“Don’t Look Now”

The song is an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s short story, “Don’t Look Now,” which was published in 1971 in a collection titled Not After Midnight. It is now available in Don’t Look Now and Other Stories (Penguin 2006). 

The song was written between February and July 2023 as part of our British-Academy-funded project called “Stories into Song,” led by Nick Bentley and Jim Peacock, who both work in English Literature at Keele University. They were assisted by composer and sound artist Kelcey Swain. The bulk of the writing was completed in four workshops run by Nick and Jim and attended by volunteers from the Potteries area; the song was then finished in the studio. 

Music and lyrics were written by members of the Stories into Song workshop group: Steve Bambury, Nick Bentley, Joe Binks, Dean Brindley, Susan Bruce, Melanie Ebdon, Jim Peacock, and Kelcey Swain. Additional contributions were made by the other workshop members: Rebecca Goldsmith, Lynn Tammadge and Mark Brown.

The song was recorded and mixed at the Tim Souster Studio, Clock House, Keele University on 13th and 14th July 2023. It was produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Ciaran Marshall and Michael Wallis, Music Production students at Keele University. Pre-production by Kelcey Swain and Nick Bentley.

Song credits:

Melanie Ebdon: lead vocals
Nick Bentley: drum tracks, keyboards, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Jim Peacock: mandolin, acoustic lead guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Kelcey Swain: piano, backing vocals
Joe Binks: acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Steve Bambury: percussion, backing vocals

Nick and Jim would like to thank everybody involved in the writing and production of the song. Additional thanks to Ian Bayliss, Technical Manager for the Music and Music Technology programmes at Keele University, for recommending our two excellent producers.

Don't Look Now

Our first attempt at an adaptation, this one from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, Never Let Me Go. We wanted to go through the process ourselves before starting the workshops with our volunteers.

Never Let Me Go (Bentley-Peacock)

(You promised that you’d never let me go)
Looking back, it all seems so comfortable
We played our way through endless days
The ordinary all made wonderful
We could keep the woods at bay

But every day it crept up close to us
Signalling a colder world
Our hopes and dreams they were circumscribed
The truth confirming all we’d heard
(You promised that you’d never let me go)

And all we do is all that’s human
To love, and laugh, and lie, and care
So, hold me tight and never let me go
Never leave me waiting there

And Tommy says that all is possible
That our art can reveal our souls
Proof that love can conquer anything
The hope to live, the right to grow old
(Promise me you’ll never let me go)

And all we do is all that’s human
To love, to laugh, to lie, to care
So, hold me tight and never let me go
Never leave me waiting there

To live with you in the everyday
A normal house in a normal street
And take our chances in the normal way
And live a life that’s properly complete

And all we give is all that’s human
We play, we laugh, we cry, we dare
So, hold me close and never let me go
Never leave me waiting there

And all we do is all that’s human
To love, to laugh, to lie, to care
So, hold me tight, don’t ever let me go
Never leave me waiting there

Never Let Me Go

A song by Jim Peacock, adapted from one of his favourite novels, Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem.

Pella's Dream

A British-Academy-Funded research project on adaptations of short stories and novels into pop and rock songs. This project draws on the research and practice expertise of literary critic-musicians to bring together textual analysis and the co-creation of musical artworks with a range of publics to devise a new approach to literary analysis. It examines the processes involved when adapting one medium of aesthetic production – narrative fiction – to another – the pop/rock song. There have been numerous instances of recording artists and musicians using novels and short stories as
the inspiration or source material for the composition of songs, such as Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, David Bowie’s ‘1984’, Emilie Autumn’s ‘Gothic Lolita’, Rush’s ‘Tom Sawyer’ and Lana Del Rey’s ‘Young and Beautiful'
(based on The Great Gatsby). However, there has been no systematic study of the processes involved in the adaptation of stories into song. This pilot project, funded by a British Academy Small Grant, aims to develop a systematic methodology for analysing such adaptations.
The project also aims to pilot a new method for analysing literary texts whereby analysis of the decisions made in the adaptation process allow new critical insights into aspects of the original source. 
The songs on this page have emerged from the project, which will also involve conference presentations and live performances of songs adapted from literary texts, including the ones you can find here.

Stories into Song

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