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October 28, 2020
Ed Lin's Playlist for His Novel "David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Ed Lin's young adult novel David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College is a heartfelt and hilarious coming-of-age pageturner.
David Henry Hwang wrote of the book:
"A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager. I am impressed and inspired by Ed Lin’s achievement and wish I could’ve read this book when I was in high school."
In his words, here is Ed Lin's Book Notes music playlist for his book David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College:
David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College is a YA book about a young Asian American man in suburban New Jersey. David tries to balance his mother's high academic expectations with the class politics of his majority-Chinese American school in the fictional upscale town of Shark Beach. Most kids are well off, having parents who work management and law jobs in New York City, but David's family operates Tung's Garden, a solid choice for a mid-priced buffet meal, as David puts it. In addition, David goes to Chinese school in New York because his mother had some dispute with the woman who runs the local Chinese school in Shark Beach. As a consequence, he misses out on forging friendships with the local kids, who are more on their guards in high school than in the relatively looser Chinese school sessions. Also, his mother is one of those old-school moms who doesn't allow their kid to go on dates until...well, you know. David does, however, have a broader understanding of the range of Chineseness because of his time spent in both his "richy rich" Jersey suburb and his working-class friends in the Chinatown school. Just when he thinks he's hit a groove between academic excellence and balancing between the two worlds, the worst (or best) thing happens: a girl asks him out for a date.
"In Betweens" by the Nils
David Tung is caught between a number of conventional socioeconomic groups, the same as the founding members of one of Montreal's greatest bands, the Nils. Trilingual brothers Alex and Carlos Soria formed the group in the late '70s. This original version of the song, from the "Sell Out Young" EP, crushes the reworking on their overproduced first LP. "I need to know the purpose of my being," could easily be something that David yearns to know. Some Asian Pacific Americans such as David are challenged on several fronts. The parents have high academic expectations, yet they also expect their kids to work nearly full-time at the family businesses to the detriment of their social lives. And no dating, of course. Not until the Ivy League admissions come rolling in.
"Too Much Pressure" by the Selecter
It is indeed too much pressure! Sometimes, nothing's more livelier than ska, and live ska is the liveliest ska. Yet another stalwart 2 Tone band that continues–singers Pauline Black and Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson continue to front the current lineup–the Selecter still sounds snappy and fun. David Tung isn't a big fan of music, but he'd relate pretty damn well to the lyrics.
"Warrior in Woolworths" by X-Ray Spex
When I was a teenager, Germfree Adolescents, the lone studio LP recorded by this U.K. first-wave punk band had attained legendary status. It was up on the wall at Bleecker Bob's for 75 freaking dollars! Worse, there was no way to even get an idea of what it sounded like without buying it. Instead, though, there were a number of X-Ray Spex bootleg 7-inch records. I picked up one that had this version of the song on the B-side. Sure, it sounds grubby, but I love the electronic effect on the drums for the chorus, which isn't on the actual studio recording. David is indeed a warrior in Woolworth while most of the other kids in his upscale burb are hanging out at Nordstrom and Jimmy Choo.
"You Lie, You Choke the Rules We Trust" by Manic Sheep
Taiwanese shoegaze champ Manic Sheep has been making international waves for a few years now, after appearances at Fuji Rock in Japan and SXSW in the U.S. A tonal language such as Mandarin may be more suited to the genre than English, as this song shows. Early on in the book, David makes a date for a dance with one of the school's elite, knowing that his mother won't allow him to go. When his plans to sneak out of the house are dashed, he must confess to the girl that he wasn't being truthful. She really could choke him.
"The HItcher" by Toshack Highway
Speaking of shoegaze, Swervedriver's Adam Franklin continues to set the pace in the genre, applying a fiery Stooges-like intensity to a form that can become a bit too staid. No pyrotechnics here, though. While Swervedriver was on hiatus, he began making music under the moniker Toshack Highway, sometimes releasing stripped-down Swervedriver songs, such as "The Hitcher." David really wishes he could hitch a ride out of here on someone's smile.
"Outcast" by Eddie and Ernie
"I'm just an outcast, I don't know how long I'm gonna last," is another lyric that captures David's perceived existence. Eddie and Ernie were a 60s soul duo who wrote their own songs. "Time Waits for No One" was their big hit, but I prefer this song. It roots for the underdog and there's an optimistic, insistent beat to it. "Outcast" has certainly aged well. Garage revivalists the A-Bones recorded a thumping version of the song only a few years ago.
"Prove Me Wrong" by the Sound
The lyric "[t]here's a logic to a lonely life" distills so much of what I've seen in the Asian community, particularly among young people who were pressured to succeed in fields they didn't want to enter. They had the choice of reaching for academic excellence in something they were indifferent or averse to, or pursuing happiness at the risk of becoming a pariah to their parents. It's no wonder that many Asian Pacific Americans suffer from depression and/or have contemplated sucide. There's a big stigma in certain quarters against discussing mental health at all, adding more hurdles for those who need help. Adrian Borland, the singer and primary songwriter of the Sound, suffered from severe depression for many years, and sadly took his own life at the age of 41. Yet this inspiring song, and much of Borland's work, confronts doubt and other demons head-on, denying them control. It seems a fitting end to side 1 of what I would put on a mixtape.
"Shenme Gui" by OHYUNG (ft.space meow doll, qing liberty)
"Shenme Gui" literally means "what ghost?" but figuratively means "what the hell?" or something ruder. OHYUNG is an Asian American experimental rap artist and film composer, and this song makes me think of the code switch that David goes through when he leaves New Jersey to hang with his Chinese school pals in New York's Chinatown. Lots of rude words here and anti-authoritarian defiance. I love it.
"Color of Words" by TuT
TuT unfortunately seems to be done, with singer Fifi posting a goodbye message on the Taipei-based outfit's Facebook page last August followed by only silence from the band. Yet I can imagine Fifi singing this melancholy recitation of colors in English as she packed up her guitar case. Maybe this could be the song where David realizes that he's been attracted to someone in Chinese school this entire time.
"Corpus Christi" by the Avengers
Simply one of the greatest songs by one of the greatest American punk bands ever. "I was born in such foolish times, my guilt is guaranteed," sings Penelope Houston in a quest for redemption Like the X-Ray Spex album, the Avengers self-titled album was hard to find when I was young, but I found a used copy eventually for about $10. Start to finish, I loved it. I later discovered that the pressings were essentially bootlegs, so now whenever Houson releases a new album (events not to be missed) or a repressing, or even just some merch, I'm the first in line with my wallet out. She's a brilliant singer and songwriter who should be wearing a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Unless she would find that offensive. Now I'm torn. Just as David would be, having been born into a world he never created, and struggling to keep everyone else but himself happy.
"Alles" by Small Reactions
This song "manages to find comfort in a nihilistic worldview," according to this Atlanta-based group's Bandcamp page. This is exactly what David is trying to do, even if he's not fully conscious of it. Small Reactions is a fantastic band that in a just world would be as big as Springsteen, playing arenas, but since not even he can do that during this pandemic, Small Reactions is as big as Springsteen. Is the title "Alles" supposed to mean "everything" in German, or "gone" in French....or does it mean that "everything's gone"? Can't you tell I wrote the best in-class essays?
"Starmaker" by Julie Plug
This title track from Julie Plug's staggeringly great first album is about waiting for someone to make your dreams come true, and then realizing that that's your job. This is a lesson David has to learn. This song still sounds as fresh as it did when I picked up the CD at the Asian American Writers' Workshop in New York more than two decades ago. Julie Plug also did a 20-year celebration of the album, and still sounds awesome based on the online videos I've seen.
"Nefi + Girly" by Asobi Seksu
I miss this deactivated New York band, and the live rendition of this song is from before Asobi Seksu moved away from the guitar-howl end of shoegaze into something more focused on keyboards. It's a fun song about sleeping cats, because that's what we are when we dream. Sonically, this song makes me think about the relatively chaotic changes David is seeing in his life near the end of the book. Great song, great band. I saw nearly every New York-area show Asobi Seksu did from 2006 through their last ever on June 16, 2012, at the Brooklyn Bowl during the Northside Festival. I don't know if the band members already knew they were packing it in, but Asobi Seksu went out in a hailstorm of feedback, closing as usual with the noisefest "Red Sea." Yeah, yeah, the band got back together at Slowdive's request to open the Boston show in 2014, but one-offs don't count.
"Time to Die" by Fake Laugh
It's a song about new beginnings even more than endings. Kamran Khan's dream-pop project Fake Laugh serves up songs that go down easy and yet are lyrically profound. If David can let go of somebody so they can follow their dreams, he will learn that he won't lose them. "Give it air to breathe / Then you can believe again," Khan sings.
"Spark" by Alice Bag
The playlist started punk and shall end as such. Here's another nomination for a Presidential Medal of Freedom: musician and author Alice Bag, who fronted L.A's Bags back in the day. I love her two autobiographies, Violence Girl and Pipe Bomb for the Soul. "Spark" is from her latest and greatest album, Sister Dynamite, released only a few months ago. "Even when I tried to be normal / I always missed the mark." Rebellious and celebratory as love should be. It's the kind of love that I wish for all my characters and readers.
Ed Lin, a native New Yorker of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards and is an all-around standup kinda guy. His books include Waylaid and This Is a Bust, both published by Kaya Press in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Snakes Can't Run and One Red Bastard, which both continue the story of Robert Chow set in This Is a Bust, were published by Minotaur Books. His latest book, Ghost Month, a Taipei-based mystery, was published by Soho Crime in July 2014. Lin lives in Brooklyn with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung, and son. www.edlinforpresident.com
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