¤ milky moon ¤

I was just thinking about songs written about books, or poems, and wondering how many there are. I thought it'd be nice to start a collection. I think the criteria should be that the reference is an important part of the song, not just a passing line.

The song that made me think of this is Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. Which I know many people here will already know.

Munly has an entire album about Peter and the Wolf.

Sensual World- Kate Bush (James Joyce's Ulysses)

Loreena McKennitt has done all of these:
Stolen Child (Yeats)
The Two Trees (Yeats)
Lady of Shallot (Tennyson)
Cymbeline (Shakespeare)
Prospero's Speech (Shakespeare)
Lullaby (William Blake)
Moon Cradle (Padraic Colum)
Snow (Archibald Lampman)
The Highwayman (Alfred Noyes)
The Dark Night of the Soul (St John of the Cross)

Desolation Row- Bob Dylan (reference to Ophelia)
Many other Bob Dylan songs use lines and references to literary works.

Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemmingway book)

Rime of The Ancient Mariner - Iron Maiden (Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem)

Theses 4 Led Zeppelin songs are/have references to Lord of the Rings:
The Battle of Evermore
Ramble On
Misty Mountain Hop
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp

White Rabbit- Jefferson Airplane
Tom Sawyer- Rush

Laurie Anderson has a song called "Gravity's Angel" that is about the book Gravity's Rainbow. The song is great, the book is better.

Laurie Anderson also did an album and show called "Life of a String", which was based on Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".

Moby of course was related to Herman Melville.
Although not an individual song, The Doors were named after "The Doors of Perception" (Aldous Huxley).

The Velvet Underground were named after the Michael Leigh book of the same name, and their song "Venus in Furs" references a character, Severin, from the Leopold von Sacher-Masoch book of that title. Great song - can't comment about the books.

Too many "Romeo and Juliet" references to even think about. Dire Straits for example. That's one too many already!

Leonard Nimoy did a song called "Bilbo" - based on the main character from Tolkein's "The Hobbit". That is highly illogical, and one to avoid!

"Sex Crime 1984" by Eurythmics refers to the George Orwell novel.

I listen to lots of songs about specific people and events, not so much books. I know all the words to a song about howard Hughes.

Lou Reed's The Raven album is all about Poe's poems and short stories.
Songs on the side B of the David Bowie album Diamond Dogs were meant to be part of theatrical performance based on Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Hm,
there's Charlotte Sometimes by the Cure, which is inspired by the kid's book,
When the War Came by the Decemberists, which is about the book Hunger by Elise Blackwell,
then the Decemberists also have Billy Liar and of course the Tain.

and I'm sure there are many more I just don't realize.

catcher in the rye, is mentionned in the song coconut pie in the album "river of darkness" by Hannah Marcus

by Streetlight Manifesto mentions Camus, Hemingway, Salinger and also mentions Catcher in the Rye: "How did Camus really die that night? Were they right, when he died was it really his time, or was it suicide?"; "Holden Caulfield is a friend of mine, we'd go drinking from time to time and I find it gets harder every time."; "Hemingway never seemed to mind the banalities of a normal life but I find it gets harder every time."; "Hey there, Salinger, what did you do just when the world was lookin' at you to write anything that meant anything? You told us you were through." But it's less about the literature and more about the writers' reactions to their fame.

Oh, and I forgot, CocoRosie's "Rainbowarriors" echoes Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha.

oh, emilie autumn's 'Shalott' is pretty much Tennyson's poem.

Bah, I keep remembering more!

PJ Harvey's "A Perfect Day Elise" references A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger (or I'm pretty sure it does), and on the same album her song "Angelene" quotes another of Salinger's Nine Stories, Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes though she changes the line slightly (from "rose my color is and white, pretty mouth and green my eyes" to "rose is my color and white, pretty mouth and green my eyes")

Basically, it's one of my favorite artists referencing my favorite work from one of my favorite authors, which is awesome awesome.

First thing I thought of was "Song for Myla Goldberg" by The Decemberists.