Welcome to another Saturday night of music, memories, and conversations.
Recently, I wrote a Bookchat diary about books that inspired songs or albums. It seemed like a good topic to bring here. If you know me, you know that I am somewhat of a U2 fan. They literally wrote this song with author Salman Rushdie — The Ground Beneath Her Feet:
When he’d finished the novel of the same name, Rushdie sent a copy to Bono and asked him to set some of it to music. He worked with the band on the song, and it was used as an extra on the European version of the album. And then there’s Until The End Of The World, inspired by a book by Irish poet Brendan Kennelly called The Book of Judas — writing from his point of view. I’ve always loved this song:
In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows
But my sorrows they'd learned to swim
Surrounding me, going down on me
Spilling over the brim
Waves of regret and waves of joy.
I reached out for the one I tried to destroy.
You, you said you'd wait till the end of the world.
And recently I’m obsessed with Hozier’s forthcoming album, based on Dante’s Inferno and on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. This song, based on a couple in Hell because of lust (he was the younger brother of the old guy she was married off to for political reasons). Hozier, singing from Paolo’s point of view, says it was worth it and he’d do it all again — I saw an interview where he said that in the book, their punishment is to be eternally blown around in a hurricane, but they are together. The song is called Francesca, it is so gorgeous:
So do you have any songs that you love that were inspired by books? Or literary songs? A lot of artists refer to books…… Sting talking about Nabokov in Don’t Stand So Close To Me, Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, U2’s discography is full of references to Blake, Oscar Wilde, and other writers; there was quite a relationship between the Ramones and Stephen King….. there’s a lot out there. So if you have something, post it. And of course, if you want to post something completely different, have at it. This is a music diary, all are welcome.
Gentle reminder: Please continue to put the name of your selection in your comment along with your song. Those of us on our phones? We really appreciate it.
You know how this works — Put your quarter in the slot and your song in the comments. This is your Saturday night jukebox and the party starts NOW.
We have volunteers but could always use more.
Schedule:
July 1: I took this one
July 8:
July 15:
July 22: