Songs Inspired By Movies

I am trying to think of songs that are inspired by movies, but not written for them. Like where the musician saw a movie and said "Oh, I'm gonna write a song about that one". Examples:

The Pixies - Debaser (Un Chien Andalou)
Tommy Scott & Scotty Lee - Exorcism (The Exorcist)
Carl Douglas - Witchfinder General
Scott Walker - The Seventh Seal
Sparks - Gone With the Wind

There have to be more of these, right?

I’m convinced that “Hounds of Love” is inspired by the Powell & Pressburger movie Gone to Earth.

Robyn Hitchcock has at least two songs inspired by Magnum Force, including “A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations, Briggs.”

Lots of reggae.

I-Roy, "Buck and the Preacher" (Roy strongly advises you to go and see this movie!)
Lee Perry, "Enter the Dragon"
The Upsetters, "The Return of Django", "For a Few Dollars More"

... spaghetti westerns and kung fu movies especially.

Comet Gain, "In a Lonely Place"
The White Stripes, "The Union Forever" (Citizen Kane)
Wussy, "Donny's Death Scene" (The Big Lebowski)

The Shadows - "Apache" is based on the film of the same name
Bat for Lashes - "Daniel" is inspired by The Karate Kid
Regina Spektor - "Fidelity" is supposedly based on the film version of "High Fidelity"

I'm sure rudimentary googling would reveal a bunch more.

lots of Star Wars ones. Can think of a few by Lewis Parker and Ash, amongst others

Star Trekkin by the Firm

The Byrds, "Citizen Kane"

Alice Cooper - The Man With The Golden Gun

Actually recorded prior to the film's release, with the hopes that the producers would use it as the theme song.

I wonder if Dylan wrote "Knockin'" before he was cast in/maybe read the script or a synopsis etc of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid? Or while/after he was involved in the filming?

Neil Diamond, "Heartlight" (E.T.)
Bertie Higgins, "Key Largo"
Serge Gainsbourg, "Bonnie and Clyde"

Actually recorded prior to the film's release, with the hopes that the producers would use it as the theme song.

Ditto Harry Nilsson's "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City", I imagine in the hope that they would use a song he wrote rather than using "Everybody's Talkin'".

Georgie Fame, "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde"

Neil Diamond, "Heartlight" (E.T.)

― Josefa

Oh yeah, that reminds me, Afrosound's "El Regreso de E.T. el Extraterrestre", completely batshit crazy song

It's a marginal case but I do feel like "2HB" by Roxy Music is inspired by "Casablanca" as much as it is by Bogie.

Can't believe I didn't think of Bonnie and Clyde! That's an all-time classic.

Not sure I'd count "Man with the Golden Gun" - that's sort of a case like Radiohead's "Spectre", even if it wasn't used for the film it was written with the intent of being used in the film rather than based on actually watching the film.

Buddy Holly - That'll Be the Day, by John Ford's The Searchers

Fair to say Bowie's "Space Oddity" inspired by 2001 I assume

Speaking of Ford, Springsteen has said that "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was inspired more by the film of The Grapes of Wrath than it was by the novel.

03 Greedo - "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" (The 400 Blows)

And the song 'Nebraska' was inspired by the film Badlands.

xp

Yo La Tengo, "Tom Courtenay" (Billy Liar, Help! etc)

Pete Townshend's "Jools and Jim" was not inspired by Truffaut.

(xp) ... he's not in Help?

"I spent so much time dreamin' bout Eleanor Bron... see her in the arms of Paul"

Ramones, "Pinhead" ("Freaks")
Ramones, "Chainsaw" ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre(e)")

Cramps, "Human Fly"

... et al

Al Stewart's 'Year of the Cat' is inspired by 'Casablanca'.

Big Audio Dynamite's "E=MC2" inspired by five Nicolas Roeg films: Performance/Walkabout/Don't Look Now/The Man Who Fell to Earth/Insignificance

Sonic Youth - Shadow of a Doubt (also references Strangers on a Train)

Pretty sure a bunch of Misfits songs would fit this, but I'm not sure which

Bunch of Maiden songs, "Where Eagles Dare" off the top of my head

A couple John Vanderslice songs:

"When It Hits My Blood" (Requiem For a Dream)
"Continuation" (The Element of Crime)
"Promising Actress" (Mulholland Dr.)

Dylan, "Brownsville Girl" ("New Danville Girl") inspired by The Gunfighter.

Kris Kristofferson: "Me and Bobbie McGee" was inspired by La strada.

Debbie Harry wrote the lyrics to "Union City Blue" while she was acting in the movie Union City (the song's not in the movie)

With many of these - like Maiden’s Where Eagles Dare, The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, To Tame A Land, Murders In The Rue Morgue, Sign Of The Cross, etc but also other songs like Moi, Lolita it’s hard to say if it was the novel or the movie.

"to tame a land" probably not influenced by the movie, and not just because it came out the year before the movie or because it was frank herbert and not david lynch told them to fuck off; nothing is influenced by the dune movie. i bet someone could write a good song based on jodorowsky's dune, but since that movie technically doesn't exist i'm not sure it would count

Spizz Energi, "Where's Captain Kirk?" & "Spock's Missing"

... TV series rather than films though.

Talking of TV series, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons' "Who Loves You" was inspired by Telly Savalas' catchphrase on "Kojak".

... which leads me neatly to "Kojak Columbo" by Harry Nilsson and "Kojak" by Lee Perry.

The Clash: "Guns of Brixton" references The Harder They Come.

This sampletastic Ben Liebrand single: ALF - Stuck On Earth (1987)

More from this subgenre “hey Ma look I got a sampler for Christmas”: L-Vira - Talkin’ Bout Rambo (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ClCpfeIELw

Off the top of my head, several Television Personalities songs and the entire Vanishing Point album by Primal Scream.

Charlie Don't Surf (The Clash)

Isn't there another Clash song that references Taxi Driver?

A Man Needs A Maid was supposedly inspired by Neil watching Carrie Snodgrass in Diary of a Mad Housewife.

xp "Red Angel Dragnet"

not sure if it's about a specific one, but 'second skin' by the chameleons is about movies; and specifically how really good ones envelope the viewer into their world.

You know, I feel like there must be dozens (at least) of songs about or inspred by Star Wars, and exponentially more that reference Star Wars in passing (especially "use the force" which is also the name of a Jamiroquai song). Surely enough that this could be its own thread? And least one of these, 'Chewbacca' by Supernova, was used memorably in an unrelated movie (Clerks).

Also, monster movies/movie monsters as both song subjects (e.g. Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla, Regular Fries - King Kong) and passing references are pretty common...

Monochrome Set, "Eine Symphonie des Grauens"
Monochrome Set, "Ici Les Enfants" (du Paradis)

The Drive-By Trucers - The Boys From Alabama / Cottonseed / The Buford Stick

Walking Tall

Angel Witch - "Dr Phibes"

An instrumental, but it's great.

Bruce Dickinson's "Wicker Man"

Iron Maiden's "Wicker Man", on the other hand, appears to be about something else entirely

Iced Earth's "Damien" is based on The Omen III, of all weird sources

Blind Guardian's "Time, What is Time?" is also clearly based on Blade Runner