I considered skipping this one, because I didn’t have time to do a full list of ten. But I wanted at least to mention one song I’ve always thought should be a novel: “Dissident,” by Pearl Jam. Here’s how Eddie Vedder described it:
In “Dissident,” I’m actually talking about a woman who takes in someone who’s being sought after by the authorities for political reasons. He’s on the run, and she offers him a refuge. But she just can’t handle the responsibility. She turns him in, then she has to live with the guilt and the realization that she’s betrayed the one thing that gave her life meaning. It made her life difficult. It made her life hell. But it gave her a reason to be. But she couldn’t hold on. She folded. That’s the tragedy of the song.
There are so many ways to spin this. I’d love to see a historical take, but SFF or even contemporary would work just as well.