By magicman
Two playlists, both alike in dignity,
In fair Songbaria, where we lay our scene,
From ancient rock break to new hip hoppery,
Where civil zeds makes civil hands unclean,
From forth the fatal punts of these patrons
A pair of star-cross'd playlists take their life
Is now the two hours' traffic of our screen;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
A week where the quality of the nominations was not strained, it was my privilege to invigilate. Shakespeare – as Kate Tempest notes below, “He’s in your mouth!”
Metal has always had an affinity with William Shakespeare, perhaps the swordplay, perhaps the mystical elements, perhaps the constant battle for power. Perhaps the poetry. Iron Maiden with The Evil That Men Do and Motörhead are great examples. “Out of joint” is also a novel by Philip K. Dick.
Classical composers drawn both to the language & the storytelling of the bard. Franz Schubert wrote An Sylvia in a café inspired by Two Gentlemen, while Henry Purcell, born almost 50 years after Shakespeare died, was one of the first to write a melody for the famous Twelfth Night quote “if music be the food of love”.
Experimental musician Laurie Anderson is mildly obsessed with this verse from The Tempest, “full fathom five thy father lies…”, whereas Half Man Half Biscuit are only interested in a cheap laugh which they duly get with Something Rotten At The Back of Iceland.
Jeff Buckley makes a famous quote his own on the epic lovelorn ballad Lover You Should’ve Come Over. “A kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder,” is a wonderful re-imagining. The Zombies take two memorable words from Macbeth’s speech about the futility of life without love “out, out brief candle!” and make a beautiful song.
The international reach of Will is exemplified by Kevin Johansen’s witty Sur o No Sur. To be or not to be = ser o no ser. His song = ‘south or not south’ and discusses Latin America’s relationship with the USA. Full marks from this guru. Bryan Ferry’s cover of Gallagher & Lyle’s & Iago’s Heart on My Sleeve is very much his vocal preference, and a higher tempo than the original, which is mine.
GLM (formerly known as The Lurkers ie original punks) have produced a wonderful punchy take on punchy Larry “now is the winter (of our discontent)…” at the top of Richard the 3rd , while punk goths Souxsie & The Banshees have rewritten “all that glisters leaves you cold”.
Jokes time – an early 45rpm in the Magic childhood home finds Dudley Moore screeching & Peter Cook misquoting at least two plays “we leave this mortal coil on which we strut and fret our weary ways” followed by a wonderful “oh dear” towards the end, while Ian Dury relates the sorry tale of Pam’s Moods using the archaic word contumely in a song by Kilburn & The High Roads.
Gentle Giant were at the height of their powers on “the moon is down” (Macbeth) from Acquiring The Taste (producer: Tony Visconti) as were Queen on Lily of the Valley (“serpent of the nile”) from Sheer Heart Attack, both prog classics before hubris.
Two sons of Empire from Ghanaian and Guyanese heritage, taking on London, England 80 years apart. Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson was killed by a German bomb in 1940 playing quotes from As You Like It (the wonderful Al Bowlly on vocals) at the Café De Paris, but Stormzy is thriving as the current King Henry IV part 2 of Glastonbury “heavy is the head that wears the crown” and the conscience of post-Brexit Britain.
Two Celtic hippie folkies who produced shimmering work of great beauty in 1970- 71 then disappeared off the scene for decades. Shelagh McDonald sings Ophelia’s lyrics from Hamlet conjuring the famous Pre-Raphaelite painting by John Everett Millais, while welshman Meic Stevens sings of Yorric from the same play – Hamlet. They’re both still with us.
We finish with four classics : Rufus featuring Chaka Khan from 1975 and the opening track from that LP Fool’s Paradise., quoted in Love’s Labours Lost & Romeo & Juliet. On the B Prince tells us that “all that glitters ain’t gold” (Merchant of Venice) & we close with giant dancefloor fillers - Roberta Flack is reminding us of things going “full circle” (King Lear), while my discovery of the weekend is a 15 -minute disco classic from Alec Constandinos which has Acts 1 & 2 of Romeo & Juliet as the lyrics. Surely not??
The All’s Well A-List Playlist:
The Evil That Men Do - Iron Maiden
An Sylvia - Franz Schubert sung by Lucia Popp
Blue Lagoon - Laurie Anderson
Lover, You Should’ve Come Over - Jeff Buckley
Sur O No Sur - Kevin Johansen
Now Is The Winter - GLM
Goodbye-ee - Peter Cook & Dudley Moore
The Moon Is Down - Gentle Giant
Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind – Ken ‘Snakehips Johnson & Al Bowlly
Crown - Stormzy
Fool’s Paradise - Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Romeo & Juliet - Alec Costandinos
The Bard’s B-List Playlist:
Born To Lose - Motörhead
If Music Be The Food Of Love - Henry Purcell
Something Rotten At The Back of Iceland - Half Man Half Biscuit
Brief Candles - The Zombies
Heart on My Sleeve - Bryan Ferry
Shadowtime - Souxsie & The Banshees
Pam’s Moods - Kilburn & The High Roads
Lily Of The Valley - Queen
Ophelia’s Song - Shelagh McDonald
Yorric - Meic Stevens
Gold - Prince
Back Together - Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend.”
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
Well, here’s what you could’ve won: Young Thug, Arctic Monkeys, Big Big Train, Hippy Hippy Shake, Elliott Smith, even more Pink Floyd, Drake, Justin Bieber, The 1975, Daniel Caesar, Santa Claus is Coming to Town !!, Rod Stewart, Marilyn Manson etc.
But I’ll simply leave you with Noel Coward, The Four Tops, and Kate Tempest giving us her reasons to be Shakespeare, one two three. Plus Taylor Swift and Frank Ocean as special treats.
The rest is silence.
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: The game is afoot: songs that quote Shakespeare. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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