TTT: Songs I Wish Were Books

When I heard the premise for this week's TTT list, I was baffled.  Songs that would be great books?  Theme songs of books?  Huh?

Luckily, Jamie at The Broke and the Bookish linked us up to a similar post she'd done earlier, and my wheels started turning.  I'm pretty sure my age is showing in my selections, but that also means that there might be some tunes on here that are complete standards in my mind, but will be new discoveries for some of you younger folk.  

Here are ten songs that I would love to read a book version of.

1. "The Queen and the Soldier" (Suzanne Vega)
I've loved this song since I first heard it in 1990.  It's a story-song already, but it would be great to have a full length version.  I'd like there to be one more twist at the end though--it's so tragic as is.

2. "Do I Wanna Know?" (Arctic Monkeys)
I have hopes that this one would have a more hopeful ending.  The break-up and realizations that the feelings were still there would make a good story, told in that particular voice.

3. Born in the USA album, focused around "Downbound Train" (Bruce Springsteen)
20th Century American tragedy.  It baffles me how people can think the title track is an upbeat, patriotic anthem.  "Born in this dead-end town; first kick I took was when I hit the ground..."  Definite shades of Grapes of Wrath in the story of how class and economics can drive all the joy out of the working person's life.

4. "Sweet Surrender" and/or "Rocky Mountain High" (John Denver)
Yes, I'm totally showing my age and sentimentality with this list.  These two songs, though, have a lot to say about finding your place as a young adult.  Not "YA" like literature aimed at teens, but actual young adults in their twenties, finding their place in the world.

5. "If You're Wondering if I Want You To" (Weezer)
This would be more of a teen YA book about first love.  "Your mom cooked meatloaf even though I don't eat meat, and I dug you so much I took some for the team."  How cute is that?

6. "I Will Buy You a New Life" (Everclear)
Like "Do I Wanna Know?" this could be a story of love lost and found.  Everclear is a local band, and while I'm sure you don't have to be local to get the import of "a new house way up in the West Hills," the book would definitely have to be set in Portland.

7. "King of the Road" (Roger Miller)
Let's get some 1930s historical fiction in the mix!

8. "Moving the Goalposts" (Billy Bragg)
"I don't believe that love should be pain, so could you please rub my back again?"  Another one that mixes social commentary with love.

9. "Photograph" (REM with Natalie Merchant)
Side note--if I were to have a beautiful singing voice, I would like to sing like Merchant.  This story of finding an old photo and wondering about the life of the girl in it would be a great premise for a book.  It could go any number of ways--MG ghost story, adult time travel, etc.

10. "Royals" (Lorde)
The intertwined lives of working class Australian teens.  Or maybe something like The Rest of Us Just Live Here, contrasting the imagined glories of the tigers-on-a-gold-leash set with real life joys and challenges of the counting-change-on-the-bus set.