Literary References

So we all know Brian likes to talk about other songs and bands in his lyrics, but there are also some references to books: the title Great Expectations, the name Estella and Marley's Chains are all references to Charles Dickens, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is a (fantastic) book by Tom Robbins. Actually he's one of my favorite writers, I was psyched when I saw that as a song title. But I'm not really all that widely read, even though I do love books, so has anyone else picked up on any other references to books in other songs?

I am totally a nerd and I always want to know what other people are reading, so this stuff is interesting to me.

this isn't what you meant, but everything TGA does sounds like something the characters in On The Road would have said or done.
that's a very good thing to me.

Well of course there is "All hope abandon, ye who enter here" but when we were in Berlin I argued that it was not a reference because everyone knows that line now.

I read Still Life With Woodpecker, another Tom Robbins novel... absolutley hilarious... and it even got me a girls phone number!

I was pumped about Cowgirls too. A book store owner recommended me that once when I told him what I was into. I never read it yet, I've been meaning to. Just been too busy to put aside time to sit down and read.

not a literary reference, but "Here's Looking At You, Kid" is a line from the final scene of the movie "Casablanca", which falls under the "film noir" movie genre

dont think ive ever seen that movie

also, "Great Expectations" is a movie, maybe based on the book, and "Film Noir" is a movie term referring to stylish crime dramas of the '40s and '50s (the film noir era of movies)

"Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" is a movie and song and book

"I Coulda Been A Contender" is from the movie "On the Waterfront" ("You don't understand! I could've had class. I could've been a contender. I could've been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am.")

"Wooderson" is from the movie "Dazed and Confused"

"Bleeder" is a movie

and "Sometimes You Eat the Bar (Sometimes the Bar Eats You)" is a line from The Big Lebowski, but I already knew that. that's a great movie. it's hilarious.