It's only words...

It's only words, And words are all I have, To take your heart away...

As a mediation on the relationship between music and literature, it appears the Bee Gees were truly on to something. Already, this year has seen a healthy amount of books written by musicians, adding to the slew of crossover tomes we've already had from Henry Rollins, Louise Wener (Sleeper) and John Lennon.

In March, Anova books released a collection of short stories called Punk Fiction. Featuring writers like Salena Godden, Nicholas Hogg and Joolz Denby and musicians from different generations inspired by punk like Billy Bragg, Billy Childish, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), Kate Jackson (The Long Blondes), Alison Mosshart (The Kills), it boasts an impressively broad roster of talents and voices that all share their experiences of falling in love with punk, or the effect individual punk songs had on their lives. Pick a song, write a story- simple. It's a worthy charity project with £1 of each sale going to Teenage Cancer Trust, showing that some musicians can really write, and others... hmm, well... others should stick to pithy couplets over arpeggio guitar chords. The book does manage to meet halfway between music and literature as you can't help singing the songs while reading the stories they're based on, meaning in your head you've got a perfect punk soundtrack featuring the Ruts, Patti Smith, Buzzcocks et al being sparked by prose.

The Auteurs' Luke Haines also reared his acerbic head earlier this year with Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall, a funny account of the years 1992-1997 and the turgid creative dirge that it nurtured, our beloved Britpop. We read about Haines' disappointment and anger at his lack of commercial success, his fears over his peers' output and the state of a nation in a time of seeming expansion and exciting new pastures. Haines is as engaging a writer as he was performing his bitter beautiful music, funny, heartfelt and full of pathos.

In Autumn, arguably rock's most literary gothic stick, Nick Cave, will release his second book in as many decades, The Death of Bunny Munro. Cave's lyrics have always been weighty and textured with as much narrative as a novel (for evidence, listen to Murder Ballads for 12 macabre tales of evil and mayhem) and his turn of phrase has been poetical and literary in its own right. His first book, And the Ass Saw the Angel tapped into his favourite themes, inbreeding, murder, filth and religion. This time around, The Death of Bunny Munro is a riotous road-trip across the south coast of England, a modern morality tale that is stylish, furious, funny and tender account.

One of my favourite musicians at the moment, Jeffrey Lewis, draws comic books, often containing literary stories or historical discussions. He is currently working on a 7 part live comic book and song piece on The History of Communism, currently on part 5 showing its influx into North Korea. His twee lo-fi style packed with references to authors, comic book artists, musicians and Lower East Side DIY artist culture makes his wry comic, Guff, a must-have for any muso-literate fan. Do visit his website to view some of his online comics.

Part of me wishes that more of my favourite musicians wrote books and short stories. I'd love to read Thom Yorke's apocalyptic vision of a dystopian future or Chuck D's militant revolutionary detective solving crime in 1970s Harlem or a magical children's fairytale by harp-plucking pixie Joanna Newsom. Jarvis Cocker, surely national treasure Jarvis, must have a novel in him somewhere. Even Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand keeps a mouth-watering food column in a Sunday supplement, meaning an angular punk-funk cookbook should be on the way in time for the festive season. It'd be nice to experience more of a musician's imagined universe and creative landscape, something that lyrics only hint at or allude to.

So please enlighten me to any other musicians who've written books or short stories you've read and enjoyed, or any authors you know of who are in bands. Of course, Simon Armitage's The Scaremongers band has been well documented, as is Stephen King's revolving door blues band, The Rock Bottom Remainders, which has featured pen-minaires like Douglas Adams, Amy Tan and Matt Groenig. If music and literature directly influence each other, surely there's more potential for crossovers to happen.

Talk in everlasting words, And dedicate them all to me...