Have you ever read a book because of a record? I bet I’m not the only one who read The Stranger by Albert Camus because it was the inspiration for “Killing An Arab” by The Cure. I read that one when I was in the Sixth Form and its flat, existential ennui seemed pretty cool and worldly to a 17-year-old who would grow up to use phrases like “existential ennui”.
Another book I read for this reason was the 1966 novel The Lady In The Car With Glasses On And A Gun by Sebastien Japrisot because Scottish Post-Punkers Scars did a track with that name on their debut album. It’s hard not to be intrigued by that title anyway. How can you not read a book called that?
This was another French novel (which were clearly to Post-Punk bands what Lord of The Rings was to Prog groups), this time a strange, noirish thriller about a secretary who steals her bosses car and goes on a road trip that turns into a Kafkaesque nightmare involving mistaken identity, mysterious strangers, and a dead body in the boot. It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember it as being stylish and clever in a very French way.
The lyrics seem to directly relate to the plot though I can’t find any info about whether Scars were inspired by the book or the cult 1970 movie adaptation instead. There was another version made in 2015 which actually uses the Scars record on its soundtrack. That’s all very meta or another intellectual word I’d know if I read more French writers.
Download: The Lady In The Car With Glasses On And A Gun! – Scars (mp3)
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Stop! I don’t have enough of a double-time second life to get into all this fascinating material. (Even with “Stranger” and “Killing an Arab” under the belt.) Bad enough that I’m draw to attend the Coolidge Corner screening of “Blow Up,” a movie I’ve seen three times already! (Even read the novel source — well written, in translation, but reeeeealllllyyy long.)
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..ha, brilliant! several. ‘wuthering heights’ of course, ‘boys from brazil’ (ira levin) from the excellent simple minds’s ‘sons and fascination’ album,
tried ‘gormenghast’ (‘the drowning man’ by the cure) but didn’t finish, not my cup of tea, and ‘atrocity exhibition’ by j.g. ballard, see opening title of joy division’s ‘closer’ album. just to name a few.
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