Soul Music (novel)

This article is about the novel Soul Music. For the type of music, see Soul music.

Soul Music

Publisher	Victor Gollancz

Soul Music is the sixteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1994. Like many of Pratchett's novels it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of the Disc, in this case Rock and Roll music and stardom, with nearly disastrous consequences. It also introduces Susan Sto Helit, daughter of Mort and Ysabell and granddaughter of Death.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler The story follows "The Band with Rocks In" through their short-lived but glamorous musical career. The band consists of the following members:

• Imp Y Celyn, a young lad from Llamedos ("Sod 'em all" spelled backwards) who sings and plays the guitar. His name is Welsh and means "Bud of the holly" (→ Buddy Holly). Later on he uses the pseudonym "Buddy". It is often remarked upon that he looks rather "Elvish" (→Elvis).
• Lias Bluestone, a troll who does percussion, which in typical troll fashion consists of banging rocks together. He later takes on the more rocky name "Cliff", despite his colleagues' warning that no-one would last long in the music business with a name like that.
• Glod Glodsson, a dwarf who plays horn, and is not ashamed to admit he's in it for the money.
• The Librarian joins the Band for a little while to play the piano, but leaves the band before they become famous. (A probable reference to Pete Best or Stuart Sutcliffe).

The band is "discovered" by C.M.O.T. Dibbler, who becomes the Disk's first manager. He of course tries to cash in by any means possible whilst keeping the band ignorant. He also hires the troll "Asphalt" as a roadie to accompany the band on its tour.

Meanwhile, Death is in one of his philosophical moods, and takes a holiday in search of a way to forget his more troubling memories, such as the recent demise of his adopted daughter Ysabell and her husband Mort. In the meantime, his granddaughter Susan discovers the truth about her heritage when she's forced to stand in for her missing grandfather. Complications ensue when she falls in love with Imp/Buddy, and tries to save him from his "live fast, die young" destiny as the Discworld's first rock star.

Buddy wants to do a free concert, and after Dibbler figures out how much money he can make by selling T-shirts, sausages-in-a-bun etc. to the audience, he agrees. A large number of bands, all of whom have formed in response to the original "Band with Rocks In", participate in the largest concert of all times (→Woodstock).

Afterwards the band flees from their crazed fans. They are pursued by the angry Musicians Guild, C.M.O.T. Dibbler (because the proceeds are in the carriage), Susan (because she believes they will drop in a gorge) and Death (to stop Susan from doing something silly).

Allusions to pop culture

There are allusions to popular songs, bands and movies associated with rock 'n roll culture between the 1950s and 1990s.

Songs

• The original cover illustration is similar to that of the Meat Loaf album Bat Out of Hell.
• "Don't Tread on My New Blue Boots" ("(Don't Step on My) Blue Suede Shoes")
• "Good Gracious Miss Polly" ("Good Golly, Miss Molly")
• "Sto Helit Lace" and Buddy saying 'Hello, baby' ("Chantilly Lace")
• "Pathway to Paradise" ("Stairway to Heaven")
• The book alludes to at least one person's thoughts on 'the day the music died,' referring both to the plane crash which claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper and to the song "American Pie" commemorating the incident
• When Death takes the leather coat and the Librarian's motorcycle the sentence "with the coat he borrowed from the Dean" comes up which is a parody of the lyrics from the song "American Pie," which itself references the movie Rebel Without A Cause.
• The "music with rocks in" makes you "want to paint your bedroom wall black" which makes association with The Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black"
• Buddy's song "Sioni Bod Da": Bod Da is Welsh for Be Good, therefore Sioni Bod Da is Johnny B. Goode. There are other references to this song in the book. For example, when Buddy was describing the shack he lived in, he said "Made of earth and wood. Well, mud and wood really". Also, Buddy's harp was described as "The harp was fresh and bright and already it sang like a bell". The opening verse of the song is Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans/Way back up in the woods among the evergreens/There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood,/Where lived a country boy named of Johnny B. Goode/Who never ever learned to read or write so well/But he could play the guitar like ringing a bell
• Susan friend swears the new boy at the fish shop is "elvish" ("There's a guy works down the fish shop who swears he's Elvis" by Kirsty MacColl)

Bands

• Following the band's amazing popularity, a large number of other "music with rocks in" bands appear, such as:
  • We're Certainly Dwarfs (They Might Be Giants)
  • &U (U2)
  • The Whom (The Who)
  • Lead Balloon (Led Zeppelin)
  • Insanity (Madness)
  • Felonious Monk (Thelonious Monk)
  • The Surreptitious Fabric (The Velvet Underground)
• One of the bands keeps changing its name and at one point buys a deaf leopard (Def Leppard) instead of leopard skin pants.
• When Death is experimenting life as a homeless beggar he is handed a coin. THANK YOU, replies the grateful Death (The Grateful Dead).
• Blert Wheedown's (Bert Weedon's) Guitar Primer" (play your way to succeſs in three easy leſsons and eighteen hard leſsons) [sic] becomes a temporary bestseller in Ankh-Morpork

Movies

• A Hard Day's Night - many of the band's getaway scenes, and their general lives while in the band
• Wayne's World - Blert Wheedown banning the playing of "Pathway to Paradise" in his guitar store
• The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause - the Dean's increasingly rebellious attitude, as well as his manner of dress (live fast die young) and hairstyle (a 'duck's arse') mirror the youth culture movies of the 1950s, as well as the association of death and motorcycles with music with rocks in. At one stage a mumbling and rebellious Dean is called the 'rebel without a pause'
• The Blues Brothers - early in the novel there is a parody of the diner scene where the characters order four fried rats and some coke (four fried chickens and a Coke); later, when stealing a piano, Cliff remarks they are "on a mission from Glod" (the Blues Brothers justified their actions by saying they were "on a mission from God.")
• A Night at the Opera - later in the diner scene, the ordering of food by several characters at the same time reaches a rather frantic and confusing pace, with Buddy occasionally adding "and one hard boiled egg." This is reminiscent of a similar scene in the Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera."
• Buddy starting to fade away while playing onstage is reminiscent of Marty in Back to the Future
• Buddy playing his song "Sioni Bod Da" ("Johnny B. Goode") at the climactic concert, instead of what the audience expected, is another reference to Back to the Future--though it is a reversal of the way it happened in the movie (playing an unexpectedly non-rock song instead of the expected rock one, instead of the other way around).
• Twice Binky leaves fiery hoof-prints, much like the DeLorean in Back to the Future.
• Buddy always begins concerts saying "Hello, Ankh-Morpork!", a reference to "Hello, Cleveland!" as seen in This Is Spinal Tap.
• The Terminator - When Death, after commandeering the Librarian's bike asks for the Dean's coat

Miscellaneous

• One of Ankh-Morpork's premier guitar makers is a dwarf named Gibsson (Gibson produced the first pickup driven electric guitar in the 1930s)
• Glod often redecorates the band's hotel rooms, referring to the common practice, starting with the Who, of destroying hotel rooms (also parodied in This is Spinal Tap)
• The University staff become 1950s teeny-boppers with beehive hairstyles.
• At one point, Glod mentions that the band should be named Gold or Silver to which Buddy replies that "you can't name music after some kind of heavy metal".

Appearance in other media

An animated adaptation was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Channel 4 in 1996. It takes the association of the "Band with Rocks In" with the Beatles even further than the book does, evolving their style from 1950s rock and early 1960s bubblegum pop (and mixing-bowl haircuts) in Ankh-Morpok, to acid rock in Scrote, to spiritual hippie rock in Quirm. In Sto Lat, they sound like the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Bad Company, but are dressed in clothes similar to the Beatles on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Also in Quirm, Buddy says that the band is 'more popular than cheeses,' referring to John Lennon's famous quote proclaiming the Beatles to be more popular than Jesus. In Pseudopolis, their outfits and style resemble the Blues Brothers. The soundtrack was also released on CD but is now out of production.

Translations

Language Title Round-trip translation Notes Bulgarian Музика за душата Music Of The Soul Czech Težké melodično The Heavy Melodics Pun intended on The Light Fantastic Dutch Zieltonen Estonian Hinge muusika Finnish Elävää musiikkia Living Music French Accros du roc Rock Addicts German Rollende Steine Rolling Stones Pun intended Polish Muzyka duszy Music Of The Soul Russian Роковая музыка Music of the Fate or Rock Music, depending on which syllable is stressed Intended pun: Рок is both Fate and Rock [music] Serbian Duševna muzika Music Of The Soul or Soulful Music Spanish Soul Music Swedish Levande musik Living Music

Hinge muusika, the Estonian version. Cover of Hinge muusika.

External links

• Summary and Quotes
• Annotations for Soul Music on L-Space
• Quotes from Soul Music on L-Space

References

Text

• Pratchett, Terry (1994 [1999]). Soul Music. Gollancz. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help) Hardcover: ISBN 978-0575055049

• Pratchett, Terry (1995). Soul Music. Harper Prism. Hardcover: ISBN 978-0061052033

• Pratchett, Terry (1995). Soul Music. Harpercollins. Paperback: ISBN 978-0061054891

• Pratchett, Terry (1995). Soul Music. Corgi. Paperback: ISBN 978-0552140294

• Pratchett, Terry (1997). Soul Music. ISIS Large Print Books. Largeprint: ISBN 978-0753151570

• Pratchett, Terry (2005). Soul Music. Corgi Adult. Paperback: ISBN 978-0552153195

Sources

Reading Order Guide