Deseree Stukes ([email protected])
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 02:10:23 -0500
Irish rock band, controversial author adapt elements of his new book 'The
Ground Beneath Her Feet.'
Contributing Editor Colin Devenish reports:
Bridging the arts of music and literature, U2 and controversial author
Salman Rushdie have teamed to write the tune "The Ground Beneath Her Feet"
-- a song that weds mythological themes to rock music.
With lyrics taken from Rushdie's book of the same name (set for an April
release) and music written by the Irish rock band, "The Ground Beneath Her
Feet" has already been recorded in demo form, according to R.M.P., the
London-based publicity firm that represents U2.
Rushdie described the song in a report from the British newspaper The
Guardian."Bono and I have been friends for several years," he said, "and I
sent him the novel when I'd finished it, and he responded by coming up with
this beautiful melody. Simple as that, but of course, very pleasurable."
Paralleling the novel, the ballad's lyrics refer to the myth of Orpheus and
Eurydice -- which describes the agony of lovers separated by death -- and
place it in a rock 'n' roll context. The song includes the verses, "All my
life I worshipped her/ Her golden voice/ Her beauty's beat/ How she made us
feel/ How she made me real/ And the ground beneath her feet."
Rushdie previously spent time with U2 during their 1993 "Zoo TV" concert
tour, during which he joined the band onstage at London's Wembley Stadium.
He even stayed at singer Bono's house as a guest. "I spent three or four
days with him over the years," Rushdie said last year.
U2 recently released a double-disc greatest-hits collection, U2: The Best of
1980-1990, which included such songs as "With Or Without You" (RealAudio
excerpt) and "Desire" (RealAudio excerpt). The foursome entered a Dublin
studio in November to begin work on a new LP. They were joined by producers
Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who collaborated with the band on their most
commercially successful releases, such as 1987's The Joshua Tree and 1991's
Achtung Baby.
Howard Junker, editor of the San Francisco literary magazine "ZYZZYVA,"
reacted skeptically to the news of the author's collaboration with the
rockers, but also got a kick out of the idea.
"If this doesn't sink the both of them, what will?" Junker said, laughing.
"Both their careers are tentative at the moment. In the old days, the
Beatles would hang out with literary types like Eugene McCarthy, so this is
perfectly appropriate for what it is."
In the past, there have been other author-musician projects, such as beat
novelist William Burroughs recording with Material's Bill Laswell and poet
Allen Ginsberg teaming with punk-rock icons the Clash.
Rushdie has spent nearly a decade under British police protection since the
late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a "fatwa," or
religious edict, to kill Rushdie for his alleged blasphemy against Islam in
his book "The Satanic Verses" (1988).
In September, Iranian president Mohammed Khatemi announced that, while his
government has insufficient religious authority to revoke the fatwa, it does
not endorse killing Rushdie. Since then, however, two groups -- an Iranian
student association and the 15 Khordad Foundation -- have renewed calls for
the death sentence to be carried out. The Khordad Foundation upped its
reward for Rushdie's death from $2.5 million to $2.8 million.
While no concrete plan exists for the song's release, Rushdie and U2 are
reported to be considering releasing the song on the Internet to coincide
with the April publication of the novel.
Regardless of when the song sees the light of day, Junker sees an ironic
justice in the odd coupling.
"It's like Marilyn Monroe wanting to play a part in 'The Brothers
Karamazov,'" he said. "Everyone serious wants to be pop; everyone pop wants
to be serious. There's a long tradition of that, and I'm all for it."
des
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