Portobello Book Blog

I’ve seen a few bloggers doing a #MusicMonday post where they feature a particular piece of music. I thought it would be fun to do a bit of a twist on that and feature some songs which have been inspired by writing and by books.

Well I have to start with the most obvious one. I’m sure that you don’t need me to tell you that Kate Bush’s 1978 hit Wuthering Heights is based on Emily Bronte’s novel of the same name. Apparently she wrote it after watching a BBC adaptation of the book when she was just 18!

My next choice is perhaps less well known. Or at least the song is known but the literary connection perhaps not so much. Sting’s moody Moon Over Bourbon Street was inspired by Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. It’s loosely about the character Louis de Pointe du Lac who Sting says is a vampire with a conscience doomed to carry out evil acts.

Heading back to 1966 now and looking at Paperback Writer by The Beatles. This is a fun and cheery little number which references Edward Lear and is about a desperate writer trying to get his book published. The writer tells us it’s taken him years to write so no wonder it’s weighing in at 1000 pages!

Another song where I don’t need to explain what it’s inspired by is Dire Straits’ 1980 hit, Romeo and Juliet. A song full of longing mostly on the part of Romeo but for the doomed lovers ‘it was just that the time was wrong’. I like that this also references Somewhere from West Side Story, Bernstein’s musical version of Romeo and Juliet set in New York: “There’s a place for us, you know the movie song”.

Now this next one is a song I came across when I was thinking what to include in this selection. Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure from 1981 wasn’t one of their bigger hits. It is based on the book of the same name by Penelope Farmer. I loved that book when I was young and read it to my own girls when they were younger too. This song uses words directly from the book as some of its lyrics and in the video, the character of Charlotte is seen recreating scenes from the book.

My final selection is Turn, Turn, Turn written by Pete Seeger in 1959. It’s perhaps better known for the cover version by The Byrds but I like this version with Pete Seeger singing with Judy Collins. I say it’s written by Pete Seeger but actually it’s pretty much entirely taken from the beginning of the third chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes in the King James Bible. The only real change is the addition of the final line, “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late” which makes this song a plea for peace.

These are just a few of many songs inspired by books and writing. What others can you think of?
Do you have a favourite literature inspired piece of music?