The Last Hours as songs

Whatever book I’m reading, I always like to match songs to the characters and ships of that book, and the last hours is no different. (I will say that I am also a huge swiftie, so many of these are Taylor Swift songs). So here we go!

Champagne Problems by Taylor Swift - the line ‘dropped your hand while dancing / left you out there standing / crestfallen on the landing’ relates so well to that one scene in CoG where Grace comes in and James leaves Cordelia. Also the line ‘you won’t remember all my champagne problems’ works well for Matthew too!

Lover by Taylor Swift - this entire song just screams herondaisy to me, when they are married in CoI and live at Curzon Street together. When I think of James and Cordelia saying ‘we can leave the Christmas lights up till January’ and being so utterly domestic, it makes me so so happy. Also I love to think the line ‘we can let our friends crash in the living room’ is about the Merry Thieves.

Invisible String by Taylor Swift - one of the central themes of the last hours is how one event can change a life completely, such as James meeting Grace. Chain of Gold is prefaced by this quote by Dickens from Great Expectations at the start of the book:

‘Pause you who read this and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day’

And then there is this lyric from Invisible String:

‘Isn’t it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me’

Also there are the lines ‘chains around my demons’ and ‘one single thread of gold tied me to you’.

Invisible String is a love song but it’s also very much about how two lives can be interconnected by an invisible thread, just like this Dickens quote and just like the last hours.

This song is exactly how I think of herondaisy; however much they are kept apart by obstacles like the bracelet, all along there is this invisible thread of gold (their love) tying them to each other!

Layla by Eric Clapton - we all know that the Persian story of Layla and Majnun is hugely significant to the herondaisy relationship, with them quoting it constantly to each other, using it as a mechanism to express their love when they themselves don’t consciously know it. Eric Clapton’s famous song Layla is inspired by the story and it’s essentially a love song, and it also works incredibly well considering Cordelia’s nickname is Layla. Here’s the chorus:

‘Layla

You’ve got me on my knees Layla

Begging darling please Layla

Darling won’t you ease my worried mind’

I feel like this also works a bit better for CoT, where James knows he’s desperately in love with Cordelia but isn’t sure she returns his feelings.

It makes my little heart explode to think of James singing this song to Cordelia :D

Seven by Taylor Swift - this song is all about the innocence and purity of childhood, and I like to think about it as James and Grace as children, before Grace puts the bracelet on James. I like the idea of Grace asking James to ‘please picture me in the trees / I hit my peak at seven’. I also adore the idea of James saying to Grace ‘and I’ve been meaning to tell you / I think your house is haunted / your dad (mum) is always mad and that must be why’.

Don’t Blame Me by Taylor Swift - I just like to think this is Cordelia being badass, and I also adore the line ‘I once was poison ivy but now I’m your daisy’. I mean, the chills I get when Taylor hits that high note on ‘daisy’ and the urge to throw the book across the room and scream in fangirl when James Herondale says ‘Daisy, my Daisy’. The parallels…

Dorothea by Taylor Swift - I think this captures the struggles that Lucie and Cordelia’s friendship goes through throughout the series. It’s about childhood friends who have lost touch, and I know Lucie and Cordelia never lost touch exactly, but their friendship did go through some rough patches…

Forever Winter by Taylor Swift - this song is perfect for Matthew. I like to think it’s Cordelia and James and all the Merry Thieves singing. The lines ‘all this time I didn’t know / that you were breaking down’ work so well for the situation in which none of Matthew’s friends feel they can talk to him about his struggles and how they didn’t realise how bad the situation.

I also think the line ‘I’d take that bomb in your head and disarm it’ show his friends desire to help him combat his demons.

It also perfectly shows Matthew’s inner cynicism and disillusionment despite his devil-may-care outward persona in the lines:

‘He says he doesn’t believe anything much he hears these days

He says ‘why fall in love? Just so you can watch it go away

He spends most of his nights wishing it was how it used to be’

It also subtly mentions his struggles with alcoholism in the line ‘he’s up, 5am, wasted’

Nothing New by Taylor Swift - this is again a Matthew song; I just love the slightly depressive aura of this song, which fits his character. Also the lyric ‘I’ve had too much to drink tonight’ feels almost comically suitable.

Falling by Harry Styles - I cannot listen to this song without thinking of Matthew Fairchild and crying.

The opening lyrics of the song ‘I’m in my bed / and you’re not here / and there’s no one to blame but the drink in my wandering hand’ relate to his relationship with Cordelia so well.

The entire song has Matthew’s depressive, self-loathing vibe.

There’s also the chorus ‘what am I now? What if I’m someone I don’t want around?’ and this is so similar to this quote from CoT:

‘The truth is I do not know the person I will be when I am entirely sober. I do not know if I will even like that person myself.’

Enchanted by Taylor Swift - this is for Lucie and Jesse. This song is all about meeting someone at a ball and falling in love at first sight - sound familiar? That’s because it is - that’s what happened to Lucie and Jesse! Tell me these lyrics don’t scream Lucie and Jesse:

‘This night is sparkling, don’t you let it go

I’m wonderstruck, blushing all the way home

I’ll spend forever wondering if you knew

I was enchanted to meet you’

Dress by Taylor Swift - if you’ve read CoT, this is self-explanatory……

Bigger Than The Whole Sky by Taylor Swift - okay, Cassie, because you didn’t give me any time to mourn *that* death in CoT, I have sob alone about it in my room with salt streaming out my eyes and into my ears (see what I did there?) - and what better song to do it to than Bigger Than The Whole Sky. I challenge anyone to not cry at these lyrics:

‘Goodbye goodbye goodbye

You were bigger than the whole sky

You were more than just a short time…

I’m never gonna meet

What could’ve been, would’ve been

What should’ve been you.’

And, on that sombre note, it’s time to end my essay - hope you enjoyed :D

I made some ChoT memes

This is how I cope

Ngl the math and James one killed me, loll

guess who finally finished chain of thorns over a week later 🤩 my completely unorganized thoughts for the general public anyways chain of thorns spoilers ahead bros

- ghostwriter is the relationship i love them more than i love my life it's just like the cute little moments between them like when lucie was nervous before her parabatai ceremony with cordelia and he was holding her and comforting her i melted

- i honestly think james and matthews relationship was dealt with really well we know nobody is ever gonna top jem and will but i think they were written really well and them in edom together was so emotional to me

- tell me why i was so heartbroken when christopher died but i only got close to crying when grace sent that fire message and wrote that it was created by kit 🥺lol i'll tell you why it's because we got zero real reaction about it

i wanted anna's pov as her baby brother died in her arms

i wanted cecily and gabriel seeing their sons body taken into idris and realizing what happened

where was sophie and gideon who also lost a child comforting them?!?!?

honestly i think that since christopher did die there was a lot of potential there

-i hated the love triangle and felt awful for matthew the entire time cause like didn't we all know jordelia was endgame i meannnn

literally love jordelia tho and i we'll never not think of james saying "sod that" and shooting the door open like sir 🫣also them traveling is something that is so personal to me i am in love with the idea of james and cordelia going all around the world and then taking their kids with them 😍

-after this book i feel like grace is a lost kitten and i want literally nothing more than to adopt her also did anyone else catch at the end when they said that grace doesn't talk much idk but i would like to give her a home

-the thomastair content 🤩🤩🤩 i love them so much i love that they're moving in together i love alastair with his baby brother i love eugenia saying she's gonna renounce her family if they don't accept thomas when he came out. every scene with them was a masterpiece

also alastair's personality like my boy is sassy and sarcastic and i would die for him

-i think the anna and ari's storylines progressed really well and they've come so far since we've first met them 🥺

-anyways my #1 ship matthew x sobriety came true and i could not be more thrilled

the moral of my rant here was that i really loved it and i think it's just cause im so in love with each of the characters but i loved almost every second of this book and didn't want it to end my only complaint would be how christopher's death and other potentially emotional topics (will and tessa crying when they found out the kids were stuck in london) were kind of just glossed over but overall i was in love with them all and i don't think i can accurately describe my feelings so that was my jumbled mess of thoughts

also can we talk about the fairchild twins please

i was tagged by @crit20lesbian!

rules:

hermit the frog - marina

our love is god - heathers the musical

pocket scheme - brook pridemore

electric love - børns

feeling good - nina simone

under pressure - queen

loves grows (where my rosemary goes) - edison lighthouse

love, me normally - will wood

your body, my temple - will wood (again)

a loving feeling - mitski

be nice to me - the front bottoms

alien blues - vunderbar

bad wine and lemon cake - the jane austen argument

elise - the greeting committee

14 people here we go:

@solareidolon @cherry-pie-bi @trashpremiium @hyperfixationsonlybabes @enby-catgirl @purplexiasphinx @mcwebby @milomeepit @amateur-artist

ok turns out i only had nine people to tag

Dancing with our hands tied - Taylor swift

Ur gonna wish you believed me - Cavetown

Magic in the Hamptons - Social House

Dipshit - Marinelli

Unspoken Words - Mxmtoon

Misfit Biscuit - The Wasia Project

0 ne of us - Mamma Mia Soundtrack (i cant find 0)

5 05 - Arctic Monkeys

1 950’s - King Princess

5 - IDK I CANT FIND MORE DHKDHD

@burarahurricane @spaecgirl @nasahq @deesi-academia @achillesfucker

THIS WILL BE SO FUN OKAY LETS GO

Devil is a woman - cloudy june

Ek ajnabee haseena se - kishore kumar

Evermore - taylor swift

Swim - chase atlantic

Ilahi - arijit singh

Afterglow - taylor swift

Cruel summer - taylor swift

Aftertaste - shawn mendes

Diet mountain dew - lana del rey

End game - taylor swift and ed sheeran

Mercy - shawn mendes

I knew you were trouble - taylor swift

Anti hero - taylor swift

Tags: @geekytango @scribblersobia @shanti-ashant-hai @shyamsakhii @pubwegf @dilli-vali-girlfriend @thestreetsofloev @irisesforyoureyes @eugenephosgene @caffeinatedsupernova @a-really-hot-caterpillar @gambhirsamosa @kabhi–kabhi-aditi @/join in guys

Two of us- Louis Tomlinson

Haule haule- Sukhwinder Singh

Enemy- Imagine Dragons

Surili ankhiyon wale- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Tere Hawale- Arijit Singh

Raanjhanaa- A.R Rahman

Ek pyar ka naghma hai- Lata Mangeshkar

Ek din aap- Kumar Sanu

Tur Kalleyan- Pritam

Sign of the times- Harry Styles

O kanha ab toh murli- Chetna

Flowers- Miley Cyrus

Let me down slowly- Alec Benjamin

O'meri Laila- Atif Aslam

Experience- Ludovico Einaudi

View of silence- Joe Hisaiahi

Tagging: @o-sahiba @eugenephosgene @remen-nyoodless @stillreeloading @swayamev @shanti-ashant-hai @all-izz-not-well @short-tempers @guavadotcom @iforgotwhat @midnight-rainnnn @misssclumsy @abey-yaaaaarrr @astrocatfizziks @pulihora @priiisdope and aur koi bhii <33

ty for the tag @thestreetsofloev @deesi-academia @kabhi–kabhi-aditi @yehsahihai <33

sadda haq by mohit chauhan

hammers by alec benjamin

aal izz well by sonu nigam

novocaine by fall out boy

turbulent by waterparks

ik vaari aa by arijit singh

abhi toh party shuru hui hai by badshah

stupid for you by waterparks

HYD by hayley williams

ainvayi ainvayi by salim sulaiman

nagada sang dhol by shreya ghoshal

telephone by waterparks

hookah bar by himesh reshammiya

aashiq banaya aapne by himesh reshammiya

i love you by RIOPY

@clarasinflatableeyes @mrunmione @merapehlapyaaradhoorarahgaya @one-story @slyth3rin-princess @noori-noor @nerdreader @kuhuchan @eugenephosgene @unhingedblr @maroonpdf @ketsisnotok @sanskari-kanya @melancholically-voiz @ibn-e-batuta and anyone else who wants to!

Oof thankfully i shortened my url in time lmao

@sweetsweethate @heaven-wont-be-the-same @the-desi-theyshe @fearlessinger @lysanderavagoth @hicanyourepeatwhatyoujustsaid @chaserofstarsandtheabyss @anomenofdarkness @xxsunset-seasonxx

ty for the tag <33

tags: @purppleinara @people-wxtching @xxsunset-seasonxx @snow-on-the-beach-13 and anyone else who want to!

THANK YOU @the-desi-theyshe and @one-story

State of Grace - Taylor Swift

Untouchable - Taylor Swift

Never Enough- The Greatest Showman: musical

Sweater Weather- The Neighborhood

Enchanted- Taylor Swift

The Exit- Conan Gray

Sweet Nothing- Taylor Swift

Enemy- Imagine Dragons

Astronomy- Conan Gray

Snow on the Beach- Taylor Swift ft. Lana Del Rey

Overdrive- Conan Gray

No Body No Crime- Taylor Swift ft. HAIM

@wessaforever @people-wxtching @rinadragomir

thank you for the tag @xxsunset-seasonxx!!!!!!!! <333 welcome to wonderland- anson seabra

enchanted- taylor swift

snow on the beach- taylor swift ft. lana del ray

sweet nothing- taylor swift

are you happy- shy martin

forever and always- taylor swift

our song- anne marie, niall horan

ring- selena gomez

evermore- taylor swift ft. bon iver

vigilante shit- taylor swift

end this (l.o.v.e.)- hailee steinfeld

rare- selena gomez

tagging: @thesuninyoureyes @bookishjules @bbyannabeth @captain-jackson @timelesslords @amesliu @tea-and-a-clandestine-agenda​ @lifeofbrybooks​ 

thank you for the tag!!!!!

ok I am as usual going to ts this ask game

aaaaaah my url is so long

tell me why

endgame

afterglow

august

nothing new

dancing with out hands tied

anti-hero

cold as you

last kiss

a place in this world

new romantics

dress

exile

superstar

the story of us

if this was a movie

no body no crime

evermore

all too well

gold rush

epiphany

never grow up

daylight

all you had to do was stay

no pressure (I couldn’t tag enough for my url lol)

@aroace-cat-lady @lover-girlieee @alastairisgay @obsessedwithbooksandmusic @passingbyunbeknownsttome @tys-kitty @lily-chen-supremacy @we-are-the-stories07

anyone who sees this

Oooo

Okay, off the top of my head-

we are never ever gettng back together (taylor swift)

evermore (taylor swift)

alive (arrows to athens)

rise up (andra day)

everything/nothing (simone)

thunder (burgess)

have we met before (sarah barrios)

endlessly (the cab)

stay stay stay (taylor swift)

the last time (taylor swift)

outrunning karma (alec benjamin)

r u ok (tate mcrae)

in summer (josh gad :) )

easy on me (adele)

she's in the rain (the rose)

00:00 (bts)

7 rings (ariana grande)

The i, t's and e's gave me such a hard time lmao (so many e's...), this was rly fun tho

Oke my username is pretty dang long so I'm gonna do the lazy and tag anyone who wants to join! 😅

Thank you for tagging me @lovedust4starlust 🥰

I’ll follow your lead and also choose 5 songs I’ve enjoyed listening to in the last week or so :)

A Ghost - Travis

Smile - Pearl Jam

Rearviewmirror - Pearl Jam

No excuses - Alice in Chains

Personality Disorder - Suede

Tagging @glorious-blackout @scatter-of-light @loki-lock @humbug-demartino @the-smile-of-a-veil @alexturne @thespiritofvexation and anyone else who’d like to do it! (In five seconds I’ll remember a dozen mutuals I really should have tagged, that’s just how these things work right…)

Let Yourself Go - Green Day

Kalank - Pritam, Arijit Singh

Choke - I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Der Billiardär - Rainald Grebe

In Too Deep - Sum 41

tagging: @topsyturvy-turtely, @riverwithoutbanks and @letopotato :)

ohhh i LOVE green day too (tho i don’t listen to them that much anymore) thanks for the tag, @loki-lock!

GOSSIP - Måneskin

TIMEZONE - Måneskin

BABY SAID - Måneskin

GASOLINE - Måneskin

MAMMAMIA - Måneskin

i swear i listen to other bands/artists too but their new album is just- UGH SO GOOD. (and i might be a tad bit obsessive about albums for months until a new one catches my eye ear)

erm tagging @quickslvxr (lol liked your music taste the other day) ANNDDD… anyone who wants to join? i can’t think of any people right now i am so sorry 😅

Ooh yey! That is an amazing compliment thank you @topsyturvy-turtely 💀

Ima tag @animallover81 @i-live-you-die-i-tell-your-story @axelcy @shiny-speedy-devotee @candycaneaddict @imnotcrazyimkatie @laneynoir @slowlyg0ld @stillamythnerd and anyone else who wants to do it :D

thanks for the tag!

i tag: @emzalot, @jezzibee, @hestias-cookies, @ketterdam-snack-bar, @poptart-cat-78, @mylifeeinfandoms, @hydestudixs and @ anyone else who wants to!

Thank you for tagging!

1. Lavender Haze by Taylor Swift

2. Heartbreak Feels So Good by Fall Out Boy

3. Bad At Love by Halsey

4. Breathe by Taylor Swift

5. Holy Ground by Taylor Swift

No pressure tags: @sleepless-crows @hozierswift @faeeclipseruine @multi-fandom-girlie @tsparis @placeapuppyinmyhair and anyone else who wants to!

tysm for the tag!

1. state of grace by taylor swift

2. rose by GOT the beat

3. the news by paramore

4. pepe by clc

5. epiphany by taylor swift

tagging: @seulgibabes @karma-is-a-queen @starsbythe and @passingbyunbeknownsttome

tyy for the tagg <33

tags (no pressure!): @tea-and-a-clandestine-agenda @drewlooks @sparklezfallsinlovewithbooks <3

thanks for the tag!!

they’re all ts because you knowww- book release and my playlists for the series and the ships and everything are primarily taylor + I just love ts

no pressure whatsoever: @aroace-cat-lady @lover-girlieee @tys-kitty @alastairisgay @we-are-the-stories07 @wessaforever

anyone else

Thank you for the tag! 💖

I have also been listening to songs from my tlh playlist haha:

No pressure tags: @pansexual-lilychen @beyondtheciouds @lenina-huntress

100% percent totally real not fake ChoT leaks

• Matthew goes to space and procreates with aliens

• James goes forward in time and shoots Zara

• Jesse, Lucie and Grace move to Canada where they change their names to Kermit, Ms Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Later, the Muppets steal their names for their characters, resulting in a decades long court case.

• There are several musical numbers

• Christopher gets sold to One Direction

• Percy Jackson is there

• Church comes back from America and unlocks his dormant powers and blows up Tatiana and Belial.

• Tessa, Will and Jem bang.

• Herondaisy, Ghostwriter, Thomastair and Arianna all get married by Jem in a quadruple wedding.

• Christopher blows up the Eiffel Tower.

• Cordelia, Thomas and Alastair all slap Charles across the face.

I’m crying 🤣

I need a book where this all happens