He’ll Be: Edwin McCain (And How I’m Inspired)

I am one of Pavlov’s pups when it comes to this song by Edwin McCain.  “I’ll Be” (see below) and “I Could Not Ask For More” set standards for romance in popular music. Read (and hear!) more about this soulful troubadour at his website. Turn up (or down, as the case may be) your speakers as the site launches full versions of Edwin’s soulful tunes.

I can’t speak for other writers, but music inspires me so much that I’ve been known to play the same songs again and again—and again!—while I’m working on a  manuscript. The visions conjured by certain a lyric, mood, even pacing mesh with the scenes I am trying to capture. Here is an example.

In STARCROSSED HEARTS, my lengthy, soap-opera styled first installment of the StarCrossed trilogy, there is a scene between hero Dane Pierce and would-be lover Jessica Taylor. The sexual tension between them is high; they’ve had a one-night stand that she’d hung her heart on, and he’d buried in the past. He wants her back, but she’s interested in someone else.

They are on location, a tiny island in the Caribbean, filming a potential blockbuster on the beach. There is a small cantina where the cast & crew unwind in the evenings. It’s dim, smoky, tropical, with a jukebox and a tiny dancefloor. It’s also hot and humid. On this particular night, Jessica is still giving Dane the cold shoulder, and he can’t put up with it much longer. Another guy asks Jessica to dance, and she accepts, with barely a glance over her shoulder at Dane. The dance is decidedly dirty, and Dane gets up and dismisses the young man.

Jessica watched the scene unfold with irritation. She hated Dane for interfering, hated his possessive way with her. She turned from the dance floor as Dane approached, but he caught her by the wrist and pulled her back. “If you want to dance like that…” he said, grinning as the next record to drop on to the player crooned a torchy tale of lustful blues.

Dane took her into his arms, skillfully moving her around the floor in a blatantly shameless exhibition for the watching crowd; his hips moved against her, his thigh sliding between hers as he dipped her backwards in an erotic maneuver that would have challenged Patrick Swayze’s own moves. He held her there for a dizzying length of time. Jessica stared up at him, her hair wet and sticking to the perspiration on her face; she could feel her damp shirt stretched down and taut across her breasts as her chest heaved with emotion. It was a picture of perfect control, Dane’s control over Jessica.

He whipped her back up, spinning her a half turn before stopping with his lips not an inch from hers; she moved as if mesmerized, seeing only Dane, responding to his touch; programmed only for him.

The song ended, and with it, the “spell.” Jessica walked purposefully, if weakly, to the table and sat down. Dane followed, shouting his request for a drink to the bar and straddling a chair facing her.

The song? “I Put a Spell On You” by Creedence Clearwater Revival (click for 1:30 sample from MySpace). Like Dane to Jessica, it was a perfect fit.

So take a look at a sweet, sexy, youthful Edwin as he shares my favorite song. Try not to drool on the keyboard!