Songs of Literary Inspiration
Lomanno (lomanno@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 10:31:32 -0500
Camille wrote:
> My point is - *anything* that can enlighten, lead a path into or otherwise
> entice anyone to read a fine piece of literature and enjoy it - even a
> really bad cable adaptation, even the Classics Illustrated comic book
> version - is worth it. There's absolutely no reason to be snobbish about
> it. Apart from anything, it actually is a good song and in a lot of ways
> the spirit of Punk is more close to the spirit of Holden than anything
> else. The guys from Green Day loved the book and loved Holden - why
> shouldn't they proclaim this and even make one kid read the book when they
> otherwise wouldn't have?
I agree completely. I've been inspired to pick up many a brilliant
writer because of a reference in a song: The Police introduced me to
Nabokov with "Don't Stand So Close to Me";
Metallica got me curious about Dalton Trumbo's book JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN
with their song "One" (although I couldn't read past the 1st page--too
disturbing);
I picked up Kerouac for the 1st time after hearing the Beastie Boys'
lyric, "I'm reading ON THE ROAD by my man Jack Kerouac" on a song on
their Paul's Boutique album;
I also picked up Bukowski after hearing the Red Hot Chili Peppers say,
"I pick up my book, I read Bukowski" on their BloodSugarSexMagic album;
Although I was familiar with the story, The Doors' song "The End"
inspired me to take another look at the Oedipus Rex story;
"Alice In Wonderland" became one of my all-time favorite stories after I
re-read it as an adult upon listening to Jefferson Airplane's "White
Rabbit";
Although it wasn't in a song, I first picked up a Hunter S. Thompson
book because I read that Les Claypool from Primus was a big fan.
Good music is like literature in 3-D. You can actually FEEL the words
rather than simply reading them. And when my favorite musicians make
references to certain authors or stories, I take those references
seriously enough to go out and get them myself.
I think kids do the same thing; for many of them, music is their life.
And no matter how cheesy the reference, I think anything that gets kids
interested in literature is a good thing.
--Kari