List of songs that retell a work of literature

This is a list of songs which retell, in whole or in part, a work of literature. Albums listed here consist entirely of songs retelling a work of literature.

Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

0-9

• "1984" by David Bowie is one of many songs he wrote about George Orwell's 1984, meant to be a song in a 1984 musical.
• "20 000 ljööd vee all" by Vennaskond about Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
• "2+2=5" by Radiohead about George Orwell's 1984.
• "2112" by Rush, is loosely based on the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand
• "40" by U2 is based on the 40th Psalm.

A

• "A Curious Feeling", an album by Tony Banks, is heavily inspired by Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• "Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" from the Manowar album The Triumph of Steel is a retelling of the fight between Hector and Achilles in the Iliad.
• "The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter and Commander Cassidy in Potatoland" by Spirit is a parody of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• "Afternoons and Coffeespoons" by Crash Test Dummies is based on the T. S. Eliot poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".
• "Ahab" by MC Lars retells the story of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville from the perspective of Captain Ahab.
• "Alone" by Green Carnation is based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same title. "Alone" by Arcturus is based on the same poem.
• "Altair-4" by Blind Guardian is about The Tommyknockers by Stephen King.
• "All is Not Well" by Hannah Fury is based on the romance of Elphaba and Fiyero from Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
• "Among the Living" by Anthrax is about Stephen King's The Stand.
• "And Then There Was Silence" by Blind Guardian is based on Homer's Iliad.
• "And Your Little Dog Too" by Hannah Fury is told from the point of view of Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• "A Man for All Seasons" by Al Stewart was based on Robert Bolt's play.
• "A Picture of Dorian Gray" by The Television Personalities is about Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
• "Animal in Man" by dead prez from is a retelling of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
• Animals by Pink Floyd is very loosely based on Orwell's Animal Farm. Also, the bridge of the album song "Sheep" is inspired by Psalm 23.
• "Animal Farm" by Hazel O'Connor also re-tells Animal Farm.
• "Annabel Lee" by Stevie Nicks rewrites the eponymous poem by E.A. Poe.
• "Annabel Lee" by Tiger Army is based on the Poe poem of the same title.
• "A Rose for Emily" by The Zombies took its title from William Faulkner's short story.
• "Arctic Death" by Virginia Astley is inspired by the William Butler Yeats poem "An Airman Forecasts His Own Death"

B

• "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" by Leonard Nimoy retells J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
• "The Ballad of Skip Wiley" by Jimmy Buffett is a song about the character from Carl Hiaasen's novel Tourist Season.
• "Banana Co." by Radiohead is based on the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
• "The Bard's Song (The Hobbit)" by Blind Guardian retells Tolkien's The Hobbit.
• "Barefoot Children in the Rain" by Jimmy Buffett partially retells Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• "Las Batallas" by Café Tacuba retells José Emilio Pacheco's Las batallas en el desierto.
• "Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin mentions names from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
• "Beans" by Nirvana retells Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums.
• "Beneath These Waves" by Demons & Wizards retells the story of Herman Melville's Moby Dick from Captain Ahab's perspective.
• "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" by The Divine Comedy is based on the short story of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• "Big Brother" by David Bowie is one of many songs he wrote about George Orwell's 1984, meant to be a song in a 1984 musical.
• "Billy Liar" by The Decemberists relates some of the adventures of the title character of Keith Waterhouse's novel of the same name.
• "The Bitter End" by Placebo is based loosely on George Orwell's 1984
• "Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult is based on Elric of Melniboné stories by Michael Moorcock.
• "Blood and Thunder" by Mastodon refers to Melville's Moby Dick.
• "Bowling in the Hills" by Eddie from Ohio retells Washington Irving's short story Rip Van Winkle.
• "Brave New World" by Iron Maiden retells the story of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, as does Reagan Youth's "Brave New World".

C

• "Calypso" by Suzanne Vega is based on one of the scenes in the Odyssey by Homer.
• "The Cask Of Amontillado" by The Alan Parsons Project based on The Cask of Amontillado, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
• "Cassandra" by ABBA is based on the character in the Iliad by Homer.
• "Catch-22" by Pink is based on the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
• "Chapter 24" by Pink Floyd is about the I Ching
• "Chapter Four" by Avenged Sevenfold is based on the book of Genesis: Chapter 4.
• "Charlotte Sometimes" by The Cure is about Penelope Farmer's novel of the same name.
• "China in Your Hand" by T'Pau is based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
• "The Clairvoyant" by Iron Maiden is based on Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card.
• "Cent'anni di solitudine" by Modena City Ramblers is based on the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
• "Crimson King" by Demons & Wizards is told from the point of view of Randall Flagg the main antagonist from The Dark Tower (series) by Stephen King.
• "Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)" by Taking Back Sunday is based on William Shakespeare's play Othello.
• "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan) by The Tragically Hip references a passage from MacLennan's The Watch That Ends The Night.
• "The Chronicle of the Black Sword" by Hawkwind is based upon the the works of Michael Moorcock, including Elric and Jerry Cornelius. Moorcock, who has appeared with the band on numerous occasions, does the narration on "Live Chronicles".

D

• "Dalai Lama" by Rammstein is loosely based on Der Erlkönig by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
• "Dante's Inferno" by Iced Earth, retells Dante's Inferno.
• "The Dawn of a New Age" by Satyricon is based on the Book of Revelation.
• "Dead" by Pixies refurbishes the biblical legend of David and Bathsheba.
• "Dracula" Iced Earth is about Dracula by Bram Stoker
• "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by The Police references Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
• "Doublespeak" by Thrice is about George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four
• "Damnation Alley" by Hawkwind from the novel by Roger Zelazny.

E

• "El Dorado" by Iron Maiden references a poem by Edgar Allan Poe of the same name
• "Elvenpath" by Nightwish refers to the basic premise of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
• "The End of The Universe" by S.P.O.C.K refers to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams.
• "Eveline" by Nickel Creek is based on the James Joyce short story of the same name.
• "Exit Music (For a Film)" by Radiohead is based on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.

F

• "Fable" by Gatsbys American Dream is based on William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
• "The Face of Dorian Gray" by Robert Marlow is based on Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.
• "Flight of Icarus" by Iron Maiden is loosely based on the Greek myth of Icarus.
• "Footprints" by Half Man Half Biscuit is a parody of "Footprints" by Mary Stevenson, itself adapted from Psalm 77.19.
• "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica is based on Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same title
• "Frankenstein" by Iced Earth is about Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
• "Franz Kafka! Intro", "Turnin' to a Bug", "Livin' Like a Bug Ain't Easy", and "Franz Kafka! Finale" by the fictional band Scäb (from the cartoon series Home Movies) are about Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
• "From the Underworld" by The Herd is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.

G

• "The Gladdest Thing" by Deb Talan incorporates as its chorus the poem Afternoon on a Hill by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
• "The Giant's Laughter" by Thyrfing is inspired by the poem Jätten by Esaias Tegner.
• "Grendel" by Marillion is a retelling of John Gardner's novel Grendel, which is a retelling of Beowulf.
• "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen is about The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
• "Goodbye Sky Harbor" by Jimmy Eat World is about the book A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
• "Guardian of the Blind" by Blind Guardian is based on It by Stephen King.
• "The Gunslinger" by Demons & Wizards is based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.

H

• "Haunted" by Poe is based on House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.
• "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan retells the story of Abraham and his son from Genesis, Chapter 22
• "The Highwayman" is a Loreena McKennitt song which recounts a poem by Alfred Noyes. Phil Ochs originally wrote the musical interpretation of the poem which was taken and extended by Loreena McKennitt, without attribution.
• "Home at Last" by Steely Dan retells Ulysses' encounter with the Sirens from the Odyssey
• "Home", by Breaking Benjamin, is based on The Wizard of Oz
• "Horrorshow", by the Scars, is based on the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange.
• "House of Atreus - Act I" and "House of Atreus - Act II" form a two-part concept album by Virgin Steele based loosely on the Oresteia of Aeschylus.
• "House of Leaves" by Circa Survive is based on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
• "Hallelujah", by Leonard Cohen, is based on the biblical story of David and Bathsheba. It also incorporates elements of the story of Samson and Delilah.
• "House at Pooh Corner" and "Return to Pooh Corner" by Kenny Loggins are about The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne.
• "How Beautiful You Are" by The Cure is a retelling of "Les Yeux du Pauvre" a poem by Charles Baudelaire from "Le Spleen de Paris"
• "The Human Hosepipe" by Harry and the Potters retells a scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
• "Hug Me" by Meg & Dia is based on "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

I

• "I Am the Walrus" by The Beatles includes lines from a recording of a performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear.
• "I Can't Let You In" by Hannah Fury is about Fiyero's tragic affair with Elphaba (told from her point of view) from Gregory Maguire's Wicked.
• "I Cheat the Hangman" by Doobie Brothers is a song inspired by the story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.
• I Robot is an LP by The Alan Parsons Project which retells several Isaac Asimov stories
• "I Robot" by the UK Subs is based on I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.
• "I'm That Type of Guy" by LL Cool J interpolates some movie quotes from The Wizard of Oz which is a movie based on the storybook The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• "Indiana" by Meg & Dia is based on the George Sands novel of the same name.
• "In Like a Lion (Always Winter)" by Relient K is about C. S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
• "Insener Garini Hüperboloid" by Vennaskond is about The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy.
• "Into the West" by Annie Lennox is about The Lord of the Rings
• "Invisible Monsters" by Motion City Soundtrack is about Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.
• "Time to Dance" by Panic! at the Disco is also based on Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters.
• "Ion Square" by Bloc Party uses part of i carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings as its chorus.
• "It Was Her House That Killed Nessarose" by Hannah Fury is about Elphaba's perception of Dorothy from Gregory Maguire's Wicked.

J

• "Jamaica Inn" by Tori Amos is about Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier.
• "Jekyll & Hyde" by Iced Earth is about The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson .
• "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" by Rick Wakeman is an LP which retells Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne.
• "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" by Within Temptation is about Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr.

K

• "Killing an Arab" by The Cure is closely related to Albert Camus's The Stranger

L

• La Leyenda de la Mancha is an album based on Don Quixote by Mago de Oz.
• "Lay Down" by Strawbs is based on Psalm 23
• "The Lady of Shallott" by Loreena McKennitt is based upon the poem of the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson
• "The Lady of Shallott" by Momus is based on the same poem.
• "Legend of Xanadu" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem
• "Let it Show" by Hannah Fury is based on Gregory Maguire's Wicked.
• "Lolita" by Elefant is about Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.
• "The Longest Day" by Iron Maiden is based on Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, which is about D-Day.
• "Lord of the Flies" by Iron Maiden retells Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
• "Lord of the Rings" by Blind Guardian is about The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
• "Love and Death" by The Waterboys sets William Butler Yeats' poem to music.
• "Love and Destroy" by Franz Ferdinand is based on The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
• "Love Song for a Vampire" by Annie Lennox is about Bram Stoker's Dracula.
• "Love Story" by Taylor Swift is based on Romeo and Juliet.
• "Lucy" by The Divine Comedy is a setting of three poems by William Wordsworth.
• "Lullaby" by Lagwagon is based on Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk.
• "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" by Iron Maiden, based on the short story of the same name by Alan Sillitoe.
• "Lord of Light" by Hawkwind from the novel by Roger Zelazny.

M

• "Memory" from the musical Cats is based on lines from a poem by T. S. Eliot.
• "Me Gustas Cuando Callas" by the Brazilian Girls is a sung version of Pablo Neruda's poem of the same name/
• "Misery Loves Company" by Anthrax is about Misery by Stephen King.
• "Moon over Bourbon Street" by Sting is describing a character from Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire
• "Monster" by Meg & Dia is based on Cathy Ames' character in John Steinbeck's "East of Eden".
• "Mr. Raven" by MC Lars retells "The Raven", a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
• "My Name Is Macbeth" by Mitch Benn is Shakespeare's Macbeth reworked in the style of Eminem
• "The Melting Point of wax" by Thrice retells the story of The Fall of Icarus.
• "Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Iron Maiden is based on the short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe.
• "My Antonia" by Emmylou Harris with Dave Matthews is about My Antonia by Willa Cather.

N

• "Narnia" by Steve Hackett is based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.
• "Narcissist" by The Libertines is loosely based on the character of Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
• "Nescio" by The Nits is based on De Uitvreter by Nescio.
• "Never Come Down Again" by Hannah Fury is based on Gregory Maguire's Wicked, told from Elphaba's point of view.
• "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" by Ambrosia has lyrics taken almost verbatim from the poem in chapter 2 (and the bridge from the one on chapter 58) of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle.
• Nightfall in Middle-Earth is an album by Blind Guardian that retells Tolkien's The Silmarillion.
• "No Love Lost" by Joy Division is based on and includes quotes from The House of Dolls by Ka-tzetnik 135633.
• "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses is loosely based on Del James's short story "Without You".
• "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin is based on the final battle in Tolkien's The Hobbit.
• "Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)" by Rob Zombie is based on A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

O

• "One" by Metallica is based on the novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
• "Oor Hamlet" by Adam McNaughtan retells Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
• "Out of the Silent Planet" by Iron Maiden is based on the movie Forbidden Planet and the science-fiction novel by C. S. Lewis.
• "Oedipus" by Regina Spektor refers to the tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
• "Oedipus Rex" by Tom Lehrer also refers to the Sophocles play.
• "The Odyssey" by Symphony X is based on Homer's epic of the same name.
• "Ol' Evil Eye" by Insane Clown Posse is based on Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart.
• "Omega Man" by Iron Savior is based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.
• "Owen Meaney" by Lagwagon is based on the novel A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving.
• "Oh! You Pretty Things" by David Bowie contains lyrics that reference Anthem by Ayn Rand.

P

• "Patrick Bateman" by the Manic Street Preachers is about the lead character in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
• "Pattern Recognition" by Sonic Youth is based on William Gibson's novel of the same name.
• "The Pearl" by Fleming and John is based on the novella of the same name by John Steinbeck.
• "Penelope" by Robi Rosa is based on the character from Homer's Odyssey.
• "Pennywise" by Pennywise is about the character Pennywise from the novel It by Stephen King.
• "Pet Sematary" by The Ramones is about "Pet Sematary" by Stephen King.
• "The Phantom of the Opera" by Iron Maiden is about The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.
• "The Phantom of the Opera Ghost" by Iced Earth is also about Leroux's play.
• "A Pict Song" by Billy Bragg is based on a poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling.
• "Poor Little Rich Boy" by Regina Spector refers to a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• "Popular" by Nada Surf is based upon the book Penny's Guide to Teen-Age Charm and Popularity by Gloria Winters (1964).
• "Prince Caspian" by Phish is about C. S. Lewis' Prince Caspian.
• "The Prophecy" by Iron Maiden is based on the book Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card, and appears on the concept album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
• "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater is based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, from Prince Hamlet's point of view.

Q

• "Quelque Chose de Tennessee" by Johnny Hallyday contains the last sentence of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (in french) by Tennessee Williams.

R

• "Raistlin and the Rose" by Lake of Tears is based on Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
• "Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin mentions characters and places from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, including "Mordor" and "Gollum".
• "ReJoyce" by Jefferson Airplane is Grace Slick's psychedelic version of James Joyce's Ulysses.
• "A Revolta dos Dândis" by Engenheiros do Hawaii mirrors the ideas present on "The Dandy's Revolt," a chapter of Albert Camus's The Rebel.
• "Richard Cory" by Paul Simon is about the Edwin Arlington Robinson poem "Richard Cory".
• "Ride a White Swan" by T.Rex refers to the plot of Tolkien's The Hobbit.
• "Riki Tiki Tavi" by Donovan is a spoof on the mongoose character from The Jungle Book.
• "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden is a retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• "The River" by PJ Harvey is based upon the Flannery O'Connor story of the same name.
• "Roderigo" by Seven Mary Three is based on the book One Hundred Years of Solitude.
• "Rivendell" by Rush is about the fictional place of the same name from The Lord of the Rings.
• "Rebecca" by Meg & Dia is based on the Daphne Du Maurier book.
• "Robot" by Hawkwind refers to the Three Laws of Robotics, conceived by Asimov.

S

• "Sahara" by Eddie From Ohio retells Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book Into the Wild.
• "Sailing to Philadelphia" by Mark Knopfler is based upon Thomas Pynchon's nonfiction book Mason & Dixon.
• "The Salesman, Denver Max" by The Blood Brothers is based on the Joyce Carol Oates short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
• "Samson" by Regina Spektor references the biblical story of Samson and Delilah.
• "Scentless Apprentice" by Nirvana retells Perfume by Patrick Süskind.
• "The Sensual World" by Kate Bush is based on the closing paragraphs of James Joyce's Ulysses.
• "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" by Pink Floyd is based on the I Ching.
• "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" by Iron Maiden is based on Orson Scott Card's book Seventh Son.
• "Sex Crime (1984)" by The Eurythmics based on George Orwell's novel "1984".
• "Shalott" by Emilie Autumn tells the story of "The Lady of Shallott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
• "Sirens of Titan" by Al Stewart is based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel The Sirens of Titan.
• "Skeletons in the Closet" by Anthrax is about Apt Pupil by Stephen King.
• "Smallcreeps's Day" by Mike Rutherford is based upon the novel of the same name by Peter Currell Brown.
• "The Small Print" by Muse tells the story of Faust from the point of view of the Devil.
• "The Snow Goose" by Camel is an album retelling the same title novel by Paul Gallico.
• "So Said Kay" by The Field Mice is based on Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule.
• "Soma" by The Strokes is loosely based on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• "Someone Speaks Softly" by Hannah Fury is based on Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
• "Somewhere Far Beyond" by Blind Guardian is based on The Dark Tower by Stephen King.
• "Song For Clay" by Bloc Party is inspired by Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.
• "The Songs of Distant Earth" by Mike Oldfield about The Songs of Distant Earth
• "Sweet Thursday" by Matt Costa is based on John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday. The song also references Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
• "The Stranger" by Tuxedomoon quotes Albert Camus's novel L'étranger.
• "The Stand" by The Alarm is about The Stand by Stephen King.
• "Stormbringer" by Deep Purple is about Elric of Melniboné.
• "Steppenwolf" by Hawkwind is based on the novel by Herman Hesse.

T

• "The Tain" is a song/concept EP by The Decemberists that retells the Irish epic "Táin Bó Cúailnge"
• "Tales of Brave Ulysses" is a single by Cream that retells Homer's The Odyssey.
• Tales of Mystery and Imagination is an LP by The Alan Parsons Project which retells several Poe stories.
• "Talk Shows on Mute" by Incubus is based on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• "Tea in the Sahara" by The Police is about The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. King Crimson also has an instrumental called "The Sheltering Sky" about the same book.
• "Tell Mary" by Meg & Dia is based on Mary by Vladimir Nabokov.
• "Tell Your Story Walking" by Deb Talan is based on Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem.
• "Terror Train" by Demons & Wizards is sung from the perspective of Blaine the Mono, a character in Stephen King's The Dark Tower, and recalls part of the plot.
• "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica is based on H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu
• "The Things They Carried" by Eux Autres is based on "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien.
• "Thumbelina" by Nightmare of You is based on Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins.
• "Timeless Skies" by Al Stewart is about The Silmarillion.
• "The Drowning Man" by The Cure is based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.
• "The Tomahawk Kid" by Alex Harvey is based on characters from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island
• "To Be or Not to Be" by B. A. Robertson is based on William Shakespeare's plays.
• "To Tame a Land" by Iron Maiden tells the story of Dune by Frank Herbert
• "To The End" by My Chemical Romance retells the gothic horror story "A Rose for Emily".
• "Toilet Tisha" by Outkast retells the 18th-century Russian short story "Poor Liza" by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin.
• "Tom Joad, Parts 1 and 2" by Woody Guthrie retells The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
• "Tommyknockers" by Blind Guardian is about The Tommyknockers by Stephen King.
• "Traveler in Time" by Blind Guardian is about Dune by Frank Herbert.
• "A Trick of the Tail" by Genesis is based upon The Inheritors by William Golding
• "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden was inspired by "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Tennyson.
• "Turn, Turn, Turn", by Pete Seeger, notably covered by The Byrds, takes its lyrics from chapter three of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Holy Bible.

V

• "Venus in Furs" by The Velvet Underground is about the two main characters from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novel of the same name.

W

• Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album, retelling the novel The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.
• "We Are the Dead" by David Bowie is one of many songs he wrote about Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, meant to be a song in a musical.
• "When the War Came" by The Decemberists retells Hunger by Elise Blackwell.
• "When Two Worlds Collide" by Iron Maiden tells the same story as When Worlds Collide by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer.
• "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane partially recalls Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
• "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield" by Green Day is based on Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• "Wild Boys" by Duran Duran was supposed to be utilized as the theme song for a Russell Mulcahy film adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel The Wild Boys that never materialized; the song itself is sung from the viewpoint of one of the "wild boys".
• "William, It Was Really Nothing" by The Smiths is heavily based on Billy Liar.
• "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush is a re-telling of Emily Brontë's novel.
• "The War I Survived" by Hawkwind refers to Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

X

• "Xanadu" by Rush is based on Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan".

Y

• "Yes" by Amber is based on the final chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses.
• "You Got a Death Wish, Johnny Truant?" by The Fall of Troy takes its title from House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

See also

• List of songs based on a film
• Wizard rock

External links

• The Sibl Project has a similar goal that is more inclusive, creating a list of songs which simply refer to a work of literature