Alice’s Soundtrack

If Alice in Wonderland had a soundtrack, what would it have on it? I have taken a few songs that I felt expressed certain feelings and themes of Alice in Wonderland.

Alice’s Soundtrack

(links to lyrics)

1. White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane is kind of like the overall theme song of Alice. It talks about Alice changing size, the caterpillar, and even the Queen shouting to cut off heads.
2. Free Falling by Tom Petty is pretty self-explanatory. In this song, he is talking about all of this stuff that is going on in his life, and he says he just wants to get away from it all for a while.
3. Bring Me To Life by Evanescence is a somewhat dark song, but she is perplexed that this person knows her so well. He just peers into her eyes and can see to her very soul. This song goes more along the lines of Alice’s wants of going home.  Throughout this song all she wants to do is wake up from this nightmare that is her life. She realizes that she needs to “wake up” now, but she thinks it might be too late and that this person is the only one who can save her.
4. No Time by Guess Who is more centered towards the White Rabbit. He is late and cannot spend a single second on Alice. Well, in this song he talks about how there is no time to be spared. The Rabbit is focused solely on getting to the Duchess that he ignores Alice and even drops his gloves and other items. In the song he is talking about how he doesn’t have any time at all, not even for his summer love.
5. Aquarius by 5th Dimension is like the out-of-body experience Alice has as she is falling down the rabbit hole, and as she makes her way into Wonderland. As she is falling she isn’t really thinking much about what is happening. She is just almost continuing her thought processes from before she saw the rabbit. In the song they are talking about a perfect situation, and how when everything is in its place, “peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars.”
6. I Am The Walrus by The Beatles is the overall theme of her lost identity. In Chapter 5, when Alice is talking to the caterpillar, she is asked who she is, and she cannot find an answer to give. I talked more about this concept in my blog Identity Crisis. The entire song of I Am The Walrus is a big identity issue. The very first line is, “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.”
7. English Tea by Paul McCartney is a perfect song for the tea party. In this song, Paul is asking if you would like to join him for some tea, any Sunday morning. It’s not only the lyrics that work for this scene, but the actually music and melody is very lighthearted and carefree, perfect for the Tea Party.
8. Hear Me by Kelly Clarkson is more of a morbid song. I felt that this song goes more along the lines of Alice wanting to get home. She is screaming out for someone to hear her so that she can go home. In this song she is showing her fear and just how much she wants to be “heard,” she is even screaming to turn her world upside down just for her to be heard.
9. Nobody’s Home by Avril Lavigne is kind of along the same lines as the Hear Me. The only difference is that Nobody’s Home is more of an acceptance song. She has sort of accepted the fact that no one is coming to get her, and that she has to find her own way out of Wonderland.
10. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by The Beatles is more of the song that might have been playing as Alice is just walking through Wonderland looking at all of the strange things going on around her. The song is very “out there” and is about this fantasy world with “tangerine trees” and “flowers that grow so incredibly high.”
11. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is by Chicago was put on this soundtrack for the Mad Hatter, as expected. However, I actually liked that the song focuses on the question of whether anyone really knows what time it is, or if anyone really cares. With the Mad Hatter, he is obsessed with time. He doesn’t want to hurt its feelings, and he even personifies “time” as if it were human saying “time” is a he not an it. Time is just a relative object to the Hatter, because he can make it whatever time he wants. So, I ask: does anybody really know what time it is?
12. Helplessly Hoping by Crosby, Stills, and Nash is also another song about Alice’s long for home. In the song they mention how you hope and wish for all of these great things only to end up tripping and falling. They also talk say “they are one person, they are two alone, they are three together, they are for each other,” in this I think everything is getting blurred together, and it is getting harder and harder to differentiate from Wonderland and reality.
13. You Found Me by Kelly Clarkson is finally a song about hope. Finally someone has “found” her. At first, she seems like she doesn’t want to leave, but then she is extremely happy that someone has finally found her, and she is actually surprised by who finds her.
14. Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue kind of speaks for itself. Alice is finally “going” home, and leaving Wonderland. In the song as well as in the last chapter of the book they are making their way through back home.

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