Music inspired by classic literature/poems/art: William Blake

[bob_32_116]

Several different tunes have been put to the words of the poem "The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B.Yeats. the song titles include "The Song of Wandering Aengus", "Wandering", and "The Golden Apples of the Sun", which is the last line of the poem. That line has also been the inspiration for a short story by Ray Bradbury, a SF compilation of the same name, and the name of a radio program.

Here's Donovan's interpretation of it:

[video=youtube;UQUT6mS0eY8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQUT6mS0eY8[/video]

[bob_32_116]

and here is Bob Lind doing it:

[video=youtube;V2hqkgH0nP8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2hqkgH0nP8[/video]

Judy Collins has recorded this same version. the music was, I am told, written by one Will Holt.

There is also a version by The Waterboys, set to a different tune again. There are probably others.

[Ruby]

^^Yes, indeed - The Waterboys made a whole album as a nod to W B Yeats – An Appointment With Mr Yeats – it’s on that. Yeats in turn cited William Blake as inspiration. I listened to it the other day, drawn in by the song title "Mad as the Mist and Snow" – always did have a soft spot for the Waterboys – memories of a misspent youth!

[video=youtube;k-CuJ9MBboE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-CuJ9MBboE[/video]

[Ruby]

Dan Fogelberg's very beautiful tribute to the wonderful artist, Georgia O'Keefe - "Bones in the Sky" ... full of surprises, he was ...

[video=youtube;_P4VnBYAvS4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P4VnBYAvS4[/video]

[SteveO]

Lyrics from the imagery of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice in Wonderland! Grace wrote the song previous to joining Jefferson Airplane. The song and its' album Surrealistic Pillow remains so fresh even after 49 years!:eek:......man Grace was so beautiful!

[video=youtube;Vl89g2SwMh4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl89g2SwMh4[/video]

[Ruby]

^Perfect subject matter for the trippy times, and yes, it does stand up well.

David Axelrod made two instrumental albums based on Blake’s works – Song of Innocence and Songs of Experience.

Both volumes of poems were illustrated and hand-written by Blake himself – apparently he was quite pedantic about their presentation, and being a printer, he had the means to experiment to his hearts’ content. Initially published as two separate volumes, he later bound them together and presented them as Songs of Innocence and Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.



I don't know how to classify Axelrod's albums in terms of genre - they're a combination of pop/jazz/orchestral/symphonic - and I haven't heard any of his other stuff but gather that he gets quite avant garde and experimental from here on. Both of these albums are eminently listenable to my ears – here’s a track from Songs of Experience – “A Little Girl Lost” ….

[video=youtube;JYmTWY0zXHc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYmTWY0zXHc[/video]

[Ruby]

The artwork for Strawbs Grave New World is from a William Blake painting - "Glad Day" or "Albion".



Any excuse to post a Strawbs song! .... The lead track -

[video=youtube;5B4kw4oYI8k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B4kw4oYI8k[/video]

[Ruby]

An obvious reference!

[video=youtube;8CRu2SWDtRA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CRu2SWDtRA[/video]

[Ruby]

Very different from MK's soundtrack to Altamira, but nonetheless inspired by the same cave paintings- Steely Dan ...

[video=youtube;DwOzwFUjg5U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwOzwFUjg5U[/video]

[Jerome]

...and according to what I have read, Paul Gallico, a non-smoker and a crusader against smoking, was not pleased by the fact that this band, with whom he came to be associated, shared the name of a popular brand of cigarettes, and in fact one of their album covers features an image obviously based on the Camel cigarettes logo.

Correct! That's why the title had to be 'Music Inspired by....' as opposed to just being called 'The Snow Goose'.