Explore Music and the Literature That Inspired It in the TBP Collections

By Becky

There are so many books that have inspired musicians. Alice in Wonderland alone inspired everyone from Jefferson Airplane to Tom Petty, Lady Gaga, the Beatles, and others. Check out ALICE IN WONDERLAND; and THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS by Lewis Carroll (DB 50842; BR 12746) from the Talking Book Program collections.

Tolkien’s Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion have inspired hundreds of songs, such as Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On.” FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: BEING THE FIRST PART OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J. R. R. Tolkien (DB 47486; BR 09745; LB 04282) and SILMARILLION by J. R. R. Tolkien (DB 60367; BR 11510).

And there are many songs that reference The Master and Margarita. Probably the best known is Rolling Stones: “Sympathy for the Devil.” THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov (DB 37107; BR 19148).

Andrew Hozier-Byrne (who performs as Hozier) has a new album coming out in August, inspired by his experience during the pandemic. Several interviews mention that Hozier began to reference epic poetry during lockdown.  Some of Hozier’s new songs are based on Dante’s Inferno and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. We have both in our collection: METAMORPHOSES by Ovid (DB 114243; BR 07318); and INFERNO by Dante Alighieri (DB 76353, BR 19903).Hozier wrote another one of the new songs after hearing Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy talk about feminism; it’s called “Swan Upon Leda,” another call-back to myth. In our collection: ONE HUNDRED ESSENTIAL MODERN POEMS (contains “Leda and the Swan”) (DB 65015).

What are some other literary works that have inspired music? We’ve found quite a few.

Kate Bush has been introduced to a new generation of fans because of her song “Running Up the Hill” being used in a streaming show. She also wrote a song called “Wuthering Heights,” based upon the 19th century English novel. WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte (DB 25178; BR 22475; LB 04699).

Basing a song on Fyodor Dostoevsky seems especially impressive—even a novella. There’s a song called “From Under the Floorboards” by the band Magazine. It is based on Dostoevsky’s Notes From Underground–the friend who told me about it says it gets bonus points for condensing the whole spirit of the novella into four minutes! NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (DB 37598).

Of course, I can’t talk about music based on literature without including U2, my favorite band. From their very first album, they were referencing books and poems in the lyrics—”Shadows and Tall Trees” comes from William Golding’s LORD OF THE FLIES (DB 48388, BR 09480, BR 22324), and in “The Ocean,” they refer to Oscar Wilde. BEST OF OSCAR WILDE: SELECTED PLAYS AND LITERARY CRITICISM by Oscar Wilde (DB 62711; BR 16500). Bono used the Bible as inspiration for many of his songs: for example, taking the 40thPsalm as lyrics for the song “40.” A good half of U2’s song lyrics have biblical allusions.

“Exit,” on their album The Joshua Tree, was inspired by Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song; it is probably their darkest song. THE EXECUTIONER’S SONG by Norman Mailer (DB 13985). Bono also wrote a song with Salman Rushdie. “The Ground Beneath Her Feet” was not just influenced by but directly taken from his novel; he sent a copy to Bono and asked him to set some of the words to music. GROUND BENEATH HER FEET by Salman Rushdie (DB 48279).And their latest two albums got their titles from William Blake’s poetry collections. SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE (BT 03983). For audio: SELECTED POEMS by William Blake (DB 20845).

I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of books that have inspired music, so if you’ve been yelling a title while reading this, put it in a comment below.


Texas Music and Musicians

Austin promotes itself as “The Live Music Capital of the World,” a reference to the many musicians and live music venues within the city, as well as the TV concert series Austin City Limits. However, the entire state of Texas has a long and varied musical history. It is the birthplace of many singers, songwriters and musicians who represent many different types of music. From traditional country musicians like Gene Autry and Tex Ritter to contemporary R & B groups like Destiny’s Child, The Talking Book Program has biographies and memoirs as well as more general books on Texas music in our collection.

General
Title: NEVER HEARD OF ‘EM: AUSTIN’S MUSIC EXPLOSION, 1994-2000
Author: DONAHOE, SUE
DT 07268 DBC 04845 (BARD)

Title: TEXAS RHYTHM, TEXAS RHYME: A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF TEXAS MUSIC
Author: WILLOUGHBY, LARRY
DT 03981

Gene Autry
Title: BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
Author: AUTRY, GENE
DB 16849

Rodney Crowell
Title: CHINABERRY SIDEWALKS
Author: CROWELL, RODNEY
DB 73893

Kirk Franklin
Title: CHURCH BOY
Author: FRANKLIN, KIRK
DB 70436

Buddy Holly
Title: BUDDY HOLLY: A BIOGRAPHY
Author: AMBURN, ELLIS
DT 07070

Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins

Title: RAGGIN’ THE BLUES: LEGENDARY COUNTRY BLUES AND RAGTIME MUSCICIANS
Author: WILDS, MARY
DR 04188

Waylon Jennings
Title: WAYLON: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Author: JENNINGS, WAYLON
DB 43334

George Jones
Title: I LIVED TO TELL IT ALL
Author: JONES, GEORGE
DB 42850

Title: THREE OF US: GROWING UP WITH TAMMY AND GEORGE
Author: JONES, GEORGETTE
DB 76171

Janis Joplin
Title: JANIS JOPLIN: RISE UP SINGING
Author: ANGEL, ANN
BR 19426, DB 73764

Scott Joplin
Title: KING OF RAGTIME: SCOTT JOPLIN AND HIS ERA
Author: BERLIN, EDWARD A
DB 42223 (BARD)

Beyonce Knowles & Kelly Rowland
Title: SOUL SURVIVORS: THE OFFICIAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DESTINY’S CHILD
Author: KNOWLES, BEYONCE
DB 55896 (BARD)

Willie Nelson
Title: FACTS OF LIFE AND OTHER DIRTY JOKES
Author: NELSON, WILLIE
DB 58592

Title: ROLL ME UP AND SMOKE ME WHEN I DIE: MUSINGS FROM THE ROAD
Author: NELSON, WILLIE
DB 75901

Title: IT’S A LONG STORY: MY LIFE
Author: NELSON, WILLIE
DB 81617

Title: WILLIE NELSON: AN EPIC LIFE
Author: PATOSKI, JOE NICK
DB 66762

Tex Ritter
Title: TEX RITTER
Author: Ritter, Tex
DBM 00878 (BARD)

Selena
Title: SELENA! PHENOMENAL LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF THE TEJANO MUSIC QUEEN
Author: RICHMOND, CLINT
Bilingual
DB 44470

B. J. Thomas
Title: HOME WHERE I BELONG
Author: THOMAS, B.J
DB 14755 (BARD)

Tanya Tucker
Title: NICKEL DREAMS: MY LIFE
Author: TUCKER, TANYA
DB 48356

Townes Van Zandt
Title: TO LIVE’S TO FLY: THE BALLAD OF THE LATE, GREAT TOWNES VAN ZANDT
Author: KRUTH, JOHN
DT 07063 DBC 04839 (BARD)

Bob Wills
Title: LONE STAR SWING: ON THE TRAIL OF BOB WILLS AND HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS
Author: MCLEAN, DUNCAN
DB 48652