Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners
The original soundtrack to the book.
Good movies, the ones that get under your skin and stick with you, have great soundtracks — themes that lodge themselves in your head as a reminder of the mood of a film. Bernard Hermann’s themes from Psycho or Vertigo, Nino Rota’s theme from 8 1/2, John Barry’s James Bond theme, Neil Young’s haunting solos for Dead Man, and everything John Carpenter laid down for Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York. So why shouldn’t a book have a musical soundtrack that accomplishes the same necessary function as those great compositions?
Created as part of the multimedia project for Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners, this soundtrack features a theme for each piece in the short story collection. Inspired by great movie scores from Ennio Morricone, John Carpenter, Neil Young, Nick Cave, and John Barry, as well as garage rock, no wave, old-school punk, and ’60s surf tunes, each theme captures the mood and energy of the stories. All the music was composed and played by yours truly. The final versions were mixed and mastered by Brooklyn’s own Cousin Jacob. You can listen to all the songs from the soundtrack via the media player below and click on the buy links to get your copy. The iTunes version includes a special bonus track of all five themes as a single 18-minute-plus opus.
Ken, thanks for sharing this. Look forward to the read—dare I say especially after enjoying these jams immensely. Great tone, sir. Best, S
Those songs are naturally attuned to the Australian ear. Thanks for checking them out. Hope you dig the book as well.