Didion’s The White Album moves through 1960s California with a sharp, documentary gaze—then tilts into dread, intimacy, and disorientation. This playlist stitches that mosaic feeling together: instrumental tracks act like the book’s investigative silence and empty spaces, while the vocal tracks echo the era’s romance, fracture, and moral unease.
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Track List
20 songsFanfare for the Common Man
Aaron Copland · Copland Conducts Copland - Expanded Edition (Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring, Old American Songs (Complete), Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes)
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Appalachian Spring: Simple Gifts
Aaron Copland · Explore America
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Hedwig's Theme
John Williams · Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
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Gonna Fly Now
Bill Conti · Auburn University Marching Band 2011-2012
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Requiem: Lacrimosa
Giuseppe Verdi · Verdi: Requiem
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The Entertainer
Scott Joplin · Fingerbreaker: Classics Of Ragtime And Early Jazz Piano
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Riders on the Storm
The Doors · L.A. Woman
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California Dreamin'
The Mamas & The Papas · All The Leaves Are Brown The Golden Era Collection
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Hotel California - 2013 Remaster
Eagles · Hotel California (2013 Remaster)
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L.A. Woman
The Doors · L.A. Woman
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I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Marvin Gaye · In The Groove
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Born To Be Wild
Steppenwolf · Classic Rock Radio
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Paint It, Black
The Rolling Stones · Aftermath
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Brown Eyed Girl
Van Morrison · Blowin' Your Mind!
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The End
The Doors · The Doors
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Walk, Don't Run
The Ventures · Walk Don't Run - All-Time Greatest Hits
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Pipeline
The Ventures · "Surfing"
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Green Onions
Booker T. & the M.G.'s · Green Onions
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Apache
The Shadows · Shadows Are Go!
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