List of songs that retell a work of literature

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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.

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.
• "2+2=5" by Radiohead is also about 1984.
• "20 000 ljööd vee all" by Vennaskond about Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
• "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
• "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 poem by Edgar Allan Poe of the same title.
• "Alone" by Arcturus is based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe of the same title.
• "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 Man for All Seasons.
• "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" is an album by Pink Floyd which is very loosely based on George Orwell's Animal Farm.
• "Animal Farm" by Hazel O'Connor also re-tells George Orwell's Animal Farm.
• "Annabel Lee" by Tiger Army is based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe 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 J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
• "Barefoot Children in the Rain" by Jimmy Buffett partially retells The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
• "Las Batallas" by Café Tacuba retells Jose Emilio Pacheco's Las batallas en el desierto.
• "Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin mentions terms from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by name.
• "Beans" by Nirvana retells Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums.
• "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 refers to and relates some of the adventures of the title character of Keith Waterhouse's novel of the same name.
• "Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult is based on Elric of Melniboné stories by Michael Moorcock.
• "Blood and Thunder" by Mastodon (band) refers to the book Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• "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 the song "Brave New World" by Reagan Youth.

C

• "Calypso" by Suzanne Vega is based on one of the scenes in the Odyssey by Homer.
• "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
• "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.

D

• "Dalai Lama" by Rammstein is loosely based on Der Erlkönig by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
• "Dante's Inferno" by Iced Earth, retells the Inferno of Dante's The Divine Comedy.
• "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 is based on and references Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

E

• "Elvenpath" by Nightwish refers to the basic premise of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
• "The End of The Universe" by S.P.O.C.K refers to the second book of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams, titled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
• "Eveline" by Nickel Creek is based on the James Joyce short story of the same name.

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, in itself adapted from Psalm 77.19.
• "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica is based on Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same title "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
• "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 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
• "Green Eggs and Hamlet" by Mary Prankster is about William Shakespeare's play Hamlet
• "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
• "Get it Right" by The Offspring mentions Holden Caulfield, the hero of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
• "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 also performed a different musical interpretation of the poem.
• "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
• "Home By the Sea", by Genesis, also is based on Homer's Odyssey.
• "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.
• "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.

I

• "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 (novel).
• 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.
• "In Like a Lion (Always Winter)" by Relient K is about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.
• "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
• "Iron Dream" by KAOS is about The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad
• "Invisible Monsters" by Motion City Soundtrack is about Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.
• "Time To Dance" by Panic! At The Disco is based on Invisible Monsters" by Chuck Palahniuk.
• "It Was Her House That Killed Nessarose" by Hannah Fury is about Elphaba's perception of Dorothy from Gregory Maguire's Wicked (novel).

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 by Mago de Oz which is based on Don Quixote
• "Lay Down" by Strawbs is based on Psalm 23
• "The Lady of Shallott" by Loreena McKennitt is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson
• "The Lady of Shallott" by Momus is based upon the poem of the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson
• "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 about The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, 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 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

M

• "Memory" from the musical Cats is based on lines from a poem by T. S. Eliot.
• "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 a Vampire
• "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" (and refers to him)
• "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 (novel), told from Elphaba's point of view.
• "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" inspired by the Kurt Vonnegut novel Cat's Cradle by Ambrosia (band)
• "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" is an album by Blind Guardian that retells J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion.
• "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses is loosely based on the short story Without You by Del James.
• "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin is based on the final battle in the Fantasy Novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
• "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/movie 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, not 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 tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
• "The Odyssey" by Symphony X is based on Homer's epic of the same name.

P

• "Patrick Bateman" by the Manic Street Preachers is about the lead character in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
• "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 about The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
• "A Pict Song" by Billy Bragg is based on a poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling
• "Prince Caspian" by Phish is about C. S. Lewis' Prince Caspian, one of the Chronicles of Narnia
• "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 told from Prince Hamlet's point of view, from Shakespeare's play that shares his name.
• "Popular" by Nada Surf is based upon the book Penny's Guide to Teen-Age Charm and Popularity by Gloria Winters (1964).
• "Poor little Rich boy" by Regina Spector refers to a short story by F. Scott Fitsgerald

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 from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, including "Mordor" and "Gollum" by name.
• "Red Barchetta" by Rush is based on the short story A Nice Morning Drive by Richard S. Foster
• "ReJoyce" by Jefferson Airplane offers Grace Slick's own psychedelic version of James Joyces Ulysses.
• "Richard Cory" by Paul Simon is about the Edwin Arlington Robinson poem "Richard Cory".
• "Ride A White Swan" by T.Rex refers to plot details from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
• "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden is a retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• "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
• "Ruled by Secrecy" by Muse is about the book by Jim Marrs Rule By Secrecy
• "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

S

• "Sahara" by Eddie From Ohio retells Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book Into the Wild.
• "Scentless Apprentice" by Nirvana retells Perfume by Patrick Süskind.
• "The Season of Divorce" by The Shots of Perspective borrows its plot from John Cheever's short story of the same name.
• "The Sensual World" by Kate Bush is based on the closing paragraphs of James Joyce's Ulysses (Bush wanted to simply set them to music but Joyce's grandson refused permission).
• "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" by Pink Floyd is based on the I Ching.
• "The Seventh Seal" by Scott Walker is a retelling of Ingmar Bergman's movie The Seventh Seal
• "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" by Iron Maiden is based on the book Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card.
• "Sexcrime (1984)" by the Eurythmics, from the film "1984", is based on the George Orwell novel.
• "Shalott" by Emilie Autumn tells the story of The Lady of Shallott by William Shakespeare
• "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 describes the story of Faust from the point of view of the Devil.
• "The Snow Goose" by Camel is an instrumental 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.
• "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-series by Stephen King.
• "Song For Clay" By Bloc Party is inspired by Less Then Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
• "The Songs of Distant Earth (album)" by Mike Oldfield about Songs of Distant Earth
• "The Stranger" by Tuxedomoon quotes Albert Camus' novel L'etranger.
• "The Stand" by The Alarm is about The Stand by Stephen King
• "Stormbringer" by Deep Purple is about Elric of Melniboné
• "Strange Little Girl" by Sad Café retells the story of the film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane that featured Jodie Foster and was based on a book of the same name
• "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones is about The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

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 Edgar Allan Poe stories
• "Talk Shows on Mute" by Incubus is based on George Orwell's novel "1984."
• "Tea in the Sahara" by The Police is about The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. King Crimson also has a song called "The Sheltering Sky" about the same book, although it is an instrumental work.
• "Tell Tale Heart" by Tourniquet is about the story by Edgar Allan Poe of the same name.
• "Terror Train" by Demons & Wizards is sung from the perspective of Blaine the Mono, a character in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, and recalls part of the plot of the books.
• "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica is based on H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu
• "Thumbelina" by Nightmare of You is based on Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins.
• "Time to Dance" by Panic! at the Disco has several indirect and direct references to Chuck Palahniuk's novel Invisible Monsters ("Boys will be boys/hiding in estrogen and wearing Aubergine Dreams...")
• "Timeless Skies" by Al Stewart is about The Silmarillion
• "The Tomahawk Kid" by Alex Harvey (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band), 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
• "Tom Joad, Parts 1 and 2" by Woody Guthrie retells The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• "Tom Sawyer" by Rush references The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• "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 from The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson.
• "Turn a Blind Eye" by Half Man Half Biscuit is a parody of Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten (First they came...) by Martin Niemoller
• "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 ("There is a time for everything...)

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 big-budget retelling of the novel by H. G. Wells in music and dramatization
• "We Are the Dead" by David Bowie is one of many songs he wrote about George Orwell's 1984, meant to be a song in a 1984 musical.
• "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 Burroughs's "wild boys".
• "William, It Was Really Nothing" by The Smiths is heavily based on Billy Liar: 'How can you stay with a fat girl who'll say/Would you like to marry me/And if you like you can buy the ring/ She doesn't care about anything"
• "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police is based on the legend of Faustus, a man who sells his soul to the devil, recorded by Christopher Marlowe in his play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus and by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his drama Faust.
• "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush is a re-telling of Emily Brontë's novel.

X

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

Y

• "Yes" by Amber is based on the final chapter of James Joyce's novel 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