"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."
These lyrics are, of course, from Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On", one of the best songs inspired by a work of fantasy (The Lord of the Rings).
These lyrics are, of course, from Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On", one of the best songs inspired by a work of fantasy (The Lord of the Rings).
Another great song in a similar vein is "Cthlu thlu" by Caravan, based on the Cthulhu mythology of H. P. Lovecraft. (I realize my last "2 Songs About..." post also had a Caravan song, so it may appear I'm some sort of die hard Caravan fan. Not at all. In fact, I hereby ban any further mention of Caravan on retrospace.)
In case there's one of you left out there that hasn't seen the incredible "Bilbo Baggins" video by Leonard Nimoy, here's my gift to you. You owe me one.
Hard to believe the guy who composed this song also did the arrangements for Nat King Cole's "Christmas Song". Great fun, extremely campy, but a horrible song all around nonetheless; only a tad better than Pink Floyd's "Gnome".
Moving on to an excellent example of a song based on works of science fiction is "Down in the Park" by Gary Numan (then in Tubeway Army). You probably remember him from his robotic 80's hit "Cars". The song was inspired by the dystopian fiction of Phillip K. Dick and William S. Burroughs, and you won't find a more depressing and disturbing song. It includes a description of a rape machine.... not exactly tailored for Casey Kasem's top forty countdown!
Well, I can't leave you on such a downer. So, let's pep the room up a bit with a song from Finland's Mainostelevisio. It has a sci-fi stage set, but otherwise has nothing to do with fantasy or sci-fi novels. However, it's so insanely bizarre that it may as well be from another planet. Enjoy.
3 observations: (1) the girl looks like Dana Plato, (2) dancing is not one of the strengths of the people of Finland, and (3) the song is mind numbingly bad, yet disturbingly catchy and will be stuck in your head for at least another month.... don't blame me, blame YouTube.
