Louis Armstrong- A Kiss to Build a Dream OnThese lyrics portray the scene Nick describes in chapter six of Gatsby and Daisy's kiss. This kiss that Daisy and Gatsby shared five years ago was literally "a kiss to build a dream on.” The intimacy of the kiss represents the love they once shared for each other and the love that Gatsby lived for. It was his drive to pursue his desire to be with Daisy once again. The verse, “When I'm alone with my fancies...Ill be with you. Weaving romances...making believe they're true,” applies to Gatsby’s fantasies. Even when Daisy rejected him as show on pg 134 where Nick says, “But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room,” Gatsby insists that Daisy never loved Tom. Overall, the song represents the progression from Gatsby and Daisy’s kiss to his downfall of not accepting reality. |
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Irving Berlin- Puttin' On The RitzMuch of The Great Gatsby focuses on the glamour of the 1920s. The descriptions of the people at Gatsby’s parties and the people in New York City are similar to the descriptions in this song. Like the people in the song, Nick says, “I was immediately struck by the number of young English-men dotted about; all well-dressed…(42).” The song also signifies how the people during the time period were very concerned with their appearance and social life and were just looking for a good time. A description of Gatsby’s party “The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names,” shows the care-free nature of the people in the 1920s. |
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Noël Coward- Poor Little Rich GirlThis song describes Daisy’s character and what her life is like throughout The Great Gatsby. The imagery of this song describes the parties and the glamorous yet superficial lives that Daisy, Jordan, and Tom led. Their lives have no real substance to them- ‘Cocktails and laughter, but what comes after? Nobody knows.’ The line ‘You're weaving love into a magic pattern’ describes how Daisy’s love life became entangled between Tom and Gatsby. The lines ‘By dancing much faster/ You're chancing disaster’ show how towards the end of The Great Gatsby everything spiraled out of control and a disaster did happen, which resulted in Gatsby’s death. The phrase ‘Laughing at danger’ shows how Daisy didn’t have to worry about danger because she could always retreat behind her money and had money to save her reputation. |
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Duke Ellington- Lost in Meditation I am LOST IN MEDITATION |
This song portrays Mr. Wilson’s blindness towards Myrtle’s detachment from him. Myrtle was having an affair with Tom, and she was unconcerned with her husband. “She smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as if he were a host, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye” (26). The lines ‘I am lost in meditation/ And my reverie/ Brings you back to me/ For in my imagination/ Love has lingered on/As though you'd never gone’ describes Wilson after Myrtle’s death. “Some man was talking to him in a low voice and attempting, from time to time, to lay a hand on his shoulder, but Wilson neither heard nor saw” (138). Wilson was in a daze after Myrtle was killed, and although he knew that Myrtle did have an affair, he was still unsuspecting of Tom. He was ‘lost in meditation’ concerning Myrtle and was unaware of what was really going on. |
Duke Ellington- Something to Live ForThe song "Something to Live For" is a representation of Gatsby. The lines 'I have almost ev'ry thing a human could desire/Cars and houses, bear-skin rugs to lie before my fire' represent how Gatsby was able to attain wealth and success in his life. He was able to go from rags to riches, all for his dream of Daisy, and so that he would be able to marry her. 'But there's something missing/ Something isn't there/ It seems I'm never kissing the one whom I care for' shows that Daisy actually isn't there, and that's what is missing from Gatsby's life. 'Oh, what wouln't I give for/Someone who'd take my life and make it seem/gay as they say it ought to be' describes how Gatsby would give anything to be with Daisy and to be happy with her; to go back in time to the way things used to be. Daisy is what Gatsby was living for. 'I want Something To Live For/ Someone to make my life an adventurous dream' is what Daisy is to Gatsby, she's what he lived for. |
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Louis Armstrong- Autumn in New YorkThe song "Autumn in New York" represents the significance of the seasons in The Great Gatsby. It also contains imagery and descriptions of New York, which was the setting of the novel. Lines in the song such as ‘Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds;’ and words such as ‘Jaded Rouges,’ ‘Ritz,’ ‘gleaming rooftops,’ ‘exotic,’ and ‘divine’ evoke feelings of the diction of The Great Gatsby. It was the end of summer and the beginning of autumn (pg. 153) when Gatsby was killed. The lines ‘Autumn in New York/ Is often mingled with pain’ show the sorrow and pain that Nick feels over Gatsby’s death. The line ‘Dreamers with empty hands’ represents Nick’s feelings on Gatsby. It shows that Gatsby was a dreamer but ended up not getting what he wanted, Daisy. |
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The Great Gatsby takes place during the 1920s, and that time period was referred to as ‘The Jazz Age.’ Jazz music, then, was obviously a very important part of that era. The Great Gatsby is a book that is filled with emotion, and a way that we thought of to portray that would be through music. We chose songs to represent the emotions, feelings, and lifestyles of characters; to represent the symbolism throughout the novel; and to represent the tone of The Great Gatsby in general. The songs that we chose are all from the 1920s to the 1950s, so they are relevant to the time period of the novel.
Sources used:
Lyrics Time. 24 Jan. 2009 <http://www.lyricstime.com/>.
Duke Ellington Lyrics. 23 Jan. 2009 <http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/duke_ellington/16_most_requested_songs_12/>.
Lyrics. 22 Jan. 2009 <http://www.geocities.com/paris/cafe/8636/songs.html>.