Guys and gals,
In college, I had an English Prof. who declared his love of U2 before
the class with pride. His justification, being an old codger of sorts, was
that the best rock bands are usually the ones whose lyrics reference
literature. He seemed to think this type of songwriting was a byproduct of
an intelligent mind, which would provide superior compositional skills as
well. Interesting.
So, my question to this list is this- who or what are the most literate
performers you can think of, and what works do they reference? Don recently
pointed out an interesting literary fact regarding Bruce Cockburn's
"Wondering Where the Lions Are", and Kevin recently provided an excellent
extrapolation of the numerous Buechner references in DA's latest opus "Mr..
Buechner's Dream". I've enjoyed these posts immeasurably, and thirst for
more.
Of course, all Christian bands reference the Bible, so those responses
go without saying...
My contribution to this subject is that group of hippie-punks from
down under- Midnight Oil. (surprise!) From the earliest, punkiest days of
their career they demonstrated literary savy. The phrase "The Lucky
Country", coined by Prof. Donald Horne with his book of the same title, was
an ironic but optimistic criticism of Australian society under Menzies, but
it had become co-opted by self-congratulatory nationalists. The Oils got it
right, though, empahsizing the true meaning in the sacrastic undertones of
their song "Lucky Country". Later, they would go on to reference scripture,
political speeches, and sometimes both. ("How stands the city on this
winter's night, there's a city on a hill, or so they said, the snow is
falling down around the armory, and the city's closing in around my head.)
The song "Harrisburg", which hits close to home, was based on the a book
"The Great Prawn War & Other Stories" by Dennis Kevans, while 1990's hit
"Blue Sky Mine" was inspired by true events as written about in a book
called "Blue Murder". The band also borrows a phrase from Autralian poet
Henry Lawson on "Shakers and Movers". Finally, Peter Garrett, the band's
outspoken vocalist and icon, wrote a book of political essays, "Political
Blues". All of these are non-fiction works, however, and are likely of
little interest to many on this list. :-(
Which leads us to the present day- 2-19-02- and the band's 14th full
length collection of songs that one critic heralded as "unashamedly retro"-
"Capricornia". I don't know if the original book of the same name that some
of the new material is based on is fiction or not, but I suspect that it is.
It is an out of print 1930's tale by novelist Xavier Herbert about a man
discovering the truth about his aboriginal ancestry and trying to reconcile
it with his role within the very racist society of Australia. Sound
interesting? Many of the songs on "Capricornia" were penned for a film
based on the book that the Oils were considering making. (How perfect this
is for the people on this list!) :-)
So, there you have it. Oh, and the CD cover decipts a golden calf,
while the newest single laments the opulence and misdirection of the current
and so-called (in Oz) "Golden Age". hmmm....
more info @ http://www.weeklyplanet.com/2001-11-08/music_feature.html
Oily,
Matt, who shamelessly will employ any trick to turn people on to this great,
great band
np James, on wyep- http://www.wyep.org
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