Independence and the Trojan War—to examine the passions, betrayals, and melodramas of interpersonal relationships.
Nina Simone, “I Put a Spell on You” (1965)
Written and originally recorded in 1956 by “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins, Nina Simone recorded “I Put a Spell on You” for her album of the same name, recorded in 1965. Hawkins’s version gave birth to his “voodoo personality” and ended up being banned from radio play for its shocking “cannibalistic” style. Nina Simone’s recording of Hawkins’s blues ballad may not be as overtly spooky or maniacal as his, but it’s still unsettling, in terms of both its supernatural message and Simone’s arrangement and witchy style—always idiosyncratic, sharp, and brimming with raw power.
Luscious Jackson, “Daughters of the Kaos” (1992)
To be honest, I’d forgotten about this song until a friend reminded me, so the fact that it almost shares a title with my novel is a happy coincidence. The women in Luscious Jackson grew up in NYC and, as teens, hung around with various punk rock pioneers, and my favorite thing about them may be their name—a malapropism for that of basketball great Lucious Jackson. The first track LJ released as a single and music video, “Daughters of the Kaos” captures not only the rap-rock/punky/trip-hop sound of much early 1990s music, but also the world’s burgeoning fascination with badass, law-breaking, fast-driving, gun-toting women, a.k.a. “semi-automatic sisters.”
Vicki Lawrence, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” (1972)
This southern gothic murder ballad, written by Bobby Russell and originally recorded in 1972 by his then-wife, Vicki Lawrence (best known for her work on The Carol Burnette Show), is unreliably narrated by the little sister of a man convicted and hanged for a murder the singer herself committed. It probably won’t come as much of a shock that I love music that artfully employs literary devices and techniques, and for my money, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” has one of the greatest twist endings in popular music.
Etta James, “I’d Rather Go Blind” (1967)
“I’d Rather Go Blind” was written by Etta James and Detroit songwriter Fugi Jordan, who conceived of the song while in prison. During the recording session, James was trying to kick heroin; the result is saturated with her agony, rage, and sorrow. I mean, if Etta’s voice doesn’t reach down your throat and seize your heart, something is wrong with your ears. The speaker’s wish to punish herself, rather than her romantic betrayer, could be seen as a sign of weakness; for me, this notion is belied by the sheer power of James’s performance, which also reveals an impressive level of self-awareness: “Most of all, I just don’t, I just don’t wanna be free, no.”
Lucinda Williams, “Sweet Old World” (1992)
Like the great Nina Simone, Lucinda Williams’s voice, her phrasing, her musical catalog is idiosyncratic and tough to pin down. She employs country, rock, and blues as she sees fit, spinning and weaving a visual tapestry of an American experience that speaks volumes to many. Perhaps it was the influence of her poet father, Miller Williams, that pushed her to reach for the unique, startling, heart-piercing images that fill her music. Daughters of Chaos deals with loss, and grief, but the book also contains joy, and hope, so I chose “Sweet Old World” for this playlist: “The pounding of your heart’s drum/Together with another one/Didn’t you think anyone loved you?/See what you lost when you left this world/This sweet old world/What you lost when you left this world/This sweet old world.”
Madonna, “Express Yourself” (1988)
Madonna is my Taylor Swift, so I must include her on all playlists, and here, I chose “Express Yourself” for a couple of reasons. The song is a tribute to funk legends Sly and the Family Stone—always an enormous plus in my book—and the David Fincher-directed video for “Express Yourself” was inspired by Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece Metropolis. This is the moment when Madge shucked her early 1980s “material girl” image for the trappings of female empowerment, genderbending, and genre-blending, and as usual, it’s a banging dance number.
Beyonce, “All the Single Ladies” (2008)
A confession: I don’t know much about Beyonce (though I have taught at least two young women with the name), but I initially considered putting “All the Single Ladies” on this list because of its clear message about women looking out for number one. THEN I learned that Queen Bey sings “All the Single Ladies” in the persona of her dark-hearted alter ego, Sasha Fierce. So not only is the song a banger, not only is Beyonce a three-octave vocal prodigy with astonishing pitch, the superstar Siren is also masquerading in this track—a theme that runs throughout Daughters of Chaos.
Patsy Cline, “Crazy” (1961)
“Crazy” was written by Willie Nelson while he was commuting from one job to another in 1958, wondering if he was crazy for trying to be a songwriter. A number of artists declined to record “Crazy” due to Nelson’s idiosyncratic phrasing and his use of multiple jazz chords. Later, once Nelson had moved from Texas to Nashville, he got the song in front of Patsy Cline, who belted out “Crazy” in her own unique style, using broken chords and descending intervals. “Crazy” became Cline’s biggest hit, her signature song, and one of the most successful country music songs ever recorded. I’ve loved Patsy’s voice since I was a child, and I adore “Crazy,” a collaboration between two brilliant and singular talents.
Aretha Franklin, “Think” (1968)
Aretha Franklin co-wrote “Think” with her first husband, Ted White, a notorious Detroit character who may have been a pimp. Franklin gave birth to her first two children while still a child herself (at twelve and fourteen), and though her father disapproved, she married Ted White when she was nineteen (White was thirty). The couple co-wrote several of her hits, but their relationship was notoriously tempestuous and overtly abusive—though some say Franklin gave as good as she got. Franklin divorced White the year after “Think” was released, granting herself the very thing she seeks in this rollicking R&B number: “Gotta have freedom, oh oh freedom, right now.” Franklin’s performance of “Think” in The Blues Brothers is one of my favorite moments on film.
This Mortal Coil, “Song to the Siren” (1984)
This Mortal Coil was a rotating musical collective put together by British post-punk label 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell in 1983. But I first heard “Song to the Siren” performed by its author, the great songwriter Tim Buckley, on an episode of The Monkees. The vocalist on This Mortal Coil’s version is Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins, who possesses one of the most otherworldly voices of all time—one that could easily lure a sailor, or a Civil War soldier, to his doom, or perhaps his enlightenment. Water permeates Daughters of Chaos, which features submarines and Sirens, steamboats and dragon-headed barges, and if you, like me, have long wondered what the Sirens sang to Odysseus, here’s your answer: “Swim to me/Swim to me/Let me enfold you/Here I am/Here I am/Waiting to hold you.”
also at Largehearted Boy:
Jen Fawkes’ playlist for her story collection Mannequin and Wife
Jen Fawkes’s playlist for her story collection Tales the Devil Told Me
Jen Fawkes is the author of Mannequin and Wife, a 2020 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee, winner of the2023 Phillip H. McMath Post-Publication Book Award, and a Foreword INDIES gold medalist. Her collection Tales the Devil Told Me was a Foreword INDIES silver medalist, a Largehearted Boy Favorite Collection of 2021, and a finalist for the 2022 World Fantasy Award for Single-Author Story Collection. Her fiction won the 2021 Porter Fund Literary Prize and has appeared in One Story, Lit Hub, The Iowa Review, Best Small Fictions, and more. A two-time finalist for the Calvino Prize for fabulist fiction, Jen lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.