When I wrote The Election I set out to tell the story of two
characters who pursue very different career paths but constantly find
themselves being pulled together. Zoe is a fledgling debater at university who
goes on to pursue a successful parliamentary career. Adam discovers a talent
for writing songs and becomes a successful musician.
It has been said that politics is rock music for ugly
people. Regardless of the veracity of that statement I do think there is an
element of attraction for politicians to the celebrity of pop music. Sometimes
this has disastrous consequences, such as John Prescott’s attendance at the
Brit awards in the 90s, and sometimes it can become cringeworthy such as Tony
Blair’s appropriation of Noel Gallagher for Cool Britannia. On the flip side,
musicians are often drawn towards politics in the hope that they can truly make
a difference to the world.
And so when I wrote my novel about these two characters, it
seemed right to include lyrics of songs for Adam to sing. After all, I have
included excerpts of Zoe’s speeches during debates. The songs that Adam sings have
been written and recorded. As part of the experience of reading the novel, I
want people to listen to these songs to get an understanding of where the
characters are coming from and I hope it enhances the storytelling.
Finally, I’ve discovered that when it comes to promoting a
book nothing is very easy or fast paced. It takes several days if not weeks to
read a novel. Even the prospect of downloading a novel is scary for a lot of
people. Hopefully, by listening to the songs associated with the novel, people
will become more interested in the story and even if they don’t read the novel
itself they will understand what I am trying to tell. And, after all, telling
stories is the ultimate goal.
You can listen to the tracks on my sound cloud page – www.soundcloud.com/phil-sidney
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