Music Inspired by Watership Down is a 1977 progressive rock album by Swedish musician Bo Hansson. The album is Hansson's fourth solo album and is, as its name suggests, built around musical ideas inspired by Richard Adams' heroic fantasy novel Watership Down.

Recording and release

Music Inspired by Watership Down was the second album of Hansson's to have been based on a novel; his first solo album, Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings, had likewise been based on J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. Hansson had already composed and released a musical suite inspired by Watership Down on his previous album, Attic Thoughts. However, beyond its title, the Music Inspired by Watership Down album contains few overt references to the novel and instead features excerpts from the works of various poets, such as John Keats and Alexander Pope. The album was originally released in Sweden as El-Ahrairah by YTF Records in 1977. This title was taken directly from the pages of Watership Down, with El-Ahrairah being the name of a trickster, folk hero-deity rabbit, known as "The Prince with a Thousand Enemies". The album was subsequently released with its English title by Charisma Records in the United Kingdom and Sire Records in the United States, but it failed to chart on either side of the Atlantic. Music Inspired by Watership Down was reissued on CD in 2004 by Virgin Records.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Bo Hansson except where indicated.

Side 1

Side 2

2004 CD reissue bonus track

Personnel