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February 3, 2022
Joshua Kornreich's Playlist for His Novel "Cavanaugh"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Joshua Kornreich's novel Cavanaugh is a mesmerizing and surreal satire.
Litro wrote of the book:
"...who is Cavanaugh? Kornreich's Cavanaugh draws this question out over the length of its darkly comical, booze-soaked duration, spinning the reader around in circles as we follow Cavanaugh on an anti-heroic adventure that is touching, repulsive, distressing, and hilarious all at once... Kornreich creates his whirling dervish of a narrative through his tight, repetitive, and refreshingly original prose..."
In his own words, here is Joshua Kornreich's Book Notes music playlist for his novel Cavanaugh:
Sentences—the way they sound, the ways in which they are assembled and arranged—are what make or break a book. The sentences I rendered for this novel are meant to sound pleasant to one’s ears, in playful contrast to the chaotic way Cavanaugh's life unravels. Thus, consistent with that approach, I chose some tunes here that are easy on the ears, including multiple ones from The Dave Brubeck Quartet. To be honest, I heard that same quartet’s “Take Five” in my head for much of the writing process, but I figure that hearing that track for hours on loop would drive a listener, or a reader, or perhaps even a writer such as myself, over the edge, so I picked out some other jazzy, as well as some not-so-jazzy, tunes to flesh out the feel, or the feeling one gathers, from this book. There are also a few tunes on this playlist that have rhythms and lyrics that do, in fact, capture the very tumult of Cavanaugh’s reality, as well as the thoughts and memories that plague him so. This is not my first playlist for this website—I put two others together for my novels The Boy Who Killed Caterpillars and Knotty, Knotty, Knotty some years ago—but it is this playlist for Cavanaugh that has brought me the most joy, and (arguably) the least shame, of the three, so thank you, Largehearted Boy, for inviting me to create and share once again. (Note to readers and listeners alike: There is a good amount of bus-riding in this novel.)
1) “Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30,” Richard Strauss
Cavanaugh bites into a stadium-sized hot dog as Kavanaugh throws the ceremonial first pitch. Enough said.
2) “Us on a Bus,” Fats Waller
This is the first of many bus-related songs on this playlist that give you the sense of the mood of the passengers on the bus, or, in other cases, the rhythm and flow of the wheels against the road. This song is especially fitting for that one opening bus ride in the book, which is the only ride in which Cavanaugh knows anyone else on the bus.
3) “Voices Inside My Head,” The Police
Voices, past and present, slowly begin their takeover of Cavanaugh’s mind right from the opening sentence, but there are moments when he seems to adapt well to the repetitive and rhythmic intrusions of those voices, and two things this song has got plenty of are repetition and rhythm, which, come to think of it, is sort of a signature feature across the whole Police repertoire.
4) “Take Five,” The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Okay, here it is! The song that was for hours, days, weeks, and months on end in my head as I wrote this novel. But aside from this song’s melody, the title is fitting, especially since this book is largely one long take-five for Cavanaugh—five minutes, five hours, five days, five weeks, and so on—from work and family.
5) “Weep No More,” Billie Holiday
Brubeck’s own “Weep No More” could have easily taken this slot, but I think Holiday’s tune of the same title wins me over more, especially with the line “I’ve finally had my fill/Of sitting around and crying in my beer.” Make no mistake: sure, there are plenty of comedic moments in this book, but there is an underlying sadness throughout it. There is a brief scene in which Cavanaugh sees O'Reilly, his nemesis, alone and almost literally crying into his beer, and in that moment, and through that window in which he sees him, he catches a somber reflection of himself, both literal and figurative.
6) “No Surprises,” Radiohead
Cavanaugh, like many of us, wants out from "a job that slowly kills you," as the song goes, as well as from a daily grind that does the same. We get the sense early on in the book that even without any alcohol in his system, Cavanaugh wants someone or something to “get me out of here.”
7) “The Trolley Song,” The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Trolley, bus—does it really make a difference? Perhaps it does, but this Brubeck cover could surely pass for either mode of transportation, especially with all the buses in this book going up the hill, then down the hill, then back up the hill again, much like a trolley would.
8) “Unsquare Dance,” The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Look out! O’Reilly is on the move, and he wants to be more like…Cavanaugh?
9) “Get on the Bus,” The Jazz June
Am I right or am I right: This is a great song to get drunk and have a blackout on a bus to. Who’s down with me on that? Anyone?
10) “Blue Rondo à la Turk,” The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Run, run, run, Cavanaugh! Run away from it all! Run away from it all to the rhythm and tempo of a tune that was apparently ripped off from a Turkish street band and wonderfully reappropriated by a nerdy-looking white guy in glasses.
11) “Her Man's Been Gone/Crying Town (first two movements from a “A Quick One While He’s Away,” Live at Leeds version),” The Who
Mrs. Cavanaugh knows exactly what’s up. And Cavanaugh’s crying daughter might be catching on to what’s up as well.
12) “Slipping Husband,” The National
Cavanaugh may slip and sneak away from Mrs. Cavanaugh’s (and everyone else’s) notice, but he will never be able to slip and sneak away from the daily reality that haunts him. "You coulda been a legend/But you became a father”—that kind of sums up Cavanaugh's own internal view of himself. Other lines from the song, such as "'Cause if you don't give her what she needs/She'll get it where she can," and "Dear, we better get a drink in you/Before you start to bore us," are all quite relevant to how things play out in this novel.
13) “In Your Own Sweet Way,” The Dave Brubeck Quartet
A man named Cavanaugh walks into a bar and charms a member of the wait staff—or at least so he thinks.
14) “Ain't Got No Home,” Clarence "Frogman" Henry
Things often bounce and bump around Cavanaugh, often in the very room he occupies, and sometimes even in the room next-door, and this song has a lot of that bounce and bump.
15) “I'm in a Dancing Mood,” The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Uh-oh… O’Reilly is on the prowl again, this time on top of the world, limping up the road as fast as he can to the Cavanaugh home.
16) “Oye Como Va,” Santana
Cavanaugh apparently knows his Spanish—even when he’s plastered.
17) “I Ain't Got No Home,” Woody Guthrie
It’s all fun and games until you get escorted out of a bar and onto a bus, and feel you have absolutely nowhere and no one to turn to.
18) “Magic Bus (Live at Leeds version),” The Who
Whoa, man… How come this bus seems to move with no wheels underneath it? And how come the driver of this bus seems to be able to speak without moving his mouth? Hey, wait a minute, dude—am I looking out a window or an empty TV screen?
19) “You Are Forgiven (final movement of "A Quick One, While He's Away," Live at Leeds version),” The Who
An old nemesis enters the room.
20) “Without You,” Eddie Vedder
This song makes me think of Cavanaugh and Cavanaugh’s daughter whenever I hear it now. Both the music and the lyrics of this ukulele-based tune just sort of capture that bond—or at least the sort of bond that each of them wishes they had with one another.
21) “Last Look Around,” Chris Moore
Never heard of Chris Moore? Well, get to know him. I probably could have included a bunch of his songs on this playlist, just based on acoustics and mood alone. Cavanaugh is the kind of guy who takes a lot of last looks around, whether that be a last look around his office or his home, or the home across from his home, or through a window, or over his shoulder. That’s Cavanaugh for you, and so is this tune from Moore.
22) “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” Bob Dylan
With this song, I can recite just about every line and show you how each one is relevant to Cavanaugh’s life, whether it be with him sitting on a bus or having his feet to the road.
23) “Home Again,” Michael Kiwanuka
Kiwanuka’s voice, lyrics and music move me whenever and wherever I hear them. Sometimes when we feel lost in our troubles, or on the road with no real sense of what direction we want to head in, the places that once felt like home to us cease to be felt that way, and so we search for another place to call home—a bus, a train, a car, a motel, a home of someone else—until, maybe, someday, we can feel at home with ourselves again…
24) “Nothing But Time,” Jackson Browne
...but, in the meantime, that doesn’t mean we stop chugging along—especially when we have that “bottle of wine” (as this song that was recorded on an actual bus goes) in the one hand, a briefcase full of nothing in the other, and our bobbleheaded companion bouncing up and down on our warm and soggy lap. Us on a bus with nothing but time, watching the broken white lines of the open road as they whiz by our window, with those voices and memories still stirring and whirring around inside our head—yeah…you’re gonna want someone to pass that flask over for this one.
Joshua Kornreich is the author of four novels. His two most recent novels are Cavanaugh, published in October 2021, and Horsebuggy, a finalist for the Big Other Book Award for Fiction. His other novels are Knotty, Knotty, Knotty and The Boy Who Killed Caterpillars. His debut novelette, Shakes Bear in the Dark, will be published by Sagging Meniscus Press in June 2022. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.
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