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

Grimes Butterfly

Don't know this song
Sweeter than a sugar cane

Uncle Tupelo - Life Worth Livin'

but getting back to the meta asides rather than the "o muse, help me sing of the tale of..." intro (lol xpost), i myself was once guilty of this in the concluding track of the first and only completed Doctor Casino album (written when i was idk 23 or 24 fwiw):

(...)

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, March 13, 2018 6:36 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is such a stupid lazy songwriting trope.

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, March 13, 2018 6:51 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbf i did try to couch my stupid lazy attempt with the implication that it was the work of an earnest but youthful amateur!

This is a song about a superhero named Tony
It's called Tony's Theme

I read this as more of a recorded intro to the song than as part of the song itself.

R.E.M. - Untitled ("This song is here...")
Freedy Johnston - No Violins ("Here's a song...")

sisters of mercy
ballad of the absent mare

― scotti pruitti (wins), Monday, March 5, 2018 5:29 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on
And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song
Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long

R.E.M. - "He piloted this song in a plane like that one" (though I'd always heard "I volunteered this song" or "If I'm to tell this song")

It's unintelligible at any speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn-f8PgLVjU

Has Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys been mentioned for “The Face of Death”?

They threw him out ‘cause he was wrong
And left him trapped inside this song

"We're Not Gonna Take It" goes

We've got the right to choose and
There ain't no way we'll lose it
This is our life, this is our song

The Mekons: Empire of the Senseless

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

Thee Headcoats - Punk Rock Ist Nicht Tot

― Colonel Poo, Monday, March 12, 2018 7:49 AM (one week ago)

I go verse chorus verse solo break chorus verse solo

^ thread adjacent

OMD - the beginning and the end

"This is where we reach the end"

Last song on the record

Die Antwoord's Enter the Ninja: "fuck, this is like the coolest song I ever heard in my whole life."

Weird to think that song made it into p4k's best songs of 2010 list

In the Cure's Antidote Megamix there's a bit from "A Forest" where Robert sings "suddenly I stop" and the guitar cuts out. Metaclever.

Songs that actually, like, stop when the singer says 'stop.'

Sparks - "I Predict"

And this song will fade out
I predict

“I Predict” possibly being the pinnacle of this practice. Good post.

Just remembered that I made an hour-long mix on this topic a few (actually 8!?) years ago, people might want to have a listen

Mp3 and tracklist are here - http://lastnightadjkilledmydog.libsyn.com/webpage/2010/10
And I just put it on mixcloud - https://www.mixcloud.com/centuries_of_sound/last-night-a-dj-killed-my-dog-026-this-is-the-title-of-the-self-referential-podcast/

I was going to post the tracklist, but it's a bit long

That recording of Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, and Bud Powell on Jazz at Massey Hall where they play 'Salt Peanuts.'

Bird stumbles over the vocal bit one time and throws in, "It's the name of this song. . ." before the solo.

I just remembered the existence of the song "This is My Hit" by Canadian rapper, Kyprios, which fits here:

This is my hook, this is my chorus
This is my hit -- it's better than yours

It is not a very good song.

better than yours tho

Thomas Dybdahl

Songs from the rain
Songs that will cause you pain
Songs that alleviate
Songs that will seal your fate
Songs for the sunny days
Songs for that warm embrace
Songs that will keep you cool
Songs that will make you cruel
Songs for the wielding
Songs to help you relax
Songs that forever last
Songs that belong to the past
Songs that will make you scream
Songs from your childhood dreams
Songs that will leave you blue
Songs that remind me of you
Songs that will make you smile
Songs that will stay for a while
Songs that will tear you apart
Songs that will mend your heart
Songs that you can't let go
Songs that you already know
Songs that you once knew
Songs that just passed through
Songs that you overheard
Songs that just occurred
Songs for the nighttime
Songs for the waistline
Songs for the dancing shoes
Songs for the Sunday blues
Songs that will make you sweat
Songs that you won't forget
Songs that were once so true
Songs that betrayed you
Songs that you always hum
Songs that will leave you numb
Songs that you will regret
Songs on an old cassette
Songs that will move you
Songs that are brand new
Songs on the radio
Songs that will make you glow
Songs from your first kiss
Songs of pure bliss

And just before dawn at the paling of the sky,
The stranger returned and said "Now I must fly,
When two thousand years of your time has gone by,
This song will begin once again, to a baby's cry"

Lenny Cohen - Sisters of Mercy.

"And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song"

I posted that one right at the beginning of this thread. He also does it again in "ballad of the absent mare"

I searched and everything! Bah.

Dreams are for those who sleep
Life is for us to keep
And if you're wondering what this song is leading to,
I want to make it with you

Barry & the Bookbinders - 'This Song'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXwba5xApwo

I forgot one of my favorites:

"My slow descent
into alcoholism
it went
something like this song"

https://youtu.be/WtZDxzlGbN4

This songs just six words long

(Hey) all the blood that I will bleed
(Ho) I don't know where I belong
(Hey) I don't know where I went wrong
(Ho) but I can write a song (hey)

One of the most egregious examples.

Hiss Golden Messenger - O Little Light

A blue sky bends for me
No master, I am free
Riding 'round in the rain
With this song I'm singing

I was 21 years when I wrote this song, I'm 22 now but I won't be for long.

oh dammit how's life beat me to it

Brainstorm, take me away from the norm'
I've got to tell you something
This phenomenon, I had to put it in a song
And it goes like
Whoa, amber is the color of your energy
Whoa, shades of gold display naturally

and i'll know my song well before i start singing
and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard rain that's gonna fall

If you wonder how long I'll be faithful
Well, just listen to how this song ends
I'm gonna love you
Forever and ever
Forever and ever, amen

As the moon beats yellow, the clouds they settle
to this our favourite song...

But I hate this room, and I hate this tune...

Lee Hazlewood - I'll Live Yesterdays

Seems we’re always doing something to hurt each other
But you know, you never really hurt me until the fourth verse of this song

Kanye West - Touch the Sky

I'm tryin' to right my wrongs
But it's funny them same wrongs helped me write this song

mother do you think they'll like this song?

Elton John welcomes you to his Christmas song, Step Into Christmas, in its first line.

GusGus goes extra meta in "Add This Song"

Add this song to your list
Play it til it no more exist

Through the pain of the snow
Is there nowhere to go
Like I'm stuck in the state
Of no state at all

As I wandered alone in the darkest night
Heard this song at the rave
And it saved my life

(i did add it to my list)

Back to the opening post, "It's hard to say the meaning of this song" in Ambulance Blues is the thesis statement for the entire On the Beach album!

Edward Bear, “Last Song”

It's the last song I'll ever write for you
It's the last time that I'll tell you
Just how much I really care
This is the last song I'll ever sing for you
You'll come looking for the light
And it won't be there
But I love you
Oh yes I do
Yes I do

Also on this similar thread: songs that are about themselves

John Prine, "Leave the Lights On"

This is just a long song, it ain't no poem
Leave the lights on till your baby gets home

Brinsley Schwarz, “Love Song”

This here is a love song
I gotta get back to my baby's heart again
This here is a love song
And I'm gonna sing it till I get back home

Which is also mentioned on this similar thread: Songs that are aware of themselves