A playlist for Mrs. Dalloway

A film's soundtrack is essential to the quality of the movie. For example, I would consider The Great Gatsby to be only an "ok" movie because of the disappointing soundtrack (I don't want to hear rap in a film set in the 1920s--I want jazz.), whereas I love the How To Train Your Dragon movie because its soundtrack is amazing.

Thus, I think one of the reasons why I found The Hours to be such a moving film was because of the soundtrack. I loved the cello and the piano solos with the orchestra in the background. It was beautiful melancholy music, and the tone it set was perfect for the film's plot. 

I do listen to more than just soundtracks, though. To feed my taste for music I always have the radio on, and yesterday as I was driving home the song "Summertime Sadness" was playing. I listened to the lyrics and I thought that it would be a perfect song to describe Clarissa Dalloway at her party. Then I started thinking about what the theme songs for the other characters in the novel would be, and eventually I came up with the playlist below. 

What songs would you have in your Mrs. Dalloway playlist?

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Clarissa -- "Summertime Sadness" by Lana Del Rey

"Summertime Sadness" starts with the singer preparing for a party by fixing her dress and hair, but afterwards the song quickly turns almost suicidal--much like Clarissa did at her party in Mrs. Dalloway. Also, the lines "I just wanted you to know, that, baby you're the best," are eerily similar to Virginia's suicide note in the film The Hours.

Septimus -- "Believe" by The Bravery

The lyrics of "Believe" by The Bravery almost perfectly match Septimus' thoughts throughout the book. The speaker in the song "Believe" is questioning why he's alive if he has nothing to believe and is "living just to breathe." Similarly, Septimus struggled with articulating exactly why he had given up hope for humanity, and in the end it ate away at him so much that he saw suicide as his only option. (Arcade Fire's Wake Up also applies to Septimus' situation.)

Peter -- "Back Then" by Julian Smith

There are countless songs about regrets and wishing to relive the past, but I think this one in particular fits with Peter's situation and his obsession with Clarissa.

Ms. Kilman -- "Kiss with a Fist" by Florence + The Machine

Ms. Kilman doesn't have any true friends--even Elizabeth isn't much of a friend to her. Instead, she has Clarissa as an enemy, and I think that she thrives off of her hate for Clarissa just like Clarissa loves to hate Kilman (for an interesting argument on this see Chas' blog post). If Clarissa can love to hate Kilman, then perhaps Kilman can love to hate Clarissa. In fact, Kilman defines her self-worth by comparing herself to the ungodly sinner of Clarissa Dalloway. Perhaps Clarissa and Kilman see their interactions like this song--mentally bouncing insults off each other until something explodes. Because perhaps a kiss with a fist is better than none, and an enemy is better than being alone.

Richard -- "San Francisco" by The Mowgli's

When we read about Richard declaring his life to be a miracle, I think I imagined Richard skipping along extremely happy at the thought of going home to tell Clarissa he loved her. Of course Richard is much too dignified to skip, but I like to think that if he had known this song then he would have, out of his excitement to tell Clarissa he loved her, at least whistled the tune as he walked home from Lady Bruton's.