I wanna hear more about the fall of man!

April 16, 2012 6:00 PM

What are some good songs that use imagery of Adam and Eve/the fall of Eden in their lyrics?

I belong to a small music-trading group; every other month, members can submit 15 minutes of music, give or take a few minutes, for everyone else to listen to and comment on.

For the upcoming month's trade, I want to put together a set of songs that reference or play with the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. The impetus for this set is my current obsession with Nina Simone's Forbidden Fruit; I also want to include Dan Bern's Eva which isn't a direct retelling but does use some of the fall of man/tempting Eve imagery.

Forbidden Fruit and Eva together are about seven minutes. I figure I can squeeze in one to three additional songs, depending on times. Got any good takers?

posted by ActionPopulated to media & arts (28 answers total)

The Wailing Wall: Fear No Apple Fear No Flood
posted by otolith at 6:06 PM on April 16, 2012

Also,
Low: Missouri
Joanna Newsom: '81
posted by otolith at 6:11 PM on April 16, 2012

Bright Eyes, "I Won't Ever Be Happy Again"
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:14 PM on April 16, 2012

Billy Bragg, A Lover Sings.
posted by not that girl at 6:22 PM on April 16, 2012

Peter Gabriel (with Sinead O'Connor), "Blood of Eden"
posted by argonauta at 6:27 PM on April 16, 2012

Snake by PJ Harvey
posted by The World Famous at 6:27 PM on April 16, 2012

Eve, the Apple of my Eye by BellX1
posted by TwoWordReview at 6:43 PM on April 16, 2012

"Hard to Be" by David Bazan.

It's written very tongue-in-cheek refuting the whole origins of Christianity story from someone who grew up in a Christian household and is now questioning his beliefs, and the family and personal drama that results from that.
posted by shortyJBot at 6:46 PM on April 16, 2012

Ani Difranco has a song called Adam and Eve.
posted by désoeuvrée at 7:01 PM on April 16, 2012

Laurie Anderson. The Language of Love.
posted by effluvia at 7:28 PM on April 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

October Project, Adam and Eve
posted by xingcat at 7:39 PM on April 16, 2012

Genesis 3:23 by The Mountain Goats is in some way "about" the expulsion from Eden, but doesn't directly reference it.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:48 PM on April 16, 2012

It's kind of a vague reference, setting up an apparently dystopian scenario and referring to Eden in the title to illuminate the song's meaning, but Josh Ritter's "Temptation of Adam" is too beautiful not to list here!
posted by TrixieRamble at 7:52 PM on April 16, 2012

Seconding Temptation of Adam. It's amazing.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:54 PM on April 16, 2012

If you want to go back into (semi) historical music, Adam Lay Ibounden as performed by the Mediaeval Baebes is a medieval hymn about the fall rendered by a modern musical group.

Also seconding the October Project song.
posted by immlass at 7:59 PM on April 16, 2012

Talking Heads' "Nothing But Flowers"
posted by anotheraccount at 8:15 PM on April 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Heather Nova - Walk This World (more prelapsarian)
posted by pised at 8:17 PM on April 16, 2012

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden surely must've shook that thing
posted by Lorin at 9:08 PM on April 16, 2012

Todd Snider - If Tomorrow Never Comes
posted by backwards guitar at 10:02 PM on April 16, 2012

"I guess I heard about original sin. I heard the dude blamed the chick. I heard the chick blamed the snake. I heard they were naked when they got busted. I heard things ain't been the same since."
The Hold Steady: Cattle and the Creeping Things
posted by chairmanroflmao at 10:36 PM on April 16, 2012

Not a re-telling, but a reference to it. David Bazan - When We Fell
posted by diamondsky at 10:59 PM on April 16, 2012

Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam
posted by neilb449 at 11:26 PM on April 16, 2012

Tahiti 80 - Darlin' (Adam & Eve Song)

Talk Talk - Eden, although it's a very loose connection, if any, to the original story

For a happier (and funkier) inversion of the story, how about The Explosions' Garden of Four Trees?
posted by hydrophonic at 11:27 PM on April 16, 2012

Mother Love Bone, "Come Bite The Apple."
posted by steinsaltz at 12:36 AM on April 17, 2012

The Oyster Band - The Old Dance (from Step Outside)
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 3:03 AM on April 17, 2012

Fallen Angel by Sister 7.
posted by olinerd at 3:51 AM on April 17, 2012

Aerosmith- Adam's Apple
posted by canoehead at 7:02 AM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Joanna Newsom - '81 (on 'have one on me'):

"I found a little plot of land in the garden of eden
it was dirt and dirt is all the same
I tilled it with my two hands
and i called it my very own
there was no one to dispute my claim."
posted by kaibutsu at 12:53 PM on April 26, 2012