Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/06/89)
Really-From: juli@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Julian West) > [Kate's use of "without" in breathing..] Brilliant observation, succinctly made, IED. _NfE_ is the album I am least familiar with, and I had not noticed this before. It also reminds me of the double meaning of "sensual" I called attention to yesterday. > IED only knows of Tennyson's reference to nine waves ... > perhaps we should ask Julian. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not the all-round literary expert you take me for. However, I'm intrigued enough to consider doing a little library work on this one. _I_ didn't know any references to _seven_ waves, so I'll try to track some down. (Can you supply any?) As I said only last week, another reference to _nine_ waves can be found in chapter three of _Ulysses_. I am so pleased to hear that disc jockeys are beginning to mention the source material for _TSW_. > [Death is a major theme of _TSW_, side one.] Interesting theory! Care to elaborate? I, for one, am convinced that the album is more cohesive, both musically and thematically, than early reports have suggested. Does anyone else have any other "connecting principles"? > [Kate considered setting Joyce's words rather than writing her own.] There seems to be no other way to interpret Kate's statement in the "London" interview. If this is true it is, as IED remarks, extremely exciting! Can anyone cite _any_ precedent for this in "pop" music? Perhaps in the future, other literary estates won't be so stubborn. (The Joyce estate was never known to be the most cooperative...) Julian
Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/06/89)
Really-From: rubinoff@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Robert Rubinoff) In article <8910051720.AA03664@cabot.dartmouth.edu> Love-Hounds@GAFFA.MIT.EDU writes: >Really-From: juli@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Julian West) >> [Kate considered setting Joyce's words rather than writing her own.] >There seems to be no other way to interpret Kate's statement in the "London" >interview. If this is true it is, as IED remarks, extremely exciting! >Can anyone cite _any_ precedent for this in "pop" music? Well, the show "Hair" used a passage from Shakespeare as the lyrics for the song "What a Piece of Work is Man". And the Byrds(?) adapted a passage from Ecclesiastes for one of their songs (I'm not sure what the actual title was, but the chorus starts with "To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn turn"). I'm sure there have been others as well. Of course, in the case of Shakespeare and Ecclesiastes, the copyright had expired! Robert
Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/06/89)
Really-From: greg@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Greg O'Rear) In article <8910051720.AA03664@cabot.dartmouth.edu> Love-Hounds@GAFFA.MIT.EDU writes: >Really-From: juli@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Julian West) >> [Kate considered setting Joyce's words rather than writing her own.] >There seems to be no other way to interpret Kate's statement in the "London" >interview. If this is true it is, as IED remarks, extremely exciting! >Can anyone cite _any_ precedent for this in "pop" music? Perhaps in the >future, other literary estates won't be so stubborn. (The Joyce estate >was never known to be the most cooperative...) > >Julian Well, yes I can cite a precedent. Syd Barrett used James Joyce's words for his song (I think it was) "Golden Hair" from 1969-70 ("Madcap Laughs" or "Barrett", can't remember which). There is a credit on the album stating that Syd got permission to use the lyrics. -- Greg O'Rear University of Florida greg@beach.cis.ufl.edu
Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/06/89)
Really-From: Jon Drukman <jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU> >Really-From: juli@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Julian West) > >> [Death is a major theme of _TSW_, side one.] >Interesting theory! Care to elaborate? I, for one, am convinced that the >album is more cohesive, both musically and thematically, than early reports >have suggested. Does anyone else have any other "connecting principles"? Yeah, all the songs sound the same. I can't believe Joe Turner didn't find it cohesive. Timbrally speaking, it's about as varied as vanilla pudding! I dunno bout death being a "major theme" however. "Minor subtext" is more like it. Let's do a quick spot-check. The Sensual World: is there death in this one? sounds more like sex to me. Perhaps IED is cleverly referring to la petite morte? Love and Anger: well, i'd say this one is about love, on the one hand, and gee, could it possibly be anger on the other? Yeah. No death here. The Fog: OK, death is definitely a major player in this piquant entracte. Of course, since this is _plainly_ an outtake from "the Ninth Wave", what do you expect? Reaching Out: I don't hear any death images here. But, this song gives me severe gastrointestinal pains, so I haven't paid the closest attention to the words. they seem to be more about the tendency of natural things to reach out for other natural things. Heads We're Dancing: This song remains a major puzzle to me. If my crazy theories regarding the lyrics are correct, then death could be a major text here. six million deaths, to be precise! So, the re-cap: death songs: one and a half, maybe two. Non-death songs: three. Bummer guys! Does anybody think that _rocket's_tail_ is about suicide? I do. -- +---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? --------------------+ | | |\ | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | "A man's home is his coffin." | | \|on |/rukman | jsd@umass.bitnet | - Al Bundy | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/06/89)
Really-From: dbk@cs.UMD.EDU (Dan Kozak) > Really-From: rubinoff@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Robert Rubinoff) > for the song "What a Piece of Work is Man". And the Byrds(?) adapted > a passage from Ecclesiastes for one of their songs (I'm not sure what > the actual title was, but the chorus starts with "To everything, turn, turn, > turn, there is a season, turn, turn turn"). I'm sure there have been others > as well. Of course, in the case of Shakespeare and Ecclesiastes, the > copyright had expired! While the hit version of "Turn, Turn, Turn" was recorded by the Byrds, I'm almost certain that the song was written by Pete Seeger. #dan Clever: dbk@mimsy.umd.edu | "For I was rolled in water, Not-so-clever: uunet!mimsy!dbk | I was rolled out past the pier" - MoB