Music and Literature:

by Derek Campbell

As most of us know, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan won the 2016 Noble Prize in Literature. This was a ground-breaking event, as he was the first musician to receive the award. It just goes to how people's interpretations of literature can go many ways. However, novels and poems are more closely related to music than what meets the eye. Here is a list of some famous artists with songs that were based upon books/poems:

- IRON MAIDEN:
Iron Maiden has been known to delve into books and historic events for song inspiration. Some of these include:

- THE TROOPER:
Released in 1983, the song is describing the Crimean War (and specifically the Battle of Balaclava). The song has also been traced to Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade, to which both describe the Brave 600 English soldiers who marched into the gruesome and brutal battle who made the decision to die for their country



- BRAVE NEW WORLD:
Delving into the realm of science fiction, the main inspiration of this song was Brave New World, a 1932 classic from author Aldous Huxley. Both describe a futuristic, totalitarian pseudo-utopia/dystopia in London. Apparently, Lead singer of iron maiden Bruce Dickinson reread the book and decided to make a song about it. Fun fact, the title "Brave New World" can be traced to Shakespeare's last play ( The Tempest, 1612) "How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in't!"







-METALLICA:
Metallica is a heavy metal band that started in the 80's, but just because the music's loud doesn't mean there isn't meaning in the songs. Some of which include:

-ONE: 
Released on the album ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, this is my all-time favorite song from that album. It is a story about a soldier in war who has a mortar go off in his face. He survives, but sadly with out arms or legs and he also loses the ability to hear, see, taste, and smell. Wondering what kind of life this is, he uses morse code to spell out the words "K-I-L-L-_-M-E...". James Hetfield (guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter) based this song on Dalton Trumbo's novel Johnny Got His Gun. In fact, there is one line passage in particular that I believe represent the message of the song perfectly:



"How could a man lose as much of himself as I have and still live? When a man buys a lottery ticket you never expect him to win because it's a million to one shot. But if he does win, you'll believe it because one in a million still leaves one. If I'd read about a guy like me in the paper I wouldn't believe it, cos it's a million to one. But a million to ONE always leaves one. I'd never expect it to happen to me because the odds of it happening are a million to one. But a million to one always leaves one. One"

-THE CALL OF KTULU/THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE:
Although these are two separate songs, they both take from the same piece of literature. Metallica has made it known that popular horror author H.P. Lovecraft was a large influence to the band, and these songs are a way of honoring the author. Both of these songs are based on one of Lovecraft's most famous novels The Call of Cthulhu. The story is about a man and his uncovering of notes about a mysterious underwater deity known as Cthulhu, and then the horror that follows. The first song (which goes by a similar title) is entirely instrumental, but the title itself reveals something. The book states that mentioning the name Cthulhu will bring him closer, which is why the "Ktulu" is purposely misspelled (for fear of the beast). The second song, Thing That Should Not Be, is paying homage to the character Cthulhu (still avoiding the word itself in the song/title). This can be seen in the main chorus of the song:

Insanity
He watches
Lurking beneath the sea
Great old one
Forbidden site
He searches
Hunter of the shadows is rising
Immortal
In madness you dwell

(the shadow rising is also based on a Lovecraft story, The Shadow over Innsmouth)








-FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
This Metallica classic is a song about the futility of war and directly relates to Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (which was based on a poem from 1623 by John Doone). The novel is about an American sent to take out a bridge under the control of a Fascist Army during the Spanish Civil War (which is evident in the song)



-RUSH:
Rush is oldest out of all the previously listed bands and said to be a major inspiration to them. Their songs are powerful, and usually contain something of a message ins them. Examples include:

- 2112:
This song is a seven part anthem that is approximately 20 mins long, and tells a story in different parts (much like chapters in a book). This song itself can be called a short story (as the printed version of the song contains unsung narration) and highly suggest listening to it and reading the story. This song was supposedly inspired by the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand (which tells the story of dystopian future and another dark age, similar to that in the song




- THE STARS LOOK DOWN:
A more depressing and unsatisfying tale, this is based on the novel The Stars Look Down by A.J. Cronin. It tells the story of a pre-WW1 miner actively seeking change in his dangerous occupation, but loses hi battle for change and parliament and his wife in the process (to which the miner continues his work as a miner, defeated). This song was written by the band's drummer Neal Peart, to which he took this personally (as he had lost his wife to cancer), issuing the statement "This seemed to express a fitting view of an uncaring universe."



-TOM SAWYER:
This is a song based on Mark Twain's novel by the same name (really doesn't need an explantation)

And there are many more songs like this out their. It just goes to show you that some songs aren't just words, and that you way need to pick up a book to fully comprehend the meaning of a song...