Musical Moments: Song of the Month: December

This months Song of the Month has been kindly chosen by Sara Grant.

Song of the Month – Aging Well by Joan Baez with Dar Williams 

Aging Well is one of my favourite songs. I can’t remember where or how I first heard it. It’s not a well-known song, and Joan Baez was more popular with the generation before mine. It’s the eleventh song on a live, best-of album where Joan Baez sings duets with a variety of artists. From the first moment I heard it, I was immediately attracted to the song and its message.

The heart of my young adult novel Dark Parties and Aging Well is feminine empowerment. Both story and song are about rebelling and re-claiming who you are. They are also about feminine camaraderie. As a writer, I find the following lyrics particularly poignant:

Well I know a woman with a collection of sticks

She could fight back the hundreds of voices she heard

And she could poke at the greed, she could fend off her need

And with anger she found she could pound every word

But one voice got through, caught her up by surprise

It said, "Don't hold us back we're the story you tell"

And no sooner than spoken, a spell had been broken

And the voices before her were trumpets and tympani

Violins, basses and woodwinds and cellos...

Aging Well is one of those songs I come back to again and again. It lifts me up and reminds me that the best is yet to come...

Title: Dark Parties
Author: Sara Grant
Publisher: Indigo
Publication Date: 22 Dec 2011

Synopsis from Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...
Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most.