Choosing a Book Title

As a teen, a transistor radio was never far from my side, and I spent the money I earned babysitting on the latest 45 record. During those years, the diversity of the music dazzled, with artists writing and performing original works. True musicians, the groups played their own instruments and sang everything from pop to folk to psychedelic tunes to hard rock. Perhaps that is why I title my novels after songs. One reviewer commented that my books have a soundtrack, and I agree.

Sweet Jane is named for the Velvet Underground version of the iconic song, not the Mott the Hoople cover, or the Cowboy Junkies version, which was released in 1988, after the timeline of my novel. And Jane wouldn’t care for that cover anyway. Jane’s story encompasses the years 1957-1984, and she is very much attuned to the hits of the time.

I’ll Be Seeing You, my parents’ favorite song, often played on the hifi during my childhood. After their passing, I pledged that someday I would write a book with that title, encompassing the years the song dominated the airwaves. (Although the plot demanded the timeline must expand to the 1980s.) Lauren and Brett, the main characters, had a bit of a disagreement about whether Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby had the better rendition of the tune.

Higher Love by Stevie Winwood, a favorite of my late sister, Jeanne, embodies the yearning for pure, unselfish love. She passed away during the writing of the novel, and the terrible loss set me back on my heels and delayed the completion of the book. Stevie Winwood’s music informed my youth, from the Spencer Davis Group to Traffic to Blind Faith and on to his solo career. In 1985 Austin, Texas, Lauren and Stephanie, grandmother and granddaughter, narrate alternate chapters, and their taste in music illustrates the generation gap.