John Mellencamp, "Sometimes a Great Notion." novel by Ken Kesey. The lyrics include "Never give an inch," which is an alternate title of the 1971 film adaptation of the book, starring Paul Newman. And to close the loop, Kesey's title comes from a line in the folksong,"Goodnight, Irene."
Emerson Lake and Palmer, "Jerusalem," from the William Blake poem "And did those feet in ancient time," and the song's lyrics are the poem. The poem had previously been adapted into the hymn, "Jerusalem," by Sir Hubert Parry.
Every song on Xenon's Fairytales -Geschichte von Inferno is based on and titled after one of Grimm's fairytales: "Hänsel und Gretel" is one of these songs:
Laurie Anderson's "Gravity's Angel" was drawn from one of my favorite novels, Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. I've never heard it, but was surprised to see that Pat Benetar named her 1993 album after that one as well.
A few that I don't think were mentioned: (The) "Temptest" - Bob Dylan "Lulu" - Lou Reed "In My Blakean Year" - Patti Smith
The Television Personalities: The Glittering Prizes (novel: Frederic Raphael) A Picture of Dorian Gray (novel: Oscar Wilde) Look Back in Anger (play: John Osborne)
The Only Ones From Here to Eternity (novel: James Jones) The Big Sleep (novel: Raymond Chandler) The Immortal Story (short story: Karen Blixen)
The oft-covered (by The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Herb Alpert and many others) song standard of the same name was originally created as an instrumental theme for the 1960 Broadway version of Delaney’s 1958 British play.
The Cure actually had a song named after a novel. The Cure - Charlotte Sometimes Based on a children's novel by English writer Penelope Farmer (published in 1969). The lyrics are about the novel's central character Charlotte. Released as a non-album single on Fiction Records in 1981. "All the sounds of Charlotte Sometimes Into the night with Charlotte Sometimes"
Bob Johnson and Peter Knight of Steeleye Span wrote and recorded an album based on the fantasy novel "The King of Elfland's Daughter" by Lord Dunsany. There is no song named after the book's title, but here is the track "Lirazel" (the name of the king's daughter) sung by Mary Hopkin on the album:
"The Story Of Layla And Majnun" by Nizami Ganjavi (Clapton) Scheherazade from "One Thousand And One Nights" (Renaissance)
The Doors - Been Down So Long The song is referencing Richard Fariña's novel "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me" (published in 1966). A track from The Doors' album "L.A. Woman", released on Elektra Records in 1971. "Well, I've been down so Goddamn long That it looks like up to me Well, I've been down so very damn long That it looks like up to me Yeah, why don't one of you people Come on and set me free"
Calexico - The Crystal Frontier Inspired by the novel "La Frontera de Cristal" ("The Crystal Frontier") by the Mexican author Carlos Fuentes (published in 1995). The novel is made up of nine (connected) short stories, which take place on both sides of the Rio Grande and Rio Bravo. Originally released as a single B-side (c/w "Ballad of Cable Hogue") on City Slang Records in 2000. "Blood spills out on the streets And bodies are missing for weeks Both sides keeping a close eye Watching the bullets fly here On the crystal frontier"
