songs that are about themselves

Willie Nelson - "Sad Songs & Waltzes"

(somebody may have mentioned this, but i dont feel like lookin at the whole thing)

I said this and immediately regretted it. I think I meant it in a literal, lyrical sense. A sense that the songs are closed-off to any other music, any other artistic concern other than the completely solipsistic. The sense that songs about themselves taken to some sort of logical conclusion wind up being Dream Theater or somesuch. I didn't mean that songs that spring up out of an instinctive musical inspiration are invalid.

Anyway, discuss.

"songs have gotta be about more than themselves", that is

Randy Newman - Rednecks ("So I went to the park / and I took some paper along / and that's where I wrote this song")

The Dead Milkmen - Nitro Burning Funny Cars ("No one will ever write a song called / 'Nitro Burning Funny Cars'")

The Velvet Underground - Temptation Inside Your Heart ("It's not that good of a guitar solo")

The Monkees - Gonna Buy Me a Dog ("Don't ruin my song, man" "It was ruined when it was wrote")

Belle and Sebastian, "Judy and the Dream of Horses"

If you’re ever feeling blue
Then write another song about your dream of horses
Write a song about your dream of horses
Call it judy and the dream of horses
Call it judy and the dream of horses

From Robbie Williams' "Strong":
Early morning when I wake up
I look like Kiss but without the make up
And thats a good line to take it to The bridge

How in the hell did nobody mention "Smoke on the Water" yet? I thought that song was famous for being about itself.

Was that song about the Mothers Of Invention gig that caught fire in Montreux?

That's part of the story.

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/deep_purple/smoke_on_the_water.html

(The site won't let me C+P lyrics.)

Prince's "1999" fits, right? "I was dreaming when I wrote this" etc.?

TMBG - Number Three

this might be the best song of the genre by the way

King Crimson - Happy With What You Have to be Happy With
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8xLsZh2v2g

Taylor Swift does this at least twice that I can think of on her first album. 'Tim McGraw', the first track, and 'Our Song', the last one.

Jim Croce: I'll Have To Say I Love You In a Song

In the early 90s, a Finnish dance act called Allekirjoittanut had a song on their album called (in Finnish) "A Really Catchy Filler Song". The chorus of the song went something like this (translated from Finnish):

This is a really catchy filler song
If it gets stuck in your head
Please contact your doctor
Or go the hospital

Basically the whole song was about how Allekirjoittanut's producer is demanding for one more song to fill their album, and they need to come up with something quickly. And the funny thing was, it really was a very catch filler song and it did get stuck in your head. The song even had a rap section that began something like this:

But now we're gonna have a hectic rap section
It's an international trend these days
It's certainly quite refreshing
Not to have to listen to the same guy for the whole song...

Blues Traveler "Hook" is also about how catchy it is, but with a bit of an edge of mocking you for getting caught.