More Princesses

I had enough Cinderella songs to make a separate post, so here are the other "princess"-type stories: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and more general princess/damsel-in-distress references.

"This Kiss" - Faith Hill
Embedding isn't allowed on this one - grr! Anyway, there's one particular verse that mentions both Snow White and Cinderella:
"Cinderella said to Snow White
'How does love get so off course
All I wanted was a white knight
With a good heart, soft touch, fast horse
Ride me off into the sunset
Baby I'm forever yours'"
The music video is kind of silly, with all of the giant flowers and stuff in the background and lots of little kids kissing.

 "Fairytale" - Sara Bareilles


In this song, there are mentions of Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty. The lyrics are about how fairy tales aren't as happy as we're made to believe, especially if we consider what happens after the tale is over. Here's the chorus: " 'cause I don't care for your fairytales/ You're so worried about the maiden though you know/ She's only waiting on the next best thing." I like the video too with all of the theatrical elements of the costume changes and the set pieces that are moved in and out for different stories.

"Sleeping Beauty" - A Perfect Circle

As you can tell by the title, this song is referencing Sleeping Beauty, who is a woman who won't wake up. The narrator/main voice in the song is trying desperately to wake her up but he can't: "Sleeping Beauty
Poisoned and hopeless
You're far beyond a visible sign of your awakening
Failing miserably to find a way to comfort you"
The lyrics and the video are very sad, though I sort of like that they did a different version of the Sleeping Beauty story.

"Mirror Mirror" - m2m

The song is about mirrors, and the title is a play off what the evil queen says in Snow White, at least the Disney version.

"Mirrors" - Envy on the Coast


Another song about mirrors and Snow White. The narrator compares himself to both the prince and the mirror. There are also mentions of pale skin, "hair as black as night," blood, and "the coffin where you sleep."

"La Belle et Le Bad Boy" - MC Solaar


The lyrics of this rap are in French, and my knowledge of French is very limited, so I can't help there. But I do know that the title is based off of Beauty & the Beast, though here "beast" has been switched out with "bad boy."

The last two songs I have aren't direct references to specific princess-type tales, but they have a lot of the general motifs from these stories.

"Dragon Days" - Alicia Keys


In this song, the princess needs the prince. It's more about intense desire than needing to be rescued. The lyrics might be a little hard to read in this video, so you can also find them here.

"Brick by Boring Brick" - Paramore


This is one of the songs I found, and it's from a band I've liked for a while. Anyway, there are references to princess fairy tales and to the Three Little Pigs, all within a few lines:

“Her prince finally came to save her…

but it was a trick

and the clock struck 12

well make sure to build your home brick by boring brick

or the wolf’s gonna blow it down”

The video for this one is also interesting because it has a lot of weird fairy tale elements - butterfly wings, creepy people lurking around, castles, a spooky forest, and a little girl who is the focus (besides lead singer Hayley Williams, of course).

Well, that's it for the princess songs...or is it? There are a few songs that mention princesses along with a ton of other characters, so those will have their own post. Also, I've decided to give Taylor Swift songs their own post. Two reasons: 1. Pretty much everything she puts out is a fairy tale of some kind, and 2. I absolutely despise her and her music (I don't know where this hatred comes from), so I figured I'd get her out of the way all at once.

As always, let me know if you know any more songs I can add to this list, as well as other songs that just relate to children's literature, young adult literature, or childhood and adolescence.