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For ages now, Iâve been noticing how many artists seem to have been inspired by the poems and artwork of William Blake. Perhaps this phenomenon is related to the types of music I choose to listen to, perhaps not; since I intend to focus on him for a while, guess Iâll be finding out!
Blake was an extremely interesting individual, a philosopher/visionary, artist and poet who was overlooked in his lifetime which was from 1757 to 1827. Two hundred years down the line, itâs quite remarkable that he should pop up so often in popular music! For ease of reference, heâs the author of âThe Tygerâ.
Because Iâve been listening to Gordon Giltrap lately â the first example that comes to mind is his Visionary â the whole album was inspired by Blakeâs artworks and his words. Mr Giltrap is an acoustic and electric guitarist and composer whose work spans several genres.
[video=youtube;ccIxQIY2iEw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccIxQIY2iEw[/video]
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
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Then thereâs ELP with the debut of the Moog Apollo â they thought this hymn, which is derived from one of Blakeâs works, would be suitably fitting for such an auspicious occasion â¦.
[video=youtube;CN11bI1_sZo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN11bI1_sZo[/video]
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
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And something a little lighter â âThe Flyâ â Esperanza Spalding â¦
[video=youtube;w2JRGv91urY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2JRGv91urY[/video]
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
Tangerine Dream - Tyger
[video=youtube;E8VuHAKLg7g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8VuHAKLg7g[/video]
The words have been used as lyrics in a number of other compositions by various artists.
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^Bring âem on!
Dylanâs âEvery Grain of Sandâ is said to have been inspired by Blakeâs âAuguries of Innocenceâ which contains the lines
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
It appears on BDâs Shot of Love and has been covered by artists from here to eternity. I like Emmylouâs version â¦
[video=youtube;spAtaEQNY8M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spAtaEQNY8M[/video]
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
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this one isn't based on Blake's works but I didn't want to start a new thread for it...
Paul Weller's superb piano ballad "wings of speed" from his brilliant "Stanley road" album from 1995 was based on
a painting by John Waterhouse, Weller says he spent hours looking at the painting in London's Tate Gallery in the early
1990s and was trying to figure out what the lady in the painting was thinking, where she was going, and where she'd
come from and he wrote the song giving his impression of it...
here's the painting:
![[Image: 300px-John_William_Waterhouse_-_The_Lady...t_edit.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/John_William_Waterhouse_-_The_Lady_of_Shalott_-_Google_Art_Project_edit.jpg/300px-John_William_Waterhouse_-_The_Lady_of_Shalott_-_Google_Art_Project_edit.jpg)
and heres the song:
[video=youtube;hMoFzC6gEpQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMoFzC6gEpQ[/video]
"BTO....Bachman,Turner,Overweight
They were big in the 70s....for five minutes,on a Saturday,after lunch..." - Me 2014.
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^Very nice. Physically getting in front of a painting is a totally different experience to seeing it any other way. Very inspirational!
And why not expand the thread? Can you take out the âWilliam Blakeâ in the title please? It can just be generic - I know there are many more examples out there!
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
I had a few examples in mind of music inspired by literature, but when I saw "William Blake" in the title I thought I had better save them for another thread.
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Vincent - Don McLean - some of the lyrics are derived from scenes and titles of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and are then woven together to describe the story of his life. IMO one of the finest examples of songwriting ever. In the VVG museum in Amsterdam there are about three floors of his paintings with the ground floor reserved for unknown artists. My favourite of his was a spinning wheel in the moonlight.
'The purpose of life is a life of purpose' - Athena Orchard.
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Camel - The Snow Goose - inspired by the novel by Paul Gallico.
'The purpose of life is a life of purpose' - Athena Orchard.
![[Image: 300px-John_William_Waterhouse_-_The_Lady...t_edit.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_William_Waterhouse_-_The_Lady_of_Shalott_-_Google_Art_Project_edit.jpg)
