# List of songs based on literary works

This is a list of songs that retell, in whole or in part, a work of literature. Albums listed here consist entirely of songs retelling a work of literature.

## Albums

| Album | Musical artist | Literary work | Author | Comments |
| An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands, and The End Of All Songs - Part 1 | Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock | The Dancers at the End of Time | Michael Moorcock | Three albums covering the three books of the trilogy. |
| The Black Halo | Kamelot | Faust | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | The Black Halo is a concept album based on Faust, Part Two. It is a follow-up to Epica, which was based on Faust, Part One. |
| Cacophony | Rudimentary Peni | Various works of H. P. Lovecraft | H. P. Lovecraft | All 30 tracks are related to Lovecraft or his work. |
| The Chronicle of the Black Sword | Hawkwind | Various works of Michael Moorcock | Michael Moorcock | Based on aspects of the works of Moorcock, including Elric and Jerry Cornelius. Moorcock, who has appeared with the band on numerous occasions, does the narration on Live Chronicles. |
| Dust and Dreams | Camel | The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | |
| Epica | Kamelot | Faust | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Epica is a concept album based on Faust, Part One. It was followed by The Black Halo, which was based on Faust, Part Two. |
| The House of Atreus Act I and The House of Atreus Act II | Virgin Steele | Oresteia | Aeschylus | Two-part concept album based loosely on the Oresteia of Aeschylus |
| Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds | Jeff Wayne | The War of the Worlds | H.G. Wells | |
| I Robot | The Alan Parsons Project | I, Robot | Isaac Asimov | |
| Journey to the Centre of the Earth | Rick Wakeman | Journey to the Centre of the Earth | Jules Verne | |
| Leviathan | Mastodon | Moby-Dick | Herman Melville | |
| La Leyenda de la Mancha | Mägo de Oz | Don Quixote | Miguel de Cervantes | |
| The Machine Stops | Hawkwind | "The Machine Stops" | E. M. Forster | |
| Moby Dick or The Whale | Caleb Hayashida | Moby-Dick | Herman Melville | Concept album from written from the perspective of various characters in the novel |
| Music Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | | The Chronicles of Narnia | C. S. Lewis | |
| Seventh Son of a Seventh Son | Iron Maiden | Seventh Son | Orson Scott Card | |
| Shakespeare's Macbeth – A Tragedy in Steel | Rebellion | Macbeth | William Shakespeare | |
| Smallcreeps's Day | Mike Rutherford | Smallcreep's Day | Peter Currell Brown | |
| The Snow Goose | Camel | The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk | Paul Gallico | |
| The Songs of Distant Earth | Mike Oldfield | The Songs of Distant Earth | Arthur C. Clarke | |
| Tales of Mystery and Imagination | The Alan Parsons Project | Various works of Edgar Allan Poe | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| A Tragedy in Steel Part II: Shakespeare's King Lear | Rebellion | King Lear | William Shakespeare | |

## Songs

| Song | Album | Musical artist | Literary work | Author | Comments |
| "7th Step" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter One | Deborah Pardes | Angela's Ashes | Frank McCourt | |
| "40" | War | U2 | The 40th Psalm of the Book of Psalms from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament | | |
| "1984" | Diamond Dogs | David Bowie | Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | One of several songs that Bowie wrote about Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four; Bowie had also hoped to produce a televised musical based on the book. |
| "2112" | 2112 | Rush | Anthem | Ayn Rand | Song shares themes with the novel, such that Neil Peart recognized Rand in the album's liner notes. |
| "Abigail" | Creatures | Motionless in White | The Crucible | Arthur Miller | |
| "Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" | The Triumph of Steel | Manowar | The Iliad | Homer | A retelling of the fight between Hector and Achilles |
| "Adam's Apple" | Toys in the Attic | Aerosmith | The Book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament | | Retells the biblical story of the Fall of man through the perspective of Adam and Eve's discovery of their own sexuality. |
| "Afternoons and Coffeespoons" | God Shuffled His Feet | Crash Test Dummies | "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" | T.S. Eliot | Adapts elements of the T. S. Eliot poem. |
| "Ahab" | The Graduate | MC Lars | Moby-Dick | Herman Melville | Retells the story of Moby-Dick from the perspective of Captain Ahab. |
| "Alice" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | Go Ask Alice | Beatrice Sparks | |
| "All I Wanna Do" | Tuesday Night Music Club | Sheryl Crow | "Fun" | Wyn Cooper | |
| "All Is Not Well" | The Thing That Feels | Hannah Fury | Wicked | Gregory Maguire | |
| "All Nightmare Long" | Death Magnetic | Metallica | "The Hounds of Tindalos" | Frank Belknap Long | |
| "All Quiet On The Western Front" | Jump Up! | Elton John | All Quiet on the Western Front | Erich Maria Remarque | |
| "Alone" | Acoustic Verses | Green Carnation | Alone | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| "Among the Living" | Among the Living | Anthrax | The Stand | Stephen King | |
| "The Ancient Ones" | Blessed Are the Sick | Morbid Angel | The Call of Cthulhu | H. P. Lovecraft | Based on The Call of Cthulhu, as well as the rest of the Cthulhu Mythos. An earlier version of this song, named "Azagthoth", appeared on the band's demo album, Abominations of Desolation. |
| "And Your Little Dog Too" | The Thing That Feels | Hannah Fury | Wicked | Gregory Maguire | |
| "Animal in Man" | Let's Get Free | dead prez | Animal Farm | George Orwell | |
| "Anthem" | Fly by Night | Rush | Anthem | Ayn Rand | Loosely based on the Rand novel; The band would produce a fuller version in 2112. |
| "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" | Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy | Leonard Nimoy | The Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkien | |
| "The Ballad of Poker Alice" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter Two | Larry Kenneth Potts | Nothing Like It in the World | Stephen Ambrose | Relates the story of "Poker" Alice Ivers |
| "The Ballad of Skip Wiley" | Barometer Soup | Jimmy Buffett | Tourist Season | Carl Hiaasen | A song about the character Skip Wiley from Hiaasen's 1986 novel. |
| "Banana Co." | | Radiohead | One Hundred Years of Solitude | Gabriel García Márquez | |
| "Las Batallas" | Café Tacuba | Café Tacuba | Las batallas en el desierto | José Emilio Pacheco | |
| "The Battle of Evermore" | Led Zeppelin IV | Led Zeppelin | The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien | |
| "Behind the Wall of Sleep" | Black Sabbath | Black Sabbath | "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" | H. P. Lovecraft | |
| "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" | Liberation | The Divine Comedy | Bernice Bobs Her Hair | F. Scott Fitzgerald | |
| "Big Brother" | Diamond Dogs | David Bowie | Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | One of several songs that Bowie wrote about Orwell. |
| "Billy Liar" | Her Majesty the Decemberists | The Decemberists | Billy Liar | Keith Waterhouse | |
| "Birthing Addicts" | Unreleased | Melanie Martinez | Go Ask Alice | Beatrice Sparks | |
| "Black Blade" | Cultösaurus Erectus | Blue Öyster Cult | Elric of Melniboné | Michael Moorcock | |
| "Black Corridor" | Space Ritual | Hawkwind | The Black Corridor | Michael Moorcock | |
| "Bloodbath & Beyond" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | Dracula | Bram Stoker | |
| "Bob's Country" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter Two | Deborah Pardes | Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight | Alexandra Fuller | |
| "Brave New World" | Brave New World | Iron Maiden | Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | |
| "The Call of Ktulu" | Ride the Lightning | Metallica | The Call of Cthulhu | H. P. Lovecraft | "Written from the point of view of the sea nymph who helps Odysseus after he is shipwrecked." |
| "Calypso" | Solitude Standing | Suzanne Vega | The Odyssey | Homer | |
| "The Cask Of Amontillado" | Tales of Mystery and Imagination | The Alan Parsons Project | "The Cask of Amontillado" | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| "Cassandra" | | ABBA | The Iliad | Homer | |
| "Catcher in the Rye" | Distortland | The Dandy Warhols | The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | |
| "Cent'anni di solitudine" | Terra e libertà | Modena City Ramblers | One Hundred Years of Solitude | Gabriel García Márquez | |
| "Chapter 24" | The Piper at the Gates of Dawn | Pink Floyd | I Ching | | |
| "Chapter Four" | Waking the Fallen | Avenged Sevenfold | The Book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament | | The title refers to the fourth chapter of Genesis. |
| "Charlotte Sometimes" | Faith | The Cure | Charlotte Sometimes | Penelope Farmer | |
| "Child of the Jago" | The Future Is Medieval | Kaiser Chiefs | A Child of the Jago | Arthur Morrison | |
| "Children of the Damned" | The Number of the Beast | Iron Maiden | Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham | Also based on two of the film adaptations of that book: Village of the Damned and Children of the Damned |
| "Christabel" | No Kinda Dancer | Robert Earl Keen | Christabel | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | |
| "Cometh Down Hessian" | Blessed Black Wings | High on Fire | "The Hound" | H. P. Lovecraft | |
| "Communion of the Cursed" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | The Exorcist | William Peter Blatty | |
| "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)" | Fully Completely | The Tragically Hip | The Watch That Ends the Night | Hugh MacLennan | |
| "Crown of Creation" | Crown of Creation | Jefferson Airplane | The Chrysalids | John Wyndham | |
| "Curse of Athena" | Atavism | The Lord Weird Slough Feg | The Odyssey | Homer | About Odysseus's return to Ithaca. |
| "Dalai Lama" | Reise, Reise | Rammstein | Erlkönig | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | |
| "Damnation Alley" | Quark, Strangeness and Charm | Hawkwind | Damnation Alley | Roger Zelazny | |
| "Dante's Inferno" | Burnt Offerings | Iced Earth | Inferno | Dante Alighieri | |
| "The Dark Eternal Night" | Systematic Chaos | Dream Theater | "Nyarlathotep" | H. P. Lovecraft | |
| "The Dawn of a New Age" | Nemesis Divina | Satyricon | The Book of Revelation from the Christian New Testament | | |
| "Dead" | Doolittle | Pixies | The Book of Samuel from the Hebrew Bible; II Samuel from the Christian Old Testament | | Refurbishes the biblical legend of David and Bathsheba. |
| "Dixieland" | The Mountain | Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band | The Killer Angels | Michael Shaara | |
| "Don Quixote" | Don Quixote | Gordon Lightfoot | Don Quixote | Miguel de Cervantes | |
| "Doublespeak" | Beggars | Thrice | Nineteen-Eighty-Four | George Orwell | |
| "The Drowning Man" | Faith | The Cure | Gormenghast | Mervyn Peake | |
| "Dunwich" | Witchcult Today | Electric Wizard | "The Dunwich Horror" | H. P. Lovecraft | |
| "Edema Ruh" | Endless Forms Most Beautiful | Nightwish | The Kingkiller Chronicle | Patrick Rothfuss | |
| "Einstein's Brain" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter One | Lynn Harrison | Driving Mr. Albert | Michael Paterniti | |
| "Elvenpath" | Angels Fall First | Nightwish | The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien | |
| "End of the Night" | The Doors | The Doors | Journey to the End of the Night | Louis-Ferdinand Céline | |
| "Envoi" | Absynthe Minded | Absynthe Minded | "Envoi" | Hugo Claus | |
| "Eumaeus the Swineherd" | Atavism | The Lord Weird Slough Feg | The Odyssey | Homer | |
| "Eveline" | Why Should the Fire Die? | Nickel Creek | Eveline | James Joyce | |
| "Exit Music (For a Film)" | OK Computer | Radiohead | Romeo & Juliet | William Shakespeare | |
| "Fable" | Volcano | Gatsbys American Dream | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | |
| "Flower of the Mountain" | Director's Cut | Kate Bush | Ulysses | James Joyce | The 1989 Kate Bush song The Sensual World was based on the closing paragraphs of Ulysses. However, the Joyce estate was unwilling to allow direct use of Joyce's words at that time, so she altered the lyrics. By 2011, the Joyce estate was open to licensing his work to her, so she re-worked that song as Flower of the Mountain, using Molly Bloom's soliloquy from Ulysses. |
| "For Whom the Bell Tolls" | Ride the Lightning | Metallica | For Whom the Bell Tolls | Ernest Hemingway | |
| "Frankenstein" | Horror Show | Iced Earth | Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | |
| "Franz Kafka" | | Scäb | The Metamorphosis | Franz Kafka | A fictional rock opera by the fictional band Scäb from the cartoon series Home Movies. |
| "From the Underworld" | Paradise Lost | The Herd | Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice | | Loosely based on the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice |
| "The Future Is Now" | Days Go By | The Offspring | Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | |
| "The Ghost of Tom Joad" | The Ghost of Tom Joad | Bruce Springsteen | The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | |
| "The Giant's Laughter" | Vansinnesvisor | Thyrfing | "Jätten" | Esaias Tegner | |
| "Golden Hair" | The Madcap Laughs | Syd Barrett | "Golden Hair" | James Joyce | |
| "Grandpa's Groove" | | Parov Stelar | The Old Man and the Sea | Ernest Hemingway | |
| "Grendel" | | Marillion | Grendel | John Gardner | A retelling of John Gardner's 1971 novel Grendel, which is a retelling of Beowulf. |
| "Hallelujah" | Various Positions | Leonard Cohen | The Book of Samuel from the Hebrew Bible; II Samuel from the Christian Old Testament | | Based on the biblical story of David and Bathsheba. It also incorporates elements of the story of Samson and Delilah |
| "Haunted" | Haunted | Poe | House of Leaves | Mark Danielewski | "Haunted" by Poe and the novel House of Leaves by her brother, Mark Danielewski, both draw heavily on their difficult experiences growing up with their father, Tad Danielewski. |
| "He Can't Come Today" | The Golden Scarab | Ray Manzarek | Waiting for Godot | Samuel Beckett | |
| "Hedda Gabler" | Animal Justice | John Cale | Hedda Gabler | Henrik Ibsen | |
| "Hell in the Hallways" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | Carrie | Stephen King | |
| "Hey (rise of the robots)" | Black and White | The Stranglers | I, Robot | Isaac Asimov | |
| "Hey Ahab" | The Union | Elton John & Leon Russell | Moby-Dick | Herman Melville | Based on the character Captain Ahab. |
| "Hey There Ophelia" | This Gigantic Robot Kills | MC Lars | Hamlet | William Shakespeare | |
| "High Rise" | PXR5 | Hawkwind | High-Rise | J. G. Ballard | |
| "Home at Last" | Aja | Steely Dan | The Odyssey | Homer | Retells Ulysses' encounter with the Sirens. |
| "Horrorshow" | | Scars | A Clockwork Orange | Anthony Burgess | |
| "House at Pooh Corner" | Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy | Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | The House at Pooh Corner | A. A. Milne | This song, written by Kenny Loggins, was later performed by Loggins and Messina on their 1971 album Sittin' In. In 1994, Loggins added additional lyrics and re-recorded it with Amy Grant as Return to Pooh Corner for his album Return to Pooh Corner. |
| "House of Leaves" | Juturna | Circa Survive | House of Leaves | Mark Danielewski | |
| "How Beautiful You Are" | Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me | The Cure | "Les Yeux des Pauvres" | Charles Baudelaire | |
| "Hug Me til You Drug Me" | Here, Here and Here | Meg & Dia | Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | |
| "I Can't Let You In" | The Thing That Feels | Hannah Fury | Wicked | Gregory Maguire | |
| "I Robot" | | U.K. Subs | I, Robot | Isaac Asimov | |
| "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" | For Your Pleasure | Roxy Music | "Dead As They Come" | Ian McEwan | |
| "In Like a Lion (Always Winter)" | Apathetic EP | Relient K | The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe | C. S. Lewis | |
| "The Inner Light" | | The Beatles | Tao Te Ching | | |
| "The Insect God" | The Insect God | Monks of Doom | The Insect God | Edward Gorey | |
| "The Iron Dream" | Quark, Strangeness and Charm | Hawkwind | The Iron Dream | Norman Spinrad | |
| "It Was Her House That Killed Nessarose" | The Thing That Feels | Hannah Fury | Wicked | Gregory Maguire | |
| "Jack of Shadows" | | Hawkwind | Jack of Shadows | Roger Zelazny | |
| "Jamaica Inn" | The Beekeeper | Tori Amos | Jamaica Inn | Daphne du Maurier | |
| "Jean Val Jean" | | Edison Glass | Les Misérables | Victor Hugo | |
| "Killing an Arab" | | The Cure | The Stranger | Albert Camus | |
| "Land" | Horses | Patti Smith | The Wild Boys | William S. Burroughs | |
| "The Last Temptation of Odysseus" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter One | Justin Wells | The Odyssey | Homer | |
| "Lay Down" | Bursting at the Seams | Strawbs | The 23rd Psalm of the Book of Psalms from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament | | |
| "The Legend of Enoch Arden" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter One | Diane Zeigler | "The Legend of Enoch Arden" | Alfred Lord Tennyson | |
| "Let it Show" | The Thing That Feels | Hannah Fury | Wicked | Gregory Maguire | |
| "Listen (The Silences)" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter Two | Michelle Bloom | Raids on the Unspeakable | Thomas Merton | |
| "Lolita" | The Black Magic Show | Elefant | Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | |
| "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" | Somewhere in Time | Iron Maiden | The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner | Alan Sillitoe | |
| "The Longest Day" | A Matter of Life and Death | Iron Maiden | The Longest Day | Cornelius Ryan | |
| "Lord of Light" | Doremi Fasol Latido | Hawkwind | Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny | |
| "Lord of the Flies" | The X Factor | Iron Maiden | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | |
| "Lost Boy" | | Ruth B | Peter Pan | J. M. Barrie | |
| "Love and Death" | Dream Harder | The Waterboys | Love and Death | William Butler Yeats | |
| "Love and Destroy" | | Franz Ferdinand | The Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov | |
| "Lucy" | Liberation | The Divine Comedy | The Lucy poems | William Wordsworth | |
| "The Machine Stops" | Standing in the Light | Level 42 | "The Machine Stops" | E. M. Forster | |
| "Macondo" | | Óscar Chávez | One Hundred Years of Solitude | Gabriel García Márquez | Based on the fictional town Macondo, used by Marquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude and other of his works. |
| "Martin Eden" | | Billie Hughes | Martin Eden | Jack London | |
| "Magnu" | Warrior on the Edge of Time | Hawkwind | "Hymn of Apollo" | Percy Bysshe Shelley | |
| "Matilda" | Harry's House | Harry Styles | Matilda | Roald Dahl | |
| "Me, Myself & Hyde" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Robert Louis Stevenson | |
| "The Melting Point of Wax" | The Artist in the Ambulance | Thrice | Myth of Icarus | | Retells the story of The Fall of Icarus |
| "Misery Loves Company" | State of Euphoria | Anthrax | Misery | Stephen King | |
| "Moi... Lolita" | Gourmandises | Alizée | Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | |
| "Moon over Bourbon Street" | The Dream of the Blue Turtles | Sting | Interview with the Vampire | Anne Rice | About the character Louis de Pointe du Lac. |
| "Mr. Raven" | | MC Lars | "The Raven" | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| "The Mule" | Fireball | Deep Purple | Foundation series | Isaac Asimov | Based on the character "The Mule" from the Foundation series. |
| "Murders in the Rue Morgue" | Killers | Iron Maiden | "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| "My Antonia" | Red Dirt Girl | Emmylou Harris with Dave Matthews | My Antonia | Willa Cather | Told from the perspective of the character Jim Burden. |
| "Narcissist" | The Libertines | The Libertines | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | Loosely based on the character of Dorian Gray. |
| "Narnia" | Please Don't Touch! | Steve Hackett | The Chronicles of Narnia | C. S. Lewis | |
| "The Nature of the Beast" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | Animal Farm | George Orwell | |
| "The Necromancer" | Caress of Steel | Rush | The Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkien | |
| "Nescio" | Omsk | Nits | De uitvreter | Nescio | Song is mainly inspired by the novella's ending, when protagonist Japi jumps off the Waalbrug. In the song, however, Japi does not drown but is implied to have ended up in Italy. |
| "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" | Ambrosia | Ambrosia | Cat's Cradle | Kurt Vonnegut | Lyrics taken almost verbatim from the poem in chapter 2 (and the bridge from the one on chapter 58) |
| "No Love Lost" | An Ideal for Living | Joy Division | The House of Dolls | Ka-tzetnik 135633 | |
| "November Rain" | Use Your Illusion I | Guns N' Roses | "Without You" | Del James | The video for "November Rain" is loosely based on the short story "Without You". Axl Rose wrote the introduction to James's 1995 collection The Language of Fear, which included "Without You". |
| "The Odyssey" | The Odyssey | Symphony X | The Odyssey | Homer | A seven-part song based on Homer's The Odyssey |
| "Of Unsound Mind" | Blessing in Disguise | Metal Church | "The Tell-Tale Heart" | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| "Off to the Races" | Born to Die | Lana Del Rey | Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | |
| "Ol' Evil Eye" | Riddle Box | Insane Clown Posse | "The Tell-Tale Heart" | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| "One" | ...And Justice for All | Metallica | Johnny Got His Gun | Dalton Trumbo | |
| "Oor Hamlet" | The Words That I Used to Know | Adam McNaughtan | Hamlet | William Shakespeare | |
| "Orestes" | Mer de Noms | A Perfect Circle | The Libation Bearers | Aeschylus | |
| "Owen Meaney" | Let's Talk About Feelings | Lagwagon | A Prayer For Owen Meany | John Irving | |
| "Ozymandias" | | Jean-Jacques Burnel | "Ozymandias" | Percy Bysshe Shelley | |
| "Pantagruel's Nativity" | Acquiring the Taste | Gentle Giant | Gargantua and Pantagruel | François Rabelais | |
| "Patrick Bateman" | | Manic Street Preachers | American Psycho | Bret Easton Ellis | |
| "Pattern Recognition" | Sonic Nurse | Sonic Youth | Pattern Recognition | William Gibson | |
| "Paula Ausente (Absent Paula)" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter Two | Marta Gomez | Paula | Isabel Allende | |
| "Pennsylvania" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter Two | Dee Adams | Songmaster | Orson Scott Card | |
| "Pennywise" | Pennywise | Pennywise | It | Stephen King | About the character Pennywise. |
| "The People in the Attic" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | The Diary of a Young Girl | Anne Frank | |
| "Pet Sematary" | Brain Drain | Ramones | Pet Sematary | Stephen King | |
| "The Phantom of the Opera" | Iron Maiden | Iron Maiden | The Phantom of the Opera | Gaston Leroux | |
| "A Pict Song" | William Bloke | Billy Bragg | "A Pict Song" | Rudyard Kipling | |
| "The Plot Sickens" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors | Piers Paul Read | |
| "Popular" | High/Low | Nada Surf | Penny's Guide to Teen-Age Charm and Popularity | Gloria Winters | |
| "Prince Caspian" | Billy Breathes | Phish | Prince Caspian | C. S. Lewis | |
| "Quelque chose de Tennessee" | Rock'n'Roll Attitude | Johnny Hallyday | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Tennessee Williams | |
| "Ramble On" | Led Zeppelin II | Led Zeppelin | The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien | Mentions characters and places from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, including "Mordor" and "Gollum". |
| "Rebecca" | Something Real | Meg & Dia | Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | |
| "ReJoyce" | After Bathing at Baxter's | Jefferson Airplane | Ulysses | James Joyce | |
| "Richard Cory" | Sounds of Silence | Paul Simon | "Richard Cory" | Edwin Arlington Robinson | |
| "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" | Powerslave | Iron Maiden | The Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | |
| "Rivendell" | Fly by Night | Rush | The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien | The song is about the fictional valley Rivendell from Tolkien's works. |
| "The River" | | PJ Harvey | The River | Flannery O'Connor | |
| "Robot" | | Hawkwind | The Robot series | Isaac Asimov | Refers to the Three Laws of Robotics. |
| "Romeo and Juliet" | Making Movies | Dire Straits | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | The Dire Straits songs makes use of certain aspects of Shakespeare's play, as well as elements of some of the play's stage and screen adaptations. It also purposely diverges from the play's plot and characterizations in certain respects (such as Juliet's reaction to being approached by Romeo). |
| "Rusty James" | ¡Uno! | Green Day | Rumble Fish | S. E. Hinton | The song is named for the protagonist of the novel. |
| "Sailing to Philadelphia" | Sailing to Philadelphia | Mark Knopfler | Mason & Dixon | Thomas Pynchon | |
| "Saint Veronika" | Billy Talent III | Billy Talent | Veronika Decides to Die | Paulo Coelho | |
| "Samson" | Songs Begin to Hope | Regina Spektor | The Book of Judges from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament | | References the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. |
| "Scentless Apprentice" | In Utero | Nirvana | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Patrick Süskind | |
| "The Sensual World" | The Sensual World | Kate Bush | Ulysses | James Joyce | The 1989 Kate Bush song The Sensual World was based on the closing paragraphs of Ulysses. However, the Joyce estate was unwilling to allow direct use of Joyce's words at that time, so she altered the lyrics. By 2011, the Joyce estate was open to licensing his work to her, so she re-worked that song as Flower of the Mountain, using Molly Bloom's soliloquy from Ulysses. |
| "Shadows and Tall Trees" | Boy | U2 | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | |
| "Sigh No More" | Sigh No More | Mumford and Sons | Much Ado About Nothing | William Shakespeare | |
| "Sirens of Titan" | Modern Times | Al Stewart | The Sirens of Titan | Kurt Vonnegut | |
| "A Skeleton in the Closet" | Among the Living | Anthrax | Apt Pupil | Stephen King | |
| "So Said Kay" | Coastal | The Field Mice | Desert of the Heart | Jane Rule | The song is based on Donna Deitch's 1985 film Desert Hearts, which is an adaptation of Rule's novel. |
| "Soma" | Is This It | The Strokes | Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | Refers to the fictional drug used in Brave New World. |
| "Song For Clay" | A Weekend in the City | Bloc Party | Less than Zero | Bret Easton Ellis | |
| "The Stand (Prophecy)" | Declaration | The Alarm | The Stand | Stephen King | |
| "Star-Crossed Enemies" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | |
| "Steppenwolf" | Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music | Hawkwind | Steppenwolf | Hermann Hesse | |
| "Still Life" | Piece of Mind | Iron Maiden | "The Inhabitant of the Lake" | Ramsey Campbell | |
| "The Stranger" | | Tuxedomoon | The Stranger | Albert Camus | |
| "Such a Shame" | It's My Life | Talk Talk | The Dice Man | Luke Rhinehart | |
| "Sweet Thursday" | Songs We Sing | Matt Costa | Sweet Thursday | John Steinbeck | |
| "Sympathy for the Devil" | Beggars Banquet | The Rolling Stones | The Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov | |
| "The Tain" | The Tain | The Decemberists | "Táin Bó Cúailnge" | | |
| "Tales of Brave Ulysses" | Disraeli Gears | Cream | The Odyssey | Homer | |
| "Tea in the Sahara" | Synchronicity | The Police | The Sheltering Sky | Paul Bowles | King Crimson also has an instrumental called "The Sheltering Sky", named for the same book. |
| "Tell Your Story Walking" | A Bird Flies Out | Deb Talan | Motherless Brooklyn | Jonathan Lethem | |
| "Tess-Timony" | Every Trick in the Book | Ice Nine Kills | Tess of the d'Urbervilles | Thomas Hardy | |
| "Thieves in the Night" | Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star | Black Star | The Bluest Eye | Toni Morrison | Talib Kweli wrote in the album's liner notes that The Bluest Eye "...struck me as one of the truest critiques of our society, and I read that in high school when I was 15 years old. I think it is especially true in the world of hip-hop, because we get blinded by these illusions." |
| "The Thing That Should Not Be" | Master of Puppets | Metallica | The Call of Cthulhu | H. P. Lovecraft | |
| "Three Sisters" | Liberation | The Divine Comedy | Three Sisters | Anton Chekhov | |
| "Time to Dance" | | Panic! at the Disco | Invisible Monsters | Chuck Palahniuk | |
| "To Tame a Land" | Piece of Mind | Iron Maiden | Dune | Frank Herbert | |
| "tolerate it" | Evermore | Taylor Swift | Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | |
| "The Tomahawk Kid" | | Alex Harvey | Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson | |
| "Tread Softly" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter Two | Eileen Laverty | "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" | W. B. Yeats | |
| "The Trooper" | Piece of Mind | Iron Maiden | "The Charge of the Light Brigade" | Alfred, Lord Tennyson | |
| "Turn! Turn! Turn!" | | Pete Seeger | The Book of Ecclesiastes from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament | | Notably covered by The Byrds; Takes its lyrics from chapter three of the Book of Ecclesiastes |
| "T'Was Her Hunger Brought Me Down" | Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter One | Anny Celsi | Sister Carrie | Theodore Dreiser | |
| "United States of Eurasia" | The Resistance | Muse | Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | |
| "The Veldt" | Album Title Goes Here | Deadmau5 | The Veldt | Ray Bradbury | |
| "Venus in Furs" | The Velvet Underground & Nico | The Velvet Underground | Venus in Furs | Leopold von Sacher-Masoch | |
| "Walking on the Chinese Wall" | Chinese Wall | Philip Bailey | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | |
| "We Are the Dead" | Diamond Dogs | David Bowie | Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | One of several songs Bowie wrote about Nineteen Eighty-Four |
| "When the War Came" | | The Decemberists | Hunger | Elise Blackwell | |
| "White Rabbit" | Surrealistic Pillow | Jefferson Airplane | Alice in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll | |
| "William, It Was Really Nothing" | Hatful of Hollow | The Smiths | Billy Liar | Keith Waterhouse | |
| "Willie Burke Sherwood" | R.A.P. Music | Killer Mike | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | |
| "Windmills" | Dulcinea | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Don Quixote | Miguel de Cervantes | |
| "Winston Smith Takes It on the Jaw" | Oblivion | Utopia | Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | |
| "Wuthering Heights" | The Kick Inside | Kate Bush | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | |
| "Wonderland" | 1989 | Taylor Swift | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll | |
| "Xanadu" | A Farewell to Kings | Rush | "Kubla Khan" | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | |
| "Yes!" | Naked | Amber | Ulysses | James Joyce | Lyrics include part of Molly Bloom's soliloquy |
| "Don Quixote" | Face the Sun | Seventeen | Don Quixote | Miguel de Cervantes | |