Phillip K. Dick thread about songs...
 

i am currently reading "Ubik" by PKD. i know that there are some songs on Sister based on his writing. then, i came across the phrase in Ubik, "wish fulfillment". it was by itself on the page. just like that. not really all by itself. down on the bottom of page 106. it says: "wish fulfillment," edie dorn said faintly.

so, here's my question and purpose for this thread. what are the songs that are based on his writing/books and so forth.

i heard Schizophrenia is based on PKD and i think that one of Lee's songs off Sister is also.

anybody know of any others?

wanna take a guess?

any theories?
gossip?


s.

Check out William Gibson too, if you're looking for SY's cyber-punk references.

pax,
i just might. i'm really into PKD, though. is william gibson worth it besides the cyber-punk reference?

s.

For Schizophrenia, my guess is that it comes from We Can Build You :

The hero/narrator works in a company building organs; then they decide to create androids that would look, think and talk just like Amercian History Figures; they thus bring to life Lincoln and one of his aides, who get big jobs in the company...
The link to the song : the hero/narrator is fascinated by his partner's daughter (not sister, still...); she spent some time in an institution for her schizophrenia and, if memory serves me, she really enjoys scaring him by some remarks.

I remember reading in a paper - real paper, no internet - that Lee mentioned Radio Free Albemuth as an influence.
On that one, a guy perceives messages coming from he can't tell where. I don't remember that one much. Could be an influence on Stereo Sanctity, but don't take my word for it.

PCH came after the reading of James Ellroy - Silent Terror I presume.

Bertrand, i think that you are wrong about Schizophrenia. i remember reading that it comes from one of Dick's own personal experiences. he had a twin sister that died in child-birth or something like that. in a dream she visited him with this golden chain necklace cross thing.

i read it in "Confusion is Next" by Alan Foege. i'm sure i'm butchering the quote even by paraphrasing standards.


s.

also- i finished Ubik tonight. that's about two days i think. love it. one of the fastest ever reads for me. i'm getting Vallis next.

Oh then I got it in reverse, PKD used life to generate a character of his novels, and SY used PKD's life too, leaving said novel behind or not knowing it.

Thanks for the info.

I don't know about explicit references, just that PKD is like a constant general influence around the Sister-DDN period.

betrand,
right...and then i used the book about sonic youth using PKD's life experience leaving said novel behind in the book i read...

by the way, have you read anything else by him? if so, would you recommend We Can Build You over like say Ubik or Radio Free Albemuth?

and referring to Vallis, the borders i went to didn't have it so i got The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. it looks long enough to tie me over until i can scrounge up some money to find Vallis.

s.

from the song g-force on the ciccone youth album:

g force eight ninety-nine, seventy-nine ninety-five
the ice ballet
sleeping beauty
she's a real jogger
what becomes a mirrorshade most? huh?

i always thought this passage from stereo sanctity was particularly cyberpunk

Hey - gold connections
Analog soul waving in your hair
Hey - hylozoic directions
She's talking blue streaks everywhere

Your spirit is time-reversed to your body
Stereographic mix-up field on field
It started growing up the day your body dies
Only apparently real to irreal


um, yeah? 6!850[\] 15 7|=[-] |20><><0|2



...pattern recognition on sonic nurse is based on gibson's novel of the same name

Like a cool hunter watch the disarray
Keep yr secret footage heart away

I'd recommend We Can Build You once you feel a bit sore by his universe and stories. There's no big issue on Build You and it's almost a comedy.
Albemuth was written in his late period (circa Timothy Archer, so there could be common elements, but I haven't read the Transmigration).
A Scanner Darkly's a really good one too,

I heartily recommend a book call 'I am Alive and You are Dead' on PKD. It's a fascinating insight in to a wonderful but deeply troubled author. Of course if you haven't read it go get Scanner Darkly. Funny, sad, poignant

i still think that this fits with Ubik. anybody else read that one?

WISH FULFILMENT
I SEE YR WISHES ON THE WALL,
AND THAT'S ALRIGHT WITH ME
I SEE YOU RUN TO MAKE A CALL,
HOPING THAT THERE'S SOMEONE FREE
YOUR LIFE AND MY LIFE THEY DON'T TOUCH AT ALL,
AND THAT'S NO WAY TO BE
YOU'VE NEVER SEEMED SO FAR...
WHAT'S REAL? WHAT'S TRUE?
I AIN'T TURNIN MY BACK ON YOU
WHERE YOU GOIN? WHERE YOU BEEN?
MAKING WISHES, WATCHING DREAMS?
IT MIGHT BE SIMPLE, IT MIGHT BE TRUE
I MIGHT BE OVERWHELMED BY YOU
YOU MIGHT BE EMPTY -
THE WAY YR EYES JUST LOOK RIGHT THROUGH
IT'S SUCH A MESS NOW ANYWAY
WISH FULFILMENT EVERY DAY
I DON'T BELIEVE YOU -
NOW I CAN'T HEAR A WORD YOU SAY
I SEE YOU SHAKIN IN THE LIGHT,
READIN THE HEADLINE NEWS
THE OTHERS AREN'T QUITE SO BRIGHT,
YOU WANT THEM TO CHOOSE YOU
I COULD ALMOST SEE YR FACE TONIGHT,
SINGIN SIMPLE RHYTHM AND BLUES
YOU'LL ALWAYS BE A STAR...
SHAKE IT, BABY, C'MON SCREAM
DID I SEE YR FACE IN A MAGAZINE?
YOUR DOUBT, IT LEAVES ME SORE
I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE
IT'S MY FAVORITE SHOT OF YOU
YOU LOOKED SO PRETTY, YR EYES WERE TRUE
I'M STILL ON YR SIDE -
IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING YOU DO
WE'RE ONLY BLOOD ON LIGHT ON LIFE
NEW PRETTY PICTURES EVERY NIGHT
COME WISH BESIDE ME -
DON'T YOU KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT'S RIGHT?
---------------
lyrics: lee ranaldo
sonic youth - dirty (1992)

Um, Sigmund Freud originated the term "wish fulfillment," grasshoppa. Although, yes, Sonic Youth have stated many times that some Sister lyrics derive from PKD.

The term is introduced in Freud's "Interpretations of Dreams." And Carl Jung, among many others, have vastly improved on Freud's theories since then.

Dick must have read (or scanned) Freud's book, liked the term, and appropiated it, as artists often do, in his own work.

In turn, Sonic Youth must have read (or scanned) Dick's book, liked the term, and appropiated it, as artists often do, in their own work.

i see atari. that makes sense. i also read the term in Transmigration... today. i'm zipping through it. a problem i've discovered with my income and reading ability. they don't sync up. at least not with PKD.

however, the similarities between the "writing on the wall" and some of the other stuff...it just sounds like Ubik. it might be coincidence. which, i think, might be even cooler. cooler.

s.

maybe, they scanned it darkly. that might be why i can't quite put my finger on how the two are related...

s.

I'm just done reading Now Wait for Last Year - the first i've read of Phillip K Dick. I felt it really picked up in the second half and it's left me wanting to read more of his work.

auto-aim. they are all like that...at least a lot of what i've read. the first part of Transmigration went slow. then...all of the sudden i'm almost 3/4 done. i've noticed a lot that he sets the scene, and then just starts to screw with you. or at least that's a reaction i've had to it.

i was actually thinking about what it must have been like when SY was touring for Confusion or something. nothing to do but listen to music, drive, smoke and read PKD. i can see how one would be able to write songs about it. i feel like i could have driven from hear to NYC and back just with the amount of time i've lost being completely entombed in PKD's writing.

just a thought...it sounds negative. i actually really enjoy it. kind of in a pissy mood.

s.

Indeed. I recall an interview on Canadian radio that I listened to in '87 where Lee said that he often couldn't immediately tell if he thought of something or remembered it himself, dreamt it, or read it in a book. Given that sort of philosophy applied to writing lyrics, it becomes impossible to say what is "based on" a particular source.

I'm in agreement with Mirror Dash that "Stereo Sanctity" is definitely one of the more overtly PKD influenced tracks on Sister, though I don't think it's necessarily based directly on a particular story. Of course Mirror Dash said it was Cyberpunk, but Cyberpunk as a sub-genre is very heavily influenced by PKD as well.

discordance axis have several songs based and inspired by phillip k dick too.

the title 'sister' came from PKD, didn't it? he had a twin sister who died at birth or something which i think he became pretty obsessed with.