The eNotes Blog Sing It, Shakes! Shakespeare in PopMusic

Sing It, Shakes! Shakespeare in PopMusic In the Merchant of Venice, the Prince of Morocco warns, All that glisters is not gold. This sage advice has been repeated in some unlikely sources, from Led Zepplins Stairway to Heaven to Marilyn Mansons Posthuman. Here are some other instances of modern musicians who pay lyrical homage to Shakespeare: Line from Highway 61 Revisited, referencing Twelfth Night: The fifth daughter on the twelfth night told the first father that things werent right. Line from Get Over It on the Eagles album Hell Freezes Over referencing Dick the Butcher from Henry V: Old Billy was right, / Lets kill all the lawyers-kill em tonight. Dire Straits Romeo and Juliet from Solid Rock. No mystery here. The whole song re-tells it in a way any hip 80s teen can understand! Juliet says, hey, its Romeo you nearly gimme a heart attack / Hes underneath the window shes singin hey la my boyfriends back. Mel Brooks To Be Or Not To Be from  The Hitler Rap.   Even if Shakespeare had entertained the idea of other artists re-purposing his work, it is unlikely he had anything like Mel Brooks and his borrowing from  Hamlet  in mind: Say Heil Heil seigety style we gonna whip it to the people Teutonic style To be or not to be Baby, cant you see? Before There Was Rosalyns song, The Warrior, contains an allusion to Julius Caesar:  Cowards die many times. My Chemical Romances song The Sharpest Lives contains (yet another) reference to  Romeo and Juliet  :   Juliet loves the beat and the lust it commands / drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, Romeo. In the song, This Town, Your Grave, the band Innerpartysystem alludes to Macbeth with this line:   Washing your hands in blood wont take away the stain.