SciFi SongFest, Songs 260-261

One song definitely, and another song arguably, based on the science fiction works of Frank Herbert (Dune and “Gambling Device,” respectively):

260. Iron Maiden, “To Tame a Land” (1983):

(Also: back in 1977, a David Matthews released a Dune-themed concept album, which I picked up at the time, having just read the novel shortly before my 13th birthday; it has no lyrics, so it doesn’t really fit into this SongFest, but you can listen to it here. It’s not my conception of what Dune-themed music should sound like; but then, neither is Iron Maiden – or Toto.)

261. Eagles, “Hotel California” (1976):

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9 Responses to SciFi SongFest, Songs 260-261

  1. Irfan Khawaja October 11, 2019 at 7:55 pm #

    Funny thing is, I’ve never seen or read “Dune,” so all it brings to mind for me are Sting and Iron Maiden.

  2. Roderick October 11, 2019 at 10:47 pm #

    I’ve never seen or read “Dune,”

    That’s just wrong. (The not reading, I mean. None of the movie or tv versions so far has quite gotten it right, and the one with Sting in it gets it least right.)

    • Roderick October 11, 2019 at 10:59 pm #

      David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia actually does a better job of being like Dune than the David Lynch Dune movie does.

      David Lean, David Lynch — maybe someone flipped one card too far on their rolodex.

      • Roderick October 11, 2019 at 11:07 pm #

        Though if Jodorowsky had succeeded in his batshit-crazy plans for a Dune film, that might well have been even less Dune-like than Lynch’s version.

        • Roderick October 12, 2019 at 1:07 am #

          Dune probably had a bigger impact on me than any novel pre-Rand.

      • Irfan Khawaja October 15, 2019 at 5:21 pm #

        Well, not only have I seen “Lawrence of Arabia,” but I’ve read Seven Pillars of Wisdom. So perhaps that compensates for my wrongness re “Dune.”

        • Roderick October 16, 2019 at 12:24 am #

          I’ve generally assumed that “Dune” was influenced by the Lawrence movie (and possibly by the Pillars book too).

          Then of course “Dune” was in turn a major influence on “Star Wars” — but while I love “Star Wars,” I have to say that the distance in subtlety and thematic complexity from “Dune” to “Star Wars” is rather like the distance from a John Le Carre spy novel to the latest “Mission Impossible” movie.

        • Roderick October 16, 2019 at 12:47 am #

          Words I first learned from “Dune”:

          baraka
          bourka
          fiqh
          ghanima
          hajj
          jihad
          kitab
          mahdi
          ramadhan
          ruh
          shahnama
          sharia
          sook (souk)
          ulema
          umma

          Of course at age 12 I had, for the most part. no idea which of Herbert’s words were real words and which were ones he made up for the story (there are plenty of both).

          I wonder how contemporary American audiences will react to the upcoming Villeneuve movie version of a story in which the heroes are explicitly Arabic-inflected mujahideen fighting to protect their desert world and its one major hyper-lucrative natural resource against foreign imperial powers and corporate cartels.

        • Roderick October 16, 2019 at 12:55 am #

          Well, I don’t have to wonder too much. A lot of them will probably say “Hollywood liberals are ripping off Star Wars and injecting left-wing anti-American politics into it.”

          On the other hand, it’s got actors like Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, and Dave Bautista in it, so probably the cast will draw a fair number of people in.

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