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Music Adaptions of literature

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Have been lurking for a while so I decided to ask a couple of questions as payment of debt.

I need to fill up a cd with songs that are based on literature (preferable novels) - eg The Normal adapting Crash into Warm Leatherette or Kate Bush adapting Wuthering Heights. No uses of vibey adaptations eg Led Zeppelin and Lord of the Rings or Nick Cave and the bible

― John Edmond, Friday, 12 December 2003 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

The Blue Aeroplanes set Sylvia Plath'sThe Applicant to music. It was so well chosen and executed that I had no idea it was an adapted poem till I read the sleevenotes.

Kate Bush's The Sensual World.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 December 2003 14:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Blue Aeroplanes did the same with some Louis MacNeice poems too.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 December 2003 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

See also, in a looser vein:

literary influences on pop - classic or dud?

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 December 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

The Aeroplanes strike again with Kenneth Patchen's 'Do the Dead Know What Time It Is?' on Spitting Out Miracles.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

It's arguable that these are actually based on reading rather than just titles, but:
Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls
Metallica - The Call of Ktulu

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Indeed
Metallica - One (different title from the book, but apparently an adaptation of a book, nonetheless).

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Summin' by Spinal Tap?

― Jay Kid (Jay K), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Hugh Hopper, 1984
&
ditto Eurythmics

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Magazine's 'Song From Under The Floorboards' => Dostoevsky's 'Notes From Underground'

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Van Halen - 1984

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Although neither is to my taste, both Lou Reed ("The Raven") and Alan Parsons Project ("Tales of Mystery and Imagination") have deveoted entire albums to songs based on Edgar Allen Poe writings.

Rush have some sort of Ayn Rand fetish, but I don't know their output well enough to pick out titles.

"A Rose For Emily" -- Zombies (based on Faulkner)

"Space Oddity" by the Byrds is based upon "The Sentinel", the short story that was later expanded into "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Bowie's "1984"

― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Rush have some sort of Ayn Rand fetish, but I don't know their output well enough to pick out titles.

"Tom Sawyer"

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

What about Ned's record? Is it too long? You could take just an excerpt...

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Killing an Arab by t'Cure = bad summary of L'Etranger
Song From Under The Flooboards is great.

What was JD's Dead Souls about? I never paid any attention to what he said.

― Fug (Ferg), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

The Gospel according to Spinal Tap
Indeed, isn't there meant to be a Genesis album where they adapted the whole bible?

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

What was JD's Dead Souls about? I never paid any attention to what he said.

There's a classic dave q thread hidden somewhere on ILM where he criticises Joy Division's Iron Maiden-like approach to musically adapting literature (ie. simply half-inching the title and writing a song that bares no resemblance to the content of the titular work).

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Nas - Book of Rhymes (does it count if the book is just his notebook?)

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

There's always Nik Kershaw's 'Don Quixote' if you have the stomach for it.

Cale did Dylan Thomas on Words for the Dying.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Umm, a sizeable proportion of all opera ever?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

My parents are obsessed with the Blue Aeroplanes. My earliest memories of gigs are of being dragged to them by my parents, "This is proper music, Kate!"

My cat once crapped over 'Tolerance', triggering a family joke...

― Kate Jane Connolly (fixitgirl), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Pat Benatar, 'Gravity's Rainbow'

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Royal Trux "Shockwave Rider"

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Buckner's The Hill takes pieces of Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology and puts it to music. The drawback is that the LP is one long track.. you can easily clip a segment out though

― nothingleft (nothingleft), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Pat Benatar, 'Gravity's Rainbow'

Is this for real? How 'in-depth' is it?

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Kate has just reminded me of a man wearing a Blue Aeroplanes T-shirt at our local fete in Holly Grove, Peckham in about 1990.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

...and I was reminded of the very fact of the existence of the Blue Aeroplanes.

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

My neighbour still wears a Blue Aeroplanes t-shirt.

Wait a second, my neighbour was in the Blue Aeroplanes. Duh! ;o)

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Who wasn't?

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

'Rush have some sort of Ayn Rand fetish'

Speaking of sci-fi libertarians, Heinlein seems to be popular as well -
Ace Frehley, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Yes, "Starship Trooper"
Jimmy Webb, "Moon is a Harsh Mistress"
Iron Maiden, "The Number of the Beast"
Neil Diamond, "Glory Road"

As for sci-fi communists, only Blue Oyster Cult ("Black Blade", "Veteran of the Psychic Wars") represent! Sci-fi's like American media I guess. (They did Lustbader too ["Shadow Warrior"]

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, and Iron Maiden - Stranger in a Strange Land

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Hawkwind, "Lord of Light", "Damnation Alley". btw anybody here like Zelazny? 'Jack of Shadows' ripped! Got turned onto RZ after reading a derogatory Panshin critique ("Corwin has no object except hating and hungering, destroying everything in his path, then moving to London and complaining about everything" haha I made up the last part)

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Re Dead Souls, I am glad. I tend to get into arguments with Joy Division fans while drunk where I attack the 'I have read this book, this is what it was about' writing style. I'd hate to think I was being lazy and uninformed and that in fact they had an in depth grasp of the subject matter and had incorporated it into a thoughtfu- hahaha nah

― Fug (Ferg), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

The one that owns this thread, imo, is the Divine Comedy's "Lucy",
from the Wordsworth poem.
Paul Burch's "Last of My Kind" cd is based on Tony Earley's "Jim the
Boy".
Kate Bush - "Wuthering Heights".

From the high school days -

Rush's _2112_ a-side is all based on Ayn Rand's "Anthem".
Iron Maiden - "Where Eagles Dare", Alistair MacLean (sp?), "Flight of
Icarus", "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (Poe), and more...

― Chris Hill (Chris Hill), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

The Camper Van Beethoven spinoff Monks of Doom turned Edward Gorey's excellent "The Insect God" into a cool mini-opera.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Since Alex in NYC obviously hasn't got out of bed yet...
Iron Maiden "Sun and Steel" vs Stranglers "Death and Night and Blood"

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Iron Maiden fucking own this thread.

Iron Maiden, "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner"
Iron Maiden, "To Tame A Land"
Iron Maiden, "Murders In The Rue Morgue"
Iron Maiden, "Where Eagles Dare" (yes, it was a book, too)
Iron Maiden, "Flight Of Icarus"
Iron Maiden, "Phantom Of The Opera"
Iron Maiden, "Stranger In A Strange Land"
Iron Maiden, "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner"

Runners-up in the "book report song" championships: Anthrax.

Anthrax, "Among The Living"
Anthrax, "I Am The Law" (does Judge Dredd count as literature? If so, throw in the Screaming Blue Messiahs' "Mega City One," too)
Anthrax, "This Is Not An Exit"

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Prodigy "Firestarter"
Europe "Carrie"
Anthrax "The Stand"
Anti-Nowhere League "The Shining"

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Billy Idol "Neuromancer"
Jefferson Airplane "White Rabbit"

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Rush "Something for Nothing" seems to based on Milton Friedman

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Neil Diamond "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"

― dave q, Friday, 12 December 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

See also "Seagull" by Ride.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

See also all those Ride songs that are dead ripoffs of Salinger, the bit about the lightbulbs, I forget the song or the story.

― HRH Queen Kate (kate), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

My dad has this old musical adaptation of "War of the Worlds" on vinyl. It's like a rock opera with various 70's recording artists contributing. The singer from Thin Lizzy was one of them, though I don't remember who else. It's got really neat packaging, too.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, but still, they come..."

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:32 (twenty-two years ago)

That is the best rock opera ever. I listened to it about a million times while on a plane as a child, and then never heard it again.

― HRH Queen Kate (kate), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Loreena McKennitt has set Noyes' "The Highwayman," Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" and Shakespeare's Cymbeline to music.

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

ummm. Prog to thread .. Rick Wakeman - Jouney to Centre of the Earth .. that must be based on Jules Vernes book ?

― mark e (mark e), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

More HG Wells: "The Invisible Man" (the worst Queen song ever?)

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad" is a summary of Grapes of Wrath

― BrianB (BrianB), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"sympathy for the devil" is loosely based on one of the episodes in "the master and the margarita".

― woland, Friday, 12 December 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

What about Ned's record? Is it too long? You could take just an excerpt...

Well, there's no music, see.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 12 December 2003 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Birthday Party "Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow)"
Syd Barrett "Golden Hair" (an adaptation of a James Joyce poem)
The band Clem Snide is named after a William Burroughs character, if that counts.

― otto, Friday, 12 December 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't Dark Side of the Moon an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz? Cuz I heard it was.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 12 December 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

the holy bible. manics.

― kevin brady (groeuvre), Friday, 12 December 2003 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The Weakerthans do (sort of) Martin Amis' Time's Arrow on the new record.

― ara, Friday, 12 December 2003 19:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Arcturus "Alone"

― James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Friday, 12 December 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Just getting up now. Sorry, worked the night shift.

"Just Like the Old Man in the Famous Book by NA-Bo-KoVVVVVV!"

Anyone mentioned the Police's ham-fisted allusion of "Lolita" yet?

I see dave already cited my beloved Maiden....damn his eyes!

Killing Joke do allude to certain books from time to time, most recently "The Death & Resurrection Show" by Rogan P. Taylor and lots of stuff by Aleister Crowley (if you count that as literature).

Coffee still just kicking in. Will think of more later.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 12 December 2003 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

One of my favorite Blue Aeroplanes' songs is "Journal of an Airman." I don't know if the lyrics are entirely faithful to the poem. I should look it up. (that part that goes "speaking as a scientist, etc.") I also didn't realize it was a poem by Auden until I looked at the sleeve much later.

― youn, Friday, 12 December 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Good call on the Weakerthans.

And Rush (again! Book-learning Canadians rule this thread!) "Xanadu" (basically Coleridge's "Kubla Khan").

― David A. (Davant), Saturday, 13 December 2003 00:17 (twenty-two years ago)

the holy bible. manics.

ok. the byrds "turn turn turn"

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 13 December 2003 00:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Sneaky Feelings did musical versions of "Discipline" by George Herbert and "This Be The Verse" by Philip Larkin.

― Poppy (poppy), Saturday, 13 December 2003 01:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Allen Ginsberg's album of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience counts, even if the musician in this case is also a poet.

― M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 13 December 2003 02:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Doesn't Saint Etienne's "Pale Movie" 'reference' Brautigan's "Pale Marble Movie"? ...Inna manner of speaking?

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 13 December 2003 02:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Omit the apostrophe in my post above.

― youn, Saturday, 13 December 2003 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The Verve's "History" rewrites William Blake's "London"
Julian Cope's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" steals its title from Wordsworth's poem of the same name.
U2 "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" cf. Salman Rushdie novel of same name

There's a fair size list on the sibl project website: http://www.siblproject.org/famous.html

― bogle, Saturday, 13 December 2003 08:25 (twenty-two years ago)

the Manics - "If You Tolerate This..." (George Orwell's Homage To Catalonia)
Yes - "The Gates Of Delirium" (War And Peace, but I can't vouch for this, having not read the book)

― Schwingung (Damian), Saturday, 13 December 2003 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...
"Lolita" by Elephant and that one song by Sting are both about the bood LOLITA.

― Megan R., Tuesday, 2 May 2006 18:10 (nineteen years ago)


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