There is a not so obvious truth that we tend to forget. Especially in the Anthropocene, this age of technological advancement and huge human footprints on all aspects of life on Earth, I have found that we often overlook what other prints were left to us from the past. Some are literal prints – cave paintings of our daily lives, huge symbols across a field to be seen only by the gods, arranging carved stones in an attempt to commemorate our existence forever.
Point is, art is really the one thing that separates homo sapiens from any other living creature in the world. While they also recognize beauty and conform to patterns and follow rhythms, there is not as much intention behind the “art” of other species compared to ours.
Compartmentalizing and classifying is a science thing. Connecting and reflecting is the role of art. That is why I dedicate this music column to narratives woven together and intermingling of art forms. One of my favorite examples is the use of mythological stories from Ancient Greece in music.
Some time ago (I am genuinely afraid to calculate how long a while) I compiled a playlist I titled “To Olympus and Back”. In it I put all the songs I could think of that had a Greek mythological character or symbol in their title. I was inspired by “Persephone” by Tamino, one of the gentlest and most heartbreaking songs in my repertoire. Some more titles in that playlist are “Icarus” by Bastille, “Achilles Come Down” by Gang of Youths, “Athena” by Nova Twins, “Eurus” by The Oh Hellos, “Helios” by I See Rivers, “Hercules” by Elton John… the playlist is about 2 hours long so you can imagine how many more songs I came up with.
There is a whole musical based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice called Hadestown! The list could truly go on and on, and if you actually listen through all songs you will see that the theme of Greek mythology spans many genres – from pop and indie to metal and EDM, one can truly find references to some of the first recorded works of literature in modern day music.
I am even more impressed by songs that reference Greek myths more subtly. Think “Gold” by Imagine Dragons, whose chorus is a reference to the myth of King Midas: “…and everything, everything you touch turns to gold, gold, gold.” The myth of Icarus, a daring youth who flies too close to the sun, is probably one of the most popular ones to incorporate into lyrics. Well, “flying too close to the sun” even became a new favorite Gen Z phrase that I hear way too often. But before our generation Led Zeppelin sang of the myth of Icarus, as well as the myth of Achilles himself in the songs “Swan Song” and “Achilles Last Stand”, respectively. Even their logo was inspired by the image of the fall of Icarus.
More recently, Hozier stunned me with his interpretation of the myth of Leda and the swan, in which the young girl Leda is harassed by Zeus in the form of a white swan. Hozier, however, gleaned from this myth a warning about the extreme violence of colonialism, as he expresses in the lyrics from the second chorus of his song “Swan Upon Leda: “… swan upon Leda, empire upon Jerusalem.” Another favorite insert of Greek mythology in songs is the use of the symbolism of the Achilles’s heel (“oh wow, they said the theme of the special issue!”) by The Stranglers in the song “Achilles heel”.
I know many of us genuinely suffered through middle school and high school literature lessons on Greek mythology, maybe even the whole of the Iliad and the Odyssey, so the last thing you want is to be reminded of these dark times while listening to music. But I urge you to reconsider and appreciate the beauty and the genius of bridging two art forms from across centuries, of translating insightful stories to music, perhaps the one universal language we have.
Yana Peeva is an Editor-in-Chief. Email them at feedback@thegazelle.org.
