For Your Listening and Dancing Pleasure: Songs about Books and Writing


Elizabeth Bluemle - April 25, 2011

I’ve been looking for an excuse to share the first song below with all of my book-loving friends and colleagues, so I’m taking it as a sign that the blog tool ate the post that was supposed to appear today (which I spent hours on, by the way, arghh). So instead of hearing all about the Texas Library Association annual conference, and my agent’s annual client retreat (which I will write about as soon as I can bear to reconstruct the whole post again), I submit to you a small collection of some of my favorite songs about books and writing. If you listen to none of the rest of them, do bend an ear for Moxy Fruvous’s “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors,” an anthem for the long-suffering partners or book addicts.
(Edited to add: videos were embedded here, but are not showing up. Trying to fix; check back later!)
Moxy Fruvous — “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors” (Thanks to Kevan Attaberry for introducing me to this one!)
Cake — “Open Book”
The Beatles — “Paperback Writer”
Patty Larkin — “The Book I’m Not Reading”
Harry Connick, Jr. — “I Could Write a Book”
and the Frank Sinatra version:
Pat Benatar — Wuthering Heights
Women in their 40s will most likely remember loving this song — literary passion on the radio? Heaven. (I prefer Benatar’s version to Kate Bush’s 1978 recording (although if you want a chuckle, check out Bush’s two videos from that era on YouTube).
Talking Heads — “The Book I Read”
Elvis Costello — “Everyday I Write the Book”
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What are YOUR favorite songs based on or about books and writing?

6 thoughts on “For Your Listening and Dancing Pleasure: Songs about Books and Writing

  1. Angela K Sherrill

    As a children’s bookseller with these things on the brain, I recently started noticing Seuss and other children’s book characters getting a mention here and there. This is one of my favorites: Horton Hears a Who gets a nod in the song “Groove is in the Heart” by Deee-lite.

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  2. Melinda

    I love that Moxy Fruvous song Elizabeth! Often I find myself humming the song when I`m shelving books…they also have done a song version of Green Eggs and Ham that you should be able to track down online! Definitely worth a listen if you`re a Fruvous fan!

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  3. Greg Fishbone

    Great list! I’m a longtime fan of Moxy Fruvous and second the suggestion of also adding their “Green Eggs and Ham” song. Also”Lady Writer” by Dire Straits and “Frankenstein” by Aimee Mann. And how could you leave off “The Neverending Story” by Limahl?

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