When we think about songs that are about books or writing, the first one we probably think about (at least those of us who remember the 60s and 70s) is “Paperback Writer” by the Beatles. But there are many songs about writing and a huge number of songs with literary references or named after classic books. Here are some of those songs with some of their lyrics. You might want to give them a listen. (Please excuse the uneven formatting. I cannot help it…)
Song Title – Songwriter – Artist
Paperback Writer – Lennon/McCartney – Beatles
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
It’s based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job
So I wanna be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
I’m Gonna Sit Myself Right Down and Write a Letter – Ahlert/Young – Fats Waller
I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
And make believe it came from you
I’m gonna write words, oh so sweet
They’re gonna knock me off my feet
A lotta kisses on the bottom
I’ll be glad I got ’em
Take a Letter, Maria – R. B. Greaves
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Say I won’t be coming home, gonna start a new life
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life
The Letter – Wayne Carson Thompson – The Boxtops
Well, she wrote me a letter
Said she couldn’t live without me no more
Listen mister, can’t you see I got to get back
To my baby once-a more
I Could Write a Book – Rodgers and Hart – Ella Fitzgerald and others
If they asked me, I could write a book
About the way you walk and whisper and look.
I could write a preface on how we met,
So the world would never forget.
Poetry Man – Phoebe Snow
Oh, oh, talk to me some more
You don’t have to go
You’re the poetry man
You make things all rhyme, yeah, yeah
Word Crimes – Weird Al (Al, not AI)
Say you got an “I”, “T”
Followed by apostrophe, “s”
Now what does that mean?
You would not use “it’s” in this case
As a possessive
It’s a contraction
What’s a contraction?
Well, it’s the shortening of a word, or a group of words
By the omission of a sound or letter
Oxford Comma – Christopher Joseph Baio/Christopher William Tomson/Ezra Koenig/Rostam Batmanglij – Vampire Weekend
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I’ve seen those English dramas too, they’re cruel
So if there’s any other way
To spell the word, it’s fine with me, with me
Book of Love – Lindsey Buckingham/Richard Dashut – The Monotones
Baby, you know I do
But I’ve got to see this book of love
Find out why it’s true
(I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who)
(Who wrote the book of love?)
(Chapter one says to love her)
(You love her with all your heart)
(Chapter two you tell her you’re)
(Never, never, never, never, never gonna part)
(In chapter three remember the meaning of romance)
(In chapter four you break up)
(But you give her just one more chance)
(Oh, I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who)
(Who wrote the book of love?)
I Write the Songs – Bruce Johnston – Barry Manilow
I write the songs that make the whole world sing
I write the songs of love and special things
I write the songs that make the young girls cry
I write the songs, I write the songs
Love in the Library – Jimmy Buffett/M. McAnally – Jimmy Buffett
Love in the library, quiet and cool
Love in the library, there are no rules
Surrounded by stories surreal and sublime
I fell in love in the library once upon a time
The Book I Read – David Byrne – The Talking Heads
I’m writing ’bout the book I read
I have to sing about the book I read
I’m embarrassed to admit it hit the soft spot in my heart
When I found out you wrote the book I read
Reader Meet Author – Martin James Boorer/Steven Morrissey – Morrissey
You don’t know a thing about their lives
Books don’t save them, books aren’t Stanley knives
And if a fight broke out here tonight
You’d be the first away, because you’re that type
And the year 2000 won’t change anyone here
As each fabled promise flies so fast
You’ll swear it was never there
Oh, have you ever escaped from a shipwrecked life?
Unwritten – Danielle A. Brisebois/Natasha Anne Bedingfield/ Wayne Steven Jr Rodrigues – Natasha Bedingfield
Can’t read my mind
I’m undefined
I’m just beginning
The pen’s in my hand
Ending unplanned
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
The Book of My Life – Gordon Matthew Sumner – Sting
There are promises broken and promises kept
Angry words that were spoken, when I should have wept
There’s a chapter of secrets, and words to confess
If I lose everything that I possess
There’s a chapter on loss and a ghost who won’t die
There’s a chapter on love where the ink’s never dry
There are sentences served in a prison I built out of lies
If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot
If I could read your mind, love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind the drugstore sells
When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won’t read that book again
Because the ending’s just too hard to take
Every Day I Write the Book – Elvis Costello
And I’m giving you a longing look
Everyday I write the book
Don’t tell me you don’t know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I’d still own the film rights and be working on the sequel.
Lady Writer – Mark Knopfler – Dire Straits
Lady writer on the TV
Yeah, she had another quality
The way you used to look
And I know you never read a book
Check out these songs with literary references in lyrics or titles:
Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
Hey Jack Kerouac – Natalie A Merchant/Robert Buck – 10,000 Maniacs
The Ground Beneath Her Feet (Book by Salman Rushdie) – Adam Clayton, Paul David Hewson, Salman Rushdie, Dave Evans, Laurence Mullen – U2
References to Tolkien appear in many Led Zeppelin songs, including Ramble On from 1969 – Jimmy Page/Robert Plant – Robert Plant directly sings about Frodo’s journey through Mordor, with lyrics including, “Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair / But Gollum, and the evil one, crept up and slipped away with her.”
Turn Turn, Turn – Pete Seeger – The Bryds – Lyrics almost entirely from King James Version of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Just Like Romeo and Juliet – Freddie Gorman/Bob Hamilton – The Reflections
Tales of Brave Ulysses – Eric Clapton/Martin Ritchie Sharp – Cream
Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Stephen Percy Harris – Iron Maiden
Don Quixote – Album by Gordon Lightfoot
The Tell-Tale Heart – Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson – The Alan Parsons Project
Frankenstein – Lenny Kravitz
1984 – David Bowie
White Rabbit – References to Alice in Wonderland – Grace Wing Slick – Jefferson Airplane
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