Hold My Hand as I'm Lowered - Noah and The Whale
Hold my hand as I'm lowered And please don't see me as a coward For death, I do not forsake thee Though your dark stare is always upon me Well, I fell in love with a world in you Well, I fell in love with a world in you O Death, do not feel like the victor 'Cause my poor life makes you none the richer Oh, your cold hands are clutching at cloth I leave nothing on Earth that won't rot Well, I fell in love with the world in you Well, I fell in love with the world in you Well, I fell in love with the world in you And now I feel cold Well, I fell in love with the world in you And now I feel holier |
Wasteland - AugustanaNow I'm sitting on a plane
Lonely flight back to L.A. Don't come back with me So I'll drink myself to sleep Cut my skin until I bleed Hold my breath all the night 'Cause it's 5 o'clock, the hour stops the sunlight The buildings shade the masquerade and kill time, time Hear the sound She was naked on the ground Till I whispered in her ear Come away Watch the dawn break through the day Till the sun is underneath 'Cause it's 5 o'clock, the hour stops the sunlight The buildings shade the masquerade and kill time Here we're nothin' more than fools and whores and sad highs Through the summer sand, we're living in, living in a wasteland No, no, no It's a wasteland It's a wasteland It's a wasteland for me Here we're nothin' more than fools and whores and sad highs Through the summer sand, we're living in, living in a wasteland We're nothin' more than fools and whores and sad highs Through the summer sand, we're living in, we're living in a wasteland It's a wasteland It's a wasteland It's a wasteland for me, for me |
Wish You Were Here - Pink FloydSo, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell Blue skies from pain Can you tell a green field From a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? Did they get you to trade Your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange A walk on part in a war For a lead role in a cage? How I wish, how I wish you were here We're just two lost souls Swimming in a fish bowl Year after year Running over the same old ground What have we found? The same old fears Wish you were here |
Crown of Love - Arcade FireThey say, "It fades if you let it"
Love was made to forget it I carved your name across my eyelids You pray for rain I pray for blindness If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love has fallen from me If you still want me, please forgive me Because the spark is not within me I snuffed it out before my Mom walked in my bedroom The only thing that you keep changin' Is your name, my love keeps growin' Still the same, just like a cancer And you won't give me a straight answer If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love has fallen from me If you still want me, please forgive me Because your hands are not upon me I shrugged them off before my Mom walked in my bedroom The pains of love and they keep growin' In my heart there's flowers growin' On the grave of our old love Since you gave me a straight answer If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love is not upon meIf you still want me, please forgive me' Cause this crown is not within me It's not within me, it's not within me You gotta be the one You gotta be the way Your name is the only word that I can say You gotta be the one You gotta be the way Your name is the only word, the only word that I can say Only word that I can say Say, "La-la-love, love, la-la-love" |
Hold My Hand As I'm Lowered - Noah and The Whale
“Hold My Hand as I'm Lowered” relates to the themes of insignificance and loneliness that are present in the poem. The line “Death do not feel like the victor, 'Cause my poor life makes you none the richer” gives the feeling of a life lived in fear and cowardice, a life not lived to the fullest. A life lived this way likely lives in fear of the future. “I leave nothing on Earth that won't rot” tells the story of one who has done nothing of significance in their life. They lead a bleak life with no hope or promise of a bright future. However the speaker asks not to be seen as a coward, for they have reason for living their life as they did. Just like in the poem, the speaker is held back by their regret of missed opportunities and their fear of not being good enough. They are pleading with God and with Death to see them as something worth saving, something worth living. Instead they leave this world with nothing to show for it, and no legacy left behind.
Wasteland - Augustana
Aside from the obvious connection of titles between the song “Wasteland” by Augustana and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, the two works share some common themes. T.S. Eliot’s main purpose is the pessimistic way he views the world. This same outlook is portrayed in the song using lines such as “So I’ll drink myself to sleep / Cut my skin until I bleed / Hold my breath all night.” Eliot’s famed nihilistic opinions are mirrored as well in the use of “we’re living in, living in a wasteland,” although Eliot does not specifically state such a thing, it is clearly his main ambition in writing the poem as the entire piece describes desolate, static scenes. On top of this main point, the song also addresses some of the same comments about modern sexuality as seen in “She was naked on the ground / Till I whispered in her ear,” emphasizing a meaningless sexual encounter. Also the chorus line “We’re nothing more than fools and whores and sad highs,” which reflects an attitude that these people are not accomplishing things that are significant or have impact. This is a perspective that is similar to Eliot “Datta” stanza in the fifth section where he accuses humans of only giving sex, which is not a great achievement of worldly or intellectual note. These shared themes allow for a greater understanding of Eliot’s work as they place his opinions in a modern light.
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Many similar ideas can be seen in both T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land and Pink Floyd’s classic song Wish You Were Here, written by Roger Waters. Both works take on a very nihilistic view of life and society. In Wish You Were Here, this idea can be seen in the lyrics “So, so you think you can tell, Heaven from Hell,” indicating that there is no difference between Heaven and Hell, ultimately meaning that neither really exists. The idea of Nihilism is represented in many different ways throughout Eliot’s poem, most evidently in the section Death by Water where the drowned sailor is not met with an afterlife but is simply a decaying body in the ocean, creating the idea that an afterlife does not actually exist. Both works also take a negative view of society as well. The Waste Land describes many different situations in which society has been cruel to an individual causing them to yearn for a time before society had altered their lives. One example of this is the woman described in the very first stanza of The Burial of the Dead. In the song, the lyrics “Did they get you to trade, Your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze?” also clearly demonstrates this idea of society impacting the individual beyond repair. Another very subtle message that is presented in each of these works is the idea of war without meaning. In his lyrics, “A walk on part in a war, For a lead role in a cage?” Roger Waters states that men take part in a war to ultimately end in role that has no meaning and no reason. Similarly Eliot makes many references to wars throughout history that have had no benefit or meaning. He describes cities that are torn down by war to be rebuilt and torn down again. Therefore both The Waste Land and Wish You Were Here present nihilistic views and ideas of the negativity brought to one’s life by society and war.
Another recurring theme between Eliot’s poem and Pink Floyd’s lyrics is that of sexuality. Much of The Waste Land focuses on harsh, fruitless sexual encounters, including rape and homosexuality. Although Wish You Were Here does not address the same type of sexuality it does address fruitless and unromantic encounters in the form of prostitution, which can be understood in the lines “Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange.” Furthermore, tying in with the idea of fruitless sexuality, both works express an idea of being immobilized, or rather, unable to move forward. Eliot expresses this idea through the sterility of his characters and his desolate scenes while the Roger Waters conveys this in his lyrics “Running over the same old ground, What have we found? The same old fears,” which indicate the feeling of being stuck in one place, one reality that is inescapable. The Waste Land and Wish You Were Here both also represent the idea of a wasteland, a barren state that is all consuming and inescapable. As the song clearly dictates “We're just two lost souls, Swimming in a fish bowl, Year after year” just as the characters in the poem come to the realization of being trapped in their own wastelands. Through these common ideas, many parallels can be drawn from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.
Another recurring theme between Eliot’s poem and Pink Floyd’s lyrics is that of sexuality. Much of The Waste Land focuses on harsh, fruitless sexual encounters, including rape and homosexuality. Although Wish You Were Here does not address the same type of sexuality it does address fruitless and unromantic encounters in the form of prostitution, which can be understood in the lines “Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange.” Furthermore, tying in with the idea of fruitless sexuality, both works express an idea of being immobilized, or rather, unable to move forward. Eliot expresses this idea through the sterility of his characters and his desolate scenes while the Roger Waters conveys this in his lyrics “Running over the same old ground, What have we found? The same old fears,” which indicate the feeling of being stuck in one place, one reality that is inescapable. The Waste Land and Wish You Were Here both also represent the idea of a wasteland, a barren state that is all consuming and inescapable. As the song clearly dictates “We're just two lost souls, Swimming in a fish bowl, Year after year” just as the characters in the poem come to the realization of being trapped in their own wastelands. Through these common ideas, many parallels can be drawn from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.
Crown of Love - Arcade Fire
This song embodies some of the characters and some of the settings and images painted in The Waste Land. For example, "you pray for rain I pray for blindness." This embodies the story of Tiresias - who was a man who spent seven years as a woman, and then blinded by Hera and given sight by Zeus. However, even though he can see the future, in the stanza where Tiresias is viewing the scene between the typist and the carbuncular man, it is as if Tiresias does not want to see this even though he is blind. Secondly, "you pray for rain" refers to What the Thunder Said, where the narrator grows more and more desperate for water. In fact, the second stanza where there is an apparent lack of water, it is as if the narrator is going insane. "And you won't give me a straight answer" embodies how I feel about researching TS Eliot, because he has done such a fantastic job of including many different references of so many different pieces of literature. However, this reflects the idea that modern day life is very confusing and convoluted and hard to understand, and this accurately represents modern life. Not only this, but the music that accompanies the lyrics reflects the overall mood of the poem and the theme of betrayal and overall sadness.