Musical Moments: Song of the Month: January: Chosen by Dave Cousins

Book Birthday Celebrations & Song of the Month

Title: 15 Days Without A Head

Author: Dave Cousins

Publisher: OUP

Publication Date: 5 Jan 2012 (TODAY)

Synopsis from Amazon

Fifteen-year-old Laurence Roach just wants a normal life, but it's not easy when your mum is a depressed alcoholic, and your six-year-old brother thinks he's a dog. When Mum fails to come home one night, Laurence tells nobody, terrified he and his brother will be taken into care if anyone finds out. Instead, he attempts to keep up the pretence that Mum is still around: dressing up in her clothes to trick the neighbours and spinning an increasingly complicated tangle of lies. After two weeks on their own, running out of food and money, and with suspicious adults closing in, Laurence finally discovers what happened to his mother. And that's when the trouble really starts . . . A compelling thriller filled with some hilarious and surreal moments. Fifteen Days Without a Head is a tender, honest story about family, forgiveness and hope.

Here is the reason that Dave chose this song as the them song for 15 Days Without a Head

I heard this song for the first time in the Baz Luhrmann movie of Romeo and Juliet. I was writing 15 Days Without a Head at the time, and it struck me how well it matched the mood and even some of the storyline. The start of the song is sparse and quite melancholy, but there's a real sense of tension, of something about to happen. Sure enough halfway through the track, the music finally explodes – the lyrics even talk about waiting for someone to come and kick the door down to get you – a situation Laurence finds himself in at one point. If anybody ever makes a film of the book, I'll suggest this for the soundtrack!