Comments on: 13 Examples of Literature in Song

By: Scooter

Scooter — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:58:54 +0000

NIN’s album With Teeth has a lot of Fight Club influences.

By: Old Wolf

Old Wolf — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:07:30 +0000

A little older, but Blue Oyster Cult had a number of songs that referenced and, I think, were actually written by Michael Moorcock, who wrote the Elric of Melnibone fantasy books. Not classic literature per se, but since Tolkien is mentioned I thought I’d throw it out there.

By: Biz

Biz — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:10:28 +0000

I think that Iron Maiden are the best when it comes to utilizing poetry and literature as a base for their song. This is thanks to Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris.

By: jbh

jbh — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:16:03 +0000

I’m surprised that Nirvana’s “Scentless Apprentice” was not on the list. It was inspired by Patrick Suskind’s “Perfume”. Great article though, I love learning about song inspirations.

By: Rob V

Rob V — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:03:09 +0000

This is fascinating, and I can’t help but have a bit more respect for these bands.

Quick corrections: the name is Edgar “Allan” Poe (middle name is spelled incorrectly twice) and the band is The Alan Parsons Project (no apostrophe). The Poe story mentioned is “The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether.”

By: BlogDog

BlogDog — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:58:59 +0000

Steely Dan: “Home at Last” on Aja. The Odyessey
Also Jake Armerding’s “Ithaca” albeit the Dan is better known.

By: Fruppi

Fruppi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:16:18 +0000

Kate (Last name?) did “Wuthering Heights,” which Pat Benatar covered.

By: chuckchuck

chuckchuck — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:56:10 +0000

Oingo boingo “no spill blood” Island of Dr Moreau.
They also makes tons of other literature references

By: chuckchuck

chuckchuck — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:55:46 +0000

Oingo boingo “no pull blood” Island of Dr Moreau.
They also makes tons of other literature references

By: Marion

Marion — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:22:12 +0000

Turn, Turn, Turn by the Byrds is pretty much the entire text of the book of Ecclesiastes, in The Bible.

By: Kecia Dusseault

Kecia Dusseault — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:54:36 +0000

*Wuthering Heights* by Kate Bush

By: travis

travis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:49:05 +0000

Panic at the Disco pretty much stole all of their lyrics for their first album from Chuck Palahniuk books. At least they have good taste in authors…

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:12:28 +0000

“Home at Last” by Steely Dan is loosely based on The Odyssey. Not one of there more popular songs, but still qualifies.

By: TheZed

TheZed — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:34:53 +0000

As a Mettalica nerd I can confirm indeande’s comment. One was not based on Johny Got His Gun, but the video was.

Additionally, though I don’t know if you would consider this literature, their song Creeping Death is based on the 10th plage of Egypt from the book of Exodus.

By: Bobby the K

Bobby the K — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:15:46 +0000

Literary references in song?

Too numerous to mention/lazy to look up would include:

Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Sting etc.

Crash Test Dummies (not a fan) went on about Prufrock in a song.

By: NG

NG — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:02:20 +0000

I’m shocked that this list doesn’t include anything by The Fugs, who set a lot of wonderful poetry to music, such as Ginsburg’s “Howl” and Blake’s “How sweet I roam’d from field to field” (but plenty of others).

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:13:43 +0000

A decent portion of Muse’s new album, “The Resistance” can be traced to Orwell’s “1984,” but the most obvious two songs are “Resistance” (“Kill your prayers for love and peace / You’ll wake the Thought Police / We can’t hide the truth inside”) and “United States of Eurasia” (“And these wars they can’t be won /Does anyone know or care how they begun? / They just promise to go on and on and on / But soon we will see / There can be only one”).

By: Blazejowski

Blazejowski — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:30:11 +0000

Just to add to the Anthrax/Stephen King list, they also did Misery Loves Company based on “Misery”, of course…

By: Omega

Omega — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:05:13 +0000

Sopor Aeternus – “The sleeper”, “Eldorado”, “The conqueror worm”, “Alone”, “Die Bruderschaft des Schmerzes” – all by E.A. Poe

By: Michael O.

Michael O. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:25:10 +0000

Nice list! One correction – Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son album has nothing to do with Card’s novel. The concept of the seventh son being magical predates them both and is only shared ground.

Also, The Battle of Evermore may be Tolkien-inspired (Ringwraiths, the Dark Lord) but the majority of the lyrics are about events never in Tolkien and certainly not at Pelennor.

By: erak

erak — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:12:13 +0000

The Cure’s song “Killing an Arab” retells a scene from Albert Camus’s “The Stranger”.

By: Milly

Milly — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:50:08 +0000

I’m pretty sure “King of Pain” by the Police was based on King Lear…?

By: VM

VM — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:30:57 +0000

Well, Police’s “Don’t stand so close to me” does have those lines:

“It’s no use, he sees her, he starts to shake and cough
Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov.”

I’d call it literary allusion rather than inspiration, but bonus points on roping in an author’s name, right? And Sting’s “Moon over Bourbon Street” gets its juice from Interview with a Vampire.

As to Lord of the Rings, I’d bet you can form a list on that by itself. Been trashing old cassettes and noted that Styx had a song titled that.

By: gwdMaine

gwdMaine — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:21:56 +0000

Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds – narrated by Richard Burton. Saw it on the list but had to mention it. First heard it on Halloween night back in the 70s. Great concept and interpretation.

By: St. James

St. James — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:12:18 +0000

I knew there would be a lot of Iron Maiden on this list. A few years ago I was flipping the TV channels and stopped for a moment on the classic movie channel after noticing a very young Cling Eastwood as well as Richard Burton. They were paratroopers and just landed on a snow capped mountain and were looking at climbing the cable car cables to get to the fortress. I thought to myself, huh – that sounds just like the lyrics to the song “Where Eagles Dare”. After a few commercials, the last announcement said “now back to our feature, “Where Eagles Dare”. That just blew me away. I don’t know if the movie was based on any literature, so the song probably doesn’t belong on the list. I just thought it was pretty cool though.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:41:16 +0000

Testify – Rage Against the Machine

George Orwell’s, “1984″

“Who controls the past now controls the future”

By: mutterhals

mutterhals — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:36:33 +0000

I saw Zombieland recently and I almost stood up in the theater and cheered when I heard the first notes of For Whom the Bell Tolls. This is one of my favorite songs ever, mostly because I loved the book so much.

By: TwoFry

TwoFry — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:54:28 +0000

Don’t forget Rush’s “Xanadu” based on Kubai Khan, Easily one of their best songs.

By: RonMoses

RonMoses — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:47:19 +0000

Sorry… *a* short story.

By: RonMoses

RonMoses — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:46:46 +0000

A Nice Morning Drive by Richard S. Foster is not a “vague book,” whatever that means. It was an short story published in Road & Track magazine.

http://www.mgexperience.net/article/nice-drive.html

By: matt

matt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:36:31 +0000

i’m glad someone (two people) mentioned Mastodon’s “Leviathan.” it’s effing excellent.

By: Arlo

Arlo — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:35:38 +0000

Oh, g.park beat me too it. To stay with metal, Amon Amarth has a lot of Tolkien inspired songs, as you might expect given their name.

By: Arlo

Arlo — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:31:35 +0000

The album Leviathan by Mastodon is based on Moby Dick.

By: meg

meg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:26:54 +0000

My favorite literature-inspired song/album are Kamelot’s albums Epica and The Black Halo, inspired by (ok, pretty much the exact story, just different words) the legend of Faust.

Of course, one has to be in the mood for metal/metal crossover to listen to the whole thing at once, but it makes for great driving music!

By: g.park

g.park — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:24:59 +0000

Mastodon's Leviathan album was based on Moby Dick, and it is the light and the way.

By: Spaceboss

Spaceboss — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:34:07 +0000

Who can resist the urge to sing along when Geddy Lee croons, “The River!”

Geddy Lee does not croon. Dean Martin croons, Morrissey croons, Neil Diamond croons. Geddy Lee… I don’t know, wails? Howls? Screeches? Meows?

I love Rush but Geddy Lee, man… the opposite of croon.

By: Michelle Hartz

Michelle Hartz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:16:03 +0000

Did The Police and Sting have a few literature inspired songs?

By: Felipe Venancio

Felipe Venancio — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:07:11 +0000

Blind Guardian also has a lot of songs with literary background on Lord of the rings and dune

By: Mr.MrMr

Mr.MrMr — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:02:02 +0000

Did you notice all the bands playing rock?

Why no electronic nor hip hop bands use literature for inspiration?

By: PaulS

PaulS — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:53:03 +0000

Excellent article!

“Songs of Distant Earth” by Mike Oldfield is an homage to the Arthur C. Clarke’s novel.. does that count?

By: pwscott

pwscott — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:43:59 +0000

Thanx Chris that’s the one I had in mind also.

By: Chris Johnston

Chris Johnston — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:57:19 +0000

And what about Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On”?

“T’was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair.
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, her, her….yeah. “

By: Moo

Moo — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:01:19 +0000

Can’t forget MC Lars. He’s done a number of songs based on literature: “Ahab” (Moby Dick), “Mr. Raven” (The Raven), “Rapbeth (Foul Is Fair)” (Macbeth).

By: Lady Helena Handbasket

Lady Helena Handbasket — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:18:05 +0000

I’ve aways liked “Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers” and “In that Quiet Earth” from the Genesis album “Wind and Wuthering” which refer to the final line of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”. And still on a Genesis theme, the whole album “A Curious Feeling” by Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks is more or less a re-telling of “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes.

By: indeande

indeande — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:09:48 +0000

i don’t remember where i saw it (maybe in my high school film/lit class) but i think i remember james saying (in an interview) that he wrote the song about a guy who was blind and deaf and couldn’t move, and when it came time for the music video the director enlightened them to trumbo’s book. i know this seems really music nerdy and nit-picky, and i may be remembering the interview wrong, but i also strongly dislike metallica.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:44:34 +0000

Wow! Neat post, Johnny Cat!