Top Four Musical References to the Arcane

1. “The Tain” by the Decemberists. These Portland, Ore. indie rockers recently created an 18-minute music video for their 2004 single based on the ancient Irish epic, The Táin Bó Cúailnge (or “The Cattle Raid of Cooley”). The animation can’t quite capture the sheer ridiculousness of the story, but it does a pretty good job, particularly when it comes to the feats of the story’s hero, Cúchulainn, who’s a BAMF if ever there was one.



2. Fleet Foxes. The album cover of their self-titled debut features a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder entitled “Netherlandish Proverbs.” As any HAA 10 scholar could tell you, the work was painted in 1559, making it pretty fucking arcane. Filled with scenes of folly and absurdity, the original work depicts a great many common proverbs, and is an apt choice for the cover of Fleet Foxes’ brilliantly folksy LP.



3. Nick Cave’s “Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!” As if referencing a New Testament biblical character weren’t taking it back far enough, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds decided to add even more of a throw back with track “Night of the Lotus Eaters.” Referencing Homer’s Odyssey is about as old school as the Western literary tradition goes, so props for that, Nick.



4. The Mars Volta’s “Bedlam in Goliath.” You can pretty much always count on The Mars Volta to do something you can’t understand, be it Latinate lyrics or utterly insane concept albums like this one. “Bedlam” took its inspiration from a Ouija board and the contact with the dead it supposedly facilitates. Tracks like “Ouroboros” and “Askepios,” however, seem to make reference to figures in Ancient Greek lore. Though I have yet to decipher the connection between the biblical Goliath and these Greek figures, I can still appreciate The Mars Volta’s needlessly highbrow style. Keep up the good work.



—Joshua J. Kearney is the outgoing Music Editor and an incoming Arts Chair. He studies Classics and has no purpose in life.