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- "Raistlin and the Rose" by Lake of Tears is based on Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
- "Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin mentions characters and places from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, including "Mordor" and "Gollum".
- "ReJoyce" by Jefferson Airplane is Grace Slick's psychedelic version of James Joyce's Ulysses.
- "A Revolta dos Dândis" by Engenheiros do Hawaii mirrors the ideas present on "The Dandy's Revolt," a chapter of Albert Camus's The Rebel.
- "Richard Cory" by Paul Simon is about the Edwin Arlington Robinson poem "Richard Cory".
- "Ride a White Swan" by T.Rex refers to the plot of Tolkien's The Hobbit.
- "Riki Tiki Tavi" by Donovan is a spoof on the mongoose character from The Jungle Book.
- "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden is a retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- "The River" by PJ Harvey is based upon the Flannery O'Connor story of the same name.
- "Roderigo" by Seven Mary Three is based on the book One Hundred Years of Solitude.
- "Rivendell" by Rush is about the fictional place of the same name from The Lord of the Rings.
- "Rebecca" by Meg & Dia is based on the Daphne du Maurier book.
- "Robot" by Hawkwind refers to the Three Laws of Robotics, conceived by Asimov.
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