base talk Impactful literature in music

[Jeremiah]

I'm currently kinda digging the way literature can impact music and artists, so I'm opening this thread for there to be posted examples of books/poems/etc influencing artists and/or their music.

 

I'm starting with "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" (1865) by Lewis Carroll, which enjoys of a very large influence met in music. Many artists have referenced this book in their work, some even taking it as theme. The Beatles, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, Stevie Nicks, Gwen Stefani, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Avril Lavigne are among the artists that have taken inspiration from it.

 

[Julia Fox]

Sylvia Plath comes to mind xx

[Karla Cabello]

 

[byzantium]

I'll take the low hanging fruit.  I think Taylor wrote this song because she did not like the way the Shakespeare play ended:

I know her entire discography is littered with lines and references from novels.  Like the opening to Getaway car is "It was the best of times, the worst of crimes" -> see a tale of two cities or the use of the phrase in Invisible String, "Isn't it pretty to think" --> see the sun also rises.  I think she goes throughout life just collecting lines that she likes and may later use them in her songs.   

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by byzantium

[Kevin Parker]

The Bible lol

[feelslikeadream]

I think Moby Dick inspired CupcakKe.

[GentleDance]

The song was inspired by Peter Reich's 1973 memoir, A Book of Dreams, which Bush read and found deeply moving.

 

 

Thank you for this masterpiece 

[SashaDevachelli]

Bey uses the poems of Warsan Shire in her lemonade film, she isn’t exactly a “classic” poet as her career is relatively young, but the poems used in the film which Bey narrates embody topics of family, infidelity, and the black female body. All relevant topics that tie together Lemonade’s concept as an album/film.

[Egon Schiele]

Lolita inspired basically 90% of Lana's early music, a really bad song by The Veronicas, and others 

[Protocol]

Wuthering Heights, a borderline unreadable slog, has inspired so many great songs including Kate Bush's eponymous debut single, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", and "Total Eclipse of the Heart". It's a kii how the lyrics to Kate Bush's single are better literature than the book it's based on. Her power. 

[emailmyhearts]

adding to the Kate Bush suggestions: the sensual world (song) was inspired by Ulysses. I also remember Taylor mentioning “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier so I think “tolerate it” was inspired by it but I could be mistaken.