re: literary references in music

[hsut@ec.purdue.edu (Tsun-Yuk Hsu)]

Anyone ever finish Remembrance of Things Past? I gave up around page 20,
but then Christmas break has never been a good time for big reading
projects... Another big book I'll get to soon (I hope) is Pynchon's
Gravity's Rainbow, which is referenced in Laurie Anderson's "Gravity's
Angel" from the Mister Heartbreak album. Pynchon writes hilarious
fake lyrics in his books --- try Crying of Lot 49 for a great read
and some sharp lyrics. 

There are also lines from T.S. Eliot's Waste Land in another Laurie
Anderson song from Mister Heartbreak (I think it's Blue Lagoon). It's
the part that goes "...those are pearls that were his eyes...", about
a drowned man. I don't recall any quotes from Big Science (don't have
the lyrics with me); anyone has pointers?

Bill Hsu