Poem in music

Hey Guys, I'm here to show you some artist that have been inspired by English literature in their songs. I found a band, a Metal band (for those who like it), named Krusader that was part of a project called "Wiiliam Shakespeare's Hamlet", in which a lot of other metal bands contributed with their sound to talk about this great English poet. The song chosen is called "The King's Return", and of course, it has a lot of Hamlet references.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NNzFjvjOM4

The lyric

Skies that art over my head
Heaven or hell is this emissary from?
Cheating my soul art my eyes!
How canst such a resemblance exist?

No! Among sun and moon
Resemblance there is
The most correct word for what I see
Is: Equality
This sensation that drowns my spirit
Makes me call thee Hamlet,
King of Denmark, my father!

I do not fear for my life, because
I'm so immortal as thee
And there's no way to lose something
That doth not has belonged to us
Go ahead, I'll follow thee and soon
I'll know the reasons...
Why hath the king returned…

Tell me, my beloved father
What make thee rip out of thy shroud
And walk once again in a world
That doth not belong to thee anymore

Tell me, lord of the lords,
Owner of my soul
Thou art so generous for giving me life
Tell me what I canst do
To bring thee peace
And I shall satisfy thy will

Thou hast broken the walls which
Separate the worlds. Why?
Thou hast broken the peace that awaits
For us since born we wert

Tell me father, I'm begging
In the name of the years
That I hast given thee
All my honest feelings

Another artist that has been inspired by literary elements is Bob Dylan, in his song "Desolation Row" he mentions Ezra Pound, T.S. Elliot, Opheliac and Romeo, Robin Hood, and some other contemporary and classical elements of the English literature. I hope you guys enjoy it. The video I brought is a Bob Dylan's cover, if you guys fnd the original one, please post it here. Thanks!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phfaQdJvAak

Desolation Row

They're selling postcards of the hanging

They're painting the passports brown

The beauty parlor is filled with sailors

The circus is in town

Here comes the blind commissioner

They've got him in a trance

One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker

The other is in his pants

And the riot squad they're restless

They need somewhere to go

As Lady and I look out tonight

From Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy

"It takes one to know one," she smiles

And puts her hands in her back pockets

Bette Davis style

And in comes Romeo, he's moaning

"You Belong to Me I Believe"

And someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend

You better leave"

And the only sound that's left

After the ambulances go

Is Cinderella sweeping up

On Desolation Row

Now the moon is almost hidden

The stars are beginning to hide

The fortunetelling lady

Has even taken all her things inside

All except for Cain and Abel

And the hunchback of Notre Dame

Everybody is making love

Or else expecting rain

And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing

He's getting ready for the show

He's going to the carnival tonight

On Desolation Row

Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window

For her I feel so afraid

On her twenty-second birthday

She already is an old maid

To her, death is quite romantic

She wears an iron vest

Her profession's her religion

Her sin is her lifelessness

And though her eyes are fixed upon

Noah's great rainbow

She spends her time peeking

Into Desolation Row

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood

With his memories in a trunk

Passed this way an hour ago

With his friend, a jealous monk

He looked so immaculately frightful

As he bummed a cigarette

Then he went off sniffing drainpipes

And reciting the alphabet

Now you would not think to look at him

But he was famous long ago

For playing the electric violin

On Desolation Row

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world

Inside of a leather cup

But all his sexless patients

They're trying to blow it up

Now his nurse, some local loser

She's in charge of the cyanide hole

And she also keeps the cards that read

"Have Mercy on His Soul"

They all play on penny whistles

You can hear them blow

If you lean your head out far enough

From Desolation Row

Across the street they've nailed the curtains

They're getting ready for the feast

The Phantom of the Opera

A perfect image of a priest

They're spoonfeeding Casanova

To get him to feel more assured

Then they'll kill him with self-confidence

After poisoning him with words

And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls

"Get Outa Here If You Don't Know

Casanova is just being punished for going

To Desolation Row"

Now at midnight all the agents

And the superhuman crew

Come out and round up everyone

That knows more than they do

Then they bring them to the factory

Where the heart-attack machine

Is strapped across their shoulders

And then the kerosene

Is brought down from the castles

By insurance men who go

Check to see that nobody is escaping

To Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero's Neptune

The Titanic sails at dawn

And everybody's shouting

"Which Side Are You On?"

And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot

Fighting in the captain's tower

While calypso singers laugh at them

And fishermen hold flowers

Between the windows of the sea

Where lovely mermaids flow

And nobody has to think too much

About Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday

(About the time the door knob broke)

When you asked how I was doing

Was that some kind of joke?

All these people that you mention

Yes, I know them, they're quite lame

I had to rearrange their faces

And give them all another name

Right now I can't read too good

Don't send me no more letters no

Not unless you mail them

From Desolation Row

(Posted by Diogo Oliveira)