The Drowning Man/The Cure

The Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peake take place in the remote kingdom of Gormenghast and focus on the intrigues that unfold within the huge, isolated Castle Gormenghast and its environs.  The three novels--Titus Groan (1949), Gormenghast (1950), and Titus Alone (1959)--follow the main character, Titus Groan, from birth to manhood and chronicle his role as the reluctant ruler of Gormenghast.  Titus's closest relative is his sister, Fuchsia, who has an erratic nature and is given to melancholy since the death of their father.  In the second novel, Fuchsia learns that the man she loves--the villainous Steerpike--is a murderer, and briefly contemplates suicide.  Standing on a window ledge above rising flood waters, she is startled by a knock on the door, loses her footing, and falls, striking her head on the way down.  Unconscious, she drowns in the water below.  This scene is depicted in the song The Drowning Man, from The Cure's 1981 album Faith:  Starting at the violent sound/She tries to turn/But final/Noiseless/Slips and strikes her soft dark head/The water bows/Receives her/And drowns her at its ease.  The lyrics even mention her by name: Oh Fuchsia!/You leave me/Breathing like the drowning man.  The Gormenghast Novels are usually referred to as a trilogy because only three were published (the third book, Titus Alone, was unfinished at the time of Peake's death and was completed by another hand).  However, Peake wrote a novella called Boy in Darkness (1956) that relates a short episode involving Titus as a young boy.  He also planned at least two more volumes in the main series, tentatively titled Titus Awakes and Gormenghast Revisited.  Peake's heirs recently discovered a draft of Titus Awakes written by the author's widow during the 1970s, and are planning to have it published in 2011.

Salinger Feedback: Bananafishbones/The Cure, and More

In response to last week's re-posting of our Catcher in the Rye song list, a number of readers weighed in with additional musical references to author J.D. Salinger, who died on January 27th.  Most of them bend our Ground Rules, but they're fun anyway.

JustinBoston reminded us that The Cure's 1984 album The Top features a song called Bananafishbones. Robert Smith, the band's primary songwriter, confirmed the song's connection to Salinger's story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," from his collection Nine Stories, in an issue of the fanzine Cure News: "the title, for some no-reason, from 'a perfect day for bananafish' - a short story by j d salinger .. again me hating myself..." [Capitalization and punctuation courtesy of Mr. Smith and Cure News].

Vanessa Wieland wrote to say "Pre-My Chemical Romance, the rhythm guitarist was in a band called Pencey Prep.  They had a song called The Secret Goldfish."  The guitarist in question is Frank Iero.  The name of the band and the name of the song both derive from The Catcher in the Rye.  Pencey Prep is the fictional school from which Holden Caulfield is expelled; and "The Secret Goldfish" is the title of a short story referred to in the novel, written by Holden's brother D.B.  The song appears on the band's 2001 album Heartbreak in Stereo.

Anonymous pointed out that the 2005 debut album from We Are Scientists is called With Love and Squalor--a reference to Salinger's story "For Esmé with Love and Squalor," available in the Nine Stories collection.

thevoiceofenergy points out that a song called Polar Bear, from Ride's 1990 album Nowhere, mentions Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters. The same story lent its name to "a delightful Chicago-based band," according to Adam.

Michial recalled a song by the Old 97's called Rollerskate Skinny, from the 2001 album Satellite Rides. The song's title comes from Holden Caulfield's description of his sister, Phoebe, in The Catcher in the Rye: "She's quite skinny, like me, but nice skinny. Roller-skate skinny. I watched her once from the window when she was crossing over Fifth Avenue to go to the park, and that's what she is, roller-skate skinny."

Chris Kubica called attention to the name of Lisa Loeb's band--Nine Stories--and to an album by the Winona Ryders called J.D. Salinger.

Finally, Paul Wilner suggested a song called "My Foolish Heart," from the 1949 film of the same name--the only film to date to be based on Salinger's writing (it was adapted from his story "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut," another selection from Nine Stories).  The song was nominated for an Academy Award and has been recorded by many artists; Paul favors Bill Evans' version.

Charlotte Sometimes/The Cure

Charlotte Sometimes, a single released by The Cure in 1981 and available on the 2005 reissue of the album Faith, is based on the 1969 YA novel Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer. The story concerns Charlotte, a girl residing at a boarding school in 1963, who somehow exchanges identities with a girl named Clare, who lived at the same school in 1918--so, she is Charlotte sometimes, Clare others. Things get complicated when Charlotte becomes trapped in the past as Clare (and vice versa). The lyrics of the first verse approximate the novel's opening paragraph, and the song captures Charlotte's confused sense of identity (Sometimes I'm dreaming/So many different names) and emotional turmoil (She was crying and crying for a girl/Who died so many years before). Two other songs by The Cure, "Splintered in Her Head" (the B-side of the "Charlotte Sometimes" single) and The Empty World, are also said to have been inspired by the book. (The novel also provided the stage name for the performer Charlotte Sometimes--real name Jessica Charlotte Poland.)

Submitted by Jake Byrne

Killing an Arab/The Cure

"Killing an Arab" appears on The Cure's 1980 album Boys Don't Cry and depicts the key event in Albert Camus' 1942 existential novel The Stranger. The main character, Meursault--dazed by the Algerian heat and the sunlight reflecting off the sea and sand--shoots and kills an Arab who is standing on the beach. During his trial, Meursault is unable to account for the murder and expresses no remorse. He is ultimately sentenced to death. In the song, the narrator muses: I can turn/And walk away/Or I can fire the gun/Staring at the sky/Staring at the sun/Whichever I choose/It amounts to the same/Absolutely nothing. The chorus says: I am alive/I am dead/I am the stranger/Killing an Arab. Understandably controversial, the band has occasionally softened the lyrics in recent years to make it less inflammatory (e.g., "Kissing an Arab," "Killing another"). Several cover versions exist, including one by The Electric Hellfire Club, from the album 100 Tears: A Tribute to the Cure.