Books So Good They Wrote A Song About It
Just a fun little list of books that have inspired songs. Please list the book and the song with the artist in your suggestions, or if it's a concept album based on a book, just include the book and the album with the artist. I will not be including any books by JKR, Neil Gaiman, or Orson Scott Card, or songs by Iced Earth. Will not be adding musicals based on books, songs written for films based on books, or songs that are classic poems to music.
created by farron
last updated December, 2025
Comments
My favorite is The Ballad of Barry Allen by Jim's Big Ego, for The Flash comics 😊
I don't know much about The Flash, is there a particular book or run the song's based off of, or which would you suggest?
Honestly I haven't read a lot of the comics 😅😅 I watched the TV show. And I adore the song 😊
I see! Well, I went ahead and added the comic that introduced Barry Allen. Apparently the writer is/was the uncle of one of the members of Jim's Big Ego.
Cool!
Kpop brainrot incominggggg 🫨 “Hyde” by VIXX, inspired by The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde “Scientist” by VIXX, inspired by Perfume: The Story of a Murderer “Magic Shop” by BTS, inspired by Into the Magic Shop by James Doty “Wonderboy, the Aerialist” by GWSN, inspired by Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by ARTMS, inspired by the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
Also Rina Sawayama has a song “Frankenstein” which seems to be inspired by the book
Magic Shop 🤗
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice // Moon Over Bourbon Street by Sting The Veldt by Ray Bradbury // deadmau5 Roots by Alex Haley // Madinka by Sinead O'Connor Ishmael by Daniel Quinn // Do the Evolution by Pearl Jam Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch // The Velvet Underground 1984 by George Orwell // David Bowie The Odyssey by Homer // Symphony X The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri // Dante's Prayer by Loreena McKennit The Rocket Man by Ray Bradbury // Rocket Man by Elton John Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury // Something Wicked (That Way Went) by Vernian Process Dracula by Bram Stoker // Sincerely Yours, Jonathan Harker by Schoolyard Heroes Orlando by Virginia Woolf // Orlando in Love by Japanese Breakfast Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier // Tori Amos The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien // Nightfall in Middle-Earth (concept album) by Blind Guardian The Hobbit // Blind Guardian The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway // Garbage The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things // Cherry Lips by Garbage Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte // Kate Bush Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay // Nemo by Nightwish Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien // Blind Guardian The Wheel of time series by Robert Jordan // Blind Guardian A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin // A Voice in the Dark ; War of Thrones by Blind Guardian The Once and Future King by TH White // A Past and Future Secret by Blind Guardian The Dark Tower series by Stephen King // Somewhere Far Beyond by Blind Guardian
as a metal fan i suddenly realize i've made a mistake
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky // Sarah Slean
Ok Iron Maiden's done so. So many. I'm just including the ones I can personally recall and aren't Orson Scott Card lmao
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge // The Ghost of Navigators Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis
this is such a cool list, I did not expect to see deadmau5 on here wow 🤯
That one was suggested by @ayzrules!
Medea by Euripides // My Medea by Vienna Teng
Blind Guardian populating half the list is so great. What’s your favorite, I’ve had Tanelorn stuck in my head for months
The Screwtape Letters for The Oh Hellos’ Dear Wormwood <3
further kpop brainrot, specifically BTS lol. their Wings album was heavily inspired by Hermann Hesse's Demian and their other album Map of the Soul: Persona was inspired by Murray Stein's book of the same name, Jung's Map of the Soul.
Thank you farron. You deserve flowers everyday 😌🌞🙂↕️
!! Thank you, how sweet!
I needed to express my gratitude for this list and just hitting save immediately was not enough!
This is epic!!
Thanks! It's such a niche interest of mine, and I realized a long time ago most people really aren't that interested to hear something like "did you know that Garbage fan favorite song "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)" is inspired by JT LeRoy's The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things? But... here on my own list... I can gather this information! Mwahaha!
OH MY GOD WHAT how has it been 85 years and this is the first I'm ever hearing of this. the avalanche of times I listened to that song back in the day welp
Yep! It's my favorite songs of theirs from that era, and Shirley Manson mentioned it a few times. The Trick is to Keep Breathing is also inspired by a novel of the same name.
this is so cool!! the only one I can think of that you haven’t got is king Lear - im pretty sure hope in the air by Laura marling is inspired by it
Added! This sounds interesting, I'll have to give it a listen. :)
HOLD ON IVE GOT ANOTHER ONE fleurs captives by Nicole dollanganger is based on flowers in the attic by Virginia Andrews
Also added!
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