HW: Lyrics

[M Holmes]

Dave Berry writes:

> A common complaint here is that lyrics for new songs aren't as good as the
> old ones.  Even allowing for nostalgia, and excluding Bob's songs (as Bob
> was clearly a class above most rock lyricists), I think that's true.  And
> I've got a couple of ideas about it.
>
> One is that HW have traditionally [1] done very well from links with SF
> writers.  Bob considered himself primarily an SF poet, and there's the
> Moorcock connection.  (Over on the other side of the list, much of BOC's
> last album had lyrics by John Shirley).  So maybe the band should try and
> link up with other SF writers out there now.  Assuming UK writers for ease
> of contact, Ken MacLeod's world would fit the HW mould very nicely.  Iain
> Banks has written lyrics for his own use; maybe he'd be interested in a HW
> link?

I'm afraid that despite best efforts, neither Ken nor Iain are Hawkwind
fans though if they played an SF convention which they attended (only
considerable threats and bribery would persuade them to a Star Trek
convention I'd hazard) then I'm sure they'd go to the gig. Dunno about
writing lyrics but I could ask them.
>
> Possibly it would just be a good idea for Dave to hang out at an SF
> convention for a weekend.  (How many SF writers are likely to be at the
> Star Trek con?).

Wel there's a certain pair of authors who seem to be at all the brit
conventions. I think one of them has also penned some Star Trek stories
herself.

> Another idea is to think of particular situations from books that are worth
> developing into lyrics

I always liked the Amber series...

~> One that comes to mind is the character from Greg
> Egan's "Quarantine", who gets a mind modification that makes him loyal to
> an organisation called the Ensemble.  He knows that the Ensemble have
> altered his mind to make him loyal, but since he is now loyal to them, he
> knows they must have had a good reason for altering his mind...

I haven't read that one, but Egan's stuff is usually quite interesting.

> The whole Alien/X-Files schtick is getting a bit long in the tooth now

Absofragginlutely.

> Anyone else got any thoughts on situations that would make a good HW song?

Government attacks and monitoring of the Net such as key escrow for encryption
products would seem to fit in pretty well with the technology theme and
Brock's apparently anarchist politics.

Rather than far out SF I wonder if a better concept wouldn't be some
sort of near term hard SF such as a realistic but doomed mission to
Mars. Backed up by either a comic or story outlining the characters and
what went wrong, this could look a lot stronger than the Death Generator
idea. Those of you who remember Apollo 13 will know the drama of having
heroes struggling for survival beyond the help of anyone.

It could also end up fairly topical in a few years.  It fits in pretty
strongly with things like the Hawkwind Log and poetry like The Awakening
and First Landing on Medusa.

> Dave.

FoFP