Songs About Literature
SIBL CD Project to Promote Awareness of Adult Literacy

Deborah Pardes, executive director of the Songs Inspired by Literature CD project. Photo courtesy SIBL project.

March 12, 2002 -- In great works of literature, the words are often said to flow like music. So it's no surprise that the spirit of those words sometimes inspire songwriters.

Rock 'n' Roll icon Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about Tom Joad, the hero of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Suzanne Vega sings about Homer's Odyssey. Now those songs and others are united on one CD: Songs Inspired by Literature, a benefit project to promote literacy.

All Things Considered guest host Susan Stamberg spoke recently with San Francisco-area writer and musician Deborah Pardes, the executive director of the SIBL project. Stamberg mentioned to Pardes that after hearing Bob Hillman sing "Tolstoy," she almost wanted to pick up War and Peace and start reading -- a daunting task, given the complexity of the book's themes and characters, and the sheer flood of words.

"It's just an excuse for you to start thumbing through the pages. And really be gentle with yourself, and not be so hard on yourself and say, 'Oh, it's too much.'" Deborah Pardes

That reaction, Pardes told Stamberg, is exactly the point of the CD.

"It's just an excuse for you to start thumbing through the pages," Pardes tells Stamberg. "And really be gentle with yourself, and not be so hard on yourself and say, 'Oh, it's too much.'"

The SIBL project, Pardes says, is part of a non-profit awareness and outreach campaign to help adults who cannot read or write. Pardes says the "universal language of music" can be a powerful tool to inspire people to read literature.

Browse more NPR stories on literacy.

Other Resources

• The Songs Inspired By Literature Web site has a section devoted to famous songs inspired by books, as well as a songwriting competition.

• Hear samples of the tracks available on the SIBL disk at CD Baby.

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