Setting is central to Alex’s and my novel, Confluence. There are nearly eighty named places in the book, places that are not so much backgrounds to Teddy/Ted’s life as markers of relationship.
Part of place is the music of the day. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting some of the novel’s many songs, along with a brief note about their importance to the story.
Songs added weekly.
SONG 1 | Great Balls of Fire
SONG 2 | Hound Dog
SONG 3 | The Irish Rover
SONG 4 | The Twist
Titles below link to YouTube recordings (some of which unfortunately begin with ads).
Young people dancing the Twist in Berlin, 1964.
SONG 4 | The Twist (1960)
Recorded by Chubby Checker, on various labels
Written by Hank Ballard
From the story "All We Have.”
This month, pop-culture mavens are going on about what tune’s the Song of the Summer. This year, depending on who you read or listen to, it’s either “drop dead” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Dai Dai” by Shakira and Burna Boy, or, my personal favourite, “Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley. But, arguably, the Song of the Summer in 1960 was by Chubby Checker.
By the winter of 1961, the infectious beat of Checker’s “The Twist”—and the wildly popular dance craze that accompanied it—had become an anthem for the loosening of social mores that marked the spirit of the era. In the story’s wild house party, the bumping and grinding kids are not so much dancing as they are throwing out the staid conventions and social propriety of the ‘50s. So when the sexy Paul lets Ted know that he can dance by himself, with everyone—or even with him—“The Twist” becomes an invitation to be free, a moment of seduction in which the clumsy and shy Ted begins to stretch his wings.
Donegal Water Polo Team, 1922
Sam Turner (front row, far left)
SONG 3 | The Irish Rover (1987)
Recorded by The Dubliners with The Pogues, various labels.
Traditional folk tune.
From the story "All We Have"
Though Ted’s father appears only briefly in the novel, there are vibrant glimpses of him throughout. Many of Alex’s recollections of Sam below, including the swimming pool scene, made their way into Confluence.
Of Sam Turner, Alex has said, “In 1922 when this photo was taken, Dad (front row, far left) was a 33-year-old athlete on the Donegal Water Polo Team. To earn a living, he worked as a pipe-fitter in the Belfast shipyards, where he helped build the Titanic.
“After immigrating to Canada during the Great Depression, he used his swimming skills as a lifeguard at Locarno Beach in Vancouver. It was there that he met Elizabeth (Bess) Gow, who lived nearby with her mother and youngest sister. He must have whisked her off her feet, for soon she gave up a career as a private secretary at the Customs law office in Vancouver’s iconic Marine Building. And well into middle age, they were married. Later, they settled in the tourist town of Harrison Hot Springs where Dad found a job at the town’s famous resort and Mom became the Postmistress.
“All through his life, Dad never lost his connection to the water. After retiring from the resort, he returned to the nautical life, working briefly on the Tarquin, the supply boat that serviced the logging camps that ringed Lake Harrison. Late into his seventies, he could often be seen in the Hot Springs Public Pool, floating motionlessly on his back, his eyes closed, his race run: a picture of a man at peace.”
Alex at 18, City Park, 1958
SONG 2 | Hound Dog (1956)
Recorded by Elvis Presley on RCA Victor Records.
Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
From the story “Drive-in”
The driving beat of “Hound Dog” and Elvis Presley’s sex appeal made this song an anthem of youthful rebellion against the strictures of ‘50s conformity. In the character of the sexy and mercurial Wade, Confluence has its very own hound dog. And in the dramatic story, “Drive-in,” his mimicking the song’s refrain—You ain’t no friend of mine—foreshadows the unraveling of Wade and Teddy’s friendship.
From Bob's No. 2, 2008, Alex Turner
SONG 1 | Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records.
Written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer.
From the stories “Spawning Ground” and “Drive-in”
Has a song ever marked a turning point in your life, so that years later it evokes all its joy and heartbreak? Jerry Lee Lewis’s pulse-pounding anthem to love and sex brings to a crescendo the relationship that lies at the heart of the novel—that of Teddy and his mercurial best friend. The lyrics perfectly describe Ted’s complicated and powerful feelings for Wade.