sheintah-blog

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For the final scene of the book after Roberta clears the air about Maggie and says that it wasn’t either of their faults, I thought about using the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A - “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds. I think it is a good way of ending the movie’s soundtrack because I think it would reflect on how the  two women have a history together that cannot be forgotten even after they go separate ways.

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When Twyla sees Roberta in her new luxurious life with her equally luxurious friends, I picture the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50VWOBi0VFs - Jealous by Labrinth to represent it because as Twyla thought, “Shiny things glittered from underneath their coats. It made me tired to look at them.” Twyla always hoped that Roberta was doing well when she was younger and now that they were older and had their own lives that didn’t include each other, I think she really missed their old bond. I think this song exemplifies the scenario when it says, “I wished you the best of all this world could give and i told you when you left me there’s nothing to forgive, but i always thought you’d come back… it’s hard for me to say I’m jealous of the way you’re happy without me”

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When I think of the scene where Twyla and Roberta are at each other’s necks over the integration of schools the song would undoubtedly have to be - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo - Bad Blood by Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar. I think this song is perfectly fitting of the situation because they were best friends that let one situation ruin their friendship.

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When Roberta tells Twyla that Maggie didn’t fall on accident and it was the Gar Girls who pushed her, I decided to use the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZitK6_IMQ - Just Be Held by Casting Crowns because at this point in the story, Twyla seems like her life doesn’t make sense and is completely disoriented and taken aback and I think this song perfectly captures the emotion, especially where it says, “but life hits you out of nowhere and barely leaves you holding on...answers seem so far away.

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When Twyla and Roberta are in the supermarket shopping and bump into each other, I would imagine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE - What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong playing. For this particular scene I imagine their talking to be muted and on screen, you just see two long lost friends having the time of their lives catching up and laughing while this song plays over everything. Afterwards, the lines that they say in the book will be unmuted and the song will become quieter background music.

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When searching around for a song that will go well with the scene when Twyla was working at Howard Johnsons and was so excited to see Roberta there, but was ultimately crushed by how much Roberta didn’t care, I stumbled upon the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Xgj8RRgmE - Let Down by Radiohead. I chose this song because it thoroughly embodies how Roberta felt when it says, “ When it comes it’s so, so, disappointing. Let down and hanging around. Crushed like a bug in the ground.”

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When the parents come to visit and you realize that although Twyla’s mom never took care of her and Twyla was angry at her mom for her actions, she still cared so much about her mom  and loved her despite everything. This led me to choose the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij_0p_6qTss - “The Heart Wants What It Wants” by Selena Gomez because it illustrates a toxic relationship where you just can’t help but love the other person. Although this song is about  a couple, I just switched the roles and thought of the song in the context of Twyla and her mother. Some lines of the song that I thought were the most on point for this story were “lighting me up like venus, but then you disappear and make me wait, and every second is like torture” and “there’s a million reasons why I should give you up, but the heart wants what it wants.”

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When they talk about how they always had each other’s back and stuck up for each other and “neither of us would leave the other behind, “ I thought that the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz-UvQYAmbg - “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell would be a good description of their relationship since it is basically saying that there is nothing they wouldn’t do for each other over and over again.

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When Twyla and Roberta are inseparable best friends while at St. Bonny’s, I choose the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbZSe6N_BXs - “Happy” by Pharrell Williams to illustrate because in this time, the two girls are just simply and blissfully happy with each others company and that is all the song “Happy” is about.  

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When Roberta and Twyla start becoming friends over the fact that their parents are alive and didn’t take care of them instead of them having beautiful angel parents in Heaven I could just imagine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy4uiiy0qgA - “You’ve got a friend in me” by Randy Newman playing. This song’s lyrics embody so much of their budding and growing relationship. The line that I like the most to represent them is “you’ve got troubles and I've got them too there isn’t anything i wouldn't do for you. We stick together see it through ‘cause you’ve got a friend in me,” because they both had the same problem which led them to the orphanage and had each other’s back while there.

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Upon first meeting “the Big Bozo” I can see the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hj3U18FHgQ - “You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch” by Dr. Seuss playing because kids always depict their mean superiors as the grinch, or the big bad wolf, or something else comical and I think this song would be a good depiction of what the girls thought of “the Big Bozo.”

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When Twyla is first entering the St. Bonny’s orphanage, I would imagine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Y11hwjMNs - “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone playing. I know that she is not excited to be going to the orphanage and I understand that the song Feeling Good is a happy song and sounds pretty grown-up for a little eight year old girl, but I still picture this song playing. I would use the beginning of the song - specifically the first forty-eight seconds - before Nina Simone ever says “and I’m feeling good” because the song makes it seems like the character, in this case, Twyla, has been weathered by life and has gone through tough times and situations like these before with her mother not taking care of her and all.

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Recitatif Playlist

My vision for this project is to provide listeners with a walkthrough of the story “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison through music by collecting music and using them to portray the scenes I believe are the most important and unforgettable. I would like listeners who have already read the story to be able to make a connection with the song and distinguish exactly what scene I am referring to. For those who have not read the story, I want them to be able to see where I’m coming from when they do read Recitatif. For Recitatif as a movie, I would like the music behind the scenes to really flow with film. I decided to make a playlist for Recitatif out of all of the options given because I think I would be most effective in choosing songs for this story for a variety of reasons. The reasons include the fact that Recitatif has a defined storyline that I can work with and a whole array of emotions that I can draw from within the story. Most songs have lyrics pertaining to a particular emotion of or situation so working with the story Recitatif seemed to be the most logical to do and in my best interests. In this playlist, I am trying to pair songs and scenes in chronological order and am looking for songs whose lyrics connect to the scenes’ emotion, mood, and/or occasion going on. Finding songs with the right lyrics was actually most complicated part because it was surprisingly hard to find songs that went perfectly with all of the scenes because most song, I came to realize, are about love and heartbreak between a boy and a girl. There was a lot of music without words that I would have loved to include for some scenes like dramatic background music etc., but this project needed lyrics. I was able to piece together twelve songs to twelve of the main scenes and I think it came together quite nicely.