posted
A friend of mine had been recommeding that I read Ender's Game for some time, and just in the last year did I finally do so. Obviously, it made a more than favorable impression or I wouldn't be a new member here.
A few days after finishing the read, my playlist was skipping around and on came Radiohead's song "Down Is The New Up." How could I not make some connection?! It's not airtight, but definitely some common themes.
Here are some of the lyrics if anyone is curious or not familiar with it: (if you want to read the lyrics in full, try a search for them)
I shall now amputate, I shall now contort Because down is the new up
posted
There are more Douglas Adams references in Radiohead than anything else literary, as far as I can figure.
Also, Radiohead's average age is 38, which puts them slightly outside the target demo for the book, which means york or somebody would have to have read it as an adult in order to make that one reference, which is in itself tenuous, because "down is the new up" is not the same as any of the references to spatial coordination in Ender's Game.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
That's all fine and well, but my point was not that Radiohead by any stretch of the imagination wrote this song with Ender's Game in mind. It was more humor at the coincidence that both reading the book and hearing the song would converge in time. If you expand your parameters some, you could simply say that they have this in common: don't take gravity as we know it (the earthbound type) for granted. My overly analytical friend who recommended the book and who also loves Radiohead got a nice laugh out of it.
posted
yeah, love it when songs sound like books! cool on another note, allways thought that Space and the Woods (song name) by Late of the Pier (band name) sounded a lot like the rest of the ender books on Lucitania and whatnot, heres the lyrics:
Suicide is in my blood It always was but it doesn't evaporate in the light any more
And this world is no place For a mind or a thought No its not Well thats been said before
But space and the woods still know who I am and I know they don't owe me anything not after what I've done.
Put on my radiation suit and slip away I'm on the run from what I've become
And this life (like suicide) Runs at a lot of different speeds and I know they don't owe me anything not after what I've done
(The ending doesnt fit too well though): I've done nothing I've done nothing but they forgive anything like how I don't stop you breaking my arms and chopping chopping me down
Posts: 856 | Registered: Jun 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
***Spoilers in this post if you haven't read Speaker for the Dead or Xenocide***
Wow LT.....that really does put me in mind of Lusitania. And I think I could even fit the ending in there also.
I've done nothing I've done nothing (a tree stands still) but they forgive anything (humans forgive each other for not planting their dead hero) like how I don't stop you breaking my arms and chopping chopping me down (reference to the destruction caused to the main piggie forest when the tree killed Quim)
I know it's not a direct reference, but that was fun to play with in my mind. On a side note, I'm gonna have to search out and listen to that song now.
quote:Originally posted by LargeTuna: (The ending doesnt fit too well though): I've done nothing I've done nothing but they forgive anything like how I don't stop you breaking my arms and chopping chopping me down
Wow, you weren't kidding (about the whole song)!
To continue All4Nothing's thought, the "like how I don't stop you breaking my arms..." lines sort of fit in with the piggies' (and Pipo's and Libo's) willingness to enter into the third life. Though, there is no true chopping involved in that process. Oh well, loosely related. Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I hate to be the grinch, but Card has a rule about posting song lyrics on the forums here. We're officially allowed to post only two lines from a song that is still under copyright. It's always seemed silly to me, but it's not my forum.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Sorry Noe, just couldn't resist. I'm glad you mentioned it actually, till you did, I thought it was just in the writer's forum.
Posts: 115 | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I listened to that song LT. (got the speakers working for my computer, amongst other things) It wasn't really my thing, but I really like the lyrics.
Posts: 115 | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah that kind of crazy pop techno isn't everones favourite stuff. but cool!
and sorry Noemon, i didn't know about that rule! I'll be more mindful next time. we can just post a link to the lyrics next time right?
Posts: 856 | Registered: Jun 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Noemon: I hate to be the grinch, but Card has a rule about posting song lyrics on the forums here. We're officially allowed to post only two lines from a song that is still under copyright. It's always seemed silly to me, but it's not my forum.
Thanks for the head's up! As a newbie, I hadn't a clue, not having come across anything about the rule (yet). What do I do...can I edit?
quote:Originally posted by T:man: heh heh heh... If someone calls you T just start screaming "I AM NOT T I AM TRACERIA!!!!!"
It'd be kinda' funny...
Ha ha... I'll keep that plan in mind. Actually, when I was a kid my granddad called me Big T because my little brother's name also shares that first initial. *shrug* I'm flexible, though, so whatever people want to call me, so long as it doesn't incringe on someone else's nickname, I'm cool. Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
that kind of crazy pop techno isn't everones favourite stuff. 
