Talk:List of songs that retell a work of literature

Misc. comments

What about bands whose entire catalog of songs is a tribute to a work of literature? Blind Guardian comes to mind. All their songs are based on works of Tolkien, primarily plotlines from The Lord of the Rings books. -- ヤギ

I'd say maybe make a separate section for things like that. A lot of metal bands have whole albums based on various occult books (though I don't know if the Book of the Law qualifies as literature). At the bottom of the list, you could add the band and which work or author it is based on. Tuf-Kat

i thought this particular joke had worn thin. -- Tarquin 18:13 Mar 8, 2003 (UTC)

This is the only one of the trivia lists of songs which interests me. Tuf-Kat

fair point. it's less dumb than the others. isn't "Hotel California" a retelling of greek legend? -- Tarquin 18:16 Mar 8, 2003 (UTC)

I think I've heard that before. I'm listening to it now, though, and can't figure out which story it might be. Maybe it Odysseus and Circe... Tuf-Kat

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This page should be at List of songs that retell a work of literature, not which. Which is inclusive; that is exclusive. - Montréalais

I knew that. I was just testing everyone else to see how long it would take for someone else to notice. I swear... Tuf-Kat

My, that was fast ^_^ would have done it myself but not logged in at a library computer on a lunchbreak. - mtlais

---

Pink Floyd's Animals is a retelling of Animal Farm? It's pretty liberal with it, isn't it? I don't remember Mary Whitehouse in Animal Farm... I think "retelling" is a little over the top. In fact, are there any connections at all short of it using animals as metaphors? -Nommo

Hmm... I'm the one that added it, but I don't remember why. Probably I found it on the project linked to on the main page, which lists anything that refers to a work of literature, and something made me think the reference was a retelling... Though my roommate swears it is, glancing through the lyrics, I don't see how. If someone can prove it, they can put it back, but I'm going to take it off the list. Tuf-Kat

--- What about songs which are directly set to literary texts? How about musicals and operas based on a work of literature?

I would be inclined to say that these don't count. Tuf-Kat 20:01, Oct 28, 2003 (UTC)

---

I have removed any which don't "retell" a work of literature (specifically, the Tool and Jefferson Airplane songs which refer to Alice in Wonderland). This is not the same thing as "referring" to a work of literature. I also took out:

• "Carry On Up the Vicarage" by Steve Hackett is a "condensed version" of a typical Agatha Christie murder mystery plot.

Because it does not appear to be a retelling of a work of literature.Tuf-Kat 20:01, Oct 28, 2003 (UTC)

Yeah, those entries bothered me too. DropDeadGorgias 20:38, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I think we've set too strict a definition of "retelling". When you condense a novel into a song, there's obviously going to be a lot lost in the translation. I'm specifically refering to "White Rabbit" which is clearly based on Carroll's two Alice novels. It's the entire subject of the song not just a passing reference and clearly belongs on the list as I think most people would understand the criteria. MK 02:57 (EST) 6 November 2003

Okay, looking up the Jefferson Airplane lyrics, it has convinced me, though I would like to pass the blame on the wording, which only claims that it "refers" to the novel. I'll change that. The Tool song seems to only tangentially refer to the novel, and the Steve Hackett song is only a retelling of a "typical" Agatha Christie novel, whatever that means. Tuf-Kat 08:40, Nov 6, 2003 (UTC)

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LL Cool J does a song called "I'm that type of guy" that interpolates quotes from a movie based off of literature, should we include that in the list? It interpolates quotes from Wizard of Oz. --SuperDude 23:22, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

Maybe turn a blind eye by half man half biscuit should be linked directly to the page called first they came?Pignut 10:16, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Merge question

How about merging the literary items here and renaming the other list List of songs based on a film? ♥ Her Pegship♥ 21:43, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

• That sounds like a better idea, but I'd like to hear opinions to the contrary (if any exist). Spartacusprime 14:06, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

• Just to argue against it, retelling a story and referring to a story are two completly different things. If I want to find songs that tell the story I don't want to sift through a list that also includes things that only refer to a book or are slightly influenced by a book.

That being said, I think merging would be a great idea as long as there are seperate sections on the page for this list and the list of things that only refer. The two really would benefit from being together. Theichibun 03:46, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

What about including songs about authors, e.g. Dan Bern's "Marilyn" (about Henry Miller, Arthur Miller, and Marilyn Monroe)? Is there a more general "songs related to literature" page?Eh Elle Dee 22:18, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Organization

Would it make more sense to organize this by literary work or literary author? -MrFizyx 18:11, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Could we possibly reorganize this list as a table, so we can change its order depending on if we want to find songs based on certain literary work, by a certain artist, or with a certain title? -Hayleyet (talk) 01:14, 22 December 2016 (UTC)

question

Out of curiosity, are these limited to English-language songs? Pandacomics 07:22, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

---

'Yertle the Turtle' by Red Hot Chili Peppers (from the album Freaky Styley) was based on the book by Dr.Suess - it's only a short children's book, should it be included? Mz.Kiedis 17:13, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Unreferenced

None of the examples listed in this article has a citation, which means these are nothing but the opinions of the editors who added them. This is not appropriate or acceptable. The article should not be expanded further unless references are added. ---The Old Jacobite_{The '45} 17:30, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Original research

This entire list appears to be original research. Can anyone point to a single reliable source that analyses this topic? I do find the list quite charming, and the retelling of a story from another character's point of view seems to have become a quite popular extended trope. --Bejnar (talk) 01:09, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

As I write this, I see that your comment is almost eight years old. I am going to attempt to source all of these line items, and if I cannot, I will add a citation needed tag. This might take a while, so it is a good thing I am an eventualist. Thanks to all for their contributions to WP. KConWiki (talk) 05:16, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Parking links here for possible future use

• How Beautiful You Are - https://vlakmagazine2.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/VLAK-magazine_issue-3_2012.pdf
• https://www.ijeltsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/57.-POETRY-AND-LYRICS-IN-LANGUAGE-ACROSS-CENTURIES-CLOSE-READINGS-OF-METAL-LYRICS.pdf

List of potentially citable entries that are currently in need of citations

I am pasting this consolidated list here so that if anyone knows of a citable source, the appropriate edits can be made to this article. KConWiki (talk) 04:04, 10 September 2022 (UTC)

Albums

• An Alien Heat by Spirits Burning and Michael Moorcock is a concept album that retells An Alien Heat by Michael Moorcock.
• The Black Halo by Kamelot is a concept album inspired by Goethe's Faust.
• Epica by Kamelot is a concept album inspired by Goethe's Faust.
• The Hollow Lands by Spirits Burning and Michael Moorcock is a concept album that retells The Hollow Lands by Michael Moorcock
• Mack Avenue Skullgame by Big Chief is an album on Sub Pop based on the book Masquerade by Lowell Cauffiel.
• Nightfall in Middle-Earth is an album by Blind Guardian that retells Tolkien's The Silmarillion.

Films

• "Into the West" by Annie Lennox is about The Lord of the Rings

Songs

• "20 000 ljööd vee all" by Vennaskond is about Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
• "All is Not Well" by Hannah Fury is based on the romance of Elphaba and Fiyero from Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
• "Alone" by Arcturus is based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same title.
• "Altair-4" by Blind Guardian is about The Tommyknockers by Stephen King.
• "And Then There Was Silence" by Blind Guardian is based on The Iliad.
• "And Your Little Dog Too" by Hannah Fury is told from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• "Animal Farm" by Hazel O'Connor is about George Orwell's Animal Farm.
• "The Bard's Song (The Hobbit)" by Blind Guardian retells The Hobbit.
• "Barefoot Children in the Rain" by Jimmy Buffett partially retells Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• "Beneath These Waves" by Demons & Wizards retells the story of Herman Melville's Moby Dick from Captain Ahab's perspective.
• "Billy Bones And The White Bird" by Elton John is based on the fictional character Billy Bones in the first section of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island.
• "China in Your Hand“ by T'Pau is based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
• "Crimson King" by Demons & Wizards, on Touched by the Crimson King, is told from the point of view of Randall Flagg, the main antagonist from The Dark Tower by Stephen King.
• "Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)" by Taking Back Sunday is based on William Shakespeare's play Othello.
• "Daedalus" by Thrice is a retelling of the story of Daedalus and Icarus, so well known from Greek mythology.
• "Dante's Prayer" by Loreena McKennitt, inspired by Dante's Inferno
• "Done with Bonaparte" by Mark Knopfler is based on "The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier" by Jakob Walter.
• "Dorian" by Demons & Wizards is based on The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
• "Dracula" by Iced Earth is about Dracula by Bram Stoker.
• "El Dorado" by Iron Maiden references an Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name.
• "The End of The Universe" by S.P.O.C.K refers to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams.
• "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.
• "The Gladdest Thing" by Deb Talan incorporates as its chorus the poem "Afternoon on a Hill" by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
• "Heart Of Love" by Jamie Bond from The Heavenly Kid movie references the story of Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights.
• "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", by Breaking Benjamin, is based on The Wizard of Oz.
• "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 the Doobie Brothers is a song inspired by the story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce.
• "I Have Seen The Future" by The Bravery is a song inspired by Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
• "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry based on the poem "Lady of Shallot" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
• "If You'd Only Believe" by The Jacksons references Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables.
• "Indiana" by Meg & Dia is based on the George Sand 1832 novel of the same name.
• "Insener Garini Hüperboloid" by Vennaskond is about The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy.
• "Jekyll & Hyde" by Iced Earth is about The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
• "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" by Within Temptation is about Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr.
• "La cruz de Santiago" by Mägo de Oz is inspired by the adventures of Captain Alatriste and is dedicated to his writer, Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
• "The Lady of Shalott" by Loreena McKennitt is based upon the poem of the same name written by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Momus has a song based on the same poem.
• "Legend of Xanadu" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan".
• "Let it Show" by Hannah Fury is based on Gregory Maguire's Wicked.
• "The List" by Hank Green is based on John Green's Paper Towns.
• "Lord of the Flies" by Elton John is based on Lord of the Flies by William Golding.{{cn}
• "Lord of the Rings" by Blind Guardian is about The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
• "Love Song for a Vampire" by Annie Lennox is about Bram Stoker's Dracula.
• "Love Story" by Taylor Swift is loosely based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
• "Lullaby" by Lagwagon is based on Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk.
• "A Man for All Seasons" by Al Stewart was based on Robert Bolt's play.
• "Memory" from the musical Cats is based on lines from a poem by T. S. Eliot.
• "Midsummer Night's Dream" by Noe Venable speculates about the children's return from Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
• "Moonchild" by Iron Maiden is based on the novel of the same title by Aleister Crowley.
• "Monster" by Meg & Dia is based on Cathy Ames' character in John Steinbeck's "East of Eden".
• "Mrs. Bluebeard" by They Might Be Giants is told from the perspective of one of the wives of Bluebeard.
• "My Name Is Macbeth" by Mitch Benn is Shakespeare's Macbeth reworked in the style of Eminem.
• "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.
• "Night ∞ Series" is a series of 4 songs by Hitoshizuku-P x Yama. It tells the story of Bad∞End∞Night: Volume 1 and 2 by Hitoshizuku-P. (It is worth noting that the songs and the books goes hand in hand and the fact that the songs came before the books).
• "Nights of Arabia" by Kamelot is based on the framing story of Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights.
• "O Médico e o Monstro" by Resgate is based on Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
• "Oedipus" by Regina Spektor refers to the tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
• "Oedipus Rex" by Tom Lehrer also refers to the Sophocles play.
• "Oh! You Pretty Things" by David Bowie contains lyrics that reference Anthem by Ayn Rand.
• "Omega Man" by Iron Savior is based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.
• "Out of the Silent Planet" by Iron Maiden is based on the movie Forbidden Planet and the science-fiction novel by C. S. Lewis.
• "The Pearl" by Fleming and John is based on the 1947 novella of the same name by John Steinbeck.
• "Penelope" by Robi Rosa is based on the character from Homer's Odyssey.
• "The Phantom of the Opera Ghost" by Iced Earth is also about Leroux's play.
• "A Picture of Dorian Gray" by The Television Personalities is about Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
• "Poet" by Bastille was inspired by Sonnet 81 by William Shakespeare.
• "Poor Little Rich Boy" by Regina Spektor refers to a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• "Prick! Goes the Scorpion's Tale" By Emilie Autumn is based on the fable "The Toad and the Scorpion".
• "Prince in the Scarlet Robe" by Domine based on Corum Jhaelen Irsei, the main character in a series of books by Michael Moorcock.
• "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.
• "Raistlin and the Rose" by Lake of Tears is based on Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
• "The Resistance" by Muse is based on 1984 by George Orwell.
• "Restless" by Elton John is based on George Orwell's novel 1984.
• "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.
• "Ride a White Swan" by T.Rex refers to the plot of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
• "Ride into Obsession" by Blind Guardian is inspired by the story of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
• "Riki Tiki Tavi" by Donovan is a spoof on the mongoose character from The Jungle Book.
• "Roderigo" by Seven Mary Three is based on the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
• "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits is inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
• "Sahara" by Eddie From Ohio retells Jon Krakauer's 1996 nonfiction book Into the Wild.
• "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?"
• "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" by Pink Floyd is based on the I Ching.
• "Sex Crime (1984)" by The Eurythmics based on George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four".
• "Shalott" by Emilie Autumn tells the story of "The Lady of Shallot" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
• "The Sign of the Cross" by Iron Maiden appears to be partly based on Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose.
• "The Small Print" by Muse tells the story of Faust from the point of view of the Devil.
• "Someone Speaks Softly" by Hannah Fury is based on Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
• "Something Wicked That Way Went" by Vernian Process is based on Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.
• "Somewhere Far Beyond" by Blind Guardian is based on The Dark Tower by Stephen King.
• "The Soulforged" by Blind Guardian talks about Raistlin Majere, a major character in the Dragonlance universe.
• "Space Is Deep" by Hawkwind is based on the Michael Moorcock book The Black Corridor.
• "Stormbringer" by Deep Purple is about Elric of Melniboné.
• "Sun and Steel" by Iron Maiden is about "Sun and Steel" by Yukio Mishima, which is in turn about Miyamoto Musashi.
• "Talk Shows on Mute" by Incubus is based on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four as well as Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• "Tell Mary" by Meg & Dia is based on the 1926 novel Mary by Vladimir Nabokov.
• "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.
• "Thumbelina" by Nightmare of You is based on Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins.
• "To Be or Not to Be" by BA Robertson is based on William Shakespeare's plays.
• "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 War I Survived" by Hawkwind refers to Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
• "Weight of Living, Pt. I" by Bastille is based on "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
• "Wheel of Time" by Blind Guardian tells the story of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
• "When Two Worlds Collide" by Iron Maiden tells the same story as When Worlds Collide by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer.
• "Where Eagles Dare" by Iron Maiden is based on Alistair MacLean's novel Where Eagles Dare.
• "Which Way, Robert Frost?" by Jacky Cheung references the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.
• "Wings" by BTS is based on Demian by Hermann Hesse.

Proposal to convert the list(s) on this page into table(s)

Hello fellow Wikipedians - If you take a look at this sandbox page I have been working on, you will see that I have taken the (cited) entries currently on this page in list form and made them into tables for albums and for songs, as was suggested in several of the posts above a number of years ago.

I would like to invite interested users to take a look at that sandbox and leave comments here. If no major concerns, I am going to plan on removing the list of songs and albums from the current page, and replace with the tables currently on that sandbox sometime after Sept. 16 2022 (one week from the time I am leaving this message). Any questions, comments, or observations, let's please discuss. Thanks KConWiki (talk) 04:18, 10 September 2022 (UTC)

Not having seen any concerns expressed about this, I am going to move the table in to replace the lists on this page. Any concerns, let's discuss. KConWiki (talk) 15:42, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

Removing Blixemi, at least temporarily

Hello fellow Wikipedians - I am removing this listing, at least for the time being, for two reasons - 1) The source cited does not seem like a Reliable Source, and 2) The group of songs does not seem to be an album. If anyone can provide a reliable source for the citation, and if we list out individual songs, then I think this would be appropriate information to add to this article.

Album	Musical artist	Literary work	Author	Comments	Citations
	Blixemi	Warriors series	Erin Hunter	A YouTuber who makes original songs inspired by the Warriors book series.	"Blixemi". Genius. Retrieved 2023-08-25.

Thanks KConWiki (talk) 03:49, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Name

Per the ongling AfD, which likely will result in this being kept - we should rename this (Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of songs that retell a work of literature). Now, retelling is a term used in academic works from the literary studies field, and needs an article (right now this redirects to remake, but academic use, although not too different, may merit a different article) But this list is not about that (remaking). Sources more often use terms 'inspired by' or 'based on', and this is what we should use. Which one? Toss a coin? :) _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 04:44, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

• I recommend "inspired by" as it's more flexible. A few entries that are based on mythology rather than particular books should be removed as well. ---DOOMSDAYER520 (TALK|CONTRIBS) 18:04, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

  @Doomsdayer520 Can you give an example? The term book can be vague. Iliad and Bible have been published in book format. Comic books are books too. And so is manga. How about songs inspired by poems? Poems are included in anthologies, which are books too... _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 01:26, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

I can provide some examples that could be removed from this list article as it stands now, such as "The Melting Point of Wax" which seems to be vaguely based on the Myth of Icarus which itself predates the advent of specific books by centuries. Mushy Yank already took care of some others. With that out ot the way, challenging me to figure out the meaning of "book" is both unreasonable and unhelpful to the much more specific basis of this discussion. ---DOOMSDAYER520 (TALK|CONTRIBS) 13:39, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

• Literary works include poems. They might include manga and comics but that's not what comes to mind first. They might include the Bible but that should be agreed upon (and a reference to the Bible should be sourced, not just an allusion to the episode in question, should that be the case (I'm rather against inclusion of Bible or religious books here, personally)). They obviously include Homer's work and any mythology book but, again, a reference to the work and not to the story as common knowledge should be clear. Inspired by /Based on, both seem OK. Lead section can use both. -My, oh my! (Mushy Yank) 07:43, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

• Example of what should be removed./not be included.-My, oh my! (Mushy Yank) 07:47, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

Requested move 15 November 2024

List of songs that retell a work of literature → List of songs inspired by a work of literature – See above; the current term is ambiguous. The other proposed name is List of songs based on a work of literature (see List of songs based on a film). I have no preference. Note I am now creating an article on the technical concept of retelling as used in literary studies _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 03:08, 15 November 2024 (UTC)