Top Ten Songs I Wish Were Adapted Into Novels

Top Ten Tuesday is a regular feature on Pop! Goes The Reader in which I count down my top ten choices on a particular theme. This weekly event is hosted by Jamie at The Broke and the Bookish.

Much like film, television or literature, music has a unique and powerful ability to tell a story all its own. While a song may last only a few minutes, its melody and message can continue to live on in our heart and memory long after the last chord has been struck. Music has always played an important role in my life, at turns inspiring, consoling, and helping me when I needed it most, so I couldn’t have been more excited to discover that this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was inspired by just that. Below, please find a list of the top ten songs I wish could be adapted into novels, in no particular order.

I don’t know if I’m scared of dying but I’m scared of living too fast, too slow
Regret, remorse, hold on, I’ve got to go.
There’s no starting over, no new beginnings, time races on
And you’ve just gotta keep on keeping on.
Gotta keep on going, looking straight out on the road
Can’t worry ’bout what’s behind you or what’s coming for you further up the road.
I try not to hold on to what is gone, I try to do right what is wrong
I try to keep on keeping on.

When I was 17, my father said to me
A wealthy man had the things I wanted
Coal miner diamond ring, the house he built for me
I made a promise to keep them haunted. In my

Blue dress, satin neck, taking every piece of my soul
Blue dress, faded black, look me in my eyes as they close.

Jerome, Jerome
Jerome, oh why you treat me so cold?
Jerome, Jerome
Jerome, the only love I’ve ever known.

Nothing but fumes escape my lips and I haven’t realized
It’s killing you to watch me burn away
My ashes fly.
So far I’ve avoided the consequence
As for what’s next, I guess I’ll try to get out of it
Your preying eyes make me terrified
But I’ll just hide behind the lights.

She closed the door with the intention of not looking back
But missed her step because she didn’t have a steady track.
She can’t be bothered by the mistakes she has made
She’s forgetting that’s what guides you to the rightful path.

She’s looking through the wrong end
She’s looking through the wrong end
She’s looking through the wrong end of the telescope
Turn it around, turn it around.

How long,
It seems I’ve waited.
I’ve walked a thousand,
To see you to heaven,
To see you, where heather grows.

And I know your divide
Between bringing in the light,
Playing in the height of the sky
With hope, with sweet hope,
And playing in the pools where the broken lines
Of your love meet.
You take me on your shoulder,
Sahara Mahala.

My love took me down to the river to silence me,
And when he left I could not speak.
I lay on the ground I tried to scream,
But no sound did come out, I could only bleed blue.

I waited for him ’till the frost did come,
My skin it turned blue and my body was numb.
But my heart it burned out ’till it was no more,
Still I wait on the ground I don’t know what for.

There, there is a heart in here.
Where, where is the heart in here?

This love’s killing me but I want it to.
So long you’re gone, just like I always knew.
But I’m still here waiting for you.

Howling ghosts – they reappear
In mountains that are stacked with fear
But you’re a king and I’m a lionheart.
And in the sea that’s painted black,
Creatures lurk below the deck
But you’re a king and I’m a lionheart.

And as the world comes to an end
I’ll be here to hold your hand
‘Cause you’re my king and I’m your lionheart.
A lionheart.

Do you remember I searched you out
How I climbed your city’s walls?
Do you remember me as devout
How I prayed for your calls?

I stood still is what I did
Love like ours is never fixed.

I stuck around.
I did behave
I saved you every time.
I was a fool for love
I was a fool for love
I was a fool.

Let me in the walls
You’ve built around
We can light a match
And burn them down.
Let me hold your hand
And dance ’round and ’round the flames
In front of us
Dust to dust.

You’re like a mirror, reflecting me
Takes one to know one, so take it from me.
You’ve been lonely
You’ve been lonely too long.
We’ve been lonely
We’ve been lonely too long.

Call all the ladies out
They’re in their finery
A hundred jewels on throats
A hundred jewels between teeth.
Now bring my boys in
Their skin in craters like the moon
The moon we love like a brother, while he glows through the room.

Dancin’ around the lies we tell
Dancin’ around big eyes as well
Even the comatose they don’t dance and tell.

We live in cities you’ll never see on screen
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things.
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams
And you know, we’re on each other’s team.