Easy listening for Nothing Doing

Some people like to read in peace and quiet; but for those like me who enjoy a little background sound to set the mood, here is a little playlist to go alongside Nothing Doing, written by Willie Smith.

Whether it’s fucking bugs, hatching them or eating them, it seems quite clear that arachnids and insects alike deserve to be recognised within the playlist. For this I suggest Mean Red Spider by Muddy Waters. It’s a fantastic Jazz tune, where the soulful voice draws you into the visceral romance between the narrators and their insect paramours. It’s also part of Muddy Water’s album Blues Essentials found on Spotify. For all readers, Sixties Jazz cannot fail to envelope you in the clearly dated settings.

For Spider Fuck, the mind-numbing brilliance of Willie Smith the Jazz player is referenced a couple of times and his tune Sophisticated Lady fits the playlist better than the narrator into his Diana. The shocking story pulls you in like a storm, throws you around and spits you back out; so with the help of these songs, they slow your reading down to the beat and throw you into the scene – whether you’d like to be or not – as you imagine the Jazz fan mounting his Diana. Finish this story with Little Queen of Spades by Robert Johnson, as a means of cooling off before the next mind melting story.
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Fear not if Jazz is not your cup of tea. For the more sinister stories, I recommend the album In a Time Lapse by Ludovico Einaudi. The classical intensity matches that of the language, helping you find a rhythm in Willie Smith’s stream of consciousness. If you find it easier to read without lyrical confusion, I can also recommend Michael Nyman and Philip Glass; their similar modern classical style, with piano leading you through this linguistic onslaught of Willie Smith’s short stories could make all the difference to setting the mood. But with the literary genius that is Willie Smith, I doubt whatever music you put on will distract from the short stories in Nothing Doing.

And if the music has whet your appetite for something with a hell of a kick, quench your thirst with a glass of absinthe whilst you satiate your literary needs with Nothing Doing.

Hannah O’Donnell