« older | Main Largehearted Boy Page | newer »
February 6, 2023
Daniel Torday's Playlist for His Novel "The 12th Commandment"
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.
Daniel Torday's novel The 12th Commandment is smart literary noir both poignant and lyrical.
Michelle Zauner wrote of the book:
"Mourning, godless, Zeke makes for an unlikely detective as he investigates the mysterious Dönme cult and its connection to the murder of a teenage boy in Ohio. The novel pairs the gripping mystery of Raymond Chandler with the existential inquiry of Philip Roth, then arms the two with AR15s and a kosher banquet of edibles. A rare, literary delight. Daniel Torday is operating in his prime."
In his own words, here is Daniel Torday's Book Notes music playlist for his novel The 12th Commandment:
This new novel, my fourth, is about a small cult-like group of adherents to a centuries-old mystical sect who outwardly profess to be Muslim, while in private practicing Jewish mysticism. In central Ohio. So I’ve had a lot of religion on my mind for the last four years of writing. But I’ve also had rural Ohio in mind—I’ve spent tons of time there over the years, and I love its billowy trees and senescent barns. So of course I listened to a lot of music with those themes:
“Presence of the Lord”—Blind Faith
I was not a Clapton fan early on, but I was a Traffic fan, and I learned to love early Steve Winwood, so when I found this perfect album with its perfect reluctant modern Psalm, it became one of my favorite songs when I was like 15. “Everybody knows the secret, everybody knows the score.” A real cry of faith.
“What’s Going On”—Marvin Gaye
Early on in 12th Commandment, the main character Zeke, a secular magazine writer, is a little terrified to be on a compound with a bunch of AR-15-toting, weed-smoking Hasids. But in an early scene he finds himself in one of their trailers with Marvin pounding in the background, and it puts him at ease. Me, too.
“Holland, 1945”—Neutral Milk Hotel
The best song on one of the best records of my lifetime. There’s this kind of crazy intense WWII story the song tells— of murder by Nazis and then reincarnation, and that’s in a song on a record that also has lyrics like “I love you Jesus Christ,” and “semen stains the mountaintops.” It’s a good song.
“In Tall Buildings”—John Hartford
I spent four glorious years in central Ohio as an undergrad, then went back to Kenyon College many times to teach in my 20's and 30's. My last year as a student there, I jumped off a wall, broke my arm, and walked around with a cast that got signed by John Hartford and Taj Mahal at shows I saw on successive weekends. This is also the saddest song I know about getting a job in New York City.
“Happy Just to Be Like I Am”—Taj Mahal
See “John Hartford” above.
“Corner Stone”—Bob Marley & The Wailers
To prep for writing in the voice of a self-proclaimed prophet, I read a lot of Hebrew, and the way to do that seemed to be to read a couple Psalms every morning. Marley quoted a ton from that book, and this one, generally taken to be a lament for the father he never knew, is such a beautiful reading of a verse from Psalm 118: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”
“From”—Dr. Dog
Philadelphia band Dr. Dog has quietly been the best Beatles-y rock band for a couple decades now (and sadly just played their farewell concerts at the end of last year), and my favorite record of theirs, “Fate,” has this amazing song on it. I think about this line a lot: “Oh my God, he listens to me, and I ain’t even talking out loud, Oh my God.”
“Anthem”—Leonard Cohen
I’m not sure you can write a book about religion and make a playlist for that book and not have at least one Leonard Cohen song. “Hallelujah” is so widely covered that I heard an actual prayer in an actual synagogue fall into the cadences of that modern prayer this year. For me, in the late Leonard songbook, it’ll always be “Anthem” and that crack he found in everything.
“Are You Afraid to Die”—Louvin Brothers
Are you? I am.
Daniel Torday is the author of The 12th Commandment, The Last Flight of Poxl West, and Boomer1. A two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award for fiction and the Sami Rohr Choice Prize, Torday’s stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, and n+1, and have been honored by the Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays series. Torday is a Professor of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College.
If you appreciate the work that goes into Largehearted Boy, please consider making a donation.
