From Poems to Lyrics

[Quincunx]

Looking for more examples of songs which took existing poems or book text (not songs about books, but the exact words) and set them to music, the more mystic the better. There's an elegance about words which weren't originally written for songs.

Examples:
The Byrds - Turn, Turn, Turn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUworKXBzdE)
The Doors - End of the Night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Ej3ymOg_o) (William Blake)
Imperiet - Märk hur vår skugga (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8YjRl-QqNM) (Carl? Bellman) (this version has a translation buried in the comments but I'm not sure I trust it) (at all)

[Kaelaroth]

Golden Slumbers, The Beatles - Based on Thomas Dekker
Guantanamera, The Sandpipers - Based on Jose Marti
Whiskey in the Jar, Thin Lizzy - Irish Folk Stuff
I realise they aren't the most helpful of examples. :smalltongue:

[snoopy13a]

The Star Spangled Banner
Puff the Magic Dragon

[Catskin]

Syd Barrett: "Golden Hair" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfvh8nn_JkM)(James Joyce poem)
Bjork: "Sonnets/Unrealities IX" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g08HMaoNyGs&ytsession=qKknSBW36hKE19H7CpRYzTmEfu5ZX_1JMAaSNFmo K2bcVL9q9c-XmJppgUZko1WC2uPo_eZQr_dFQENtM1NhtN6PadabAjdph1DSg 7yTxPlsj1Osv_yT9A01dRyyyPFZScnryD-byhj7oN_t__-1W7bNiP14cNLrpKu4GH6frX-p0VMguJIompX8tDud6X2043USZfn4hClqiST2EGejMTAnE3F6Y xfejAmFXFQZmTSrSSr2cqL2LhT0yGYbQv0_89Z18YjC078syOb slm3Mwg) (e.e. cummings poem)
Coil: "At the Heart of it All" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAKKoQUsXXM&feature=related) (Shakespeare)

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

The Norther Cobbler by Crippled Black Phoenix is a Tennyson poem.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Whiskey in the Jar, Thin Lizzy - Irish Folk Stuff

Actually, "Whiskey in the Jar" is a song already, not a poem.

[averagejoe]

Well, Loreena McKennit did both The Highwayman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2CFM4ev-g8) and The Lady of Shallot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ5Z04PSBtg). Probably other poems too, but my poetic knowledge is, sadly, wanting.

There are a few people I know of who have done songs based on the poem "I am Stretched on Your Grave," (translated from an Irish poem "Táim shínte ar do h'uaigh"), though most musical versions are influenced somewhat by musician Philip King's adaptation. I like the one by Kate Rusby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95I7t1znYFk), but there are somewhat better known ones.

[zeratul]

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner ~ Iron Maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4C2TDUPejc)

[JabberwockySupafly]

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner ~ Iron Maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4C2TDUPejc)

First song I thought of when I saw this thread.
Others to consider (most, if not all of, my suggestions will be metal):

Symphony X - "Paradise Lost" A whole album based on the poem by Milton

Symphony X - "The Odyssey" Same as above, but Homer's epic poem

Blind Guardian - "Nightfall In Middle-Earth" The entire album is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion

Clutch - "The Rapture of Riddley Walker" based on Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

Mastodon - "Leviathan" based on Herman Melville's Moby D.ick

White Zombie - "I am Legend" based on the novel by Richard Matheson

Demons & Wizards - "Touched By The Crimson King" which is based around Stephen King's Dark Tower series

Yasunori Mitsuda - "kiRite" okay, this one is cheating because the story and music were written in sync so they are meant to be based around one another, but still...

I could go on, but I think it's best if I leave some room for others.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Der Erlkönig (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XP5RP6OEJI)
And, though its not completely from a poem, The Beatles Julia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5A2IAgyQEg), as several of their songs, yanks some lines from poetry.
Specifically, the lines "Half of what I say is meaningless
But I say it just to reach you, Julia" were adapted from the poem "Sand and Foam," by Kahlil Gibran.

[eidreff]

Schumman's Dichter Leiber and Frauen Leiber und Leben

Both song-cycles are composed around poetry by Schumann's friend (whose name evades me at the moment.

(please excuse any spelling errors - it's been a long time since I studied those works)

Edit: I remembered the poet Heinrich Heine.

[Kneenibble]

Looking for more examples of songs which took existing poems or book text (not songs about books, but the exact words) and set them to music, the more mystic the better. There's an elegance about words which weren't originally written for songs.

I absolutely agree with your sentiment. I second averagejoe's citing Loreena McKennitt, who is indeed mystic and elegant. I'd also like to put forth Leonard Cohen, who as a poet and a novelist, seems to write lyrics that are poetry first, lyrics second. He has a taste for words that makes my mouth water.

[DraPrime]

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner ~ Iron Maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4C2TDUPejc)

Damn, that's what I was gonna say. A lot of stuff by Iron Maiden is based off of literature, or poetry, so a lot of their songsight work. Song such as Murder in the Rue Morgue and Revelations.

But besides Iron Maiden, the song Dante's Inferno by Iced Earth is good. The Thing That Should Not Be by Metallica comes to mind. It borrows from HP Lovecraft.

[averagejoe]

I absolutely agree with your sentiment. I second averagejoe's citing Loreena McKennitt, who is indeed mystic and elegant. I'd also like to put forth Leonard Cohen, who as a poet and a novelist, seems to write lyrics that are poetry first, lyrics second. He has a taste for words that makes my mouth water.

I cannot believe that I forgot Cohen. Yeah, that guy is awesome.

[Faulty]

A number of related black metal bands music-tized a number of Baudelaire poems.

Peste Noire- "Spleen"
Peste Noire- "Le Mort Joyeux"
Alcest- "Acension"
Mortifera- "Ciel Brouillé"
Mortifera- "Le Revenant"

If you don't mind extreme Metal, the feel of those songs is very mystic and fits incredibly well. "Spleen" is orgasmic.

Both Green Carnation and Arcturus turned Edgar Allen Poe's "Alone" into songs.

[Phaedra]

I absolutely agree with your sentiment. I second averagejoe's citing Loreena McKennitt, who is indeed mystic and elegant. I'd also like to put forth Leonard Cohen, who as a poet and a novelist, seems to write lyrics that are poetry first, lyrics second. He has a taste for words that makes my mouth water.

Connected to this, if you're looking for existing poetry set to music, Cohen's Take This Waltz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sZzJAxfD-4) is a version of Little Viennese Waltz by Frederico Garcia Lorca. As with all Cohen's stuff, I think it's beautiful, though the video is a bit 80s and naff.