AMERICAN LIT ROCKS! (19th Century Edition)

In continuation of my last post (Walt Whitman Set to Music) here are some questions to ponder from the Pop Culture Desk, re: iconic authors, titles and characters set to music.

1. Is there something in Emily Dickinson's poetry that makes her anathema to Rock and Popular music appropriations? Other than the operetta CD "Oh No Not Emily" by Totally Honest Productions, I can't find any music about her.

2. I'm not a professor of American Literature. Let me get that out of the way before I say that Huckleberry Finn is, in my opinion, a much better novel than Tom Sawyer. I was pretty sure the literary establishment agreed, but musicians seems to prefer Tom Sawyer over Huckleberry Finn. Once again, is there something in Huck that is resistant to popular consumption? The most famous song of the bunch is "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, which paints Tom like a mean mother with a mean stride. It includes lyrics like: "A modern-day warrior/Mean mean stride,/Today's Tom Sawyer/Mean mean pride." Wow! And this is a popular anthem; it has been re-recorded by Deadsy, Mindless Self Indulgence and Dominic Cifarelli. Other songs on Tom include Sam Swaim's instrumental "Sawyer's Dream," which can be heard here ; the bouncy banjo piece with a great Americana feel "Mississippi Sawyer," which Tom Adams has recorded; and "Tom Sawyer and the Man By His Side" by Jeremy Schonfeld, which is moody and melancholy in a piano kind of way.

Incidentally, Mark Twain seems to inspire a more profound and somber kind of stance from musicians. Michale Joy's "Mark Twain" is folksy and profound-like, while Rob Henke and the Washington Street Players make their "Mark Twain" classy and jazzy. "Mark Twain" by Dyllan Young rocks, but in a somber kind of way and "Mark Twain" by the Kingston Trio sounds like gazebo music from DisneyLand (it actually makes you want to buy a peach ice cream cone and prance around in white pants.) It is nice that Bryan Clark's Mark Twain song deals with its subject matter indirectly, like Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's; Clark titles his song "Hotel Mark Twain" and the lyrics may be found on his homepage (in the music section).

Finally, did you know that there's a cool band called Mark Twain's Dog!

3. Is there something inherently edgy about Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter? Because Jag Panzer's "The Scarlet Letter" (lyrics)and "Scarlet Letter" by Leslie Nuss really ROCK in a head-banging kind of way. Other songs include "Scarlet Letters" by Kiss Offs and Jon Gorey's anthem-like "The Scarlet Letter" (lyrics, scroll down) is a great Boston Red Sox song that has little to do with Hester Prynne (which perhaps explains why it's pretty good). Maybe there's something softer and more New-Age out there, but I haven't found it yet. Hawthorne seems to rock. Why?

Interesting patterns.