# William Blake set to "music"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436 "2008-08-09T20:46:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/1 "2008-08-09T20:46:48Z")
Surely I can’t be the first person who thought of this. =============== Tiger, tiger, burning bright, _Doo-dah! doo-dah!_ In the forests of the night, _Oh, de doo-dah-day!_ What immortal hand or eye, _Doo-dah! doo-dah!_ Could frame thy fearful symmetry? _Oh, de doo-dah-day!_ Gwine to burn all night Gwine to burn all day… =============== Piping down the valleys wild, _Doo-dah! doo-dah!_ Piping songs of pleasant glee, _Oh, de doo-dah-day!_ On a cloud I saw a child, _Doo-dah! doo-dah!_ And he laughing said to me: _Oh, de doo-dah-day!_ Gwine to pipe all night Gwine to pipe all day… =============== Geez, and I LOVE these poems. I’ve been reading Fark too long. But Blake did call them “songs”, he whined, in a futile attempt to justify himself. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/2 "2008-08-10T00:22:21Z")
The English composer John Tavener has set \*The Tiger \* to music. It’s a lovely piece. [Link](http://www.amazon.com/Ikons-Choral-Music-John-Tavener/dp/B00000FDE9/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1218327549&sr=1-2) ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/3 "2008-08-10T15:33:06Z")
Well, that’s much worse than realizing all of Elizabeth Barrett-Browning’s poetry can be sung to the tune of ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’. Though I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me. I like the Blake riff. Fark anyone who doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/4 "2008-08-10T15:36:48Z")
[QUOTE=The Sonoran Lizard King] Well, that’s much worse than realizing all of Elizabeth Barrett-Browning’s poetry can be sung to the tune of ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’. Though I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me. [/QUOTE] That’s Dickinson, no? ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/5 "2008-08-10T15:49:44Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] That’s Dickinson, no? [/QUOTE] You are absolutely right. My apologies to all dopers with more than two brain cells. :smack: I’m glad someone was awake in class that day. Oh, yes. Angie Dickinson. My first crush, watching ‘Police Woman’ and a poet. Fantastic lady. **SD** ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/6 "2008-08-10T15:54:59Z")
Well, I suppose you _could_ sing, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” to “Yellow Rose of Texas,” although you might find yourself stumbling over the syllables a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/7 "2008-08-10T18:17:38Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] Surely I can’t be the first person who thought of this. [/quote] Check out Tangerine Dream’s _Tyger_. The album is pretty much just William Blake poetry set to music. See (or hear, rather), for example, the titular song [here](http://play.rhapsody.com/tangerinedream/tyger/tyger?didAutoplayBounce=true). ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/8 "2008-08-10T18:27:16Z")
I set “The Lamb” to music for piano and solo treble for an 11 year old voice student of mine, last year, for an Easter mass (which included baptisms). It was quite lovely 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/9 "2008-08-10T18:32:08Z")
Ulver did [_Themes from William Blake’s “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”_](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:k9fuxqw0ldke), which consists of the entire work set to music. It’s pretty far from easy listening, but definitely worth hearing if you’re a fan of Blake. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/10 "2008-08-10T18:54:53Z")
I’m amazed no one has yet mentioned Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s (ELP) version of Jerusalem which is Blake words coupled with melody by Parry (first name eludes me). ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/11 "2008-08-10T19:06:40Z")
[QUOTE=BwanaBob] I’m amazed no one has yet mentioned Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s (ELP) version of Jerusalem which is Blake words coupled with melody by Parry (first name eludes me). [/QUOTE] [Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bzRI0BUv0). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/12 "2008-08-10T19:47:04Z")
[Songs of Innocence and Experience](http://www.amazon.com/William-Bolcom-Innocence-Experience-University/dp/B000641YZK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1218397444&sr=1-1) set to music ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/59ef9b/32.png) [@FlyingRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRat)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/13 "2008-08-13T06:39:25Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] [Songs of Innocence and Experience](http://www.amazon.com/William-Bolcom-Innocence-Experience-University/dp/B000641YZK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1218397444&sr=1-1) set to music [/QUOTE] On the bonus CD of U2’s recent reissue of _The Joshua Tree_, there is a very beautiful instrumental piece accompanied by Bono half-singing/half-reciting Blake’s [“Introduction” to _Songs of Experience_.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_(Songs_of_Experience)) It’s really nicely done and complements the rest of the music extremely well, sort of as a commentary on those songs 20 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/14 "2008-08-13T14:15:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] The English composer John Tavener has set \*The Tiger \* to music. It’s a lovely piece. [Link](http://www.amazon.com/Ikons-Choral-Music-John-Tavener/dp/B00000FDE9/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1218327549&sr=1-2) [/QUOTE] And _The Lamb_, which is an odd piece of writing, almost intellectually-masturbatory so, as he writes it so that as one line goes up by _n_ semitones, the other goes down by the same amount. Not bad, but not wonderful IMO, and a bugger for an amateur choir to get to grips with. ---
**Author:** ![desdinova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@desdinova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/desdinova)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/15 "2008-08-13T14:57:37Z")
Speaking of Dickinsons, Bruce Dickinson’s [The Chemical Wedding](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chemical_Wedding) is influenced by Blake and features some of his artwork. It also includes a version of Jerusalem. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/16 "2008-08-13T16:15:48Z")
The Fugs did “How Sweet I Roamed From Field to Field” on their first album. ---
**Author:** ![RMutt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@RMutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RMutt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/17 "2008-08-13T18:53:20Z")
I’ve always fallen into: Tiger, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night I wish I may, I wish I might Have the wish I wish tonight! ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/18 "2008-08-13T21:23:45Z")
Greg Brown does a great job of it on [Songs of Innocence and of Experience](http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Innocence-Experience-Greg-Brown/dp/B000001B85/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1218662522&sr=1-23) 1. Introduction 2. The Lamb 3. Infant Joy 4. The Chimney Sweeper 5. The Ecchoing Green 6. Night 7. On Anothers Sorrow 8. The Tyger 9. The Angel 10. The Garden Of Love 11. Infant Sorrow 12. Holy Thursday 13. Ah! Sun-flower 14. The Little Vagabond 15. A Poison Tree 16. London ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-blake-set-to-music/459436/19 "2008-08-13T21:29:55Z")
pssh! It’s ‘Tyger! Tyger!’