Gravity’s Rainbow
Devo: “Whip It” from Freedom of Choice (1980) ♥
The band’s Gerald Casale has stated that the song with its sadomasochistic theme and provocative video is an ode to Gravity’s Rainbow (see Colby Itkowitz). According to Wikipedia, Gerald Casale told Songfacts that the lyrics were written “as an imitation of Thomas Pynchon’s parodies” in Gravity’s Rainbow. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | last.fm | Youtube
Inandout: The White Visitation (1983)
Inandout appears to have been a German or Austrian band. In 1983, they issued a cassette tape entitled The White Visitation. Link: discogs.com
Fred Frith / Henry Kaiser: “The Kirghiz Light” from Who Needs Enemies? (1983) ♥
The British avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and the Californian guitarist hint at Gravity’s Rainbow with one of the tracks on their 1999 album. It also appears on With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies? (1987) and Friends & Enemies (1999). Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Bandcamp
The dedication of “Gravity’s Angel”: “for Thomas Pynchon”
Laurie Anderson: “Gravity’s Angel” from Mr. Heartbreak (1984) ♥
The Burroughs connection established through Soft Machine and Insect Trust—Pynchon and Burroughs being perhaps the most accomplished writers of paranoia—is continued with Laurie Anderson’s Mr. Heartbreak on which Burroughs does the vocals for “Sharkey’s Night.” It also contains the song “Gravity’s Angel” with the line “Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity’s rainbow.” The song on which Peter Gabriel does back-up vocals and Bill Laswell plays the bass was written “(for Thomas Pynchon)”. According to a radio interview with Laurie Anderson, she once contacted Pynchon to ask for his permission to turn Gravity’s Rainbow into an opera. He replied that he would give his permission only if she exclusively used banjos as musical instruments. For a reading of “Gravity’s Angel,” see Brian McHale’s “Gravity’s Angels in America, or, Pynchon’s Angelology Revisited” in Pynchon Notes. You may also want to check out The Modern Word. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Wikipedia | Youtube
Cort Lippe: “Solo Tuba Music” (1987)
The piece for tuba, percussive sounds, and voice features a paragraph from Gravity’s Rainbow (121). It was recorded by Mel Culbertson (Neuma Records) and József Bazsinka (Hungaraton Classic). Links: cortlippe.com (notes) | cortlippe.com (MP3) | Youtube
Cassiber: A Face We All Know (1988) ♥
The album A Face We All Know by German avant-garde band Cassiber (with Heiner Goebbels on various instruments) includes four songs credited to Pynchon, all performed with a thick German accent: “A Screaming Comes Across the Sky,” “They Have Begun to Move,” “They Go In Under Archways,” and “A Screaming Holds” The second disc, remixed in 1997 by Ground-Zero, contains three versions of “Across the Sky.” Different versions of these songs, plus “A Screaming Holds,” also appear on Cassiber’s albums 1982–1992 (discs 4, 6, and 7), The Way It Was, and Live in Tokyo 1992. The latter also included “Come On! Start the Show!”, credited to Pynchon.
Camper Van Beethoven: “All Her Favorite Fruit” from Key Lime Pie (1989)
In an interview with popgurls.com, David Lowery of the American alternative rock group states that the song was inspired by Roger Mexico and Jessica Swanlake’s love. There is also a 2010 live version by Cracker (new band by David Lowery) available. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Youtube
Jim Sauter, Don Dietrich, and Thurston Moore: “On the Phrase ‘Ass Backwards’” from Barefoot in the Head (1990)
On their experimental jazz album Pynchon is also credited for writing the liner notes but to all appearances, this was a prank by the band members. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com
Nirvana: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from Nevermind (1991) ♥
García Iborra and de Jódar Bonilla (41) mention a rumor (which is supported by the webmaster of this website) that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” may have been inspired by the novel’s “Their Spirits Are So Contagious” (547). Parts of Pynchon’s song can be made to fit Nirvana’s, and the former also includes the word Nevermind (and Nirvana’s song contains the word contagious) but other than that, I have not been able to substantiate the claim. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Wikipedia | Youtube
Nova Mob: The Last Days of Pompeii (1991)
According to an article on The Modern Word, Nova Mob (another Burroughs reference), the 1990s band of former Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart, has a rock opera with many Gravity’s Rainbow references. The Last Days of Pompeii is about Wernher von Braun escaping at the end of WW2 by means of time travel. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Wikipedia | Youtube
Pat Benatar: Gravity’s Rainbow (1993)
Except for the title, the album seems to have little if anything to do with the novel. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Wikipedia
Tim Ware: “At the Edge of the Wave-Green World I” (early- to mid-1990s) ♥
Tim Ware told me that most of his electronic works listed here are inspired by Pynchon but that “At the Edge of the Wave-Green World I” is the most inspired. He also recorded an electro-acoustic piece with the same title, minus the “I”. Most of these were written in the mid-1990s when Tim was in Pynchon’s thrall.
Tim also recorded the most recent work on this list, “Two Worlds” (2017). He writes: “Isn’t this an ‘interface’ here? a meeting surface for two worlds … sure, but which two?” (Gravity’s Rainbow 668). Pynchon and surf music. This is in style of Epic Surf Tunes (‘Point Panic,’ ‘Misirlou,’ &c.).”
Rapoon: The Kirghiz Light (1995) ♥
Rapoon is the ethno-ambient solo project of Robin Storey, and the title of this double album is from Gravity’s Rainbow. One of the tracks, almost eleven minutes in length, is also called “The Kirghiz Light.” Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | yourmusics.in (with MP3s)
Ramleh: Boeing (1997) ♥
Ramleh is a British noise/experimental/psychedelic band founded in 1982 and dis- and re-banded since. Their cover of their 1997 album Boeing (recorded in Seattle) features a V-2 and copious references to Pynchon and Gravity’s Rainbow. One of the tracks on the instrumental album is called “Knight of Wands.” Their 2015 album Circular Time has songs entitled “The Ascent” and “Entropy” while A Return to Slavery (1983) includes a track titled “Nordhausen.” Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Youtube | Wikipedia
Six Finger Satellite: “The White Visitation” from Law of Ruins (1998)
The Rhode Island band existed from 1990 until 2001 and was reformed in 2007. “The White Visitation” is a nod to Gravity’s Rainbow but the lyrics are almost impossible to understand. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Youtube
Eric Blowtorch: “Song from the Saturation Zone” and “Now and Then” (year unknown) ♥
Wisconsin reggae musician Eric Blowtorch recorded two songs from Gravity’s Rainbow: “Song from the Saturation Zone,” a mellow, not very reggae version of “With a Peppermint Face in the Sky” and “Now and Then,” an interpretation of “Last Week I Threw a Pie at Someone’s Momma.” The latter appeared as a ghost track on a compilation called Workman’s Comp. I have not been able to find it or date it, but here’s a recording of “Song from the Saturation Zone.”
Koota Tanimura: “Gravity’s Rainbow” from Typical Lowlife (1999)
I have not been able to find out anything about this particular track. Link: discogs.com
Bill Laswell: Dub Chamber 3 (2000) ♥
The American avant-garde bassist’s album Dub Chamber 3 contains four tracks, among which “Beyond the Zero” and “A Screaming Comes across the Sky.” Among the distinguished musicians is Norwegian trumpet player Nils Petter Molvær. Bill Laswell also played bass on Laurie Anderson’s Mr. Heartbreak and co-produced her album (see above). Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Wikipedia
Dikeman, Kugel, van der Weide: Across the Sky (2001/2012)
The Dutch-American free jazz trio (John Dikeman, ts; Raoul van der Weide, b, sound objects; Klaus Kugel, dr) recorded Across the Sky in Germany in 2001 and released it in 2012. The three tracks are entitled “A Screaming Comes,” “Across The Sky,” and “It Has Happened Before.” Link: discogs.com | inemu.com (with MP3)
Robert Forster, theme song of Prüfstand 7 (c. 2002)
The Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist Robert Forster not only played the ferryman in Robert Bramkamp’s film Prüfstand 7 about Gravity’s Rainbow and the V-2 rocket, he also provided the theme song, an interpretation of the novel’s last song, the hymn penned by Tyrone Slothrop’s ancestor William.
(Thank you, Thomas, for pointing this one out!)
Al Brooker: “Slothrop” from Quixotic (2002)
Reviewer Tim DiGravina writes: “Listening to the gentle, sad ‘Slothrop’ is an extremely emotional experience. It’s pure love expressed through instruments.” Although released in 2002, the song must have been bedroom-recorded earlier because in 2000, Al Brooker died of a heart attack on stage at aged 24. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com
Meg Wolitzer and Suzzy Roche: “Gravity’s Rainbow” (2003)
In 2003, novelist Meg Wolitzer and singer-songwriter Suzzy Roche teamed up to put excerpts of difficult books to music, among which, apparently, Gravity’s Rainbow. Although I have been unable to unearth more on this evidently quite humorous live project, the radio program reporting on it is still archived in the NYPR Archive Collections (starts around 33:00).
(Thank you, John Krafft.)
Unproduct: “Spherics I–III” from The 1999 Files Reopened, Volume I (2004)
The three “Spherics” oscillator/noise compositions from 1999 were inspired by Gravity’s Rainbow. New versions were released in 2004. Links: discogs.com | archive.org
A Screaming Comes Across the Sky
The L.A.-based experimental band calling themselves A Screaming Comes Across the Sky released eight albums between 2004 and 2010. Links: Bandcamp | Youtube live recording
David Heuser: “A Screaming Comes across the Sky” (2005)
This award-winning orchestra piece by David Heuser, the associate dean of the Crane School of Music, was commissioned by the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival. Links: nonsequiturmusic.com | Youtube
Adultnapper: “Slothrop” from Gravity EP (2006)
Las-Vegas-born DJ/producer Francis Harris a.k.a. Adultnapper named one track on his Gravity EP for the novel’s protagonist. Links: discogs.com | Youtube
Thank you, John K., for pointing this one out!
Vert: Some Beans & An Octopus (2006)
Another one of John K.’s additions: Vert is the name given by British acid jazz/hip-hop/electronic musician Adam Butler to some of his projects. This one here, likely a nod to Grigori the Octopus, contains tracks such as “Gretchen Askew,” “Velocity,” “Step Under The Bulbshine,” and “…Said the Signal to the Noise.” All in all, this album appears to be a fun mash-up of different styles and traditions of pop music. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com |
Klaxons: “Gravity’s Rainbow” (2007)
The connection of the British indie band’s debut single to the novel does not appear self-evident. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Youtube
High Mountain Temple: “A Screaming Comes across the Sky” from A Screaming Comes across the Sky (2007)
The California experimental rock duo was apparently inspired, apart from Pynchon, by the likes of Terry Riley, Philip K. Dick, Arthur Rimbaud, and H.P. Lovecraft. The band’s Eric Nielsen has also played with Acid Mother’s Temple. Links: discogs.com | blogsandiego.com
Steven Ricks: “Beyond the Zero” from Mild Violence (2008)
John Krafft told me that the album Mild Violence by the new/modernist classical composer is supposed to be Pynchon-inspired. The track most clearly so, at least by title, is “Beyond the Zero” (2005) for solo amplified violin and fixed-media stereo electroacoustic sound. Links: allmusic.com | prestoclassical.co.uk | issuu.com (sheet music)
No Longer Exists in Nature: No Longer Exists in Nature (2008)
This experimental/noise/breakcore mini-album (23 minutes in length) contains four tunes, credited to NLEIN. The Pynchon connection would not have been evident except that an excerpt from Gravity’s Rainbow appears alongside the artwork. Links: discogs.com | lunaticfringe.org
The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book: Sing the Songs of Gravity’s Rainbow (2009) ♥
The collaborative band comprising 42 people and calling itself The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book released a collection of 28 of Pynchon’s songs. Unfortunately, their website no longer exists (some of the songs can still be found on Youtube) but it appears that this was not so much a collective band but a collection of bands and musicians (“thirty-seven people across four states,” as stated on last.fm) that played on different tracks in a wide variety of genres. Links: Soundcloud | last.fm
Rei dos Leitoes: “Silent on the Island” (2010)
According to Wikipedia, “Canadian experimental rock group Rei dos Leitoes’s song ‘Silent on the Island’ (2010) incorporates themes from Gravity’s Rainbow.” I was unable to verify this, but since rei dos leitões means King of the Pigs, it would certainly fit.
Ben Collins: “Rainbow 1–3” from Odds (c. 2010)
The album contains ten tracks from 2006–2010. Three are entitled “Rainbow,” likely inspired by Gravity’s Rainbow as “pynchon” is listed as one of the topics. Link: archive.org
Scriptures: “A Screaming Comes across the Sky” from Scriptures (2012) ♥
This Seattle-based psychedelic metal band finds “inspiration in Western soundtracks, post-apocalyptic literature, and the geography of the Pacific Northwest” (Bandcamp). Scriptures was their debut album. Links: Bandcamp | Youtube
Coheed and Cambria: “Gravity’s Union” from The Afterman: Descension (2013)
According to the Wikipedia article for Gravity’s Rainbow, the progressive rock band’s “Gravity’s Union” was written in honor of Gravity’s Rainbow, as would befit an album title containing the word “Descension.” It may well be that the first part of this double album, The Afterman: Ascension (2012), also refers to the novel’s V-2 trajectory. Links: allmusic.com | discogs.com | Youtube
Brazzaville: “Soft Parade 2” from Morro Bay (2013)
Thomas Joel (see comments below) pointed this one out. He writes: “Singer/Songwriter David Arthur Brown is a self-expressed Thomas Pynchon fan and often alludes to his work via his band Brazzaville. Most notably the song ‘Soft Parade,’ from Morrow Bay (2013)” which goes: “Summer days remind me of the Soft Parade. Seventeen in L.A. and my heart kept breaking. So long ago—road trips down to Mexico—with ‘On The Road’ and ‘Gravity’s Rainbow.’” Brazzaville’s songs “Boeing” and “Sleeping on Your Shoulder,” however, do not appear to have a Pynchon connection despite their titles.
Links: Bandcamp | Youtube | Wikipedia
Rudi Zygadlo: “Pynchon’s Bureau Music” (2013)
On Youtube, Rudi Zygadlo writes about this piece: “I thought id make some music to accompany an extract from Gravity’s Rainbow in which Tyrone Slothtrop’s entropic desk is described.” [sic!]
Shadowy Lines: Mindless Pleasures (2014)
L.A.-based Nathan Stack’s ambient music project Shadowy Lines named its debut album for the initial title of Gravity’s Rainbow. It was released it on 8 May 2014, Pynchon’s 77th birthday. Every song is inspired by the novel, as evidenced by the titles of the tracks: “Soniferous Aether,” “Imipolex G,” “Domina Nocturna,” and many more. Link: Bandcamp
(Thank you, Mike W., for pointing this one out!)
Phantom Winter: “Avalanche Cities” from Cvlt (2015)
The song by the German metal band quotes a passage from Gravity’s Rainbow (175–76). Links: discogs.com | Youtube
Golden Ratio Syrup: “A Screaming Comes across the Sky” from Golden Ratio Syrup (2015) ♥
The seven-track electronica EP by Philadelphia’s PJ Geissinger aka Starkey contains yet another reference to Gravity’s Rainbow’s first sentence. Links: boilerroom.tv | Youtube
TV Girl: “Taking What’s Not Yours” from Who Really Cares (2016)
The song by the Los Angeles–based band refers to “a copy of Gravity’s Rainbow that she probably didn’t read.” Links: discogs.com | Youtube
The Fundament: Schwarzgerat (year unknown) ♥
John Krafft pointed out this rock opera based on Gravity’s Rainbow but there is hardly anything to be found out about it on the internet – except for the full recording! The nine tracks are adaptations form Pynchon’s songs and Pynchon is credited with the lyrics. Listen to it on The Fundament’s website.
White Visitation
Nicolas Guerrero who calls himself White Visitation has many songs on Youtube. He has, it says, emerged as one of the pioneers of Mexico City’s underground. Link: discogs.com
Contents
1 Introduction
2 “Entropy” and V.
3 The Crying of Lot 49
4 Gravity’s Rainbow (this page)
5 Vineland, Mason & Dixon, Against the Day, and miscellaneous homages
6 Bibliography and Biography
For myself, reading Pynchon is such a personal experience that I really prefer providing my own soundtrack. This is still a very interesting look at the quite wide influence that Mr. Pynchon ‘s work has had on musicians. I hadn’t realised how wide. My personal preference is Devo’s “Whip It”. It is direct and to the point without extraneous extrapolation. Just sayin’.
Your preference for providing your own soundtrack for reading Pynchon is probably a feeling shared by many of the musicians on this list, I would think, which is why they did create their own soundtrack. Some of the above tracks and albums would still fit nicely into my reading.
I enjoyed this very much and look forward to reading more. A lot of this was new to me and I will seek a lot of these recording out, particularly those which have tried to create songs from the books. One of my favourite things about reading Pynchon is when characters burst into song.
The debut album of the ambient music project, Shadowy Lines is devoted entirely to Gravity’s Rainbow. The album is called “Mindless Pleasures”. You can download it on Bandcamp as a Name-your-price deal. Here’s their webpage:
http://www.autohypnosis.net/shadowylines/albums.html
Here’s the Bandcamp link:
https://shadowylines.bandcamp.com/album/mindless-pleasures
Thank you, Mike, for these additions! Thanks also to John Krafft and Thomas for a good number of other suggestions! I added them all. Now I count about 95 entries, but still not a single one for Inherent Vice or Bleeding Edge. Anyone want to do a recording of Meatball Flag’s timeless surf classic “Soul Gidget”?
Singer/Songwriter David Arthur Brown is a self-expressed Thomas Pynchon fan and often alludes to his work via his band Brazzaville. Most notably the song “Soft Parade,” from Morrow Bay (2013).
“Summer days remind me of the Soft Parade. Seventeen in L.A. and my heart kept breaking. So long ago—road trips down to Mexico—with ‘On The Road’ and ‘Gravity’s Rainbow.'”
The Jazz Butcher – Lot 49 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8EVyEaXu_I
Thanks! This one is already listed (with a different Youtube link) as “Looking for Lot 49.”
So “Life During Wartime” by Talking Heads isn’t a condensed view of GR?
What is GR if not life during wartime?
“I’ve changed my hair style so many times now I don’t know what I look like.” That’s not Tyrone Slothrop who changes his personality/name three or four times until his atoms just dissipate?
Yeah, possibly. Thanks for this. Before I add it to the list, I wonder if we can get more info to corrobate this. After all, there’s also a line that is very un-slothroppy: “No time for dancing, or lovey dovey I ain’t got time for that now.”
I am on the recording of “Unsung Pynchon” by Barry Koron, who was my partner at the time we recorded it in New York in the 1980s. We made a CD, of which I have a copy, but I don’t know if there are any of them left. I thought I gave you this information a few years ago, since you seemed to know so little about it. It’s a wonderful recording.
Sorry about my late answer… If you still have the CD, I think it would be wonderful if you could upload the MP3s somewhere and share them with the universe! That way I could link to those tunes.
Barry passed away last year and I don’t know what the copyright situation is (if any) regarding these songs now. I will ask his daughter.
Full of references in the track titles here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sombunall-Beneva-Clark-Nova/dp/B002RZZ14G/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Beneva+%26+Clark+Nova&qid=1594675035&s=dmusic&search-type=ss&sr=1-2
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sombunall-Beneva-Clark-Nova/dp/B002RZZ14G/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Beneva+%26+Clark+Nova&qid=1594675035&s=dmusic&search-type=ss&sr=1-2
I wonder if these are actual references and not just resonances that we as readers of Pynchon are sensitized to. Is there any other piece of information to corroborate that these songs were inspired by Pynchon?
The song in page 300 of my edition of V is very similar in content to “We Suck Young Blood” by Radiohead, who are previously known to have made several Pynchon references.
The song “V” by Golden Smog from 1995’s Down by the Old Mainstream. It’s a great song!
Thanks, Anthony. That is a great song! I’m just not convinced that it’s a reference to Pynchon. Except for “V” there’s little to make that assumption, I think, and I found the following on the internet: “V is an ode to a friend of the band’s, a bartender from the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis.”
Here’s a Gravity’s Rainbow playlist I put together as I read the novel over the past several months
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1IwJR1RYnxY2LARCnT1X6d?si=b52b7eedcc164aa1
Thank you, Eric. Would you like to explain what made you include songs? Inspiration, resonances, occasional reference perhaps?
All three of those. Some of the songs directly reference the novel, while some deal with similar themes. I also tried to imagine what Pynchon may’ve been listening to as he worked on the novel. But mostly the playlist was an exercise to help me make sense of the novel, even imagining what a film soundtrack would look like.
I think I may have written to you before about Barry Koron’s Unsung Pynchon. It was recorded in New York in 1987 and I am one of the performers on the recording. Barry was at that time my fiance and he wrote all the songs when we were living together, so I got to sing them all (but not on the recording).
Hi Carolyn, yes you did tell me a little over two years ago. It would be great if you could make the recording available! I will probably go through these pages soon and update some links, add a bit here or there.
Thanks for this – was prompted to come here when trying to locate some info about my own band, Greenfield Leisure, who are kindly included in your list (“too fat to frug, baby, that’s what you tell me all the time!”). If I recall correctly, we even tried contacting Mr Pynchon via his literary agent to get permission to “adapt” the lyrics, but something about the author living in a cave meant we didn’t get a definitive reply – so we thanked him anyway on the record sleeve. The late John Peel played “Too Fat To Frug” on his BBC Radio One evening show back in the day – there is an audio clip of Peel’s wry intro somehwere on the interweb. Greenfield Leisure still pop up from time to time on college radio, internet stations, eBay, Discogs and YouTube. Oh, and for die-hard fans, there’s a bunch of stuff on Bandcamp. Thanks for listening.
For the past twenty years i have been performing, live and on record, something I call Spirit Songs. They are all generated, William Burroughs/Bryon Gysin style, by cutting up Gravitys Rainbow and V. I improvise the backing to these pieces rendering each rendition completely different. No fixed harmony, tune or melody. There are many versions scattered across the music platforms. One of my favourites is this one – https://mikecooper.bandcamp.com/album/mike-cooper-spirit-songs-live
While many of these references are to single songs and less well known acts one should note that Mark Knophler’s entire album Sailing to Philadelphia was influenced by Mason/Dixon.