Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' has received a boost from a new film adaptation, prompting a survey of the surprising, seditious and sensual ways in which prose has influenced pop music. From Jack Kerouac inspiring Katy Perry's 'Firework' to Thomas Mann's 'Magic Mountain' influencing Japanese Breakfast, the literary connections are rich and varied.
William Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch' inspired Justin Warfield's funky 'Bug Powder Dust', while Taylor Swift identified with a recurring villain from Nancy Mitford's novels for her song 'The Bolter'. Killer Mike's 'Willie Burke Sherwood' weaves references to 'Lord of the Flies' into an autobiographical saga, and The Cure's 'Charlotte Sometimes' takes its title from Penelope Farmer's creepy children's novel.
Mos Def and Talib Kweli's 'Thieves in the Night' channels Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye', and Kurt Cobain identified with the anti-hero of Patrick Süskind's 'Perfume' for Nirvana's 'Scentless Apprentice'. Ben Okri's 'The Famished Road' inspired Radiohead's 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)', while Rosalía's 'Pienso en Tu Mirá' is based on a chapter from a 13th-century romance.
David Bowie's 'We Are the Dead' emerged from his failed attempt to adapt George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', and Daniel Miller's 'Warm Leatherette' captures JG Ballard's 'Crash'. Kendrick Lamar's 'King Kunta' references Alex Haley's 'Roots' and Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man' in a four-minute lesson in African American literature.
