Which songs do you know all the words to?

I am still dreaming of your face-
Hungry and hollow for all the things you took away

Do you recognise those lyrics? More importantly, do you like them? I hope so , because I recently paid $440 to use them in my upcoming novel, Last Summer. Yep, $440, and they weren’t even for something special like an epigraph, just a scene half way through chapter eleven where a character is digging a garden and they flash into her head as she thinks about her brother, who has recently died. When I heard how much the copyright fee was I was tempted to edit them out, but in the end I couldn’t do it- to me the words sum up so succinctly the way that loss leaves you heartsick, bereft, aching for everything that’s been snatched from you.

That’s the thing about lyrics- at their best they capture an emotion or a moment in just a line or two. As a novelist, I am both incredibly admiring and jealous of that. If I’m lucky, my books will be read once, then put away or passed on. Songs, though, are listened to over and over again… the words seep into your subconscious and wrap around your brain. In 1989 I was at uni studying neuroanatomy. Though I still work in a related field, though I had to dissect them and draw them and describe their function in both written and oral exams, I cannot for the life of me tell you what the twelve cranial nerves are. I can, however, remember every single word of Like a Prayer by Madonna, which was huge that year, and though I probably shouldn’t admit it also The Look by Roxette (complete with na na na na nas), Girl I’m going to miss you by Milli Vanilli and no doubt countless others.

Space precludes me from listing all my favourite lyrics, but I can’t finish without mentioning a few: “Love is Blindness” (U2), which I walked down the aisle to; “Famous Blue Raincoat” and “The Story of Isaac” by Leonard Cohen, both of which make me cry, though for different reasons; “When I was drinking” (Hem) and “A case of you” (Joni Mitchell), about the magic and misery of addiction, both to alcohol and to love; and pretty much everything Paul Kelly’s ever written, though particularly “How to make gravy” and “I had forgotten you”. These songs are just as important to me as my favourite books; even better, I carry them with me at all times.

What are your favourite lyrics? Which songs from your past can you still sing word perfectly?

To celebrate the launch of Kylie Ladd’s new novel, Mamamia and Allen & Unwin are giving away 10 copies of Last Summer. Fill in the form to be in the running to receive a copy, BUT BE QUICK!

Sorry Folks. Competition is over. That was an overwhelming response!