Poems -> Songs

[DarklingAlice]

So it has occurred to me lately that some songs that I really enjoy were penned as poems first and then adapted to music. The three that immediately jump to mind are as follows:

T.S. Eliot's "Preludes" and "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" adapted by Trevor Nunn and Andrew Lloyd Webber as "Memory"
Memory - Elaine Paige (from Cats )

Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman" adapted by Loreena Mckennet
Loreena Mckennitt-The Highwayman (With lyrics)

E. A. Poe's "Annabelle Lee" adapted by Joan Baez
Joan Baez Annabelle Lee

The second one of those is especially interesting as I never really was touched by "The Highwayman" in reading it, but whenever I hear it set to music it makes me cry. So does anyone else know of pieces of poetry adapted and set to music? I wonder how common of a practice this is.

[Shjade]

Reinterpretation of Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
Eric Whitacre conducts "Sleep"


For a more direct example, three poems by Ogden Nash: "The Panther," "The Cow" and "The Firefly:"
Eric Whitacre recording the Animal Crackers at USC

[Wyrd]

Great band. The songs from their third and seconed albums are poems given to them form an Amercin writer.

Fall Of The Leafe - More Like A Situation