‘Lost Horizon’ Versus ‘Camelot’ — #1

This week I’m going to talk about the storylines of these two soundtracks. I’m not going to say much directly about the film versions of these stories because from what I’ve seen of them they all suck. And I’ve never seen any stage productions. However, I like both soundtracks and I’ve always been intrigued by the underlying stories of both of them.



At the start, let me say that I am a ‘Lost Horizon’ person. Even as a child I liked the soundtrack from ‘Camelot’ but the idea of taking a story about the destruction of paradise and celebrating that destruction with song and dance while turning the people who destroyed paradise into heroes and heroines struck me as very bizarre. On the other hand, the whole Shangri-La mythos of longing for a better world is something I felt an engagement with even as a kid.

As I’ve grown, the King Arthur mythos has not become any more attractive to me. In fact, as I’ve become more and more aware of the Christian subtexts and overtones to these two storylines my adult sensibilities have become stronger, more firmly grounded variations of my reactions as a child.

I will start simply. These are the lyrics to the first song of ‘Lost Horizon:’

Have you ever dreamed of a place
Far away from it all
Where the air you breathe is soft and clean
And children play in fields of green
And the sound of guns
Doesn’t pound in your ears
Anymore

Have you ever dreamed of a place
Far away from it all
Where the winter winds will never blow
And living things have room to grow
And the sound of guns
Doesn’t pound in your ears
Anymore

Many miles from yesterday
Before you reach tomorrow
Where the time is always just today
There’s a lost horizon
Waiting to be found
There’s a lost horizon
Where the sound of guns
Doesn’t pound in your ears
Anymore