Literary song references
I have a project for AP Lit -- we have until May to find 13 allusions to literature in songs, newspaper articles, comics/cartoons, etc. Unfortunately we can't do ALL songs, but it got me curious -- how many songs can you think of that have a reference to a book or poem?
1) "A Rose for Emily" by The Zombies (reference to A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner)
2) "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden (reference to Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
3) "1984" and "Big Brother" by David Bowie (reference to 1984 by George Orwell)
4) "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin (reference to Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien)
I'm aware there are several Tolkien references in Led Zeppelin songs, this is the only one I'm pretty sure of exactly what it's referencing.
5) "Tom Sawyer" by Rush (reference to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)
6) "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream (reference to The Odyssey by Homer)
7) Animals by Pink Floyd (reference to Animal Farm by George Orwell)
8) "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplaine (reference to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)
9) "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead (reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)
Most of those are pretty obvious...I'm sure there are more obscure ones. Can you add any to the list?
EDIT #1
10) "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica (reference to For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway)
11) "The Call of Ktulu" and "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica (reference to The Call of Cthulu by H.P. Lovecraft)
12) "Cthulu Dawn" by Cradle of Filth (reference to The Call of Cthulu by H.P. Lovecraft)
13) "2112" and "Anthem" by Rush (reference to Anthem by Ayn Rand)
14) "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos (reference to the classical Indian text Layla and Majnun)
15) "Achilles Last Stand" by Led Zeppelin (reference to The Iliad by Homer)
16) "Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin (reference to Moby Dick by Herman Melville)
EDIT #2
17) "Don't Panic" by Coldplay (reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)
18) "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen (reference to The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
19) "A Thousand Words" by Northern State (reference to The Seagull by Anton Chekhov)
20) "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan (reference to The Bible)
21) "Round and Round" by Ratt (reference to Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet)
22) "Stay With Me" by Rod Stewart (reference to The Bible)
23) "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan (reference to Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet)
24) "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police (reference to The Odyssey by Homer)
25) "Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" by Ulver (reference to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake)
26) "Goodnight Ladies" by Lou Reed (reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet)
27) "2+2=5" by Radiohead (reference to 1984 by George Orwell)
28) "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush (reference to Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)
29) "Angelene" by P.J. Harvey (reference to Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes by J.D. Salinger)
30) "Macbeth" by John Cale (reference to Macbeth by Shakespeare)
31) "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater (reference to Hamlet by Shakespeare)
32) "Venus in Furs" by the Velvet Underground (reference to Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch)
33) "The Ballad of Tom Joad" by Woody Guthrie (reference to The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
34) "Killing an Arab" by The Cure (reference to The Stranger by Albert Camus)
35) "What I Really Want" by Alanis Morrisette (reference to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
36) "Feed" by Skunk Anansie (reference to 1984 by George Orwell)
37) "Wuthering Heights" by Pat Benatar (reference to Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)
38) "Alive" by Pearl Jam (reference to Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)
39) "Once" by Pearl Jam (reference to Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)
40) "Footsteps" by Pearl Jam (reference to Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)
41) "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim (reference to Dune by Frank Herbert)
42) "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by the Police (reference to Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov)
43) "Echoes" by Pink Floyd - (reference to Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
44) "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield" by Green Day (reference to Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger)
45) "Crumb By Crumb" by Rufus Wainwright (reference to Hansel and Gretel by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)
46) "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen (reference to The Bible)
47) "The Edge of Darkness" by Iron Maiden (reference to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad)
48) "Grey Gardens" by Rufus Wainwright (reference to Death In Venice by Thomas Mann)
49) "Suffragette City" by David Bowie (reference to A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess)
50) "Pretty Girls Make Graves" by The Smiths (reference to Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac)
51) "Death of a Salesman" by Yellowcard (reference to Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller)
52) "I am the Walrus" by The Beatles (reference to "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll)
53) "Julia" by The Beatles (reference to "Sand and Foam" by Kahil Gibran)
54) "Romeo and the Lonely Girl" by Thin Lizzy (reference to Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare)
55) Things Fall Apart by the Roots (reference to Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe)
56) A Thousand Leaves by Sonic Youth (reference to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman)
57) The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill (reference to The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson)
58) The Idiot by Iggy Pop (reference to The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
59) "Grendel" by Sunny Day Real Estate (reference to Beowulf)
60) "The Iliad" by Tapes n' Tapes (reference to The Iliad by Homer)
61) "The Sword In the Stone" by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (reference to The Once and Future King by T.H. White)
62) "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Television Personalities (reference to The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde)
63) "Annabel Lee" by Tiger Army (reference to "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe)
64) "The Ballad of Maxwell Demon" by Shudder to Think (reference to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury)
65) Fahrenheit 9/11 (film) (reference to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury)
66) "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Iron Maiden (reference to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allen Poe)
67) "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Seven Witches (reference to "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving)
68) "The Seduction" by He Is Legend (reference to Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare)
69) "Brave New World" by Iron Maiden (reference to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
70) "Soma" by The Strokes (reference to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
71) "Politics of Ecstasy" by Nevermore (reference to Politics of Ecstasy by Timothy Leary)
72) Atticus (clothing brand) (reference to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee)
73) As I Lay Dying (band) (reference to As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner)
74) "Jekyll and Hyde" by Iced Earth (reference to The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson)
75) "Frankenstein" by Iced Earth (reference to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
76) "Frankenstein" by New York Dolls (reference to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
77) "Dracula" by Iced Earth (reference to Dracula by Bram Stoker)
78) "Body Electric" by Sisters of Mercy (reference to "I Sing The Body Electric" by Walt Whitman)
79) "Charlotte Sometimes" by The Cure (reference to Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer)
80) "Adonais" by The Cure (reference to "Adonais" by P.B.Shelley)
81) "Treasure" by The Cure (reference to "Remember" by Christina Rossetti)
82) "Bananafish bones" by The Cure ("A Perfect Day for Bananafish" by J.D. Salinger)
83) "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something (Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote)
84) "Dead Souls" by Joy Divison (Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol)
85) "Sanctuary" by Alice Cooper (The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo)
86) "Feed My Frankenstein" by Alice Cooper (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
87) "Here's to Life" by Streetlight Manifesto (Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger)
88) "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie" by Belle and Sebastian (Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger)
89) "Lord of the Flies" by Iron Maiden (Lord of the Flies by William Golding)
90) "Testify" by Rage Against the Machine (1984 by George Orwell)
91) "California Uber Alles" by the Dead Kennedys (1984 by George Orwell)
92) "Disposable Teens" by Marilyn Manson (1984 by George Orwell)
93) "Talk Show On Mute" by Incubus (1984 by George Orwell)
94) "Of Mice and Men" by Megadeth (Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck)
95) Marbles by Marillon (Peter Pan by JM Barrie)
96) ""In Search of Peter Pan" by Kate Bush (Peter Pan by JM Barrie)
97) "The Grudge" by Tool (The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
98) "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
99) "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" by the Arctic Monkets (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
100) "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
101) "Holden Caulfield" by Piebald (Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger)
102) "A Change of Seasons" by Dream Theater ("To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time" by Robert Herricks)
103) "Odyssey" by Symphony X (The Odyssey by Homer)
104) "Through The Looking Glass" by Symphony X (Alice In Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)
MUCH THANKS TO:
979259 for 10
ladyrishikesh for 13-16
versonic for 19
stucknthe80s for 20-24
xaemyl for 25
deep_inthe_high for 27
cut_dead for 28-30 and 32-33
rocknrollbitch for 34 and 78-82
rotncandy and markahix for 35-42
heartxglass for 101
zanthia494 for 102-104
1) "A Rose for Emily" by The Zombies (reference to A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner)
2) "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden (reference to Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
3) "1984" and "Big Brother" by David Bowie (reference to 1984 by George Orwell)
4) "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin (reference to Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien)
I'm aware there are several Tolkien references in Led Zeppelin songs, this is the only one I'm pretty sure of exactly what it's referencing.
5) "Tom Sawyer" by Rush (reference to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)
6) "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream (reference to The Odyssey by Homer)
7) Animals by Pink Floyd (reference to Animal Farm by George Orwell)
8) "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplaine (reference to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)
9) "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead (reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)
Most of those are pretty obvious...I'm sure there are more obscure ones. Can you add any to the list?
EDIT #1
10) "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica (reference to For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway)
11) "The Call of Ktulu" and "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica (reference to The Call of Cthulu by H.P. Lovecraft)
12) "Cthulu Dawn" by Cradle of Filth (reference to The Call of Cthulu by H.P. Lovecraft)
13) "2112" and "Anthem" by Rush (reference to Anthem by Ayn Rand)
14) "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos (reference to the classical Indian text Layla and Majnun)
15) "Achilles Last Stand" by Led Zeppelin (reference to The Iliad by Homer)
16) "Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin (reference to Moby Dick by Herman Melville)
EDIT #2
17) "Don't Panic" by Coldplay (reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)
18) "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen (reference to The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
19) "A Thousand Words" by Northern State (reference to The Seagull by Anton Chekhov)
20) "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan (reference to The Bible)
21) "Round and Round" by Ratt (reference to Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet)
22) "Stay With Me" by Rod Stewart (reference to The Bible)
23) "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan (reference to Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet)
24) "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police (reference to The Odyssey by Homer)
25) "Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" by Ulver (reference to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake)
26) "Goodnight Ladies" by Lou Reed (reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet)
27) "2+2=5" by Radiohead (reference to 1984 by George Orwell)
28) "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush (reference to Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)
29) "Angelene" by P.J. Harvey (reference to Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes by J.D. Salinger)
30) "Macbeth" by John Cale (reference to Macbeth by Shakespeare)
31) "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater (reference to Hamlet by Shakespeare)
32) "Venus in Furs" by the Velvet Underground (reference to Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch)
33) "The Ballad of Tom Joad" by Woody Guthrie (reference to The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
34) "Killing an Arab" by The Cure (reference to The Stranger by Albert Camus)
35) "What I Really Want" by Alanis Morrisette (reference to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
36) "Feed" by Skunk Anansie (reference to 1984 by George Orwell)
37) "Wuthering Heights" by Pat Benatar (reference to Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)
38) "Alive" by Pearl Jam (reference to Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)
39) "Once" by Pearl Jam (reference to Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)
40) "Footsteps" by Pearl Jam (reference to Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)
41) "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim (reference to Dune by Frank Herbert)
42) "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by the Police (reference to Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov)
43) "Echoes" by Pink Floyd - (reference to Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
44) "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield" by Green Day (reference to Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger)
45) "Crumb By Crumb" by Rufus Wainwright (reference to Hansel and Gretel by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)
46) "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen (reference to The Bible)
47) "The Edge of Darkness" by Iron Maiden (reference to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad)
48) "Grey Gardens" by Rufus Wainwright (reference to Death In Venice by Thomas Mann)
49) "Suffragette City" by David Bowie (reference to A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess)
50) "Pretty Girls Make Graves" by The Smiths (reference to Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac)
51) "Death of a Salesman" by Yellowcard (reference to Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller)
52) "I am the Walrus" by The Beatles (reference to "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll)
53) "Julia" by The Beatles (reference to "Sand and Foam" by Kahil Gibran)
54) "Romeo and the Lonely Girl" by Thin Lizzy (reference to Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare)
55) Things Fall Apart by the Roots (reference to Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe)
56) A Thousand Leaves by Sonic Youth (reference to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman)
57) The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill (reference to The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson)
58) The Idiot by Iggy Pop (reference to The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
59) "Grendel" by Sunny Day Real Estate (reference to Beowulf)
60) "The Iliad" by Tapes n' Tapes (reference to The Iliad by Homer)
61) "The Sword In the Stone" by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (reference to The Once and Future King by T.H. White)
62) "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Television Personalities (reference to The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde)
63) "Annabel Lee" by Tiger Army (reference to "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe)
64) "The Ballad of Maxwell Demon" by Shudder to Think (reference to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury)
65) Fahrenheit 9/11 (film) (reference to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury)
66) "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Iron Maiden (reference to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allen Poe)
67) "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Seven Witches (reference to "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving)
68) "The Seduction" by He Is Legend (reference to Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare)
69) "Brave New World" by Iron Maiden (reference to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
70) "Soma" by The Strokes (reference to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
71) "Politics of Ecstasy" by Nevermore (reference to Politics of Ecstasy by Timothy Leary)
72) Atticus (clothing brand) (reference to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee)
73) As I Lay Dying (band) (reference to As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner)
74) "Jekyll and Hyde" by Iced Earth (reference to The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson)
75) "Frankenstein" by Iced Earth (reference to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
76) "Frankenstein" by New York Dolls (reference to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
77) "Dracula" by Iced Earth (reference to Dracula by Bram Stoker)
78) "Body Electric" by Sisters of Mercy (reference to "I Sing The Body Electric" by Walt Whitman)
79) "Charlotte Sometimes" by The Cure (reference to Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer)
80) "Adonais" by The Cure (reference to "Adonais" by P.B.Shelley)
81) "Treasure" by The Cure (reference to "Remember" by Christina Rossetti)
82) "Bananafish bones" by The Cure ("A Perfect Day for Bananafish" by J.D. Salinger)
83) "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something (Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote)
84) "Dead Souls" by Joy Divison (Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol)
85) "Sanctuary" by Alice Cooper (The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo)
86) "Feed My Frankenstein" by Alice Cooper (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
87) "Here's to Life" by Streetlight Manifesto (Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger)
88) "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie" by Belle and Sebastian (Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger)
89) "Lord of the Flies" by Iron Maiden (Lord of the Flies by William Golding)
90) "Testify" by Rage Against the Machine (1984 by George Orwell)
91) "California Uber Alles" by the Dead Kennedys (1984 by George Orwell)
92) "Disposable Teens" by Marilyn Manson (1984 by George Orwell)
93) "Talk Show On Mute" by Incubus (1984 by George Orwell)
94) "Of Mice and Men" by Megadeth (Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck)
95) Marbles by Marillon (Peter Pan by JM Barrie)
96) ""In Search of Peter Pan" by Kate Bush (Peter Pan by JM Barrie)
97) "The Grudge" by Tool (The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
98) "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
99) "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" by the Arctic Monkets (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
100) "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
101) "Holden Caulfield" by Piebald (Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger)
102) "A Change of Seasons" by Dream Theater ("To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time" by Robert Herricks)
103) "Odyssey" by Symphony X (The Odyssey by Homer)
104) "Through The Looking Glass" by Symphony X (Alice In Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)
MUCH THANKS TO:
979259 for 10
ladyrishikesh for 13-16
versonic for 19
stucknthe80s for 20-24
xaemyl for 25
deep_inthe_high for 27
cut_dead for 28-30 and 32-33
rocknrollbitch for 34 and 78-82
rotncandy and markahix for 35-42
heartxglass for 101
zanthia494 for 102-104