Not Waving but Drowning Not Drowning, Waving takes their name from the poem. The underground '90s emo-hardcore act I Hate Myself recorded a song with the same name on their album 10 Songs. A track on Julian Cope's 1991 album "Peggy Suicide" was titled "Not Raving but Drowning" after the poem. The poem was also set to music by singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt on his debut album Little with a spoken introduction from a Stevie Smith recording. Singer and songwriter Tanita Tikaram set the poem to music in her song titled "Not Waving but Drowning" which appeared as a b-side to her single "I Might
Not Waving but Drowning Be Crying." Kirsty Maccoll also has the lyric "And are you just waving or drowning?" in her song Innocence. The electronic music group Orbital recorded a song entitled "Waving Not Drowning" for their 2001 album, The Altogether. Erin McKean wrote a short story entitled "Not Waving But Drowning" which was published in "Machine of Death", a collection of short stories. In it she talks of the poem and the author. P.O.S wrote the song "That One" with the hook “I’m not waving I’m drowning.” Belgian filmmaker Elias Grootaers made a film in 2009 entitled "Not Waving, But Drowning" recording the