1. “1984” – David Bowie

Someday they won’t let you, but now you must agree/The times they are a-telling, and the changing isn’t free/You’ve read it in the tea leaves, the tracks are on TV/Beware the savage jaw of 1984

2. “Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever” – Bad Religion

With good books and looks on their side/And hearts burstin’ with national pride/They sang songs and went along for the ride/And the other side complied

3. “Welcome to 1984” – Anti-Flag

Hell yeah I’m confused for sure what I thought was the New Millennium is 1984/Mr. Orwell from the grave, adding fresh ink to the page/As the unpresident declares an endless war/Welcome to 1984!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcS0NzoSJcU

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

 

4. “White Rabbit” – Jefferson Airplane

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you’re going to fall/Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call/And call Alice, when she was just small

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR8LFNUr3vw

5. “I am the Walrus” – The Beatles

Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe/I am the eggman, we are the eggmen, I am the walrus/Goo g’joob

6. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” – The Beatles

Picture yourself in a boat on a river/With tangerine trees and marmalade skies/Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly/A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

 

7. “Brave New World” – Iron Maiden

Dragon kings dying queens, where is salvation now/Lost my life lost my dreams, rip the bones from my flesh/Silent screams laughing here, dying to tell you the truth/You are planned and you are damned in this brave new world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dunrYNlqPGc

8. “Soma” – Deadmau5

Soma is a hallucinatory drug used in the novel.

9. “Soma” – The Strokes

Soma is what they would take when hard times opened their eyes/Saw pain in a new way, high stakes for a few names/Racing against sun beams, losing against their dreams/In your eyes

10. “Soma” – Smashing Pumpkins

Close your eyes and sleep/Don’t wait up for me/Hush now don’t you speak to me

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

 

11. “Catcher in the Rye” – Guns N’ Roses

The Catcher in the Rye again/Won’t let ya get away from him/It’s just another day like today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsz3CkdaOy0

12. “Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?” – Green Day

There’s a boy who fogs his world and now he’s getting lazy/There’s no motivation and frustration makes him crazy/He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting./Someone help him up or he’s gonna end up quitting

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

 

13. “Frankenstein” – Lenny Kravitz

But I need love/Sister, I need love/You say that I’m your baby/But I feel like Frankenstein/I need love

14. “Walk This Way” – Aerosmith

“Walk This Way” was more directly inspired by the movie Young Frankenstein.

See-saw swingin’ with the boys in the school/With your feet flyin’ up in the air/Singin’ hey diddle-diddle with the kitty in the middle/You be swingin’ like you just didn’t care

15. “Feed My Frankenstein” – Alice Cooper

Feed my Frankenstein/Meet my libido/”He’s a psycho”/Feed my Frankenstein/Hungry for love, and it’s feeding time

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

 

16. “Lolita” – Lana del Rey

Quite a few of Lana del Rey’s are at least partly inspired by Lolita.

Hey Lolita, hey/Hey Lolita, hey/I know what the boys want, I’m not gonna play/Hey Lolita, hey/Hey Lolita, hey/Whistle all you want but I’m not gonna say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlHa6yfdCSE

17. “Lolita” – The Veronicas

I’m your lolita, La Femme Nikita/When we’re together you’ll love me forever/You’re my possession, I’m your obsession/Don’t tell me never, you’ll love me forever

18. “Gothic Lolita” – Emilie Autumn

I’m Gothic Lolita/And you are a criminal/I’m not even legal
I’m just a dead little girl/But ruffles and laces/And candy sweet faces/Directed your furtive hand/I perfectly understand/So it’s my fault?/No, Gothic Lolita

19. “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” – The Police

It’s no use, he sees her/He starts to shake and cough/Just like the old man in/That book by Nabokov

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

 

20. “Lord of the Flies” – Iron Maiden

Saints and sinners /Something within us /We are lord of flies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWX-Fmajtqw

21. “Shadows and Tall Trees” – U2

“Shadows and Tall Trees” is named for a chapter title in Lord of the Flies.

Back to the cold restless streets at night/I talk to myself about tomorrow night/Walls of white protest/A gravestone in name

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

22. “The Battle of Evermore” – Led Zeppelin

Oh, dance in the dark of night/Sing to the morning light/The dark Lord rides in force tonight/And time will tell us all

23. “Ramble On” – Led Zeppelin

Mine’s a tale that can’t be told/My freedom I hold dear/How years ago in days of old/When magic filled the air/This was 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

24. “Rivendell” – Rush

Elfin songs and endless nights/Sweet wine and soft relaxing lights/Time will never touch you/Here in this enchanted place

25. “Nimrodel – The Procession – The White Rider” – Camel

When he rides, my fears subside/For darkness turns once more to light/Through the skies, his white horse flies/To find a land beyond the night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBWGjT-XV6g

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

 

26. “Act Won (Things Fall Apart)” – The Roots

It makes no sense, it incenses me that our own people/Don’t realize our own heritage, our own culture/This is our music

27. “8 Minutes to Sunrise” – Jill Scott feat. Common

It was once said by Black Thought that “Things fall apart”/Knew I shouldn’t have been messin’ with dude’s girl from start/But I pimp from the heart; the art of it made it interesting’/Plus me and sister blend before we got intimate

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

 

28. “H.W.C.” – Liz Phair

Face it, one of these days/Without you I’m just another Dorian Gray/It’s the fountain of youth, it’s the meaning of life/So hot, so sweet, so whet my appetite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5_nvH2XYh4

29. “The Ocean” – U2

A picture in grey/Dorian Gray/Just me by the sea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odNcBTtavtw

For more book/music crossovers, check out “20 Amazing Songs & Soundtracks from Movies Based on Books” + “10 More Soundtracks & Scores from Movies Based on Books.”