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Literary Cover Songs
Cover songs are fun, when bands you like do them, of bands you also like, or of bands you do not like that then become songs you like by bands you don’t like as interpreted by bands you like.
Here’s Fantomas doing Angelo Badalamenti’s ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’ from their album ‘The Director’s Cut,’ a record which I think was all I listened to for 6 months straight the year it came out, and is still one of the best ‘cover song’ explorations, using source to create something truly new, that I can think of.
It seems like the theory of a ‘cover song’ has been approached in fiction, though in a less on-your-face kind of way, more as a series of influences mostly, though there are certainly subjects that approach the more literal ‘cover song’ idea.
One that springs immediately to mind is Gordon Lish’s ‘For Rupert–With No Promises’ in the February 1977 issue of Esquire, which so successfully parodied J.D. Salinger that many thought it was Salinger himself.
So other than via methods of pure imitation or copying (as part of the great thing about covers is the reinterpretation), what are some other great examples that could reveal a ‘cover song’ in text form, or perhaps thoughts on ways that might not quite yet have been explored? Hra?
Tags: cover songs, fantomas
I think about this all the time. I constantly see other writers in the prose I’m reading, often erroneously, I’m sure, at least as far as direct influence goes. But sometimes it’s unmistakable, as in your Lish example. Or, to cite another work not by Lish but edited by the guy: several writers have stories modeled on the title story of “What We Talk About When Talk About Love.”
The basic form is: two (or more) couples sit around and discuss things (love, in particular), while drinking (or using drugs), and that’s it — that’s the story. I think part of what must draw people is that it’s kinda tricky to make a story that actually feels consequential out of that, but it’s also sort of easy, too, since you can have people tell whatever stories you want and pretty much say anything, as long as, like they say, “it works.”
Tobias Wolff’s “Leviathan” and Baxter’s “Reincarnation” are unquestionably following Carver’s lead, and both have specific pointers back to the earlier story. Lorrie Moore’s “Beautiful Grade” is similar, though it feels a little busier to me and in the end it breaks away from the model, since we see the host couple after the others have left, and I think a key thing about Carver’s story is the strange suspended sense we get from never really leaving the table. I feel like there are at least a couple other writers I’ve seen who’ve used the form. Bausch? I’ll have to think about it.
There are earlier models for this: theater, of course, and several Checkhov stories, and “Hills Like White Elephants,” but there’s something distinct about the Carver and post-Carver versions.
The Wedding Present have a pretty good cover of “Falling,” though Julee Cruise’s version crushes it like a grape.
I think about this all the time. I constantly see other writers in the prose I’m reading, often erroneously, I’m sure, at least as far as direct influence goes. But sometimes it’s unmistakable, as in your Lish example. Or, to cite another work not by Lish but edited by the guy: several writers have stories modeled on the title story of “What We Talk About When Talk About Love.”
The basic form is: two (or more) couples sit around and discuss things (love, in particular), while drinking (or using drugs), and that’s it — that’s the story. I think part of what must draw people is that it’s kinda tricky to make a story that actually feels consequential out of that, but it’s also sort of easy, too, since you can have people tell whatever stories you want and pretty much say anything, as long as, like they say, “it works.”
Tobias Wolff’s “Leviathan” and Baxter’s “Reincarnation” are unquestionably following Carver’s lead, and both have specific pointers back to the earlier story. Lorrie Moore’s “Beautiful Grade” is similar, though it feels a little busier to me and in the end it breaks away from the model, since we see the host couple after the others have left, and I think a key thing about Carver’s story is the strange suspended sense we get from never really leaving the table. I feel like there are at least a couple other writers I’ve seen who’ve used the form. Bausch? I’ll have to think about it.
There are earlier models for this: theater, of course, and several Checkhov stories, and “Hills Like White Elephants,” but there’s something distinct about the Carver and post-Carver versions.
The Wedding Present have a pretty good cover of “Falling,” though Julee Cruise’s version crushes it like a grape.
damion searls’s WHAT WE WERE DOING AND WHERE WE WERE GOING is supposed to be 5 short stories that are “covers” of Gide, Hawthorne, Inoue, Nabokov and Landolfi. have only given it a cursory glance but interesting approach.
damion searls’s WHAT WE WERE DOING AND WHERE WE WERE GOING is supposed to be 5 short stories that are “covers” of Gide, Hawthorne, Inoue, Nabokov and Landolfi. have only given it a cursory glance but interesting approach.
Um… I’m surprised noones stated the obvious here. Goldsmith. Cage. Mac Low. Or even Borges’ “Pierre Menard, Author of The Quixote”. I’m sure i’ve heard of people following Borges’ character’s lead, and trying to rewrite pieces from memory – There’s also Caroline Bergval’s “Via: 48 Dante Variations” etc etc.
Maybe I’m Taking this too Literally? (pun intended)
Um… I’m surprised noones stated the obvious here. Goldsmith. Cage. Mac Low. Or even Borges’ “Pierre Menard, Author of The Quixote”. I’m sure i’ve heard of people following Borges’ character’s lead, and trying to rewrite pieces from memory – There’s also Caroline Bergval’s “Via: 48 Dante Variations” etc etc.
Maybe I’m Taking this too Literally? (pun intended)
Christopher Buckley does a pretty great Wodehouse impression.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/11/27/061127sh_shouts
Christopher Buckley does a pretty great Wodehouse impression.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/11/27/061127sh_shouts
yeah i’m really excited about that book.
yeah i’m really excited about that book.
those are good, and maybe not as obvious as you think ross. plus you’re only commenter #3.
the borges is pretty classic, but still wonderful.
i haven’t read the bergval. i will.
those are good, and maybe not as obvious as you think ross. plus you’re only commenter #3.
the borges is pretty classic, but still wonderful.
i haven’t read the bergval. i will.
Hey! *I* just posted about literary covers, and also included 3 Patton covers!!
Which was inspired by the Searls book, which is awesome thus far.
Also, I read a story a few years ago by Lee Henderson called “The Runner, after John Cheever,” which was *kind of* a “cover” of “The Swimmer.” It was really, really awesome. I wish I could reread it, but I’ve lost two different copies of the book and it was only published in Canada, which means I can never just go into a used store here and try to find another copy…
Hey! *I* just posted about literary covers, and also included 3 Patton covers!!
Which was inspired by the Searls book, which is awesome thus far.
Also, I read a story a few years ago by Lee Henderson called “The Runner, after John Cheever,” which was *kind of* a “cover” of “The Swimmer.” It was really, really awesome. I wish I could reread it, but I’ve lost two different copies of the book and it was only published in Canada, which means I can never just go into a used store here and try to find another copy…
I feel like poets do this all the time. One that comes to mind, Koch playing off Carlos Williams: http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001553.php
I feel like poets do this all the time. One that comes to mind, Koch playing off Carlos Williams: http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001553.php
alibris?
alibris?
Chris Eaton’s novel ‘The Grammar Architect’ is described as “a cover of Thomas Hardy’s ‘A Pair of Blue Eyes'” — albeit one that throws mythological figures, time machines, and horrific body modification into the mix.
http://www.rockplazacentral.com/novels.html
I interviewed Eaton about this as well as his music a while back for the now-defunct Paper Thin Walls; said interview is, seemingly, lost to history. Since his band Rock Plaza Central has a new album out soon (apparently taking inspiration from Faulkner’s ‘Light in August’), I’m planning on revisiting that conversation in the not-so-distant future.
Chris Eaton’s novel ‘The Grammar Architect’ is described as “a cover of Thomas Hardy’s ‘A Pair of Blue Eyes'” — albeit one that throws mythological figures, time machines, and horrific body modification into the mix.
http://www.rockplazacentral.com/novels.html
I interviewed Eaton about this as well as his music a while back for the now-defunct Paper Thin Walls; said interview is, seemingly, lost to history. Since his band Rock Plaza Central has a new album out soon (apparently taking inspiration from Faulkner’s ‘Light in August’), I’m planning on revisiting that conversation in the not-so-distant future.
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?binding=&mtype=&keyword=the+broken+record+technique&hs.x=0&hs.y=0&hs=Submit
and
http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQcpidZ1213965235QQprZ30368724
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?binding=&mtype=&keyword=the+broken+record+technique&hs.x=0&hs.y=0&hs=Submit
and
http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQcpidZ1213965235QQprZ30368724
Hey pr, you didn’t mention Kathy Acker. There was some Shakespeare and something else ‘covers’ in My Death My Life … and didn’t she do something with Don Quixote too? I have terrible recall.
Hey pr, you didn’t mention Kathy Acker. There was some Shakespeare and something else ‘covers’ in My Death My Life … and didn’t she do something with Don Quixote too? I have terrible recall.
And Great Expectations, and the movie Key Largo….and she steals characters- the Bronte sisters, Harold Robbins… I was thinking of mentioning her and Frederic Tuten, who also did this stuff with Thomas Mann and Tintin and Mao- but I don’t think of it as covering as much as “appropriating”. Covering to me means stylistically, in regard to poetry or fiction. And Kathy just steals stuff and messes with it.
Tuten too, although in a very different way. In Tintin in the New World he has Tintin grow up and hang out with the characters from Mann’s The Magic Mountain.
Thanks, guys. Yeah, mostly I was just too lazy to even look online. And I really love just randomly walking into a used bookstore and being able to find what I want, especially since my tastes are so very un-obscure. But, yeah, I’m going to have to order this. Others should too. The story is amazing, and the rest of the collection is really great too.
Thanks, guys. Yeah, mostly I was just too lazy to even look online. And I really love just randomly walking into a used bookstore and being able to find what I want, especially since my tastes are so very un-obscure. But, yeah, I’m going to have to order this. Others should too. The story is amazing, and the rest of the collection is really great too.
So did Jonathan Ames.
So did Jonathan Ames.
aaron, i knew nothing about the book, but when i started looking it up i got more and more intrigued. i’m definitely going to order a copy. as for looking it up, that’s what i do all day long running a bookstore!
aaron, i knew nothing about the book, but when i started looking it up i got more and more intrigued. i’m definitely going to order a copy. as for looking it up, that’s what i do all day long running a bookstore!
Cool. I hope you get it and love it, ryan! I’m bummed it hasn’t been published down here in the States. It seems like it would do so well. Or, you know, as well as any story collection does…
Cool. I hope you get it and love it, ryan! I’m bummed it hasn’t been published down here in the States. It seems like it would do so well. Or, you know, as well as any story collection does…
“Or, you know, as well as any story collection does…”
such an unfortunate truth.
“Or, you know, as well as any story collection does…”
such an unfortunate truth.
Re: shakespeare covers, you’ve got Heiner Muller’s wonderfull Die Hamletmaschine.
Raymond Carver wrote “The Train” as a Cheever cover, and did a few Hemingway covers early in his career.
A long time ago, editor Larry McCaffery wanted to do a “cover” anthology of Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, with various writers doing covers of each story, or more than one, anything from Bruce Sterling doing a cyberpunk version or Mark Leyner doing a quirky version. I had one in it too, my cover of “gazebo.” Still don’t know why he never sent that book out, as he had a lot of stories for it…
What’s next? Tribute writers like tribute bands? I guess we can say the small press is flooded with Bukowski tribute poets who think they’re originals.
Raymond Carver wrote “The Train” as a Cheever cover, and did a few Hemingway covers early in his career.
A long time ago, editor Larry McCaffery wanted to do a “cover” anthology of Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, with various writers doing covers of each story, or more than one, anything from Bruce Sterling doing a cyberpunk version or Mark Leyner doing a quirky version. I had one in it too, my cover of “gazebo.” Still don’t know why he never sent that book out, as he had a lot of stories for it…
What’s next? Tribute writers like tribute bands? I guess we can say the small press is flooded with Bukowski tribute poets who think they’re originals.