Hollows Playlist: Takata
Takata is one of a handful of characters who has been with us since Dead Witch Walking. He began as a wish for me to be in the band, and by the time I had finished writing The Good, The Bad, and The Undead, I knew who he was and how he related to Rachel. We were still looking at only three books at that point, and I figured I’d never get the chance to bring his relationship with her out, but I began to lay out the clues anyway. If I was going to play the “I’m your father” card, I wanted the clues out early and faint–hence seeing him in drips and drabs through his lyrics.
It took almost six books, but I managed to create in Takata’s lyrics something that could both foreshadowed Rachel’s ultimate future as a demon as well as her hidden past. I was never able to bring more than a phrase or two into the actual texts, but I did write them all out, and if you look through hindsight at them, you can see Takata’s shame and regret for having given his son and then his daughter to the woman he loved to be raised by his best friend from college. Sift the clues from the dust, from my lives, of my will. / I loved you then. I love you still. (You can see the lyrics in their entirety at the website [lyrics] ) It still gives me pause, that regret that he gave her away, and he was telling Rachel even then that the clues and hints to her future and past were there in his music–if she would slow down and listen. Takata was my oracle, the one who knew everything–bound to silence by a promise he made to the woman he loved. Even as he ached. That he and Rachel’s mom are now together makes me happy at night.
So…when I found Rockstar by Nickleback, it was an obvious peek into Takata’s soul, and unlike a lot of the music that the characters grow out of, I think it still fits him pretty well.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you which track holds Pike’s soul. No worries if you don’t guess. No one but I have met him yet, but you’ll get an introduction in AMERICAN DEMON, and a really good look in MILION DOLLAR DEMON (formally titled The Rule) If you want to try to find his music, he’s a vampire from a very good family, but as the youngest and still alive…he’s in a bit of a spot.
Looking for the entire playlist of the Hollows? I’ve got it here: https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/6qYXtGoaMxjMoravl5Jt21 (You don’t have to upgrade from free to see it.)
Remaining characters:
Jenks (1), Rachel (3), Ivy (3), Trent (3), Newt (2), Pike (1), Kisten (3), Piscary (1), Ceri( 1) … and one for me–my theme song after a hellish couple of years now dumping into one hellish year for everyone.
Remaining songs:
Red Tape: Agent Provocateur
Pearls: Sade
Not Going Away: Ozzy Osbourne
New Years’s Prayer: Jeff Buckley
DOA: Foo Fighters
Viva La Vida: Coldplay
Filii Neidhardi: Corvus Corax
Only: Nine Inch Nails
Your Own Worst Enemy: Alice Cooper
You & I: Jeff Buckley
Every Day is Exactly the Same: Nine Inch Nails
The American Way: The Crystal Method
Bury Me Face Down: Grandson
Never Say Never: Queens of the Stone Age
Extraordinary Machine: Fiona Apple
The Line Begins to Blur: Nine Inch Nails
Lullaby: A Perfect Circle
Short Skirt, Long Jacket: Cake
Living Dead Girl: Rob Zombie
