Play Me A Tune & I'll Tell You A Story

Inner Cover of Erwin Schrott's Album "Rojotango"

I'm a big fan of using music to set the mood.  I have to feel the scene if I want it to come out right.  So, do I have playlists? Scads of them.

• Battlefield scenes? Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky
• Protagonist clawing her way out of her lowest point? It's a long playlist with 3 Days Grace in heavy rotation.
• Smug Badassery? It's a Blues playlist with Joe Bonamassa leading the charge.
• A Dark Seduction? Give me Kristopher Dommin
• Building tension between could-be lovers?  It's all Hot Schrott (okay, his first name's really Erwin, but still...)
• Assassin creeping up on their prey? Not one note of music. (Wha? I can't announce their presence!)

Sure, there are days when I wake up in the thrall of the scene and no music is required. But then I have to play music to celebrate completing the scene.  Something like P!ink's "Slut Like You."

Yes, yes there are those days when the music is a distraction not an aid. It doesn't take much for me to get distracted by lyrics, so when scenes are fighting me, I go for the instrumentals. I blame our Thursday Whore, Mrs. Pang for the long playlist of everything David Garrett.

When certain scenes refuse. to. be. written. I can't let silence reign. That's when 642 ideas for different books fill my head or how awesome it would be paint a dragon crawling down my fireplace.

How about you, dear reader, do you have a song or an artist guaranteed to get you a specific mood? What mood? What artist? What song?