SONGS WHERE/SONGS THAT/SONGS WITH/SONGS IN WHICH

SOME PEOPLE ARE AFRAID ILM IS TURNING INTO THE TVTROPES OF MUSIC, SO HERE'S A CATCH-ALL THREAD WHERE WE CAN DOCUMENT THE THEMATIC/SONIC/COMPOSITIONAL LINKAGES BETWEEN SONGS WITHOUT HAVING TO START A NEW THREAD FOR EACH AND EVERY TROPE THAT POPS INTO OUR HEADS DURING MOMENTS OF DESPERATE BOREDOM

songs where a woman corresponds with her husband under an assumed identity and arranges a liaison with him as a test of his marital fidelity:

Rupert Holmes - Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Kate Bush - Babooshka

"some people"

Songs that are not John Cage's 4' 33"

Songs in which Instrumentation is or is not used

Songs in which the vocalist audibly takes a drag on a cigarette between verses:

Sandy Denny - "No End"

this would be a good thread to collect all of the disparate 'songs where' threads, cause i can never find any of them.

songs where you can't find what you're looking for

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" - U2

songs where you can't find what you're looking for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K89RsKaEO7I

songs written by a non-famous family member of the recording artist:

Grizzly Bear - Marla
Throwing Muses - Sinkhole

Songs by 90's-era American indie bands about 80's-era British female singers:

Unrest - "Cath Carroll"
June & the Exit Wounds - "Cathy Dennis"

Songs by 90's-era American indie bands about 80's-era British female singers

Black Tambourine - Throw Aggi Off the Bridge

(about Aggie and Stephen Pastel)

the plot thickens!

songs where the narrator is so miserable that even the sight of children playing fails to cheer his burdened heart:

Rolling Stones - As Tears Go By
Pearl Jam - Black
Screaming Trees - Winter Song

Lol

young girl: hahaha wheeee I love playing in the puddles
Mark Lanegan, grunger: HOW CAN YOU BE SO CAREFREE WHEN MY SOUL IS LITERALLY DYING 😢😢😢

songs that in off whacking with which trailer

lol i have been bumping a lot of these

songs where the narrator is so miserable that even the sight of children playing fails to cheer his burdened heart

How could you leave off The Chi-lites, Have You Seen Her

and Chicago, Make Me Smile

Songs in which, it is not I who is mad, it's you normals!

Elton John - Madman Across the Water
Bonzo Dog Band - My Pink Half of the Drainpipe
Supertramp - Asylum

Songs where the singer is bored of music:

Cat Power - Colors and the Kids

songs where a singer expresses disdain for being put on a pedestal as artist

ionnalee- samaritan

songs where a singer expresses disdain for being put on a pedestal as artist

London Calling
Don't Look Back in Anger

?

much better to have a catch-all thread, good job

songs where a singer expresses disdain for being put on a pedestal as artist

Eminem - Marshall Mathers

songs where a singer expresses disdain for being put on a pedestal as artist

Ani DiFranco - Little Plastic Castle

People talk about my image
Like i come in two dimensions
Like lipstick is a sign of my decling mind
Like what i happen to be wearing
The day that someone takes a picture
Is my new statement for all womankind

And i wish they could see us now
In leather bras and rubber shorts
Like some ridiculous new team uniform
For some ridiculous new sport
Quick someone call the girl police
And file a report

songs where you can't find what you're looking for

"Where Is My Mind"

songs where a singer expresses disdain for being put on a pedestal as artist

Neil Young - On The Beach

^ arguable, but i think he touches on the need for an audience and how frustrating that is - possibly more ambivalent??

songs where the strength of the protagonist's relationship is evaluated based upon their awareness of their lover's potato preferences:

Gershwin - Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Sia - Sweet Potatoes

Songs in which the Beatles wish you a Happy Birthday

Songs in which the singer reads off a phone number:

“867-5309/Jenny” — Tommy Tutone
“Group Sex” — Circle Jerks
“The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry” — Fiery Furnaces

^Brenda Lee - Bigelow 6-200

Transylvania 6-5000

Oh snap!

Songs in which the boys are back in town:

Thin Lizzy - The Boys are Back in Town

roxy music - remake/remodel ... "CPL 593H!"

scraping foetus off the wheel - DI-1-9026

isaac hayes - good love ... "call good love 69-9-69"

squeeze - "853-5937"

are there any phone-number songs yet that have modern 8, 10, or 11 digit numbers?

City Boy – 5705

roxy music - remake/remodel ... "CPL 593H!"

Not a phone number, it was the registration number of Bryan Ferry's car.

songs written by a non-famous family member of the recording artist:

Grizzly Bear - Marla
Throwing Muses - Sinkhole

― how to diss a peer completely (unregistered), Monday, 12 February 2018 02:46 (five months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lyn Paul - The Waiting Game (Doreen Belcher)

I know. I do.

"Maybe Baby" had some lines written by Buddy Holly's mom.

George Harrison's "Piggies" had one line he couldn't fill, needed to rhyme with "lacking". His mum suggested "What they need's a damn good whacking" which is the "WHOA" line in the song.

Songs where the singer is bored of music:

Isn’t this every Cat Power song?

POLL: Songs Written By The Artist's Mom

Harry Nilsson, "Little Cowboy"
Harry Nilsson, "Marchin' Down Broadway"

are there any phone-number songs yet that have modern 8, 10, or 11 digit numbers?

Jeremih - 773 LOVE

This doesn't count but Hoyt Axton's mom wrote "Heartbreak Hotel."

"Backwards Town" by the Grapes of Wrath
"Hometown" by Joe Jackson

The Kinks have a trilogy of songs about girls who come to grief in the city, but only "Big Black Smoke" explicitly mentions the "country life" that she is leaving. They also have "Village Green", where the singer "sought fame", then misses the small town.

"Get to the city and it's horrible" also = Gram Parsons, "Streets of Baltimore."

Eilen Jewell, "Blow it All Away"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfpoKzpQ4_E

Let's just keep driving you and me
I like your soft voice and your pleasant company
We can pull each other out of this dusty little town
Make a new start somewhere maybe settle down

btw that is a pretty good song. I played it in a bar recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8l_od0G488

Richard Marx - Hazard

My favorite take on this theme is Gerty - Lower Moreland. Such a great (autobiographical) name for a town one would feel the need to escape from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNBE7IqXg8k

songs which are ruined by a singer singing in a faux-accent that's annoying as fuck

think that was just sold as "Sting's Greatest Hits" in other countries.

Green Day to thread

songs where the chorus seems endlessly stitched together

example - Shania Twain - Man, I Feel Like a Woman

“cut to the feeling” has a similar feel

Not sure if "stitched together" implies a negative judgment, but I'd say ABBA's "The Name of the Game" does this very well. The chorus has four parts (one, two or three of which could arguably be called bridges, but they appear after both of the full choruses).

"Take a Chance on Me," as well? (I didn't read it negatively, btw – I love that Shania song)

That's an odd one because the verse is the main hook, but the "other part" does have three sections.

Live & Let Die

xp Not sure I get what you mean about the verse being the main hook; pretty sure it’s the big ol’ chorus that launches the song(?)

You're right, I guess that is the chorus, but I wouldn't call it "stitched together" because it's all one musical idea/melodic pattern except for the four bars at the end (with the spoken word bits).

Ah gotcha (I wasn’t thinking that the stitched-together pieces necessarily had to be heterogenous)

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this right, but what comes to mind is "Green Light" by Lorde.

How about songs with awesome, multipart bridges? (sorry if I’ve already done this… I love bridges)

“Father Figure” is the gold standard for me:

https://i.imgur.com/HU4HEtJ_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

I used to love karaoking that due to the bridges alone.

Good call

songs where the 7" version is a classic and the 12" remix is unspeakable and should never be played again

songs that are remade a million times, but pretty much every remake is based on one iconic cover of the song and not the original.

some obvious ones:

Tears for Fears - "Mad World"
Leonard Cohen - "Hallelujah"
The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd Original Cast Recording - "Feeling Good"

“Hound Dog”

ahh yes very good one!

"Feeling Good" I guess is a special case because the song originated on Broadway and music lovers who didn't give a shit about musical theatre reacted to the Nina Simone/Hal Mooney version as if it were the original.

“All Along the Watchtower,” maybe (a case where the iconic cover influenced even the original artist’s live performances of the song)

Tainted Love.

"Blue Bayou"

"You Don't Know Me"

That is, I think most people cover the Linda Rondstadt and Ray Charles versions more than the originals

^excellent!

Not enough covers for this topic probably, but the B-side of “Blue Bayou,” “Mean Woman Blues,” was originally sung by Elvis Presley in the movie Loving You.

"Louie Louie"

"Fever" (Peggy Lee version is normally the one copied)

Frank Sinatra is probably responsible for many of these, e.g. "I've Got You Under My Skin." He was always taking tunes from the 1920s/30s and swinging them up and making them more fun, and of course that's the way most people like to play them today.

a case where the iconic cover influenced even the original artist’s live performances of the song

“Respect” Is another of these:

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T" and "TCB" are not present in Redding's 1965 version, but he incorporated Franklin's ideas in his later performances with the Bar-Kays.

House of the Rising Sun

a case where the iconic cover influenced even the original artist’s live performances of the song

Billy Bragg has apparently sung the Kirsty MacColl verse during A New England since she died.

Songs which announce individual sections

Wire - Map Ref 41N 93W ("CHORUS!")
Prince - Loose! ("GUITAR SOLO!")

Can I take it to the bridge

“Play it for me guitarist”

“C’mon Steve, get ir”

Second verse, same as the first

and that's a good line to take it to the bridge

and they're coming to the chorus now

Middle eight!! (public image limited, don't ask me)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XKDTOiNqdE

Rock me, Joseph Alberto Santiago

Denim – The Great Pub Rock Revival ("Synthesizer solo!")

This is surely its own thread already, but Weird Al does "drum solo!" on the "Polka Your Eyes Out" medley.

Hit singles that begin really dissonant and/or atonal

OMD - Maid of Orleans
Adam & the Ants - Prince Charming
The Cure - The Caterpillar
Family - In My Own Time

I suppose Purple Haze

The Human Beinz - Nobody But Me

(which I guess is just following the example of The Beatles - I Feel Fine)