Will Narrative Songs Replace TV Shows and Comic Books as the Original Source for Movie Adaptation Ideas?

Hollywood almost seems to have come close to growing tired of turning to old TV shows for ideas about new theatrical movies. Almost. You can bet that nearly ever comic book ever produced will eventually be mined for its potential as a movie franchise...except these. "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" has big name talent like Guillermo Del Toro turning back to low-budget TV movies for big screen inspiration. What will be the Next Big Thing when it comes to original properties to be exploited by vacuous Hollywood producers and studio execs for familiarity easily accessed by brains grown tired of reading the novels or watching the dramatic plays that used to be the primary fuel for Hollywood adaptations?

How about songs?

Not that Hollywood hasn't occasionally picked over the bones of a popular song in a desperate attempt to create a shortcut to box office gold. The success of these movies has been edgy to say the least. While "9 to 5" was definitely touched by the hand of the box office gods, the same cannot be said of "Convoy." Keep in mind that as a song "Convoy" was a genuine phenomenon whereas "9 to 5" struggled mightily to escape its country conventions and become an anthem for the working class.

The potential for a movie to take a song and create just as big a hit in the public consciousness courtesy of both media tends to be based not so much on the qualities on the song vis a vis how aesthetically pleasing it is, but rather on the qualities of the song vis a vis its narrative strength. Most decisions to invest the millions necessary to transform a song into a movie seem to have been based upon the song having a plot, some characters and, perhaps most importantly, enough empty space in which to construct details. This is why "Harper Valley, PTA" and "Ode to Billy Joe" managed to make the journey from radio to cinema while songs like "Stand By Your Man" and "Ring of Fire" have not.

Country music has a long history of strong narrative drives--at least much stronger than rock and certainly much stronger than rap--but don't discount the potential for rock and roll to produce filmmaking magic. You would be hard pressed to name as many movies based on rock songs as you would country songs if your definition is that the song is actually based on the lyrics rather than just existing as a film titled after a song with only a tenuous connection. Under this definition, "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!" and "Yellow Submarine" don't qualify as movies based on songs in the way that "Alice's Restaurant" does.

Which is very odd since a number of rock songs lend themselves quite naturally to the methodology that has allowed country songs to become movies that reflect the lyrical content quite concretely. So which rock songs should be at the top of the list when Hollywood producers and studio execs go in search of property?

The Beatles have been at the center of a number of movies that share the band's song titles including "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "Across the Universe" and, try though we might to forget, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." None of those movies are actually based on the songs involved, however, though the latter struggles mightily to convince us of a basis. The Beatles Rock Band video games have brought the Fab Four back into the forefront of the musical universe as strongly as they have been since the 1970s at least and so moviegoers from 10 to 90 are well acquainted with their extensive catalog. As is always the case, no other band can probably lay claim to holding such a stronghold as the Beatles when it comes to songs that could easily be transformed into cinematic stories. Here are just a few to start with: "Rocky Raccoon," "A Day in the Life," "Eleanor Rigby," and "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill."

Bruce Springsteen made his name on the back of narrative songwriting that is infused with a definite dramatic thrust and memorable characters. The Boss' best song of all time would also make a good choice for a movie. "Rosalita" tells the story of a typical Springsteen character swirling around in the orbit of girls, cars and rock and roll. The sheer glee that overcomes the song when the narrator informs the titular character that the record company just gave him a big advance that's going to justify to her father her choice for a companion in a big romance would make for the kind of built-in set piece that would cause Nora Ephron to cream her musical montage pantsuit.

Plenty of other rock songs seem easily poised to deliver the goods to studio execs and producers who are tired of caped crusaders and auditioning thousands of kids who both look a little and sound a little and act a little like a young Danny Bonaduce. Michael Jackson's "Beat It" could become the "West Side Story" of the 21^st century. Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer" could actually combine a little "Taxi Driver" with a touch of "Raging Bull." One narrative song that is particularly timely in the Age of Bush and Obama is New Order's "Love Vigilantes" which contains a built-in twist ending that provides a much greater shock than the alleged shocking twist of "The Sixth Sense" that anyone with one sense could see walking up Fifth Avenue from about ten miles away.