TEWWG Soundtrack

Compiled By: Joseph Glerum

Music is an important tool that can be used to influence how the mind perceives things. This is why music in movies is designed to enhance the scene(s) it is paired with. The appropriate music makes any scene appear to be more dramatic, romantic, horrifying, or tense.
In order to help the reader enjoy the novel further, a soundtrack has been developed from a number of artists to provide an effective way to understand the underlying emotions and settings portrayed in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
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Janie's Return to Town
~ Bear McCreary - The Mercy Of The Living (The Walking Dead OST) - YouTube ~
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others  they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by time. That is the life of men." 
The music in this soundtrack perfectly fits the emotion of the first page of the book. Janie is returning to town, after suffering from the departing of a lover. However, she is facing the future with no regrets, and disregards the towns close scrutiny of her.

Marse Robert goes to War
~ When Johnny Comes Marching Home - YouTube ~
Click here for song lyrics
"Dat mornin' on de big plantation close to Savannah, a rider come in a gallop tellin' 'bout Sherman takin' Atlanta. Marse Robert's son had done been kilt at Chickamauga. So he grabbed his gun and straddled his best horse and went off wid de rest of de grey-headed men and young boys to drive de Yankees back to Tennessee... Ah heard 'em give one last whoop for him. Then de big house and de quarters got sober and silent."
Sherman's march through Georgia was one of the most infamous events of the American Civil War. In this passage, Janie's grandmother recounts the effort Georgia made to rebut the foreign invasion, and dramatically tells of the high moral and patriotic feelings that the populace felt as they sent the "grey-headed and young boys" into the war. This well-known song from the civil war accurately portrays those feelings, and describes how the South thought that it would succeed, and Johnny would come "marching home".

Janie's Childhood
~ Lord of the Rings - Concerning Hobbits - YouTube ~
"Oh to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her... She searched as much of the world as she could from the top of the steps and then went down to the front gate and leaned over to gaze up and down the road. Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made."
This well-known soundtrack from the Lord of the Rings beautifully describes the setting that Janie finds herself in at this particular part of the story. She feels close to nature, and though she leads a simple life, she longs for adventure and "struggle". Thus, she is often found by the gateway - waiting for the adventure of love to come.

Janie's Marriage to Logan
~ Natasha Bedingfield Wild Horses - w/ lyrics - YouTube ~
Click here for song lyrics
"So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and a orange time. But when the pollen again glided the sun and sifted down on the world she began to stand around the gate and expect things. What things? She didn't know exactly... The familiar people and things had failed her, so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off. She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman."
After several weeks of marriage, Logan stops "speaking in riddles" to Janie, and becomes tyrannical toward his young bride. Though she submits to his overbearing nature, she secretly longs for true love, and starts considering what life might be like outside of Logan's well-to-do farm house. This song echoes Janie's feelings, as she longs for a free love: One that gives, without requiring anything in return. She longs for the freedom that "Wild Horses" posses, but feels caged by the rules and expectations imposed by her grandmother and husband.

Joe persuades Janie to leave Logan
~ Jesse McCartney - LEAVIN' - KISS FM Acoustic Version - YouTube ~
Click here for song lyrics
"You ain't got no mo' business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday!... A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo'self and eat p'taters dat other folks plant special for you...Janie... I aim to make a wife outta you...You ain't never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh...You come go wid me. Den all de rest of yo' natural life you kin live lak you outta."
Joe's wooing of Janie reopens her hope for true love. The hansom, adventurous, and flattering young man before her promises luxury, and more important, freedom and love. However, she must leave Logan, and therefore break all the expectations her recently deceased grandmother had help for her. Eventually, between Joe's persuasiveness and Logan's apathy, she makes the decision to take a chance on a new life.

Janie's Suppression by Joe
~ Faith Hill - I Can't Do That Anymore Lyrics - YouTube ~
Click here for song lyrics
"Times and scenes like that put Janie to thinking about the inside state of her marriage. Time came when she fought back with her tongue as best she could, but it didn't do her any good. It just made Joe do more. He wanted her submission and he'd keep on fighting until he felt he had it. So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush. The spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor."
Though Joe did provide for all of Janie's physical needs, and let her live a life of relative luxury, he wants her completely submissive. To Joe, Janie is just a symbol of his power and prosperity, and though it is evident he loves her, he is too proud to admit it. Thus, he enforces that Janie is not to speak her mind. In addition, he expects her to be perfect in anything, and uses her deficiencies to try and boost his ego.
This song accurately portrays Janie's thoughts at this part of the story. Eventually Janie can not withstand the suppression that Joe practices on her, and after he gives her a particularly scalding remark she responds with a equally harsh response that wounds Joe's pride so deeply it eventually contributes to his death.

Tea Cake's Courtship of Janie
~ Emily Hearn - Like Ships Need The Sea w/ Lyrics on screen - YouTube ~
Click here for song lyrics
"Janie awoke the next morning by feeling Tea Cake almost kissing her breath away. Holding her and caressing her as if he feared she might escape his grasp and fly away... So much had been breathed out by the pores that Tea Cake still was there. She could feel him and almost see him bucking around the room in the upper air. After a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake leap forth and mount to the sky on a wind. That was the beginning of things."
After Joe's death, Janie does not want to undertake another relationship. In the last two she has had, she has only experienced heartbreak. However, when Tea Cake slips into her life, she begins to feel the love that she has longed for since her childhood. Though she fights the attachment that begins to form between them, she soon realizes that Tea Cake is the man that she has only been able to dream about. She falls for him completely, and soon feels a need for him "like ships need the sea." This song's upbeat and carefree melody, along with the accurate lyrics, portrays the spirit of Janie and Tea Cake's courtship.

Tea Cake "Pickin' a Box"
~ Catfish Blues . Corey Harris . Learn it @ Sonic Junction - YouTube ~
Click here for song lyrics
"Then everyone began to holler at the music because the man couldn't play but three pieces. So Tea Cake took the guitar and played himself. He was glad of the chance because he hadn't had his hand on a box since he put his in the pawn shop to get some money to hire a car for Janie soon after he met her. He missed his music. So that put him n the notion that he ought to have one. He bought the guitar on the spot."
The reader soon realizes that picking a guitar is one of Tea Cakes favorite pastimes. He plays it often, and plays well enough that he even draws people away from the "jukes" and other "professional" entertainment offered in the Everglades. The song "Catfish Blues" is a perfect example of the black blues that was very popular during this time period. Its heavy dependency of rhythm, and its deep tones provide a unique and enjoyable listening experience.

The Everglades
~ Emerald Instrumental Irish/Celtic Music - YouTube ~
"Folks don't do nothin' down there but make money and fun and foolishness. We must go there."
"Dancing, fighting, singing, crying, laughing, winning and losing love every hour... Tea Cakes house was a magnet, the unauthorized center of the "job." The way he would sit in the doorway and play his guitar made people stop and listen... He was always laughing and full of fun too. He kept everyone laughing in the bean field."
When Tea Cake and Janie move to the Everglades region they discover a new world. It's full of excitement, prosperity, and wonder. Though this song is Celtic in origin, it accurately portrays the excitement and adventurous spirit that Janie and Tea Cake experience in their new home.

The Hurricane and the Rabid Dog
 ~ Narnia Soundtrack: The Blitz, 1940 - YouTube ~
"Through the screaming wing they heard things crashing and things hurtling and dashing with unbelievable velocity... And the lake got madder and madder with only its dikes between them and him."
"Motor Boat! You better git up from dere! Hell done broke loose in Georgy. Dis minute!"
"[Janie] screamed terribly and released the roofing which sailed away as she plunged downward into the water... She saw a cow swimming... A few more strokes would bring her there... A massive built dog was sitting on her shoulders... Tea Cake split the water  like an otter, opening his knife as he dived... Tea Cake rose out of the water at the cow's rump and seized the dog by the neck. But he was a powerful built dog, and Tea Cake was overtired... They fought and somehow he managed to bite Tea Cake high up on the cheek bone once. Then Tea Cake finished him and sent him to the bottom to stay there."
This dramatic and tense passage could be seen as the epitome of the story. The conflicting emotions, constant danger, and Tea Cake's brief but intense battle with the dog, catch the reader up in a whirlwind of excitement and dread. This soundtrack from the popular Narnia series was used to enhance a scene depicting the German bombing of London. Similarly, this track can be used to enhance this scene of the book which encompasses so much danger, grief, and uncertainty.

Janie's responce to Tea Cakes Death
~ The Wailin' Jennys - The Parting Glass - YouTube ~
Click here for song lyrics
"Now, dat's how everything wuz, Pheoby, jus' lak Ah told yuh. So Ah'm back home agin and Ah'm satisfied tuh be heah. Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons. Dis house ain't so absent  of things lack it used tuh be befo' Tea Cake come along. It's full uh thoughts, 'specially dat bedroom."

After Tea Cake's dramatic and saddening death, Janie returns home. However, as evidenced by her conversation with Pheoby, she is content. She feels fulfilled now, and can happily "live by comparisons." This song's graceful, flowing melody definitely fits Janie's attitude. One can easily imagine her saying, "Of all the money that e're I had, I spent it in good company... [and] I'll gently rise, and I'll softly call, good night and joy be with you all."

Stories Ending
~ Gods and Generals- Going Home - YouTube ~
This song provides a fitting atmosphere for the end of the story. Its lyrics reflect Janie's journey, and its melody compliments the story in its entirety. From its simple, happy times, to its sad, contentious conflicts, Going Home provides the reader with a musical summary of a fantastic piece of literature.

They say there's a place , where dreams have all gone
They never said where, but I think I know
Its miles through the night just over the dawn
On the road that will take me home

I know in my bones, I've been here before
The ground feels the same, tho the land's been torn
I've a long way to go, the stars tell me so
On this road that will take me home.

Love waits for me round the bend

Leads me endlessly on

Surely sorrows shall find their end

and all our troubles will be gone

And I know what I've lost, and all that I won

when the road finally takes me home

And when I pass by , don't lead me astray

Don't try and stop me , don't stand in my way

I'm bound for the hills where cool waters flow

on this road that will take me home

Love waits for me round the bend

Leads me endlessly on

Surely sorrows shall find their end

and all our troubles will be gone

And we'll know what we've lost and all that we've won

when the road finally takes me home.

I'm going home

I'm going home

I'm going home

(Lyrics taken from http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1593368/gods-and-generals-going-home-lyrics.html)