Literature for Music: Pulp's "David's Last Summer"

Pulp's "David's Last Summer" from His 'n' Hers is quite a nice song about the close of summer and shifts in relationships. While the details in the lyrics are specific, it's open ended enough to allow for individual interpretations.

To me, the heart of the song is male intimacy and its loss (as opposed to the red herring of Jarvis Cocker losing his virginity—see one Bar Italia opinion, which cites Cocker in a film).

My slant on "David's Last Summer" puts me in the mind of the following books:

• Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room
• John Knowles, A Separate Peace

The idea of pairing songs and books I happily steal from The Mekons, whose liner notes to The Mekons Honky Tonkin' include books for each song.

[For example, "I Can't Find My Money" lists the following: Janice G. Raymond, The Transexual Empire (Womens Press, 1979); Barry Barnes, Interests and Growth of Knowledge (R.K.P., 1977); Angela Carter, The Passion of the New Eve (Virago, 1977).]

(I also had fun pairing a song—Pulp again—with a topic here.)