Genius Lists
Songs Based On Stories
In alphabetic order by song title
Most all of these songs could use some love, check them out!A
"Abigail" -- Motionless In White -- Based on Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"
"Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" -- Manowar -- Based on the battle between Hector and Achilles in "The Iliad"
"Afternoons and Coffeespoons" -- Crash Test Dummies -- Based on T.S Eliot's "Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Adam's Apple" -- Aerosmith -- Based on "Genesis' Adam & Eve"
"Ahab" -- MC Lars -- Based on "Moby Dick"
"And Then There Was Silence" -- Blind Guardian -- Based on "The Iliad"
"Alone" -- Green Carnation -- Based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same title
"Alone" -- Arcturus -- Based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same title
"Altair-4" -- Blind Guardian -- Based on "The Tommyknockers" by Stephen King.
"All I Wanna Do" -- Sheryl Crow -- Lyrics derived from the poem "Fun" by Wyn Cooper.
"All is Not Well" -- Hannah Fury -- Based on the romance of Elphaba and Fiyero from "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire.
"Among the Living" -- Anthrax -- Based on Stephen King's "The Stand".
"And Your Little Dog Too" -- Hannah Fury -- Told from the point of view of Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's The "Wonderful Wizard of Oz".
"A Man for All Seasons" -- Al Stewart -- Based on Robert Bolt's play.
"A Picture of Dorian Gray" -- The Television Personalities -- Based on Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
Animals -- Pink Floyd -- An Album Loosely Based on George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
"Animal in Man" -- dead prez -- A retelling of George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
"Animal Farm" -- Hazel O'Connor -- A retelling of George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
"Animal Farm" -- The Kinks -- NOT another retelling of George Orwell's "Animal Farm" despite shared title and subject matter.
"Arrows" -- Vampire Weekend -- Based on Evelyn Waugh's novel "Brideshead Revisited".
"Audrina, My Sweet" -- Ancient -- Based on V.C. Andrews's novel "My Sweet Audrina".B
"Babieca" -- Destroyer/Sr. Chinarro -- Based on the old Castilian epic poem, "El Cantar de Mio Cid"
"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" -- Leonard Nimoy -- Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit".
"The Bard's Song" -- Blind Guardian -- Retells "The Hobbit".
"The Ballad of Skip Wiley" -- Jimmy Buffett -- A song about the character from Carl Hiaasen's novel "Tourist Season".
"Banana Co." -- Radiohead -- Based on the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez.
"Barefoot Children in the Rain" -- Jimmy Buffett -- Based on Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
"Beneath These Waves" -- Demons & Wizards -- Based on Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" from Captain Ahab's perspective.
"Bernice Bobs Her Hair" -- The Divine Comedy -- Based on the short story of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"Big Brother" -- David Bowie -- One of many songs he wrote about Orwell's "1984".
"Billy Liar" -- The Decemberists -- Based on some of the adventures of the title character of Keith Waterhouse's novel of the same name.
"Black Blade" -- Blue Öyster Cult -- Based on the "Elric of Melniboné" stories by Michael Moorcock.
"Bowling in the Hills" -- Eddie from Ohio -- Retells Washington Irving's short story "Rip Van Winkle".
"Brave New World" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the story of "Brave New World" by Aldous HuxleyC
"Cane" -- Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson -- Based on the stories "Karintha" and "Becky" from Cane by Jean Toomer
"The Call of Ktulu" -- Metallica -- an instrumental track closing off Metallica's fantastic Ride The Lightning; the title invokes H.P. Lovercraft's most famous short story "The Call of Cthulhu."
"Calypso" -- Suzanne Vega -- Based on one of the scenes in the epic Odyssey by Homer.
"Carry the Fire" -- Dustin Kensrue -- Based on The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
"The Cask Of Amontillado" -- The Alan Parsons Project -- Based on the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe.
"Cassandra" -- ABBA --Based on the character in the Iliad by Homer.
"Catch-22" -- Pink -- Based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Heller.
"Chapter 24" -- Pink Floyd -- About the "I Ching"
"Chapter Four" -- Avenged Sevenfold -- Based on the book of Genesis: Chapter 4.
"Charlotte Sometimes" -- The Cure -- Based Penelope Farmer's novel of the same name.
"China in Your Hand" by T'Pau is based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
"Christabel" -- Robert Earl Keen -- Rework of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem of the same name.
"Circles" -- Thrice -- Based on Chapter 7 of G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy.
"Crimson King" -- Demons & Wizards -- Told from the point of view of Randall Flagg, the main antagonist of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
"Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)" -- Taking Back Sunday -- Based on William Shakespeare's play Othello.
"Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)" --The Tragically Hip -- References a passage from Hugh MacLennan's novel The Watch That Ends The Night.D
"Daedalus" -- Thrice -- Retelling of the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus
"Dalai Lama" -- Rammstein -- Loosely based on the poem "Der Erlkönig" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
"Damnation Alley" -- Hawkwind -- Based on the novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny.
"Daniel in the Den" -- Bastille -- Modern retelling of the Biblical story of Daniel in the lion's den.
"Dante's Inferno" -- Iced Earth -- Retells Dante's Inferno.
"Dante's Prayer" -- by Loreena McKennitt -- Inspired by Dante's Inferno.
"The Dawn of a New Age" -- Satyricon -- Based on the Book of Revelation.
"Dead" -- Pixies -- Based on the biblical legend of David and Bathsheba.
"Don't Stand So Close to Me" -- The Police -- References Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
"Doublespeak" -- Thrice -- About George Orwell's novel 1984.
"Dracula" -- Iced Earth -- About Dracula by Bram Stoker.
"Dying Is Fine"-- Ra Ra Riot -- Inspired by, and directly using several lines from, the poem of the same name by e.e. cummings.E
"Each Year" -- Ra Ra Riot -- Based on Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird.
"The Edge of Darkness" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the movie Apocalypse Now, which was in turn inspired by Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness.
"El Dorado" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe of the same name.
"Elvenpath" -- Nightwish -- Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series.
"The End of The Universe" -- S.P.O.C.K -- Refers to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams.
"Envoi" -- Absynthe Minded -- Based on Hugo Claus's novel of the same name.
"Eveline" -- Nickel Creek -- Based on the James Joyce short story of the same name.
"Exit Music (For a Film)" -- Radiohead -- Based on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.
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"Fable" -- Gatsby's American Dream -- Based on William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
"Firework" -- Katy Perry -- Based on Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road.
"Flight of Icarus" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the Greek myth of Icarus.
"Footprints" -- Half Man Half Biscuit -- A parody of "Footprints" by Mary Stevenson, itself adapted from Psalm 77.19.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" -- Metallica -- Based on Ernest Hemingway's
novel of the same name.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" -- The Bee Gees -- Based on Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same name.
"Frankenstein" -- Iced Earth -- Based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley.
"From the Underworld" -- The Herd -- Based on the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.
"The Future Is Now" -- The Offspring -- Based on George Orwell's novel 1984.
"Flowers in the Attic" -- Budgie -- Based on V.C. Andrews's novel of the same name.
"Four Walls (The Ballad Of Perry Smith)" -- Bastille -- Based on events detailed in the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
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"Giving Up The Gun" -- Vampire Weekend -- Titled after Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879 by Noel Perrin.
"The Gladdest Thing" -- Deb Talan -- Incorporates as its chorus the poem Afternoon on a Hill by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
"God's Own Drunk" -- Jimmy Buffet -- makes a most unusual friend.
"Grendel" -- Marillion -- Retelling of John Gardner's novel of the same name.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" -- Bruce Springsteen -- About The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
"Goodbye Sky Harbor" -- Jimmy Eat World -- About the book A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
"Guardian of the Blind" -- Blind Guardian -- Based on It by Stephen King.
"The Gunslinger" -- Demons & Wizards Based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.
H
"Hallelujah" -- Leonard Cohen -- Based on the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba. It also incorporates elements of the story of Samson and Delilah.
"Haunted" -- Poe -- Based on House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.
"Hedda Gabler" -- John Cale -- Retelling of Henrik Ibsen's play of the same name.
"Hey (rise of the robots)" -- The Stranglers -- Based on I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.
"Hey There Ophelia" -- MC Lars -- Retelling of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
"The Highwayman" -- Loreena McKennitt -- Recounts a poem by Alfred Noyes of the same name.
"Hold Fast Hope" -- Thrice -- Based on the Biblical story of Jonah.
"Holland 1945" -- Neutral Milk Hotel -- Based on The Diary of Anne Frank.
"Home at Last" -- Steely Dan -- Retells Ulysses's encounter with the Sirens from the Odyssey by Homer.
"Home" -- Breaking Benjamin -- Based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
"House of Leaves" -- Circa Survive -- Based on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
"House at Pooh Corner" and "Return to Pooh Corner" -- Kenny Loggins -- About The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne.
"How Beautiful You Are" -- The Cure -- Retelling of "Les Yeux du Pauvre," a poem by Charles Baudelaire from Le Spleen de Paris.
"The Human Hosepipe" -- Harry and the Potters -- Retells a scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
"Hug Me" -- Meg & Dia -- Based on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
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"I Am the Walrus" -- The Beatles -- Includes lines from a recording of a performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear.
"I Can't Let You In" -- Hannah Fury -- About Fiyero's tragic affair with Elphaba (told from her point of view) from Gregory Maguire's Wicked.
"I Cheat the Hangman" -- Doobie Brothers -- Inspired by the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce.
"I Have Seen The Future" -- The Bravery -- Inspired by the story Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
"I Robot" -- UK Subs -- Based on I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.
"I Wanna Be Yours" -- Arctic Monkeys -- Rework of the poem of the same name by John Cooper Clarke.
"Icarus" -- Bastille -- Based on the Greek myth of Icarus.
"If I Die Young" -- The Band Perry -- Based on the poem "Lady of Shallot".
"Indiana" -- Meg & Dia -- Based on the George Sand novel of the same name.
"In Like a Lion (Always Winter)" -- Relient K -- About C. S. Lewis's novel The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
"The Insect God" -- Monks of Doom -- Based on Edward Gorey's poem of the same name.
"Into the West" -- Annie Lennox -- Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
"Invisible Monsters" -- Motion City Soundtrack -- About Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.
"Ion Square" -- Bloc Party -- Uses part of "I carry your heart with me" by E. E. Cummings as its chorus.
"It Was Her House That Killed Nessarose" -- Hannah Fury -- About Elphaba's perception of Dorothy from Gregory Maguire's Wicked.
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"Jamaica Inn" -- Tori Amos -- Based on the novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.
"Jekyll & Hyde" -- Iced Earth -- Based on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
"Jezebel" -- Iron & Wine -- Based on the Biblical figure of Jezebel, whose story is told in the books of Kings.
"Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" -- Within Temptation -- Based on Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr.
"Jocasta" -- Noah and the Whale -- Expresses the turmoil of Oedipus' mother, Jocasta, in Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
"Juliet" -- Emilie Autumn -- Based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.K
"Killing an Arab" -- The Cure -- Closely related to Albert Camus's The Stranger.L
"Boston (Ladies of Cambridge)" -- Vampire Weekend -- Based on the poem "the cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls" by E.E. Cummings.
"Lay Down" -- Strawbs -- Based on Psalm 23.
"Legend of the USS Titanic" -- Jamie Brockett -- Tells a fractured fairy tale of how the Titanic sank.
"Let it Show" -- Hannah Fury -- Based on Gregory Maguire's Wicked.
"Lolita" -- Elefant -- Based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita.
"Lolita" -- Sky Ferreira -- Based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita.
"The Longest Day" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on Cornelius Ryan's novel The Longest Day.
"Looking Glass" -- Hypnogaja -- Based on Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.
"Lord of the Flies" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
"Lord of the Rings" -- Blind Guardian -- Based on The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien.
"Love and Death" -- The Waterboys -- Based on the William Butler Yeats poem.
"Love and Destroy" -- Franz Ferdinand -- Based on the novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
"Love Song for a Vampire" -- Annie Lennox -- Based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
"Lucy" -- The Divine Comedy -- Based on three poems by William Wordsworth.
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" -- The Beatles -- Loosely based on "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.
"Lullaby" -- Lagwagon -- Based on Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name.
"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on Alan Sillitoe's short story of the same name.
"Lord of Light" -- Hawkwind -- Based on Roger Zelazny's novel of the same name.M
"Memory" -- Barbara Streisand -- Based on lines from a poem by T. S. Eliot.
"Me Gustas Cuando Callas" -- Brazilian Girls -- Rework of Pablo Neruda's poem of the same name.
"The Messenger" -- Thrice -- Based on Isaiah 6 in the Bible.
"Midsummer Night's Dream" -- Noe Venable -- Speculates about the children's return from Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
"Misery Loves Company" -- Anthrax -- Based on the novel Misery by Stephen King.
"Moon over Bourbon Street" -- Sting -- Based on a character from Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire.
"Monster" -- Meg & Dia -- Based on Cathy Ames in John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden.
"Mr. Raven" -- MC Lars -- Based on Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven".
"My Name Is Macbeth" -- Mitch Benn -- Rework of Shakespeare's Macbeth in the style of Eminem.
"The Melting Point of Wax" -- Thrice -- Based on the Greek myth of Icarus.
"Murders in the Rue Morgue" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe.
"My Antonia" -- Emmylou Harris with Dave Matthews -- Based on the novel of the same name by Willa Cather.N
"Narnia" -- Steve Hackett -- Based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
"Narcissist" -- The Libertines -- Loosely based on the character of Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.
"Never Come Down Again" -- Hannah Fury -- Based on Gregory Maguire's Wicked.
"Nice, Nice, Very Nice" -- Ambrosia -- Has lyrics taken almost verbatim from the poem in chapter 2 (and the bridge from the one on chapter 58) of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle.
"No Love Lost" -- Joy Division -- Based on and includes quotes from Ka-tzetnik 135633's novella The House of Dolls.
"November Rain" -- Guns N' Roses -- Loosely based on Del James's short story "Without You."
"Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)" -- Rob Zombie -- Based on the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.
"Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...)" -- Panic! at the Disco -- Based on "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind.
"Nosferatu" -- Blue Oyster Cult -- Based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.O
"Of Unsound Mind" -- Metal Church -- Based on the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe.
"One" -- Metallica -- Based on the novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
"Out of the Silent Planet" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the movie Forbidden Planet and the science-fiction novel of the same name by C. S. Lewis.
"Oedipus" -- Regina Spektor -- Based on the tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
"Oedipus Rex" -- Tom Lehrer -- Based on the tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
"The Odyssey" -- Symphony X -- Based on Homer's epic of the same name.
"Ol' Evil Eye" -- Insane Clown Posse -- Based on Edgar Allen Poe's short story "Tell-Tale Heart".
"Omega Man" -- Iron Savior -- Based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.
"Ophelia" -- The Lumineers -- References the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
"Owen Meaney"" -- Lagwagon -- Based on the novel A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving.
"Oh! You Pretty Things" -- David Bowie -- References the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand.
"Off to the Races" -- Lana Del Rey -- References the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.P
"Pantyhose" -- TV Girl -- Based on the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.
"Paperback Writer" -- The Beatles -- "Based on a novel by a man named Lear. "
"Patrick Bateman" -- Manic Street Preachers -- Based on the lead character in the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
"Pattern Recognition" -- by Sonic Youth -- Based on William Gibson's novel of the same name.
"Penelope" -- Robi Rosa -- Based on the character from Homer's Odyssey.
"Pennywise" -- Pennywise -- Based on the character Pennywise from the novel It by Stephen King.
"Pet Sematary" -- Ramones -- Based on the novel Pet Sematary by Stephen King.
"The Phantom of the Opera" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.
"The Phantom of the Opera Ghost" -- Iced Earth -- Based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.
"A Pict Song" -- Billy Bragg -- Based on a poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling.
"Please Don't Bury Me" -- John Prine -- Gives an account of his death and trip to heaven.
"Poet" -- Bastille -- Inspired by the poem Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare.
"Poor Little Rich Boy" -- Regina Spektor -- Refers to a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"Popular" -- Nada Surf -- Based upon the novel Penny's Guide to Teen-Age Charm and Popularity by Gloria Winters.
"Prick! Goes the Scorpion's Tale" -- Emilie Autumn -- Based on the fable "The Scorpion and the Frog."
"Prince Caspian" -- Phish -- Based on C. S. Lewis's novel Prince Caspian.
"The Prophecy" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the book Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card
"Psyche's Dagger" -- Fly Golden Eagle -- Based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche, as told by the ancient author Lucius Apuleius.
"Pull Me Under" -- Dream Theater -- Based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, and is told from Prince Hamlet's point of view.QR
"Raistlin and the Rose" -- Lake of Tears -- Based on the Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
"Ramble On" -- Led Zeppelin -- Mentions characters and places from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" series, including "Mordor" and "Gollum".
"Rebecca" -- Meg & Dia -- Based on the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name.
"Red Barchetta" -- Rush -- Based on the short story "A Nice Morning Drive" by Richard S. Foster.
"ReJoyce" -- Jefferson Airplane -- Based on James Joyce's novel Ulysses.
"The Resistance" -- Muse -- Based on the novel 1984 by George Orwell.
"Richard Cory" -- Paul Simon -- Based on the poem of the same name by Edwin Arlington Robinson.
"Ride a White Swan" -- T.Rex -- Refers to the plot of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
"Riki Tiki Tavi" -- Donovan -- A spoof on the mongoose character from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.
"Rime of the Ancient Mariner" -- Iron Maiden -- Retells Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
"The River" -- PJ Harvey -- Based on the Flannery O'Connor short story of the same name.
"Robot" -- Hawkwind -- Refers to the "Three Laws of Robotics" conceived by Isaac Asimov.
"Rocky Racoon" -- The Beatles tell a western tale of vengeance.
"Roderigo" -- Seven Mary Three -- Based on the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
"Rivendell" -- Rush -- About the fictional place of the same name from The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien.S
"Sahara" -- Eddie From Ohio -- Based on Jon Krakauer's nonfiction novel Into the Wild.
"Sailing to Philadelphia" -- Mark Knopfler -- Based on Thomas Pynchon's nonfiction novel Mason & Dixon.
"Saint Veronika" -- Billy Talent -- Based on the novel Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho.
"The Salesman, Denver Max" -- The Blood Brothers -- Based on the Joyce Carol Oates' short story"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?".
"Samson" -- Regina Spektor -- Based on the biblical story of Samson and Delilah.
"Sam Stone" -- John Prine -- Tells the true story of a broken warrior's return home and eventual death.
"Scentless Apprentice" -- Nirvana -- Retells "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind.
"Send Them Off!" -- Bastille -- Based on Shakespeare's Othello and William Peter Blatty's novel and 1971 film The Exorcist.
"The Sensual World" -- Kate Bush -- Based on the closing paragraphs of James Joyce's novel Ulysses.
Separation Sunday (album) -- The Hold Steady -- Modern telling of the parable of the prodigal son.
"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" -- Pink Floyd -- Based on the "I Ching".
"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on Orson Scott Card's novel [Seventh Son].
"Sex Crime (1984)" -- The Eurythmics -- Based on George Orwell's novel 1984.
"Shangri-La" -- The Kinks -- Play on Englishmen's fantasies of escape from class in novels like Lost Horizon by James Hilton and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan."
"Shalott" -- Emilie Autumn -- Based upon the poem of the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
"Sigh No More" -- Mumford and Sons -- Based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
"The Sign of the Cross" -- Iron Maiden -- Appears to be partly based on Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose.
"Sirens of Titan" -- Al Stewart -- Based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel of the same name.
"Skeletons in the Closet" -- Anthrax -- Based on the novel Apt Pupil by Stephen King.
"The Small Print" -- Muse -- Based on the novel Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, told from the point of view of the Devil.
"So Said Kay" -- The Field Mice -- Based on the novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule.
"Soma" -- The Strokes -- Loosely based on the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
"Someone Speaks Softly" -- Hannah Fury -- Based on Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
"Somewhere Far Beyond" -- Blind Guardian -- Based on the novel The Dark Tower by Stephen King.
"Song For Clay" -- Bloc Party -- Inspired by the novel Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.T
"Tales of Brave Ulysses" -- Cream -- Based on Homer's epic The Odyssey.
"Talk Shows on Mute" -- Incubus -- Based on George Orwell's novel 1984 as well as Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
"Tea in the Sahara" -- The Police -- Based on the novel The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles.
"Tell Mary" -- Meg & Dia -- Based on the novel Mary by Vladimir Nabokov.
"Tell Your Story Walking" -- Deb Talan -- Based on the novel Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem.
"Terror Train" -- Demons & Wizards -- Told from the perspective of Blaine the Mono, a character in Stephen King's novel The Dark Tower.
"The Thing That Should Not Be" -- Metallica -- Based on H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu".
"Thumbelina" -- Nightmare of You -- Based on the novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins.
"The Drowning Man" -- The Cure -- Based on Mervyn Peake's novel Gormenghast.
"The Earth Will Shake" -- Thrice -- Based on C.S. Lewis' poem "The Prudent Jailer".
"The List" -- Hank Green -- Based on John Green's novel Paper Towns.
"The Tomahawk Kid" -- Alex Harvey -- Based on characters from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island.
"Time to Dance" -- Panic! at the Disco -- Based on the novel Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.
"Timeless Skies" -- Al Stewart -- Based on the collection of poems The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.
"To Tame a Land" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert.
"To The End" -- My Chemical Romance -- Retells the gothic horror short story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner.
"Toilet Tisha" -- Outkast -- Retells the 18th-century Russian short story "Poor Liza" by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin.
"Tommyknockers" -- Blind Guardian -- Based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.
"Traveler in Time" -- Blind Guardian -- Based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert.
"A Trick of the Tail" -- Genesis -- Based on The Inheritors by William Golding.
"The Trooper" -- Iron Maiden -- Inspired by the poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Tennyson.
"Turn, Turn, Turn" -- Pete Seeger -- Takes its lyrics from chapter three of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Holy Bible.UV
"Venus in Furs" -- The Velvet Underground -- About the two main characters from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novel of the same name.W
"The War I Survived" -- Hawkwind -- Based on the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
"We Are the Dead" -- David Bowie-- One of many songs he wrote about George Orwell's 1984.
"Weight of Living, Pt. I" -- Bastille -- Based on the poem "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
"When the War Came" -- The Decemberists -- Based on the novel Hunger by Elise Blackwell.
"When Two Worlds Collide" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on the novel When Worlds Collide by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer.
"Where Eagles Dare" -- Iron Maiden -- Based on Alistair MacLean's novel of the same name.
"Who Wrote Holden Caulfield" -- Green Day -- Based on J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye.
"White Rabbit" -- Jefferson Airplane -- Based on the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
"William, It Was Really Nothing" -- The Smiths -- Based on the novel Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse.
"The Window" -- Thrice -- Based on Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in Republic.
"Wuthering Heights" -- Kate Bush -- Based on Emily Brontë's novel of the same name.XYZ
"Xanadu" -- Rush -- Based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan".Numbers
1984 -- David Bowie -- Based on George Orwell's novel of the same name.
"2+2=5" -- Radiohead -- Based on George Orwell's novel 1984.
"2112" -- Rush -- loosely based on the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand.
"40" -- U2 -- Based on the 40th Psalm.