The Killers: Sweet Talk

I usually have a song I listen to when I’m writing action scenes and this time, this was it. I also liked the thematic imagery about angels, grace, and the Fall. -Cassie

Dig me out from this thorn tree
Help me bury my shame
Keep my eyes from the fire
They can’t handle the flame
Grace cut out from my brothers
When most of them fell
I carry it well.

Mumford and Sons: White Blank Page

Who doesn’t love this song? The lyrics could work for Maia and Jordan, Magnus and Alec, Jace and Clary …what if love’s not enough? -Cassie

Oh tell me now, where was my fault
In loving you with my whole heart?
Lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life
Oh, lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life

Joseph Arthur: Honey and the Moon

This one is for Jace and Clary. They are once again in an impossible situation in this book; they love each other, but as Lilith said, some love can burn the world down. I feel like this song is also about what it’s okay to do for love, and whether love is a moral force or outside morals. -Cassie

We’re made out of blood and rust
looking for someone to trust
without
a fight

But right now
everything you want is wrong,
and right now
all your dreams are waking up,
and right now
I wish that I could follow you
to the shores
of freedom
where no one lives

The Civil Wars: Poison and Wine

 About Sebastian’s messed up feelings for his sister. You can interpret it … however you want!  -Cassie

You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don’t want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
Oh you think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don’t love you but I always will 

The Eels: Fresh Blood 

This was a fun song to listen to again when writing some of the creepier scenes in the books. The refrain about needing fresh blood was — well, there’s some vampire action in City of Lost Souls. Some of it is Simon, but some of it … isn’t. -Cassie

The moon shines in the autumn sky
Growing cold, the leaves all die
I’m more alone than I’ve ever been
Help me out of the shape I’m in

After the fires, before the flood
My sweet baby, I need fresh blood 

Ben Lee: Love Me Like the World is Ending

A lovely love song, but one about mortality and finite-ness and endings. This was a Magnus and Alec song since mortality is much on their minds. “The sky is what makes the ocean blue” = mortality is what makes life worth experiencing.  -Cassie

This is the last day of existence.
And all i want is you.
There’s a certain sadness.
But i know, i know, i know, the sky is what makes the ocean blue.

Cake: Hem Of Your Garment

This is a great Sebastian song because it’s not just about being a bad person, it’s about being a bad person but knowing someone much better than you and really wanting to be like them. It’s about wanting to be good and not knowing how to be. About feeling unworthy and that just making you angrier than ever.  -Cassie

I have no love but only goals
How very empty is my soul
It is a soul that feels no thrill
A soul that could easily kill
And I’m not fit to touch
The hem of your garment