Rockin' Rhymes

National Poetry Month comes in on little cat feet and brings to mind all those great songs inspired by poems: Joni Mitchell’s “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” based on Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” Ben Harper’s “I’ll Rise” from Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise,” and the Sheryl Crow hit “All I Wanna Do” based on Wyn Cooper’s “Fun.” That’s not to mention all the songs drawn from nursery rhymes such as “The House That Jack Built” by Aretha Franklin and “Humpty Dumpty” by Aimee Mann.

What are your favorites? Here’s a list of ours:

“Slouching Towards Bethlehem” Joni Mitchell

“The Second Coming” William Butler Yeats

“I’ll Rise” Ben Harper

“Still I Rise” Maya Angelou

“All I Wanna Do” Sheryl Crow

“Fun” Wyn Cooper

“Richard Cory” Simon & Garfunkel

“Richard Cory” Edwin Arlington

“The Bells of Rhymney” The Byrds

“The Bells of Rhymney” Idris Davies

“I Carry Your Heart” Michael Hedges

“I Carry Your Heart with Me” e.e. cummings

“Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” Bob Dylan

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“Christabel” Robert Earl Keen

“Christabel” Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“The Bells” Phil Ochs

“The Bells” Edgar Allan Poe

“The Stolen Child” The Waterboys

“The Stolen Child” William Butler Yeats

“I Am a Rock” Simon & Garfunkel

“Meditation” John Donne

“If You Don’t Kiss Me” David Broza

“If You Don’t Kiss Me” Percy Bysshe Shelly

“The Echoing Green” Greg Brown

“The Echoing Green” William Blake