Some
of Placebo's songs are inspired by books as you may know. Today we'll
have a closer look on three of these books and authors that Brian has
revealed as source for his lyrics in interviews.
"I'VE STOLEN BOOK TITLES FOR MY SONGS"
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| Photo credits: Silver Rocket, Scarlet Page, unknown (3) |
Jean Genet
worked on the story while he was in prison. The first version of
“Lady of the flowers” was written on brown paper that was given
to the inmates with the intention that they would make bags of it. A
prison guard discovered Genet's “unauthorized” use of the paper
and confiscated the manuscript which then was burned. But this
setback couldn't stop Genet and so he wrote it all over again and
took the pages with him when he was finally set free from prison.
https://bit.ly/2VietLd
Plot
Divine lives in an attic room which she shares with various lovers, the most important of them is a pimp called Darling Daintyfoot. One day Darling brings home a young hoodlum and murderer, dubbed Our Lady of the Flowers. Our Lady is eventually arrested and executed.
BRIAN ON “LADY OF THE FLOWERS”
"When I sing 'Lady of the flowers' people think I'm talking about a woman when actually it's about a transvestite."(P.A.T., 1996)
Placebo's 2003 success single “The bitter end” is inspired by the book “Ninteen Eighty-Four”, later often published as “1984”. It's a famous dystopian novel by English author George Orwell which perfectly fits in the time and society we're living in right now. The book was first published in 1949 as Orwell's ninth and final release. It was first planned to be published under the title “The last man in Europe”. Then “1984” crossed Orwell's mind, allegedly because it was an inversion of 1948, the year in which the novel was written.
“1984” had a great cultural impact and also an enormous effect on the English language.Among many others the concepts of Big Brother, Room 101, Thoughtcrime, Doublethink and Newspeak have become common phrases.The practice of ending words with "-speak" (such as mediaspeak) is drawn from the novel. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” has been adapted for the cinema, radio, television and theatre as well as for other art media, such as ballet and opera.
Plot
Divine lives in an attic room which she shares with various lovers, the most important of them is a pimp called Darling Daintyfoot. One day Darling brings home a young hoodlum and murderer, dubbed Our Lady of the Flowers. Our Lady is eventually arrested and executed.
BRIAN ON “LADY OF THE FLOWERS”
"When I sing 'Lady of the flowers' people think I'm talking about a woman when actually it's about a transvestite."(P.A.T., 1996)
Placebo's 2003 success single “The bitter end” is inspired by the book “Ninteen Eighty-Four”, later often published as “1984”. It's a famous dystopian novel by English author George Orwell which perfectly fits in the time and society we're living in right now. The book was first published in 1949 as Orwell's ninth and final release. It was first planned to be published under the title “The last man in Europe”. Then “1984” crossed Orwell's mind, allegedly because it was an inversion of 1948, the year in which the novel was written.
“1984” had a great cultural impact and also an enormous effect on the English language.Among many others the concepts of Big Brother, Room 101, Thoughtcrime, Doublethink and Newspeak have become common phrases.The practice of ending words with "-speak" (such as mediaspeak) is drawn from the novel. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” has been adapted for the cinema, radio, television and theatre as well as for other art media, such as ballet and opera.
http://bit.ly/2YsP0yn
Plot
The story takes place in an imagined future in the year 1984 when most parts of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and propaganda. Oceania, a totalitarian superstate where the protagonist Winston Smith lives in, is ruled by The Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. The leader of The Party is Big Brother (hence the saying “Big Brother is watching you”), who is maybe a real person but could also be a fiction invented by The Party. Winston secretly hates The Party and dreams of rebellion. He begins a forbidden relationship with Julia, but both of them get captured and imprisoned. Winston is tortured and forced to "cure" himself of his "insanity" (which means their relationship), the same happens to Julia. Finally he is taken to Room 101 which contains each prisoner's worst fear. Confronted with this Winston betrays Julia. He is now re-educated and being released. One day Winston meets Julia again and both reveal betraying the other and having no feelings for each other any more. The novel ends with Winston accepting his full conversion and reflecting that he loves Big Brother.
There are a lot of references to “1984“ in the lyrics of “The bitter end“. You can read everything about them here https://bit.ly/2Yvrd2W
Plot
The story takes place in an imagined future in the year 1984 when most parts of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and propaganda. Oceania, a totalitarian superstate where the protagonist Winston Smith lives in, is ruled by The Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. The leader of The Party is Big Brother (hence the saying “Big Brother is watching you”), who is maybe a real person but could also be a fiction invented by The Party. Winston secretly hates The Party and dreams of rebellion. He begins a forbidden relationship with Julia, but both of them get captured and imprisoned. Winston is tortured and forced to "cure" himself of his "insanity" (which means their relationship), the same happens to Julia. Finally he is taken to Room 101 which contains each prisoner's worst fear. Confronted with this Winston betrays Julia. He is now re-educated and being released. One day Winston meets Julia again and both reveal betraying the other and having no feelings for each other any more. The novel ends with Winston accepting his full conversion and reflecting that he loves Big Brother.
There are a lot of references to “1984“ in the lyrics of “The bitter end“. You can read everything about them here https://bit.ly/2Yvrd2W
BRIAN ON “THE BITTER END”
“Two people trying to come out of a relationship with the least scars. Very fuck you.“
(Rock Sound, April 2003)
Last but not least let's have a closer look on “A million little pieces” from the album “Loud like love”. This song was inspired by a same-titled book written by American author James Frey. It was originally released as a memoir but had to be marketed as a semi-fictional novel later because of accusations of litarary forgery (it emerged that many of the events described in the book never really happened). "A million little pieces" tells the story of a alcoholic alcoholic and drug addict and how he copes with rehabilitation in a twelve steps-orientated treatment center.
A notable feature of the book is its lack of quotation marks to indicate direct quotes or dialogues. Instead of them a new line starts each time someone speaks. The fact that the author uses this same method to indicate his internal thoughts gives the book a unique but sometimes confusing writing style, which intention is maybe to reflect the nature of the main character's experience in the treatment center.
There's also a movie based on the book. You can read more about it here https://bit.ly/2CFulkx
https://bit.ly/2Nq1G59
Plot
James is a 23 years old alcoholic and a crack addict who wakes up on a flight to Chicago with injuries and no idea of how he ended up on the plane. His parents pick him up at the airport to take him to a rehabilitation clinic. As he checks in he is forced to quit his substance abuse, a transition that later probably saves his life. The treatment is an agonizing process for him. The book follows James through this painful experiences that lead up to his eventual release from the center. He meets many interesting people in the clinic, with whom he forms relationships and who play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic. These people include a mafia boss who plays a vital role in his recovery (subject of Frey's subsequent book My Friend Leonard), and a female drug addict with whom he falls in love despite strict rules forbidding contact between men and women at the clinic. James finally recovers and never relapses.
BRIAN ON “A MILLION LITTLE PIECES”
“This song is about desperation and hopelessness. I have stolen the title from from the memoirs of the American author James Frey. He describes his experience with addiction and the following rehabilitation. This song is about feeling totally lost and astray. They want to end the situation but it's not easy. I recommend everyone to read the book and play our music behind it.”
(Krone, 2013)
There are many other Placebo songs with references to books. Uncle Tom in “Blue American” for example refers to “Uncles Tom's Cabin” by American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. This anti-slavery novel was published in 1852, but still has a relevance nowadays as the recent events and the protests all over the world clearly show.
Photo credits: Scarlet Page, Silver Rocket, unknown (3), covers of the books / edit by me
Post by Silke
