Best songs inspired by literature, from Brontë to Ballard

This ranked selection pairs songs with their literary touchstones, from Katy Perry’s “Firework,” which draws on Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, to The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” born from Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. Some artists translate specific scenes or chapters: Rosalía’s “Pienso en Tu Mirá” maps to chapter three of the Occitan romance Flamenca, and Kate Bush rendered Molly Bloom’s reverie in “The Sensual World” after James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Jefferson Airplane turned Lewis Carroll’s Alice into psychedelia with “White Rabbit.” Literary influence runs across genres. Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta” draws from Roots while referencing Invisible Man and Things Fall Apart, and Black Star’s “Thieves in the Night” lifts a chorus from Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.

Other pairings include Joy Division’s “Dead Souls” channeling Nikolai Gogol, Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” inspired by Ben Okri’s The Famished Road, and Taylor Swift’s “The Bolter” echoing Nancy Mitford.

katy perry, kerouac, firework, bulgakov, rolling stones, kate bush, ulysses, white rabbit, kendrick lamar, toni morrison