Pondering Good and Evil at Wild Bob's Musical Book Club: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Through Wild Bob's Musical Book Club, local Ozark musicians have the opportunity to write and perform original songs on the subject of the month's theme book. Each month we gather at Lindberg's Tavern and share our creations. It is always a wonderful experience, and a community of which I feel incredibly grateful to be a part.
According to their website:
Wild Bob's Musical Book Club explores how one creative work inspires another. The book club came to life in June 2014 with the simple goal of challenging local singer-songwriters to create and perform songs inspired by the monthly book selection.
This month's selection was Lord of the Flies by William Golding, which is a book introduced to many American public school students somewhere between grades 7-9.
When I read this book as a kid, even though I felt like I grasped the concept of the novel, it was only upon revisiting it as an adult that I feel I truly get what it's all about.
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.”
The novel has so many pertinent themes. I find it to be especially interesting in the times today...we see this behavior in action in various ways around the world: people hurting each other for no reason other than spite, hateful hearts, and all kinds of other behavior that could have an evil label of some sort attached to it.
“We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”
"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?"
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”
Are we truly good, or are we truly bad? Left to our own devices, will we side on the part of logic, or will we all turn into wild killers? These themes are addressed in interesting detail in Golding's novel, and offers quite a place for thought to begin.
The Killers also posed a similar question:
Are we human? Or are we dancers?
I'm going to perform this song for you here on Steemit soon, but in the meantime, here are the lyrics to my take on Lord of The Flies...I call this song A Step From Wild. It's the first song I have written exclusively for the ukulele, as well. I could wax all day on this novel...so many concepts to ponder.
A Step From Wild by Jessamyn Orchard
Does the evil live within us all,
Or are we really good?
Do the rules confine us to restraint
Do we naturally do as we should?
Not everyone wants a leader,
And not everyone wants a plan,
Some live to exist in jungles,
And others seek domesticated lands.
Do we all really want to hurt each other?
And is it only fear that keeps us clean?
Can there really be that much bad inside all of us?
Can we ever know truly what we need?
Will you steal from your brother,
So you could feel warm?
Would you attack and break him, smoke him out--
So you could make a home?
Does the evil live within us all,
Or are we really good?
Do the rules confine us to restraint
Do we naturally do as we should?
Why do you steal from your brother,
Why are you acting like a child?
Do the rules confine us to restraint
Are we all just a step from wild?
Check out @virtualgrowth's post about my Steemit musical history HERE.
The imposed image on the cover photo was taken at Wild Bob's during my performance by Steve Kastner, and the edit over the pig head image was done by me using Fused for iOS.
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great post!
Thank you! I am so glad you dug it! Isn't LOTF a great novel? I mean, so much to contemplate in that one.
Of course I agree with you
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