What is Your Theme Song?

By the light of the silvery moon...

While listening to classical music on the drive home this morning - Claude Debussy's Claire de Lune to be exact - I had this funny sort of thought. 

Normally while driving, fresh writing ideas come to me or my current character's dialogue chatters on in my head. But today as I raced down the back roads of Hertfordshire, I began thinking about the composer of the beautiful music that flooded through my car.

Who was this Debussy?

Mozart, Quartet in C

How did he "think" up these songs? Did he hear the music in his head as he walked about town, like writers hear their characters' conversations? When Debussy showered, did great trills and crescendos crash down upon him, like words and passages do for me?

What would it be like to have music as great as Mozart, Beethoven, and Debussy lilt through your mind and carry you through each and every day?

I have often used music to set the tone for writing. Some characters I create prefer AC/DC, others The Weekend. Some, I feel even have a theme song that become synonymous with who they are. Music helps my creativity. 

I have now arrived home and have Claire de Lune cranked on my laptop. Its haunting melody surrounds me as I tackle the next scene in Ford and Ellie. 

Moon Fever on my brain.

How will Debussy's music shape my next passage?

Imagine, if you were the one to make music that others enjoy and use to help fuel their creative endeavours. Both current and classical music is often used in television and film as a movie's score and I then wondered further, "Was there one specific song that Debussy would have considered the score to his life? Did he have a theme song?"

My theme song changes quite regularly. Currently, it is Chumbawamba's Tub Thumping (I Get Knocked Down). Not because the lyrics are awe-inspiring or incredibly meaningful, but the energy of the song lifts my spirits and pumps me up.

What is your theme song?