My Soundtrack To Carry On by Rainbow Rowell… THE MOVIE

Hey! This is a different post to normal, but it’s an idea I’ve had for a while. You guys seemed to enjoy when I talked about music – before plus this is so fun. Can I just confirm that Carry On is not a film… and to be honest, I think it should stay that way. Films can create a great buzz around a book and generate new fans, but it’s never going to be the same as it is in your head. Plus, the best bits are always missed out of film adaptations and that would annoy me to no end with ‘Carry On’. Because there is literally nothing that I would want to see missed out.

(And then there’s the question of who would play all the characters, but that’s probably a post for another time 😉). And whilst the world may not be quite ready for a fantasy film about gay wizards, I AM! so here’s my soundtrack to Carry On by Rainbow Rowell if it was a movie. Which, can I confirm, it is not.

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WARNING!! This post contains major spoilers! I’m baisically going through the book and matching songs to my favourite scenes. I’d highly highly recommend ‘Carry On’, so if you haven’t read it, don’t spoil it for yourself! But, if you still want to look at some of my music, you can find my top ten albums here 🙂 You have been warned…

Intro
I walk to the bus station by myself…

Road To Nowhere by the Talking Heads has AMAZING MOVIE MONATGE POTENTIAL. It’s only vocals to start – which would make such a cool ‘title’ reveal – and then when the drums come in and there could be a montage of Simon ‘walking to the bus stop by hisself’ (yes, I’ve put way too much thought into this, get used to it).

Led Zeppelin (for Penny)
She’s stupidly brave – it’s the only stupid thing about her

I have no clue how a film would manage to explain the World Of Magesw without a heck of a lot of ‘lessons scenes’ where the teachers happen to be teaching about the world – Harry Potter who? Or a load of montages with voice overs (I’m a sucker for montages). But I do know that Penny really likes Led Zeppelin… and whilst I don’t particularly, Stairway To Heaven is pretty awesome.

BAZ’S BIG ENTRANCE
It’s unnecessarily grandoise to use Open Sesame on the doors but I do it anyway…

There are so many songs with awesome guitar solos that I thought would have been grandoise enough (no I didn’t have to google the meaning of that), but I’m going with Hazy Shade Of Winter by the Bangles. It’s by far the best cover; I’m pretty sure it also features in Stranger Things and the Umbrella Academy – very cool!

The Star Scene
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…

I’m going for Just Like Heaven by The Cure because you know… stars… heaven. Also because you can’t not tell me that Robert Smith is not a white Baz.

Lesbian Goat Aunt To The Rescue
‘Happy Christmas Ebb,’I say

I figured you could squeeze in Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas here because you can’t tell me that’s a coincidence. I have so many country yehaw songs for Wayward Son, if this goes down well I might have a go at doing this sort of thing with the sequel?

Chateau Pitch
‘You’re – youre wearing jeans’

I really love this book. It doesn’t technically happen at bay’s house (I just needed that quote), but when they go to the vampire club, I could totally picture Come As You Are by Nirvana playing in the background. And also like… come as you are… as a vampire…

Chapter 61
And then he kisses me

This was the hardest one to pick. By far.
I was stuck on Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve? by the Buzzcocks for a bit, but whilst I could see someone running to the intro, it’s not really a kissing song. In the end, I’ve picked Like A Friend by Pulp. I thought it might not be angsty enough, but I’ve listened to it a couple of times and IT WORKS REALLY WELL! It’s one of the best songs I’ve ever heard that perfects that big swell of music – and it’s literally about unrequited love.

DID YOU KNOW: this wouldn’t be the first time Jarvis cocker (lead singer of Pulp) has appeared in a film. Apparently, he appears as the lead singer of the Yule Ball band in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – along with Steve Mackey from Radiohead! 😳

The Last Happy Bit For Two Books
‘Two kisses’ I say. And I take him by the back of neck

This is one of the original songs I had in my head when I first thought about doing this. I can’t unsee One by U2 playing in the background when they kiss in front of the fire. Just listen to the words.

All The Young Dudes
Yes Snow. I plot your demise with multicolored pieces of chalk

Tell me Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy would be playing in the library playing on like a grammar phone like cut short when Vera came in (because Baz definitely listens to Queen). Also this scene is so fun with Penny and Baz and Agatha and Simon… before everything goes to pieces.

The Fight With The Mage
It’s a hard spell, and an old spell, and it only works if you understand the great Vowel Shift of the Sixteenth Century – and if you’re stupidly in love

Shfjjfjeidksksk
It’s not a fight scene song, but I really wanted to fit in Boys Don’t Cry by the Cure. I saw something about how all of the big moments in Carry On aren’t this big penultimate point of the story – because that’s not how it works in real life. Life still goes on. And I think this song is great for that.

Also, I saw something on how Simon being a dragon and Baz being a vampire are metaphors for queerness which I thought was really interesting. Like how it gets thrust upon Simon and it takes him a book and a half to deal with it, but Baz has had longer to deal with it. You can get a lot from Tumblr!

The Leavers Ball
‘I choose you,’ I say. ‘Simon Snow, I choose you’

One of the few songs that’s actually mentioned in the book is Into My Arms by Nick Cave in this ballroom scene at the very end. I think it’s pretty perfect, so let’s go with that!

Also, Shaun is how Simon dances. This is canon now.

The Ending
‘Go on, then’ he says. ‘Carry on, Simon’.

So, this was a deep dive into why I love this book. And I really really do. I can’t think of a better song to end my very real movie than on Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I can’t listen to that song any more without thinking of this book – it’s so perfect 🙂

Carry on, Carry on, like nothing really matters
Any Way The Wind Blowwwssss

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That was my soundtrack! Thanks for making it this far haha, I hope you enjoyed it 😊 What songs would you use? Are there any songs that remind you of certain books? Let me know in the comments!