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The Guardian - UK

Entertainment

Alexis Petridis

From Brontë to Ballard, Orwell to Okri: the best songs inspired by literature – ranked!

Kate Bush James Joyce Joni Mitchell Mick Jagger Taylor Swift David Bowie Ian Curtis JG Ballard Katy Perry Kurt Cobain

Kate Bush on stage — Out on the wily, windy moors … Kate Bush. Photograph: Barry Schultz/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

20. Katy Perry – Firework (2010)

The oeuvre of Katy Perry occasionally has some profoundly unexpected inspirations: California Gurls is spelt in homage to Big Star’s September Gurls, while Firework was based on, wait for it, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, specifically the line about how his favourite people “burn like fabulous yellow roman candles”.

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