I have a little music supervisor in my head that plays music while I read books. The first book I really remember this happening for was The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the album Teaser and the Firecat by Cat Stevens played in my room and my head, and to this day I hear that music when I reread those books. So when we read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman I asked the class to think about the characters in the novel. Who would have a theme song, and what would it be? I gave them some suggestions:
Serious Tones
Somewhere Only We Know – by Keane for Door and Richard
I Will Follow You Into the Dark – by Death Cab for Cutie for Anaesthesia
A Thousand Years by Vanessa Carlton – Richard near the end of the novel
Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls for Richard
Red Shoes by Elvis Costello for the Marquis de Carabas (because he used to be disgusted, and now he tries to be amused).
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears for many of the denizens of London Below
Serious but with a wink
Rat in Me Kitchen by UB40 for Richard
Psycho Killer by Talking Heads for Croup and Vandermar
Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and & Destroyers for Croup and Vandemar
Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon for Croup and Vandemar
I’m Looking Through You by (The Beatles) and The Wallflowers for Jessica
Bad Reputation by Joan Jett for Hunter
Break on Through to The Other Side by The Doors for the Portico family
Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon for London Above and Below
I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash for Richard
Student Music Supervisors
So the students brought in their selections. Richard has the most choices for a theme song:
Upside Down by A Teens (obvious call if Richard were into pop and you didn’t really listen to the lyrics)
Freefalling by Tom Petty (okay, this is a straight ahead pitch)
Talk by Coldplay
Oh brother I can’t,
I can’t get through
I’ve been trying hard to reach you,
cause I don’t know what to do
Oh brother I can’t believe it’s true
I’m so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you
Oh I wanna talk to you
Disturbia by Rhianna
What’s wrong with me? Why do I feel like this? I’m going crazy…
These Streets by Paulo Nutini
Cross the border,
Into the big bad world
Where it takes you ’bout an hour
Just to cross the road
Single Ladies by Beyonce (I guess he should have married that Jessica girl earlier if he really liked her – according to one student)
Warlocks by Red Hot Chili Peppers
A little pocket of something kind
To find your reason
coming up on it everyday for
Look at me and it’s what I stay for
A little locket of fantasy
That we believe in
I’m Yours by Jason Mraz
I fell right through the cracks
Now I’m trying to get back
Before the cool done run out
I’ll be giving it my bestest
And nothing’s going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it’s again my turn to win some or learn some
I won’t hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I’m yours
and Hang Me Up to Dry by Cold War Kids
Followed closely by Croup and Vandemar
Bad Boys for Life by P. Diddy
Swagger Like Us by MIA
Thriller by Michael Jackson (yeah, I know – kind of lame)
Beyond Richard and the Scary Guys
For Door they only had one suggestion: Open Up by Dispatch.
The Velvets might use Heartless by Kanye West.
The Marquis might think about using Ladies & Gentlemen by Saliva.
And for the general London Above/London Below gestalt – Take a Walk by Masta Ace
What songs do you you associate with which books?
photo by flickr member Daniel Voyager
Living on the Lip of Insanity 
Neverwhere is one of my favorite books, and I love your theme song idea! Have you ever read the YA book Un Lun Dun by China Mieville? Gaiman does the introduction and while there are some similarities to Neverwhere, Mieville manages to create a unique and unexpected story.
@diane – I have Un Lun Dun in the stack next to my bed, and my hand hovers over it and then I don’t pick it up because I just love Neverwhere and thought it would be a pale imitation. BUT, with your recommendation (and I did not know that Gaiman wrote the introduction) and the recommendation of the friend on whose advice I purchased the book, it has moved to the top of the list. So nice to see you here. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment.
Let me know when you’ve finished Un Lun Dun and what you think of the story. I read a library copy but think I’ll one to add to my personal collection.