Songs that are aware of themselves

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One of my friends is in a psychedelic punk band that have a song called "The Restaurant" and the lines of the middle 8 are:

There was time in winter
There was parsley on my plate
I couldn't leave The Restaurant
So I left the middle 8

It's kinda clever.

― Adam Bruneau, Monday, 16 December 2002 15:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Pink Floyd, "Mother" -- "Mother, do you think they'll like this song?"

― Phil (phil), Monday, 16 December 2002 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

(There are other Pink Floyd examples, like "Jugband Blues")

― Phil (phil), Monday, 16 December 2002 16:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Robyn Hitchcock, "I Something You":

In this kind of song
Middle bits are so predictable
But you came along
You were not at all predictable

― Paul Eater (eater), Monday, 16 December 2002 16:47 (twenty-three years ago)

There's "(Otto Make That) Riff Staccato" by D. Ellington, where the lyric details how the individual parts should be performed.

"Michelle" by The Beatles is arguable.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 16 December 2002 17:36 (twenty-three years ago)

"Yachts, "Suffice to Say""

Aaah yes, "It's short and sweet and to the point...."(?). Good call Jody ("Can't say that I blame you...."), I'm going to have to dig that one out and blow the dust off it when I get home now!

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 16 December 2002 17:40 (twenty-three years ago)

They Might Be Giants' "Number 3"

lyrics:

"there's only two songs in me, and I just wrote the third
don't know where I got the inspiration or how I wrote the words
spent my whole life just digging up my music's shallow grave
for the two songs in me and the third one I just made"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 16 December 2002 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

L.L. Cool J: "I Need a Beat," "My Rhyme Ain't Done," "Mama Said Knock You Out" ("Olde English filled my mind / And I came up with a funky rhyme"). Actually, most hip-hop to thread.

― Matt C., Monday, 16 December 2002 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Songs That Celebrate Themselves

― gygax!, Monday, 16 December 2002 18:07 (twenty-three years ago)

In the closing refrain of Ja Rule & Bobby Brown's "Thug Lovin'" (a song I've become hatefully obsessed with due to its sheer, implausible awfulness), the diminutive Mr.Rule humbly exclaims at a decidedly non-civil volume, "This is what we buildin' here - Classic Shit!", referring, I'm supposing, to the song in question.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 16 December 2002 18:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Signed Curtain by Matching Mole

― Zora (Zora), Monday, 16 December 2002 18:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Pixies own this, from the 'Trompe Le Monde' title track:

go little record go
it is named by
some guy named joe
and the words
are the letters of the words
said
electrically played
for outer space and those of they who paid
this song is twice ocurred
and now its time to go
away on holiday.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 16 December 2002 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Camper Van Beethoven - Joe Stalin's Cadilac (Where's The Bridge?)
Built To Spill - Joyride
TMBG - Number Three
Sloan - G Turns To D (And You'll turn to Me [not E] and you'll say...)

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 16 December 2002 18:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Aletha & the Memories (Kim Fowley)-"The Worst Record in the World".

― Arthur (Arthur), Monday, 16 December 2002 18:59 (twenty-three years ago)

nobody put Sk8terboi! In which she's singing the song they wrote about the girl IN the song they wrote about the girl.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 16 December 2002 23:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Ray Charles: A Song For You
+
half of all rap songs ever written

― Jay K (Jay K), Monday, 16 December 2002 23:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Robert Wyatt again...

Soft Machine - "Moon in June"
"Just before we go on to the next part of our song
Let's all make sure we've got the time"

Also: King Crimson "Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With"

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 16 December 2002 23:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Tenacious D "Tribute"... actually, a lot of Tenacious D songs have lyrics that refer back to the song itself...

And are we going to count all of the songs that start out with someone saying "This one is for all the [ladies/guys/whathaveyou]"?

― flightsatdusk (flightsatdusk), Monday, 16 December 2002 23:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Magazine, "A Song From Under The Floorboards"

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Chris Knox - "Not Given Lightly"

This is a love song to John and Leisha's mother /
This isn't easy I might not write another

― Jen (nstop), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 00:10 (twenty-three years ago)

More than a feeling;

He says at the start that he's listening to a familiar song on the radio, and then later on that he's 'hiding in his music' so the big swelling notes that follow are like the dream he has when he 'closes his eyes and he drifts away.' And it's 'More Than a feeling' because it's a feeling manifested in the actuality of the song. And if you think it's pretentious that he says 'hide in my music' well you have to suspend that idea.

― maryann (maryann), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 00:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Neil Young, "The Needle and the Damage Done"
"I sing this song because I love the man"

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 03:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Pavement - Gold Soundz

― Damian (Damian), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 09:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Orange Juice "Intuition Told Me" - "Did I mention in the first verse / How you would come to disown me?"

― bham, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 10:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Baccara - "Yes Sir I Can Boogie" ("I already told you in the first verse").

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 10:05 (twenty-three years ago)

an obvious one folks have missed -- led zeppelin's "the crunge" (has anyone seen the bridge?)

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 10:19 (twenty-three years ago)

oh, and shit loads of songs by you-know-who -- "let's make the water turn black" ("now believe me when i tell you that this song is really true"), "a little green rosetta," "wind up workin' in a gas station," "toads of the short forest"

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 10:23 (twenty-three years ago)

"second verse / same as the first" = orig. Herman's Hermits "Henry VIII" surely?

have no doubt, Marcello: "Feel" is rivalling "Strong" in my mental chamber of horrors. hearing the album might reduce me to a floating skull off Chesil Beach.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 13:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I like Feel.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 13:47 (twenty-three years ago)

"Song For Whomever" - The Beautiful South

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 15:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Wow, so nobody's said "Killing Me Softly" yet?

Shame on us.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 16:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Dr C you didn't like "Strong" did you!!!!!????

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 16:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Forest Fire by Lloyd Cole and The Commotions: It's just a simple metaphor for a burning love...

― Daniel (dancity), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 18:01 (twenty-three years ago)

"The Name Game"
Traffic - "You Can All Join In"
Nazz - "Forget All About It", "A Beautiful Song"

― Curt (cgould), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 18:15 (twenty-three years ago)

two weeks pass...

Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah," maybe?

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord,
but you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
the minor fall, the major lift;
the baffled king composing Hallelujah!

― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 2 January 2003 09:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Pulp, Something Changed

And "The Fear" as well - "And the chorus goes like this" - not Jarvis's finest lyrical hour, admittedly, but it's there.

― Charlie (Charlie), Friday, 3 January 2003 03:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Spandau Ballet - True?

"Why do I find it hard to write the next line..."

― delbert organization iii, Friday, 3 January 2003 04:50 (twenty-three years ago)

three weeks pass...

"Turn up the immune system in the monitor!" Bob Log 111 "One Man Band Boom"

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 17:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Wire, "map ref"

― Lukas Bergstrom (lukas), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 20:38 (twenty-three years ago)

on protect ya neck - "not long is how long that this rhyme took me" i think courtesy of inspectah deck

rather, cherchez la ghost

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 05:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Elton John "This Song's Got No Title" and...well, ALL of CAPTAIN FANTASTIC.

― matt riedl (veal), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 14:20 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

You guys missed the best one

The Monkees: Pleasant Valley Sunday

"The local rock group down the street is trying hard to learn this song"

That is such an underrated line.

― Cunga (Cunga), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

and what about "Why do I find it hard to write the next line"

which is the worst, as he keeps going SAYING THAT!!!

(Spandau Ballet, True, for the USA bods)

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 08:56 (twenty years ago)

You guys missed the best one

Mekons: Empire of the Senseless

"They took away our films and tapes and notebooks but it's OK, we self-censored this song. But these lines are all individuals! And there's no such thing as this song."

"This song promotes homosexuality. It's in a pretended family relationship with the others on this record. And on the charts and on the jukebox. And in the radio."

That is such an underrated song.

― zero, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 09:00 (twenty years ago)

The Wake - "O Pamela" ("But my hand was shaking as I wrote this page...")

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

Duck Hunt has (at least) 3 of them!

Were You There for that Session

This Is a Song that Only Has One Chord

Watering Down the Legacy

― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

No, no, nononoNO, all ya'll missed the best one. The one that can move me across the room and bring me to tears...

"I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour,
drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine,
don't think you knew you were in this song..."

David Bowie, 5 Years. But Borrowed Tune comes a close 2nd.

― Joseph B. Cowart (flamingrev), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

Justin Timberlake, "Rock Your Body" ("Gonna have you naked by the end of this song...")

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

As if to entwine this thread a little further, two of the above self-references were in fact stolen from other songs, ie:

Billy Bragg – New England
I was 21 years when I wrote this song, I’m 22 now but won’t be for long
Nicked from Paul Simon: Leaves That Are Green

Second verse,
Same as th first,
Judy Is Punk - Ramones
Nicked from Herman's Hermits (et al): I'm Henry The Eighth I Am

― harvey.w (harvey.w), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

"and you know what's worse?
you was just like that nigga in the first verse"

- True to the Game, Ice Cube

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 29 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

"Jam On It" - Newcleus.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 7 July 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

"Hey man, listen to me, I'm on the stereo!" - Pavement

― Mike Dixn (Mike Dixon), Thursday, 7 July 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

more Neil Young - the amazing "Ambulance Blues": he says "hard to say the meaning of this song" before he gets sucked back in.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 8 July 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

sixteen years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B21qhoKbmNE

well, i wrote this song
with a vamp in the middle
and i knew when i wrote it
that i'd written it for the fiddle

― no lime tangier, Thursday, 18 November 2021 04:06 (four years ago)

Songs that get all meta and mention 'this song' in the lyrics

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 18 November 2021 06:18 (four years ago)

This is the first verse
This is the first verse
This is the first verse, the first, the first
And this is the first verse, verse, first verse
And this is the first verse, verse
This is the first verse

And this is the chorus
Or perhaps it's a bridge
Or just another part of the song that I'm singing

And this is the second verse
It could be the last verse
This is the second verse, second verse, second verse
It could be the last verse, last verse
And this is the second verse
But it's probably the last one

And this is the chorus
Or perhaps it's a bridge
Or just another key change
Never mind, it doesn't hurt
It only means that I lost faith in this song
'Cause it won't help me reach you

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 18 November 2021 06:38 (four years ago)

Yes sir, already told you in the first verse and in the chorus,
But I will give you one more chance...

― fetter, Thursday, 18 November 2021 08:16 (four years ago)

songs that are about themselves

There's something about THIS song ... Songs that reference themselves.

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 18 November 2021 08:52 (four years ago)

Now hear this Robert Zimmerman, I wrote a song for you...

― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 18 November 2021 10:33 (four years ago)

one month passes...

another from john hartford:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBZFebgYU_I

― no lime tangier, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 21:55 (four years ago)

Love a tune that boasts about repeating the first verse, eg:

Violent Femmes - Prove My Love / The Ramones - Judy is a Punk / Herman’s Hermits - I’m Henry the VII I am

― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 22:21 (four years ago)

^otm

― Heatmiserlou (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 22:50 (four years ago)

You criticize our method of how we make records
You said it wasn't art, so now we're gonna rip you apart
Stop, check it out my man
This is the music of a hip-hop band
Jazz, well you can call it that
But this jazz retains a new format
Point, where you misjudged us
Speculated, created a fuss
You've made the same mistake politicians have
Talkin' all that jazz

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 29 December 2021 14:40 (four years ago)

#onethread

― dark end of the st. maud (sic), Wednesday, 29 December 2021 17:22 (four years ago)

Radio stations I question their blackness, they call themselves black, but we'll see if they'll play this

― Texas Medicine v. Railroad Gin (morrisp), Wednesday, 29 December 2021 18:03 (four years ago)

one year passes...

Smudge - I Don’t Want To Be Grant McLennan

― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 06:33 (three years ago)

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