Songs Inspired by Literature

I've posted songs inspired by Wuthering Heights, and I've also talked about fictional musicians.

Today, fiction and music meet again. Artists for Literacy put together three albums of Songs Inspired by Literature.


Here's what's on the first album:

* A Jill Tracy song inspired by Luc Sante's Low Life
* Deb Talan, inspired by Jonathan Lethem's novel Motherless Brooklyn
* Aimee Mann, inspired by Dan Clowes' graphic novel Ghost World
* Bob Hillman, inspired by Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace
* Lynn Harrison, inspired by Michael Paterniti's memoir Driving Mr. Albert
* Grace Slick, inspired by James Joyces' novel Ulysses
* Justin Wells, inspired by Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey"
* Essence, inspired by Mark Levine's poem "Work Song"
* Suzanne Vega, inspired by Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey"
* Deborah Pardes, inspired by Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes
* Scarth Locke, inspired by Shel Silverstein's poem "Bucking Bronco"
* Ray Manzarek, inspired by Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot
* Anny Celsi, inspired by Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie
* David LaMotte, inspired by Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
* Diane Zeigler, inspired by Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Legend of Enoch Arden"
* Bruce Springsteen, inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath

I thought it was an interesting mix -- songs inspired by poems, plays, graphic novels, memoirs, and so on. The second and third cds are equally intriguing.

Here's a long list matching songs with literature. Pairing lit and music could be a good classroom project. You start thinking about the book that you're studying in a different way, making new connections.

Lastly, here are some poetry/song match-ups that I made a while back.