151. Shirley Jackson’s } Tragic Kingdom.

If we can overlook publication dates—Shirley Jackson’s novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, 1962; No Doubt’s song “Sunday Morning,” 1995—it becomes clear that Jackson’s last novel was influenced—nay, transposed—from Gwen Stefani’s lyrics.

This, from chapter four of We Have Always Lived in the Castle:

It was really too late, although I did not know it then; he was already on his way to the house. … All Jonas and I knew then was that we were hungry, and we ran together back to the house, and came with the breeze into the kitchen.

And this, the chorus of “Sunday Morning”:

You sure have changed since yesterday
without any warning
I thought I knew you
I thought I knew you
I thought I knew you well, oh well

Essentially, all Jackson did was take Stefani’s lyrics and reverse their order. Compare: Jackson, “Although I did not know it then”; with Stefani, “I thought I knew you well, oh well.” Most damning, Jackson took Stefani’s “You came in with the breeze” and retouched it: “…and came with the breeze….”

Jackson’s detail “the kitchen” is also lifted from No Doubt, and this is her most insidious act of plagiarism. The video for “Sunday Morning” very clearly shows the band in a kitchen.

Surely this revelation will invigorate scholarly investigation into No Doubt's influence on the American literature that preceded the band's formation.  Specifically, it points to the grotesque robbery of ideas perpetrated by Shirley Jackson. I am currently using the most advanced comparative techniques available to determine once and for all if No Doubt’s “Hella Good” produced Jackson's Haunting of Hill House.