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| Books and lilacs. Two lovely things. Also Lilac Wine by Jeff Buckley. |
Since today is World Book Day, Throwback Thursday is to the book inspirations in music. When I was drawing up a list, I came up with over 70 songs that had any references to books, so I had to cut the list short.
And no, no Iron Maiden here, because they made references to every most of the classic books.
I was trying to find anything based on the Faust, but except for Muse and one song I couldn't remember the artist of, I had to give up.
Here it goes.
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights. References to - I think it's pretty obvious. Heathcliff, Cathy, WUTHERING HEIGHTS?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand. This is directly taken from Milton's Paradise Lost. And even though Nick Cave might not be in my top 10 artists, this song alone is great.
The Alan Parsons Project - The Raven (from the album Tales of Mystery and Imagination). The whole album is about E.A. Poe's stories. It's British prog-rock, so the experience is quite... unique.
CAMEL - Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider. Those are direct references to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Ring and better done than the line about how "the Evil one and Gollum who stole my fair girl I met in Mordor" as in Led Zeppelin song. But The Zeps had pretty many references to LOTR, cause Robert Plant is a big fan.
Bauhaus - Silent Hedges. The lyrics are basically Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
Modena City Ramblers - Cent'anni di solitudine. The title is 100 Years of Solitude by G.G. Marquez.
Loreena McKennitt - Lady of Shalott. The lyrics by Tennyson.
Hong Kwangho - Dulcinea (from the musical Man of La Mancha, the source of which is pretty obvious). And of course I just waited to post something by this wonder of a man. I want this marvel to sing at my funeral.
Nightwish - Beauty of the Beast. Century Child is a marvelous album and this song is a play on, of course, The Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.
Marillion - Grendel . Based on a John Gardner's 1971 novel Grendel, which is a retelling of Beowulf.
Sting - Moon Over Bourbon Street. Inspired by the Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire.
Gary Moore - Over The Hills And Far Away (the title is the collection is a collection of fantasy short stories by Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany), also it's the title of an 18th-century song. Used as the theme for a TV series Sharpe. Which I watched cause Sean Bean. Don't judge me.
Marek Grechuta - Niepewność. It's the real poem by one of Polish poets of the 19th century.
Special mentions:
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil. It has direct ties to Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master And The Margarita. And since it's one of my most beloved books, it had to be here.
Mike Oldfield - The Songs of Distant Earth. Based on the prose of Arthur C. Clarke. It's not the whole album, I couldn't find it anywhere and I'm too lazy to rip and upload my own.
Guns N' Roses - November Rain. It's based on a short story by Del James - Without You.
David Bowie - 1984. self explanatory. There was supposed to be a musical based on the Orwell's novel but the widow stopped it.
The Dandy Warhols - The Catcher in the Rye. Self explanatory.
Robert Marlow -The Face of Dorian Grey
Bruce Springsteen & Tom Morello - The Ghost of Tom Joad (based on The Grapes of Wrath)
Scars - Horrorshow (based on A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess)
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah. Cover of L. Cohen. Based on he, well... Bible. It's the best version, shutup.Enjoy!!
