LECIN%RU-GREEN@sri-unix.UUCP (06/15/83)
From: Mijjil (Matthew J Lecin) <LECIN@RU-GREEN>
Worthy of mention is ROCKET MAN, (lyrics by Bernie Taupin, music by
Elton John) - which is more than obviously inspired by the short
story ROCKET MAN, from Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man".
{Mijjil}gcsherwood@watcgl.UUCP (Geoffrey C. Sherwood) (06/18/83)
One of the most sf-inspired "songs" has got to be Karn Evil 9 by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. I quote songs because it is actually three (four, maybe) songs put together. These songs are quite well known (especially Welcome back my Friends, which is part of the first impression), so I won't go into details. If you have not heard these, they are worth a listen. As far as I know, they were not based on any particular piece. One song that is based on an sf novel is Sirens of Titan, by Al Stewart (based on the novel of the same name by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.). I found this song quite incomprehensible -- until I read the book (which I also found fairly incomprehensible). It's not that the lyrics are unintelligible or anything, just that there are so many references to the scenes and characters in the book that to the uninitiated the action described in the song cannot be followed. Once you have read the book, however, the song captures the essence of the book in three or four stanzas. This song is on Modern Times (the album also has some other superb songs on it if you are fond of Al Stewart (Year of the Cat, Time Passages). This album was also engineered by Alan Parsons (he also did YotC and TP). - cheers - - geoff sherwood - _ u. of waterloo -
drforsey@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Forsey) (06/20/83)
Elton John song "Dan Dare" was also inspired by a long running and excellent weekly science fiction comic strip of the same name. Dan Dare saved the solar system for many years as part of a weekly paper for boys