As any astute Neutral Milk Hotel or R.E.M. fan will immediately recognize, World Leader Pretend is a novel with a sound track. Unfortunately, due to the snail's pace of the modern publishing world, the sound track to World Leader Pretend is a bit dated, which is why I haven't made more of a to do about it. Way back when I was pitching the novel to agents, I would include a CD of the songs referenced in it. I lost that soundtrack some time in 2004, the year my wife and I moved from the West Coast to the East Coast and then back again. Recently, though, I got in touch with my ex-agent who had a copy of it laying around. I share it with you:

Two Headed Boy by Neutral Milk Hotel
World Leader Pretend by R.E.M.
Driver 8 by R.E.M.
Electricity by Spiritualized
A Life of Arctic Sounds by Modest Mouse
Bankrupt on Selling by Modest Mouse
Plateau by Nirvana (a Meat Puppets cover)
Motorollon Scalatron by Stereolab
The King of Carrot Flowers by Neutral Milk Hotel
Mookid by Aphex Twin
Cuyahuga by R.E.M.
Never Ending Math Equation by Modest Mouse
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton by The Flaming Lips
Two Headed Boy by Neutral Milk Hotel (remixed by Yars Revenge)

If you want to get really nutty with my novel, listening to the tunes as they're mentioned in the novel is an entertaining experience. Many of the lyrics in the songs have direct relationships with happenings in it. Everything on this list except the Yars Revenge remix should be pretty easy to obtain...

Labels: World Leader Pretend