Fairy Tale Lyrics
Feb 22nd, 2009 by Peta Andersen
A recent comment on our blog alerted us to the idea of Fairy Tale Lyrics, i.e. songs thematically related to fairy tales. So what fairy tale songs are out on the interwebs?
As pointed out by Raish, there’s Pink Floyd’s Matilda Mother
There was a king who ruled the land.
His majesty was in command.
With silver eyes the scarlet eagle
Showers silver on the people.
Oh Mother, tell me more…
Then there’s Marcy Playground’s Dungeons and Dragons/Fantasy/Fairy Tale A Cloak of Elvenkind
A cloaking robe of elvenkind
Hangs in my wardrobe behind
All the thing that mother said
Were proper for a boy
And I know I could not say why
On this summer evening
Sixteen books of magic spells
Stacked below the cloak of elves
And sixteen books on magic spells
So elegantly bound…
But what else is out there in the way of fairy tale related music? What songs do you know about Little Red Riding Hood or Sleeping Beauty?
PJ Harvey ‘I can hardly wait’ seems to be a very dark re-imagining of Snow White, where the singer is at once Snow White, waiting in a glass coffin, and the stepmother threatening to eat your heart. Its a good, scary song:
I can hardly wait
It’s been so long
I’ve lost my taste
Say angel come
Say lick my face
Let fall your dress
I’ll play the part
I’ll open this mouth wide
Eat your heart
I can hardly wait
Lips cracked dry
Tongue blue burst
Say angel come
Say lick my thirst
It’s been so long
I’ve lost my taste
Here romeo
Make my world as great
In my glass coffin, I’m waiting
Great catch!
I just realised that, though not proper fairy tale, Nick Cave (and the Bad Seeds, of course) and Kylie Minogue’s Where the Wild Roses Grow has definite fairy tale elements…
“They call me the wild rose
but my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day
From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild…”
Hmm, does that remind anyone else of a Francesca Lia Block story?