From Monday 1 August 2022
It is Written
Any song, in any genre, about writing, about books, or about famous literary characters. (In the lyrics, not the name of the artist).
Errol
Book of Love-The Monotones-original song-1958
Arno
Sting – Englishman In New York
Sting wrote this song about famed gay author Quentin Crisp and his experiences as an outcast. Crisp moved from London to New York in 1986, and Sting spent several days with the author.
This was released as a single in 1988, reaching #51 in the UK. In 1990, a remix by Dutch producer Ben Liebrand was released as a single and hit #15.
David Fincher directed the video, in which Quentin Crisp appeared. Fincher has directed videos by Madonna, Paula Abdul and The Wallflowers, as well as the movies Seven, The Game and Fight Club.
Branford Marsalis played sax on this track.
Paul
Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw’s foster son, Heathcliff.
This has to be one of the most well-known literary songs ever written. Kate Bush was only nineteen in 1978 when it made her the first UK woman to have a number one hit with a self-penned song.
Sung from the point of view of Cathy’s ghost, the spirit of a woman compelled to wander the moors until she can be reunited with the soul of her earthbound lover, the song evokes superbly the mood of Emily Brontë’s nineteenth-century novel of the same name.