View Full Version : Lyrics Inspired By Movies
Emin3m
10-25-2005, 06:01 PM
In the span of 3 days I saw/read two things that I immediately realized are song lyrics.
I finished reading 1984 (greatest read ever...) and in the middle of it you see "... controls the past now controls the future" ..."who controls the present controls the past," which is used in Rage's Testify.
Then in the White Stripes "The Union Forever," the entire monologuesque piece is Citizen Kane references.
Any other cases?
CantBuyAThrill
10-25-2005, 07:11 PM
Both Pink Floyd's album "Animals" and The Beatles' (George's) "Piggies" were loosely based on Orwell's "Animal Farm". I really like Orwell.
Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysess" (sp) is based on Homer's "The Odessey," I think.
Also, alot of stuff on Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Pink Floyd) was taken from books, like most of the lyrics to "Chapter 24," and the name of the album was a chapter in "The Wind in the Willows".
The Doors' "The End" where Morrison is telling the story about the killer is taken from Oedipus (sp) the King. Or Antigone. Pretty sure it was Oedipus.
I can't think of others off the top of my head.
Emin3m
10-25-2005, 08:26 PM
Both Pink Floyd's album "Animals" and The Beatles' (George's) "Piggies" were loosely based on Orwell's "Animal Farm". I really like Orwell.
Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysess" (sp) is based on Homer's "The Odessey," I think.
Also, alot of stuff on Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Pink Floyd) was taken from books, like most of the lyrics to "Chapter 24," and the name of the album was a chapter in "The Wind in the Willows".
The Doors' "The End" where Morrison is telling the story about the killer is taken from Oedipus (sp) the King. Or Antigone. Pretty sure it was Oedipus.
I can't think of others off the top of my head.
Awesome. Orwell is my favorite author.
And I figured ToBU was based on the Odyssey...
Thanks, good stuff.
Tomahawk
10-25-2005, 11:08 PM
I think Radiohead have made a few references to 1984 (the song "2+2=5" comes to mind). And their song Paranoid Android is full of references to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Wait, those are literary references, not movie references. But I guess there's movies of both books, so it sort of counts.
CantBuyAThrill
10-26-2005, 12:14 AM
http://nancykeane.com/rl/986.htm
There's a link you might be interested in. I'm assuming 2112 is based loosely on 1984 or is there another similar book more like 2112? I can't believe I forgot "White Rabbit" and Zeppelin songs that were related to "Lord of the Rings". I also think that "Desolation Row" is only on there because of how many allusions there are in that song. I'm familiar with alot of those songs, but most I've never even heard. Yep.
Little Man being Erased
10-26-2005, 12:27 AM
Is there a movie based on 1984?
CantBuyAThrill
10-26-2005, 12:42 AM
Is there a movie based on 1984?
Yeah. The book was better.
I totally forgot that the title was "movies." 1984 just made me think it was supposed to be books.
I finished reading 1984 (greatest read ever...) and in the middle of it you see "... controls the past now controls the future" ..."who controls the present controls the past," which is used in Rage's Testify.
And also Memory War by Asian Dub Foundation.
Robert Crumb
10-26-2005, 04:39 AM
I can't think of any off the top of my head but Yo La Tengo's "Tom Courtenay" is named after the actor of the same name. And it mentions Julie Christie. Who is an actress.
I've got nothing.
Edit: Oh and the two starred in Billy Liar, which is, coincidentally, a Decemberists song.
Dave de Sylvia
10-26-2005, 04:50 AM
Neil Young - After The Goldrush
Fatback
10-26-2005, 07:54 AM
Ray Steven's hauntingly beautiful "Guitarzan" is based on the filmed versions of Edgar Rice Borroughs work, I suppose:
Oh, Guitarzan...and his jungle band
He's all you can stand
Give him a hand
Guitarzan.
(the part about the boogie-woogie singing monkeys is just poetry)
:wave:
Emin3m
10-26-2005, 01:50 PM
It can be literature too folks... thanks.
biografiend
10-26-2005, 11:20 PM
This Charming Man by the Smiths always reminds me of The Great Gatsby. Whether the song was written about Nick and Gatsby, I have no idea.
The lyric 'A jumped-up pantry boy who never knew his place' is a direct quote from a film/book too, but god knows which one.
The_Passenger
10-27-2005, 05:38 AM
Even though they suck, Pennywise are named after the clown from It. I also think that they wrote a song about Pennywise the clown on their first album.
mr_jackalope
10-27-2005, 09:31 AM
The Cure song "Killing an Arab" is entirely based off of a scene in Camus' The Stranger, which is my favorite book.
The band Okkervil River is named after a short story written by Tolstoy's niece (at least I think; I know it was a Russian author, but it could be him or Dostoievski).
Baliente
10-29-2005, 03:19 PM
We just started reading Animal Farm. When the teacher told us what it was about, I couldn't help but be reminded of the Pink Floyd album Animals.
At another site, everyone said the three pigs were more recent people. But I was just thinking about how on Animal Farm, there's three pigs that are based on Trotsky, Stalin, and someone else that I can't remember.
robot
10-29-2005, 10:27 PM
Theres a Kelly Osborne music video thats based off of the movie Alphaville.
LifeIsDandy
10-29-2005, 10:33 PM
Adventure Today by The Aquabats was inspired by the childhood classic, The Goonies.
Tomahawk
10-29-2005, 11:58 PM
At another site, everyone said the three pigs were more recent people. But I was just thinking about how on Animal Farm, there's three pigs that are based on Trotsky, Stalin, and someone else that I can't remember.
In the book, theres pigs based on Stalin, Trotsky, Molotov, Lenin/Marx, and maybe some more that I can't remember.
In the song, the 3 pigs are Thatcher (2nd verse), Mary Whitehouse (3rd verse), and I'm not sure who the 1st verse is about. I don't know if it's about anybody in particular.
Emin3m
10-31-2005, 05:34 PM
Does anyone write better books than Orwell?
1984 + Animal Farm
^ gooooood shtit
CantBuyAThrill
10-31-2005, 05:43 PM
If you like Orwell, I suggest that you check out Huxley. Also, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.(Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle) and Joseph Heller (Catch 22) are some authors I really liked, and they have a vaguely similar message, though they get it all across in totally different ways. Slaughterhouse Five may be my favorite book ever, (1984 was my favorite right before I read Slaughterhouse.)
To make this relevant to the topic, I'm 99 percent sure that in Animal Farm Lenin/Marx was represented by Old Major, Stalin was Napoleon, Trotsky was Snowball. The dogs were the KGB and the farmers were the west/capitalists. There were quite a few more, and I'm sure you could google it if you're really interested.
Dreww
10-31-2005, 08:10 PM
Taxi Driver obviously inspired The Clash's "Red Angel Dragnet".
Does anyone write better books than Orwell?
1984 + Animal Farm
^ gooooood shtit
Check out We by Zamyatin.
Emin3m
11-01-2005, 02:54 PM
Check out We by Zamyatin.
What's it about?
I really love satires and books dealing with history. The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller is another great read.
BillCosby
11-01-2005, 05:14 PM
The whole Diamond Dogs album by David Bowie was inspired by 1984.
Lots of things were.
EightMilesHigh
11-01-2005, 06:33 PM
Talking Heads:
"This is not my beautiful house, and this is not my beautiful wife."
That's from something. Not sure what.
Yarbles
11-05-2005, 05:14 AM
The Bruce Springsteen song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is based on the book The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Rage Against The Machine also did a cover of Bruce Springsteen's song for their Renegades album.
deejuks2
11-05-2005, 01:33 PM
Neil Young - After The Goldrush
what movie?
Robert Crumb
11-05-2005, 02:13 PM
Talking Heads:
"This is not my beautiful house, and this is not my beautiful wife."
That's from something. Not sure what.
Secret Window (the movie where Johnny Depp plays a psycho writer dude) steals that line. I dunno if it comes up in anywhere else.
CantBuyAThrill
11-06-2005, 12:40 AM
We just read a short story by Hawthorne in my English class, "Goodman Brown" or something like that, and my teacher mentioned that it had a connection to the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil."
himynameistweek
11-06-2005, 06:17 PM
the ataris.
i'm not even going to go into specific songs, cause there would be like 20.
they often just randomly put actual audio clips from movies into breakdowns in their songs.
Axelthesot
11-09-2005, 08:52 PM
Gatsybys American Dream writes about all sorts of literature and movies.
Their first album (Ribbons and Sugar) was based around Animal Farm.
The second album (Volcano) aludes to The Lord of the Flies, The Lord of the Rings, An Invterview With a Vampire, and Jurassic Park.
pendrightheloved1
11-10-2005, 03:03 PM
A lot of punk music has references to A Clockwork Orange, like **** Sparrer - Droogs Dont Run
There are, of course, ****loads of examples for Kate Bush.
Aeaon
11-11-2005, 01:56 AM
The Clash - Red Angel Dragnet
If you listen closely to some of the lyrics, you can tell that it's from Taxi Driver.
There are a bunch of things named after books, but I'm not so sure of any about movies off the top of my head. There's Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls and Iron Maiden's Brave New World (album)
rage f*****g rule
11-15-2005, 01:09 PM
Does anyone write better books than Orwell?
1984 + Animal Farm
^ gooooood shtit
anyone write better than orwell? NO!
he's a great author.
my favourites:
1984
Animal Farm
Burmese Days
they are great reads.
Klander Brigade
11-15-2005, 10:07 PM
I finished reading 1984 (greatest read ever...) and in the middle of it you see "... controls the past now controls the future" ..."who controls the present controls the past," which is used in Rage's Testify.
I just finished reading 1984 ten minutes ago. Sick book, sick song.
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