So here's a little Lit Hum related something to facilitate procrastinating if you are so inclined...
During a sleepless night a couple of weeks ago. I was
listening to music way too loud while putting together our Spring syllabus and
somehow got the idea stuck in my head to try to come up with a song for each of
the texts. Stuff that reflected some idea or character or situation we've seen in these weird and awesome texts. It turned out to be a lot of fun (Um yea, I am PRECISELY that lame) and I thought I might go ahead and put it here on the blog. And rather than just give you the
list, (where's the fun in that?) I’ve listed the songs I chose for each semester (things got out of hand)
but haven’t matched them up with their texts.
So if you’re up to it and looking for a way to procrastinate, see what you can
come up with. I’ll offer a small reward to that total bad-ass that gets the
most right. Submissions are due to me via email before the last day of class in
May.
Note of warning: this is a completely idiosyncratic list. The song-text connections
are sometimes structural, sometimes thematic, and sometimes stylistic. Some
might seem pretty obvious and some might seem completely mental (You're SHOCKED, I know). This of course reflects my own listening habits, I'm sure you could come up with an equally interesting list. In fact, if you have something better than what I have, I'd love to hear it.
Couple of hints. First, in coming up with this, I googled a bunch of the lyrics, so that might help. Also, a couple of things are on here just for a couple of lines.
Here goes nothing…
Fall
Texts
ILIAD, ODYSSEY, HYMN TO DEMETER,
HERODOTUS, THUCYDIDES, ORESTIA, OEDIPUS, MEDEA, THE CLOUDS, GENESIS, JOB, LUKE,
JOHN, THE SYMPOSIUM, THE APOLOGY
Songs
Cream - Born Under a Bad Sign
The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt
The Beatles - Come Together
Ella Fitzgerald - Anything Goes
Eric Clapton - Before You Accuse Me
Depeche Mode - Suffer Well
Coldplay - We Never Change
The Rollingstones - Satisfaction
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
The Who - The Relay
The Beastie Boys - Pass the Mike
Chet Baker - Everything Happens to Me
Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
Billy Joel - We Didnt Start the Fire
Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
Spring
Texts
AENEID, AUGUSTINE, COMEDIA, DECAMERON, MONTAIGNE, HAMLET, DON QUIXOTE, PRIDE
AND PREJUDICE, EMERSON, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, WHITMAN, TO THE LIGHTHOUSE
Songs
Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation (remix)
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
Green Day - American Idiot
The Shins - Girl Inform Me
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
The Pixies - Where is My Mind?
Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
U2 - Stuck in a Moment You Cant Get of
Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body
Led Zeppelin - Ten Years Gone
Arcade Fire - My Body is a Cage
The Vines - Ride
dear jeff,
i love you so much right now for knowing the thermals. so much.
-zach.
Posted by: Zach Lundin | February 03, 2008 at 06:33 PM
So I don't know anything about the Thermals, but this is why I gloat about having you as a teacher.
Posted by: Tyler Halpin-Healy | February 08, 2008 at 05:42 PM
Well, I'm glad my obsessive freakishness is at least entertaining.
Posted by: Jeff | February 08, 2008 at 07:24 PM
Crap, I also just noticed that the Gwen Stefani track didn't get uploaded. Will fix that.
Posted by: Jeff | February 08, 2008 at 07:26 PM