Literary works alluded to in songs (and vice versa)

[Deleted member 28602]

While listening to the new Van Morrison album, I stumbled upon this song here:

Wikipedia:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a 1971 novel by Hunter S. Thompson and illustrated by Ralph Steadman. The book is a roman à clef, rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they descend on Las Vegas to chase the American Dream through a drug-induced haze, all the while ruminating on the failure of the 1960s countercultural movement. The work is Thompson's most famous book, and is noted for its lurid descriptions of illegal drug use and its early retrospective on the culture of the 1960s. Thompson's highly subjective blend of fact and fiction, which it popularized, has become known as gonzo journalism. The novel first appeared as a two-part series in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971, and was published as a book in 1972.

The basic synopsis revolves around journalist Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson) and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo (Oscar Zeta Acosta), as they arrive in Las Vegas in 1971 to report on the Mint 400 motorcycle race for an unnamed magazine. However, this job is repeatedly obstructed by their constant use of a variety of recreational drugs, including LSD, ether, cocaine, alcohol, mescaline, adrenochrome, and cannabis. This leads to a series of bizarre hallucinogenic experiences, during which they destroy hotel rooms, wreck cars, and have visions of anthropomorphic desert animals, all the while ruminating on the decline of both the "American Dream" and the '60s counterculture in a city of greed.

Any other examples of songs that clearly are alluding to works of literature?

 

[nicky wire's legs]

Kate bush's the sensual world, taken from a monolgue by molly bloom in ulysses. And also Kate bush's wuthering heights.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

In the song Tempest, Mr. Dylan alludes to the Shakespeare play of the same name.
In the first act of the play, a ship crashes in a tempest storm.
In the song, Mr. Dylan tells the story of the Titanic stinkin' (by iceberg) and how
many of the passengers react to the situation.
Favorite line from song...

Jim Dandy smiled
He never learned to swim
Saw the little crippled child
And he gave his seat to him

 

[Redacted]

........that book by Nabokov

I always thought Fuel's song Shimmer could be about Great Expectations, but I doubt it is.


The Alarm's song The Stand is about the Stephen King novel.

 

[Fake C]

Bruce Springsteen's song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" mentions characters from John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

 

[nicky wire's legs]

Bruce Springsteen's song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" mentions characters from John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

Well I guess it would if it's called the ghost of Tom joad, dumb dumb

 

[Fake C]

Songs by Pet Shop Boys with literary references.

 

[Redacted]

Tom Sawyer by Rush
Pulling Muscles by Squeeze has a few different ones - Maid Marian, William Tell, Harold Robbins paperback

 

[caramel sea salt]

 

[Mozzer1980]

Marillion's Grendel refers to the book of the American writer John Gardner of the same title .

 

[j*e*t]

This is one of my favourite bands. Look Back In Anger is a play by John Osborne (1956).

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild T Side, was based on the Nelson Algren
book A Walk On The Wild T Side.
Mr. Reed was asked to write the song for a musical version of the book
and when the musical fell through, Mr. Reed turned the song into his
own version, referencin' the Factory scene.

Here's "three rules of life" from the book...
1. Never play cards with a man called Doc.
2. Never eat at a place called Mom's.
3. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.

 

[Deleted member 28602]

In the song Tempest, Mr. Dylan alludes to the Shakespeare play of the same name.
In the first act of the play, a ship crashes in a tempest storm.
In the song, Mr. Dylan tells the story of the Titanic stinkin' (by iceberg) and how
many of the passengers react to the situation.
Favorite line from song...

Jim Dandy smiled
He never learned to swim
Saw the little crippled child
And he gave his seat to him

Yeah, that's interesting, coz the song is mainly retelling scenes from the Titanic movie, isn't it? So why call it Tempest?

My guess, The Tempest was one of Shakespeare's last plays, in which he envisioned himself as the aging and exiled Prospero, who wants to retire from wizardry. Might be autobiographical in a metaphorical way.

There is a part in the song where he describes the captain ready to drown and sink with this ship, which echoes the final dramatic scene in Moby Dick, when Captain Ahab is preparing himself for being pulled down into the ocean by the white whale, this time forever.

I think he had to come up with something in order to show his readiness for and his willingness to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, no?

 

[Deleted member 28602]

........that book by Nabokov

View attachment 81737

I always thought Fuel's song Shimmer could be about Great Expectations, but I doubt it is.


The Alarm's song The Stand is about the Stephen King novel.

not sure if you mean Lolita? And is this Sting there in the picure?

 

[Mozzer1980]

Alan Parsons Project -The Raven was based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name.

NEVERMORE !!!

 

[Deleted member 28602]

Bruce Springsteen's song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" mentions characters from John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

good one. I had forgotten all about the Steinbeck novel.

 

[Deleted member 28602]

Songs by Pet Shop Boys with literary references.

That's a long list. What's your favourite?

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Yeah, that's interesting, coz the song is mainly retelling scenes from the Titanic movie, isn't it? So why call it Tempest?

My guess, The Tempest was one of Shakespeare's last plays, in which he envisioned himself as the aging and exiled Prospero, who wants to retire from wizardry. Might be autobiographical in a metaphorical way.

There is a part in the song where he describes the captain ready to drown and sink with this ship, which echoes the final dramatic scene in Moby Dick, when Captain Ahab is preparing himself for being pulled down into the ocean by the white whale, this time forever.

I think he had to come up with something in order to show his readiness for and his willingness to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, no?

Ya might be on to somethin'.
Mr. Dylan won the Noble Prize for a book of his lyrics, which
spanned from 1961 - 2012.

 

[Deleted member 28602]

Marillion's Grendel refers to the book of the American writer John Gardner of the same title .

And is there a difference between Gardner's Grendel and the Beowulf Grendel monster? I haven't read the Gardner novel.

 

[Oh my]

He did not wear his scarlet coat,
For blood and wine are red,
And blood and wine were on his hands
When they found him with the dead,
The poor dead woman whom he loved,
And murdered in her bed.

He walked amongst the Trial Men
In a suit of shabby grey;
A cricket cap was on his head,
And his step seemed light and gay;
But I never saw a man who looked
So wistfully at the day.

I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every drifting cloud that went
With sails of silver by.

I walked, with other souls in pain,
Within another ring,
And was wondering if the man had done
A great or little thing,
When a voice behind me whispered low,
‘That fellow’s got to swing.’

From the Ballad of Reading Gaol by Morrissey.