Gothic Auntie

I was listening to Can’t Catch Me Now from the newest Hunger Games movie and was struck by how gothic it is. Not in the musical sense, though it’s resemblance to traditional murder ballads does place it in the same family tree, but because of how well it conforms to gothic narratives and archetypes in storytelling.

Like the brutally present Rebecca the singer is made inescapable by her absence, permeating every facet of a life without her in it. In the book it’s left unclear if Lucy Gray Baird survived, or if Snow himself even knows the answer to that, and all three possibilities present a sort of choose your own gothic epilogue for listeners familiar with the story; is he haunted by the ghost of the woman he loved and killed, is she Bertha Rochester freed from the attic, coming when he least expects it, or does he even know which literary nightmare he’s living? For those without the original context informing their interpretation of the song the gothic possibilities are more open, and nebulous; all that’s certain is a mixture of loathing and passion, that ended in violence, and her presence like a curse even if she’s not really there.

I love narrative songs, especially if that narrative can be repurposed and fleshed out in different ways, to tell different but archetypically similar stories. It’s an easy way to help yourself break through a writer’s block, and also just fun to daydream with on the bus. But realising the gothic elements of Can’t Catch Me Now got me thinking about other non-gothic (musically) songs that contain gothic (literary) narratives and themes, and I decided to put together a playlist. This is what I have so far, and I’d really like to know your thoughts on it, and what you’d add to it yourselves. (Obviously there’s Kate Bush’ Wuthering Heights, but I think putting songs directly inspired by specific gothic works is cheating a little bit).

1. The Last Beautiful Thing I Saw — Paris Paloma
2. The Traitor — Leonard Cohen
3. Betsy Bell and Mary Gray (it’s a traditional folk song but I recommend the Steeleye Span version)
4. Blood Brothers — Iron Maiden
5. River Lea — Adele
6. Bones — Little Big Town
7. You’ve Haunted Me All My Life — Death Cab for Cutie
8. Black Sun — Death Cab for Cutie
9. Ghost — Indigo Girls
10. Dead Hearts — Stars
11. The Doll People — Sofia Isella