10 Literary Works Set to Music

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

My personal favorite, "The Inner Light", George Harrison, issued as a "Beatles"
B-side. Lyrics from the Tao te Ching.
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Daniel Julius" <daniel.julius at gmail.com>
> "Don't Walk Away So Fast" and "If I Live or If I Die" by John Vanderslice,
> adapted from William Blake's poetry, and "My Old Flame" by the same, adapted
> from Robert Lowell: Lovely experimental baroque pop music from the West
> Coast, the best coast.  Highly recommended.
> 
> http://www.johnvanderslice.com/html/lyrics_ttil_text.html
> 
> 
> --
> Dan
> 
> On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 11:44 AM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
> > 10 Literary Works Set to Music
> > Brett K
> > August 5, 2008
> >
> > It's not hard to find literary allusions in popular music. From the
> > Tolkienesque imagery of Led Zeppelin songs like "The Battle for
> > Evermore" and "Ramble On" to more obscure selections, like Laurie
> > Anderson's Pynchon-inspired "Gravity's Angel," they're just about
> > everywhere. Less common, though, are songs whose lyrics are taken
> > directly from literary sources. Here are some of the best.
> >
> > "Golden Hair" - Syd Barrett: This song comes from Barrett's debut
> > album, The Madcap Laughs, released shortly after his departure from
> > Pink Floyd. The lyrics come from James Joyce's "Poem V," a selection
> > from Chamber Music.
> >
> > "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" - The Doors: This Bertolt Brecht/Kurt
> > Weill song was made popular by The Doors when it appeared on their
> > self-titled debut in 1967. It was originally written for the short
> > play Mahagonny-Songspiel (The Little Mahagonny).
> >
> > "Home I'll Never Be" - Tom Waits: Jack Kerouac, the beatnik icon and
> > author of On the Road, penned the words to this song. It appears on
> > Waits' 2006 collection Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, which
> > also features a song with lyrics taken from a Charles Bukowski poem.
> >
> > "Annabel Lee" - Joan Baez: Composer Peter Schickele worked with Joan
> > Baez in 1967 to produce an album of covers. Most of the songs are
> > covers of then-popular tunes by Lennon/McCartney, Paul Simon and
> > Jacques Brel, but Baez also included an odd duck: a recording of Edgar
> > Allan Poe's last poem, "Annabel Lee."
> >
> > "Sonnets/Unrealities XI" - Björk: The words to this song come from an
> > E. E. Cummings poem called "it may not always be so; and i say." It
> > was released on Björk's 2004 album Medúlla, described by Rolling Stone
> > magazine as "the most extreme record Bjork has ever released and the
> > most immediately accessible."
> >
> > "I Zimbra" - Talking Heads: The opening track to the Talking Heads'
> > landmark album Fear of Music, "I Zimbra" probably sounds to most
> > people like David Byrne & Co. simply chanting nonsense phrases. Well,
> > it's sort of true. The words come from Hugo Ball's dadaist poem "Gadji
> > beri bimba."
> >
> > "Take This Waltz" - Leonard Cohen: The lyrics to this song, from
> > 1988's classic I'm Your Man album, are the English translation of
> > Federico García Lorca's poem "Pequeño vals vienés." The poem
> > originally appeared in Lorca's Poeta en Nueva York.
> >
> > "Spell" - Patti Smith: Patti Smith has always acknowledged the
> > influence of poetry on her music. "Spell," from the album Peace and
> > Noise, takes its lyrics from Allen Ginsberg's "Footnote to Howl."
> >
> > "Amor mio, si muero y tu no mueres" - Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: Peter
> > Lieberson was in an Albuquerque airport when he found a book of Pablo
> > Neruda's love sonnets. Neruda Songs, released several years later,
> > features Lieberson's wife Lorraine singing a selection of the sonnets
> > with the accompaniment of Peter's music.
> >
> > "The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs" - Hilde Torgersen & Bjørn
> > Rabben: Yes, this is one of those John Cage pieces where someone sings
> > while someone else taps on the lid of a closed piano. The words come
> > from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
> >
> > Listen to samples ...
> >
> > http://www.getlisty.com/10-literary-works-set-to-music/
> >
> >
> 


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