Early in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, one of the story's main protagonists as well as the novel's narrator, describes his evening at the estate of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. During this socially awkward encounter, during which Nick observes the Buchanans closely, Daisy makes an off-handed comment that physically and emotionally describes her husband:
That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘
‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’
‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy
Tom is also, it is revealed, a thoroughly racist as well as elitist individual, evident in the following passages, in which the socially elitist Tom questions his guest, Nick, about the latter's occupation, only to derisively dismiss Nick's answer with yet another example of arrogance and elitism:
‘What you doing, Nick?’
‘I’m a bond man.’
‘Who with?’
I told him.
‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively.
This annoyed me.
‘You will,’ I answered shortly. ‘You will if you stay in the East.’
‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glancing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more. ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live anywhere else.’
So, songs that suggest a figure of hulking physical stature, class-conscious elitist, racist, and, as will also be revealed in Nick's narrative, an adulterer could include the following selections:
The theme of adultery has been pervasive throughout the history of rock, pop, and other musical genres. A passage from The Eagles' classic "Lyin' Eyes," however, seems particularly appropriate in describing Tom Buchanan:
Late at night a big old house gets lonely
I guess every form of refuge has its price
And it breaks her heart to think her love is only
Given to a man with hands as cold as ice
Tom is a philander while Daisy occupies their enormous, palatial estate. Their "big old house" is old, as it's in the "old money" community of East Egg, which is contrasted in Fitzgerald's novel with the "new money" atmosphere of West Egg. Tom is also, as noted, a racist, spouting theories of white superiority at the dinner table ( ". . .if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved."). Given the context in which Tom expresses these virulently racist sentiments, the lyrics from They Might Be Giants' "Your Racist Friend" could, conceivably, be applied:
It was the loveliest party that I've ever attended
If anything was broken I'm sure it could be mended
My head can't tolerate this bobbing and pretending
Listen to some bullet-head and the madness that he's saying
Another song that could be applied to the character of Tom Buchanan in light of his racist beliefs is "Deutschland erwache," which translates as "Germany Awake," and which includes the following refrain:
Germany awake from your nightmare!
Give foreign Jews no place in your Reich!
Tom's sympathies, as expressed during the dinner party at which Nick was the guest, clearly evoke sentiments consistent with those of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party of 1930s-1940s Germany.
Tom is, as noted, "old money." He has inherited his wealth, and lives, along with Daisy, a stultifying existence, bored and rich. The Forgotten Rebels' song "Bored and Rich," then, is applicable to Fitzgerald's character:
Daddy got me a job in a factory.
He bought me a pin-up girl straight from a magazine.
He even bought me tickets straight for the New York scene.
Look at me, baby, look at me.
I am pure f......g bored and rich.
Tom is a little more refined -- not much, but a little more -- than the lyrics to this song suggest, but The Forgotten Rebels did capture his essence with this profane passage. Finally, the Pet Shop Boys' "Being Boring" similarly captures, to a lesser degree, the ennui that characterizes Tom and Daisy Buchanan's life together. They are the bored rich:
I came across a cache of old photos
And invitations to teenage parties
"Dress in white" one said, with quotations
From someone's wife, a famous writer
In the nineteen-twenties
These, then, are five songs that describe the character of Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.
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