Eponine’s Playlist

This is a playlist created by me and is made out of songs that remind me of Eponine. Each song is linked with the lyrics and an explanation as to why I chose this song and how it relates to Les Miserables is next to each song. You can listen to the playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0hPwLRlE20bdc-z6a_h6_xTpoo2v6GdI

This is Gospel [Piano Version] by Panic! at the Disco - The first line of this song really speaks of Eponine, “This is gospel for the fallen ones” because she is one of the fallen ones. She is one of les miserables (291) at least while she is living with her family. The line “Their gnashing teeth and criminal tongues conspire against the odds/But they haven’t seen the best of us yet.” reminds me of Eponine’s father who is a criminal and who could blame her if she turned out a rotten thief but against all odds she turns into a better person, becoming “more beautiful” and doing things out of kindness (346), which I think is the best of her which was a part of her that couldn’t shine or be seen while living with her family. And lastly the lines “If you love me let me go/‘Cause these words are knives and often leave scars” relates to Eponine’s death scene because Marius really is ‘letting her go’ in a sense. Also on page 452 when Marius asks if he hurt Eponine she answers “A little.” and it’s implied that for Eponine this goes beyond her wounds and that she was hurt because of Marius’ words towards her.

When You Were Young by The Killers - This songs reminds me of Eponine because of the lines “You sit there in your heartache/Waiting on some beautiful boy to/To save your from your old ways”. Before she met Marius she was sitting around idle, letting her father do horrible things and even assisting him like she did on page 308, standing guard while Thenardier attempted to murder Jean Valjean. After she met Marius she kept bothering him to give her money and to “save” her from her poverty (289).

Irresistible by Fall Out Boy - In the chorus the lines “And I love the way you hurt me/It's irresistible, yeah.” reminds me of how Eponine feels towards Marius. He is continually rude to her (301) but she keeps coming back to talk to him, even doing him a favor by finding Cosette’s address for him (347). And as she’s dying Marius touches her hand and when she makes a sound of pain he asks “Have I hurt you?” and she answers “A little.” which I think goes way beyond the injury in her hand and proves that he has, very much, hurt her with his actions.

Born to Die by Lana del Rey - The first stanza “Feet don’t fail me now/Take me to the finish line/Oh my heart it breaks every step that I take/But I’m hoping at the gates,/They’ll tell me that you’re mine”, of this song relates to Eponine, especially in her death scene. She is close to the “finish line” and her heart is breaking because Marius was always so callous towards her but she loved him and it broke her heart to be treated that way as she said on page 453. The lines “Choose your last words,/This is the last time/Cause you and I/We were born to die” relate because on page 454 she told Marius “We are all going to die.” She was the one who told him about the barricade in hopes that he’d come and her plan obviously was for them to die together.

White Blank Page by Mumford and Sons - One line that pertains to Eponine from this song is “Can you lie next to her/And give her your heart, your heart” and I feel like this would be something Eponine could be saying to Cosette because Eponine loves Marius so deeply while Cosette doesn’t love him like Eponine does, even forgetting about him at one point (361) so Eponine might say this to Cosette, kind of like “Would you be willing to give Marius your all”. Another line from this song that applies to Eponine is “You desired my attention but denied my affections, my affections” because Marius wanted her attention, he wanted her to go get Cosette’s address for him but when she tried to project her affections onto him he completely denied her, just using her to get to Cosette (300 and 345). Lastly the lines“So tell me now, where was my fault/In loving you with my whole heart” apply to Eponine because she really did love Marius with her whole heart to the point where she even acted like Marius did towards Cosette, being a little creepy by tracking him down (344).

Say Something by Great Big World - In this song some lines that relate to Eponine are “I'll be the one, if you want me to/Anywhere I would've followed you” because Eponine wants so badly to be with Marius (“I’ll be the one if you want me to”) that she follows him all the way to his new home just to relay an address for Marius (346). Another line that works well with Eponine is “You're the one that I love/And I'm saying goodbye” because one page 445 on her death bed as soon as she tells Marius that she fell for him she says “Goodbye” by dying.

This is Your Life by The Killers - This song relates to Eponine because of these lines, among others, “Candy talks to strangers/Thinks her life's in danger/No one gives a damn about her hair“. In the song Candy is a homeless girl, similar to Eponine who has nowhere to live after her parents are jailed, who nobody cares about. In Les Mis it is clear that nobody really cares about Eponine, not even her own parents as seen on page 308 when her father makes her stand outside in the snow for hours with barely any clothes so that he has a chance at becoming rich. Also the lines “And the sky is full of dreams/But you don't know how to fly “ apply to Eponine because she does have thoughts and dreams and aspirations like every other person but she doesn’t know how to “fly” in to her dreams and because of this feels helpless enough to talk about drowning herself (289)