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Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
5 songs you did not know were inspired by novels
Art often echoes, borrows, or builds on what came before it, transcending the boundaries of time, space, and medium. Paintings have inspired poems, and novels have inspired films, and artists and writers often use music as as inspiration. Musicians, too, often draw inspiration from other art forms, depicting them sonically through lyrics, beats, and melodies. Here are a few songs by rock bands that are directly influenced inspired by characters, stories, and themes of renowned literary works: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane adds a sinister tone to the classic children's tale, a stark contrast to the childlike wonder that is associated with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Maple press, pages 120, Rs 125) authored by Lewis Carroll. Released in 1967, the song portrays the experience of taking psychedelics which was characteristic to the counterculture movement in the 1960s. Beginning with the lines, 'One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small', the song uses Alice's eccentric and whimsical experiences in Wonderland to describe the experience of taking psychedelics. The eerie instrumental accompanied with the powerful and haunting vocals, creates a surreal atmosphere that reflects the effect of psychedelics on the mind. With a title that directly refers to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (Penguin Select Classics, pages 304, Rs 199), 2+2=5 by Radiohead tells the story of the narrator who is trapped in an Orwellian regime. The statement, 'Two and two makes five' in the novel illustrates how the Party maintains absolute control over logic and thinking of its subjects; it symbolises total submission to the authoritarian regime and the complete disintegration of individual thought. The narrator in the song is a subject of such an authoritative regime. The sudden shift in the pace and tone of the song is indicative of the narrator's inner dilemma between choosing to be a subject of this regime or revolting against it. Also by Anosha Rishi | How Bookstagram is changing the way we discover and discuss books One of The Police's most popular songs, Don't Stand So Close To Me, a groovy pop rock song about a sensual relationship between a teacher and his student, is inspired by Vladimir Nabokov's most renowned novel, Lolita (Penguin, pages 368, Rs 550). The desire of the teacher mirrors that of Humbert, the protagonist of the novel who was infatuated with a young girl, Lolita. Lolita is infamous for the age-gap between the two characters and the immoral acts executed by Humbert to be closer to her. The song directly refers to Humbert: 'It's no use, he sees her he starts to shake and cough, Just like the old man in the book by Nabakov'. The Rolling Stones' Sympathy For The Devil is inspired by Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, The Master and Margarita (Penguin, pages 432, Rs 399). The lyrics are written from the perspective of a devil reminiscent of Woland, the devil from The Master and Margarita, who arrives in Moscow and incites chaos while helping The Master, a novelist who is the protagonist of the novel. The devil in the song also recalls some of the same historical events as the novel, such as the crucifixion of Jesus which holds great significance in the novel. The song explores moral ambiguity which is one of the major themes of the novel embodied in the character of Woland. The playful instrumental, with elements of samba music, adds a flair of devilishness to the song. Weaving fantasy into rock, Ramble On by Led Zeppelin directly references locations and characters from The Lord of The Rings in the lines, 'Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair, but Gollum and the Evil One, crept up and slipped away with her'. Ramble On is a song about love and heartbreak from the perspective of someone who left their past lover behind and is now on the search for a greater love. Incorporating elements of fantasy adds a surprising twist to a classic narrative. Led Zeppelin has referenced The Lord of The Rings in their other songs as well, such as Misty Mountain Hop and The Battle of Evermore. Written by an intern with
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
7 songs you did not know were inspired by novels
Art often echoes, borrows, or builds on what came before it, transcending the boundaries of time, space, and medium. Paintings have inspired poems, and novels have inspired films, and artists and writers often use music as as inspiration. Musicians, too, often draw inspiration from other art forms, depicting them sonically through lyrics, beats, and melodies. Here are a few songs by rock bands that are directly influenced inspired by characters, stories, and themes of renowned literary works: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane adds a sinister tone to the classic children's tale, a stark contrast to the childlike wonder that is associated with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Maple press, pages 120, Rs 125) authored by Lewis Carroll. Released in 1967, the song portrays the experience of taking psychedelics which was characteristic to the counterculture movement in the 1960s. Beginning with the lines, 'One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small', the song uses Alice's eccentric and whimsical experiences in Wonderland to describe the experience of taking psychedelics. The eerie instrumental accompanied with the powerful and haunting vocals, creates a surreal atmosphere that reflects the effect of psychedelics on the mind. With a title that directly refers to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (Penguin Select Classics, pages 304, Rs 199), 2+2=5 by Radiohead tells the story of the narrator who is trapped in an Orwellian regime. The statement, 'Two and two makes five' in the novel illustrates how the Party maintains absolute control over logic and thinking of its subjects; it symbolises total submission to the authoritarian regime and the complete disintegration of individual thought. The narrator in the song is a subject of such an authoritative regime. The sudden shift in the pace and tone of the song is indicative of the narrator's inner dilemma between choosing to be a subject of this regime or revolting against it. Also by Anosha Rishi | How Bookstagram is changing the way we discover and discuss books One of The Police's most popular songs, Don't Stand So Close To Me, a groovy pop rock song about a sensual relationship between a teacher and his student, is inspired by Vladimir Nabokov's most renowned novel, Lolita (Penguin, pages 368, Rs 550). The desire of the teacher mirrors that of Humbert, the protagonist of the novel who was infatuated with a young girl, Lolita. Lolita is infamous for the age-gap between the two characters and the immoral acts executed by Humbert to be closer to her. The song directly refers to Humbert: 'It's no use, he sees her he starts to shake and cough, Just like the old man in the book by Nabakov'. The Rolling Stones' Sympathy For The Devil is inspired by Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, The Master and Margarita (Penguin, pages 432, Rs 399). The lyrics are written from the perspective of a devil reminiscent of Woland, the devil from The Master and Margarita, who arrives in Moscow and incites chaos while helping The Master, a novelist who is the protagonist of the novel. The devil in the song also recalls some of the same historical events as the novel, such as the crucifixion of Jesus which holds great significance in the novel. The song explores moral ambiguity which is one of the major themes of the novel embodied in the character of Woland. The playful instrumental, with elements of samba music, adds a flair of devilishness to the song. Weaving fantasy into rock, Ramble On by Led Zeppelin directly references locations and characters from The Lord of The Rings in the lines, 'Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair, but Gollum and the Evil One, crept up and slipped away with her'. Ramble On is a song about love and heartbreak from the perspective of someone who left their past lover behind and is now on the search for a greater love. Incorporating elements of fantasy adds a surprising twist to a classic narrative. Led Zeppelin has referenced The Lord of The Rings in their other songs as well, such as Misty Mountain Hop and The Battle of Evermore.
San Francisco Chronicle
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Breakout moment': S.F. Symphony marks a first in 88th visit to Stern Grove Festival
Of all the antiquated and exotic stringed instruments that have been performed in the San Francisco Symphony, it had never had a ukulele on its stage backed by a full orchestra until Sunday afternoon at Stern Grove. The performance was by Taimane, a Hawaiian virtuoso who was discovered busking on the streets of Waikiki by none other than Don Ho, who brought her onto his show at age 13. Back then she called him 'Uncle Don.' Now she is 36 and tours the world with her own stringed quartet, but never before this weekend had she played with a major orchestra on the mainland, and she put it through the test by using elements of Led Zeppelin and Jefferson Airplane along with Bach. Her mission was to 'provide perspective for people who only know the ukulele as a toy or a souvenir,' Taimane said before the show as she huddled in her dressing room with her band, drinking hot tea and trying to stay warm in the summer fog. 'The ukulele is kind of an underdog, but it can be as serious as a violin.' Audiences love underdogs, and 50,000 people signed up in advance for Sunday's annual performance by the San Francisco Symphony, which has performed at the grove for 88 years. Performers wear their summer white coats to blend in with the fog and the program can be counted on to push the boundaries, though never as far as an electric ukulele. 'It's all about introducing people to classical music,' said Carissa Casaldo, who programs the summer show and recruited Taimane after hearing her perform on an NPR program called 'Tiny Desk.' She then flew to Hawaii in April to see her perform with the Hawaiian Orchestra. 'I wanted someone upbeat and relevant and trend-forward,' said Casaldo, who came to San Francisco a year ago from the Seattle Symphony. 'It's all about introducing people to classical music. The Stern Grove audience is not the same as the audience at Davies Hall.' For one thing tickets are free with a reservation, and with a lottery system inaugurated this year, there were 10,000 winners from 50,000 applicants. The free show is supported by donors who get a table in front of the hillside. On Sunday, for the first time since the COVID-19 shutdown, table donors were also invited into the historic Trocadero Clubhouse for a pre-show interview with a KALW radio host and Symphony conductor, Edwin Outwater, who is also director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. A standing-room-only crowd piled in to see the old wooden barn with a bullet hole in the front door for the first time since a tree fell on the roof and put it out of commission in 2022. It has now been rebuilt. 'It's a grand reopening of a unique part of Stern Grove that we haven't been able to use for years, since a tree smashed it to smithereens,' said Bob Fiedler, executive director of the Stern Grove Festival. It was Taimane's second show with the San Francisco Symphony, having opened the weekend with a July Fourth fireworks show at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. 'They were great to watch, to listen to, and to escape to a tranquil state of mind,' associate principal bass player Daniel Smith said before Sunday's show. 'In other words, they were sick.' Taimane had never before played San Francisco and personalized it by having the band wear traditional lei po'o wreaths that the band's dancer had scrounged from Stern Grove vegetation. It was a big moment for the ukulele, and the band played in the dressing room for half an hour before taking the stage so the players' fingers would be warm in the fog. They also stretched and had a glass of wine. 'It's a breakout moment for the ukulele and for the Symphony, too,' she said beforehand, 'to trust us to make something new.'
Montreal Gazette
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Montreal Gazette
Brownstein: Serial jazz fest performer Holly Cole returns to make magic and melt hearts
Music By If one were to be entirely selfish, it would be simply sublime to catch Holly Cole in a minimalist setting, like some dimly lit piano bar, to perform cuts from her recently released 13th album, Dark Moon, an alluring trip down memory lane, in which she covers an array of unexpected tunes rarely covered these days. Among the album's 11 tracks are Comin' Back to Me, made famous by Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin in 1967; Walk Away Renée, released by the Left Banke in 1966; Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer's 1961 classic Moon River, immortalized by Andy Williams among many others; and the title track Dark Moon, recorded by Bonnie Guitar in 1957. Cole, as she is wont to do, brings a soothing, sultry sound to these tunes, regardless of the setting. A sweet kind of sadness, if you will. And no doubt that Cole will be able to work her magic once again when she plays the Montreal International Jazz Festival, July 2 at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe. An expected sell-out crowd of the venue's nearly 800-seat capacity at this Place des Arts venue would certainly provide more revenue relief for a performer than would an audience in the dozens at a piano bar, no matter how intimate the setting. 'The show will be pared down a little. For instance, there will be no drums, and if you're going to pick something to remove from your band that's going to make the most significant difference in terms of it being an intimate show, that's the drums,' Cole says in a phone interview from her Toronto home. Cole may have also set a record of sorts for including three different 'moon' tunes on one album. The third is No Moon at All, a 1947 jazz standard first recorded by Doris Day and more recently by Seth MacFarlane – yes, the very same Family Guy-creator dude in his lesser-known but astonishing Sinatra-like crooner mode. Cole's obsession with the moon is hardly an accident. 'The moon is my muse,' Cole says. 'It has been since I was a child. I've always been fascinated. I was about 3 or 4 in Halifax where I grew up and I first saw it at night. I had woken up in the middle of the night with this horrible croup cough. My mom crushed up some aspirin in canned peaches so I would eat it. And then my dad wrapped me up in a bunch of blankets and took me outside on his shoulders. That was the first time I saw the moon. I was mesmerized. How was it possible everything could be so dark, except the moon? It blew my mind! When I came home from that, I thought I had the best secret ever.' And as so befits a jazz crooner, she was to become a full-fledged night person. 'The howling at the moon only came later,' Cole jokes. She won't be backed up by her usual trio here, but by another group of musicians she has played with 'continually' over the years. 'They're my dream team. They know I'm a minimalist, that I really respect space around the words for people to be able to absorb their meaning. So I decided to do some songs that I've wanted to do for a very long time.' Cole has long had a penchant for 're-shaping' standards from all musical genres in her own inimitable style. 'But the funny thing about the moon songs I do don't actually talk about the moon in typical fashion. For instance, in No Moon at All, she wants the moon to go away so they can have sex in the dark,' she quips. 'The point is that I love a subtext and I love sad songs … they exorcise my demons. But I'm really not morose … I like to explore my emotions, and some of them happen to be darker.' But where does she go from here? Here Comes the Sun? 'That's an interesting idea. It's already percolating. I actually adored that song.' It's always a homecoming of sorts when Cole returns to the jazz fest. By her own count, she has done the festival 'at least 15 times.' 'Montreal is my favourite city. I mean it. I say that every time I go.' She also proved it in titling her 2021-released album, Montreal. In helping to celebrate the fest's 40th anniversary in 2019, she reunited with the original Holly Cole Trio to perform a series of shows at the Lion d'Or, which were recorded and then emerged as said disc two years later. The feeling is obviously mutual. Among the multiple honours she has earned — including Juno Awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for Don't Smoke in Bed and Best Vocal Jazz Album of the Year for Shade — another she really cherishes is the Ella Fitzgerald Award presented to her by the jazz fest in 2013. Cole's history with the festival also has a fairy-tale-like beginning, going back 42 years ago when the event was in its infancy. 'This will date me, but when I was 19, I sent Alain Simard and André Menard (the fest's co-founders) a cassette. I didn't even have a band then. They responded, saying: 'Great. Come sing.' So I did and performed at an outdoor site on the corner of Rue Ontario and St-Laurent. That was my first big gig. 'Big thanks to those guys for listening to a random cassette and saying yes. They didn't know me. What are the odds of that ever happening these days?' Not even Vegas would give those odds.
Ottawa Citizen
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Ottawa Citizen
Brownstein: Serial jazz fest performer Holly Cole returns to make magic and melt hearts
Article content If one were to be entirely selfish, it would be simply sublime to catch Holly Cole in a minimalist setting, like some dimly lit piano bar, to perform cuts from her recently released 13th album, Dark Moon, an alluring trip down memory lane, in which she covers an array of unexpected tunes rarely covered these days. Article content Among the album's 11 tracks are Comin' Back to Me, made famous by Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin in 1967; Walk Away Renée, released by the Left Banke in 1966; Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer's 1961 classic Moon River, immortalized by Andy Williams among many others; and the title track Dark Moon, recorded by Bonnie Guitar in 1957. Article content Article content Cole, as she is wont to do, brings a soothing, sultry sound to these tunes, regardless of the setting. A sweet kind of sadness, if you will. Article content Article content And no doubt that Cole will be able to work her magic once again when she plays the Montreal International Jazz Festival, July 2 at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe. An expected sell-out crowd of the venue's nearly 800-seat capacity at this Place des Arts venue would certainly provide more revenue relief for a performer than would an audience in the dozens at a piano bar, no matter how intimate the setting. Article content 'The show will be pared down a little. For instance, there will be no drums, and if you're going to pick something to remove from your band that's going to make the most significant difference in terms of it being an intimate show, that's the drums,' Cole says in a phone interview from her Toronto home. Article content Cole may have also set a record of sorts for including three different 'moon' tunes on one album. The third is No Moon at All, a 1947 jazz standard first recorded by Doris Day and more recently by Seth MacFarlane – yes, the very same Family Guy-creator dude in his lesser-known but astonishing Sinatra-like crooner mode. Article content Article content Cole's obsession with the moon is hardly an accident. Article content 'The moon is my muse,' Cole says. 'It has been since I was a child. I've always been fascinated. I was about 3 or 4 in Halifax where I grew up and I first saw it at night. I had woken up in the middle of the night with this horrible croup cough. My mom crushed up some aspirin in canned peaches so I would eat it. And then my dad wrapped me up in a bunch of blankets and took me outside on his shoulders. That was the first time I saw the moon. I was mesmerized. How was it possible everything could be so dark, except the moon? It blew my mind! When I came home from that, I thought I had the best secret ever.' Article content 'The howling at the moon only came later,' Cole jokes.
