Songs about other musicians

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"James Brown" by BAD

― peepee (peepee), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:53 (twenty years ago) link

"I Am Damo Suzuki"

The Fall, "Middle Mass" (which it took me forever to find out was about Marc Riley, which is funny since up till then I thought it was autobiographical, which is funny again since it's actually about Riley:

1. sucking (surprise)

and

2. ripping off/being a clone of MES)

Come to think of it, if other members of your band count, the Fall have a number of entries: "Craigness," "Stephen Song" ... I guess "The Mixer" could even sorta qualify ...

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:54 (twenty years ago) link

ABC - "When Smokey Sings"

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:55 (twenty years ago) link

And there must be a Caetano Veloso song (with Gilberto G?), from the Tropicalia period, that proudly sports its Meatlz adoration in the title...
(Can't find the darn thing right now)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:55 (twenty years ago) link

Urge Overkill, "The Mistake"

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:55 (twenty years ago) link

And isn't "Godstar" about Brian Jones or something?

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:57 (twenty years ago) link

"I Feel Better Than James Brown", Was (Not Was)
"Mr. Lennon", Ruja

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:00 (twenty years ago) link

I thought "The Mistake" (an awesome, awesome song) was about themselves.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:01 (twenty years ago) link

The Fall, "Middle Mass"

And the punch line? I guess Marc asks Mark at some point if the song's about him, and Mark mumbles no, it's about someone else ...

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:02 (twenty years ago) link

I thought "The Mistake" was about themselves.

Weeeell I wasn't gonna go there, but there may've indeed been more identification going on than they suspected; I guess, though, it's supposed to be about St. Kurt, at least sort-of.

(an awesome, awesome song)

It was our fave at the time.

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:06 (twenty years ago) link

The Fall - 'I'm Frank' ("That was Craig's tribute to Frank Zappa. Now we can all laugh about this but that was his attempt to be Frank so therefore I have entitled it 'I'm Frank'")

OK, so it's not really about Frank Zappa as such.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:08 (twenty years ago) link

"Song For Bob Dylan", David Bowie

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:21 (twenty years ago) link

Isn't "Rough Boys" by Pete Townshend about the Sex Pistols?

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:31 (twenty years ago) link

"Astley in a Noose" by The Wonderstuff

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:31 (twenty years ago) link

Mr Wilson by John Cale (partly about Brian Wilson anyway)

― Damian (Damian), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:32 (twenty years ago) link

http://bogart-tribute.net/images3/toons/dennis.jpg

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:35 (twenty years ago) link

Hahaha I meant Harold Wilson!

― Damian (Damian), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:47 (twenty years ago) link

would you accept "Hey Hey My My"?

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:18 (twenty years ago) link

"political song for michael jackson to sing" - minutemen
1. Hootie & The Blowfish (Willis) - 3:08
2. Kurt Cobain (Willis) - 2:26
3. Nirvana (Willis) - 2:21
4. The Rolling Stones (Willis) - 2:15
5. Jello Biafra (Willis) - 3:02
6. Mojo Nixon (Willis) - 2:09
7. Bolt Thrower (Willis) - 2:15
8. Spin Doctors (Willis) - 3:16
9. Dave Grohl (Willis) - 3:02
10. Foo Fighters (Willis) - 2:59
11. Pink Floyd (Willis) - 2:52
12. Blues Traveler (Willis) - 2:49
13. Fugazi (Willis) - 3:00
14. Blackie-O (Willis) - 2:37
15. KRS-1 (Willis) - 2:53
16. Morbid Angel (Willis) - 2:31
17. KMFDM (Willis) - 2:55
18. Shonen Knife (Willis) - 2:30
19. Liz Phair (Willis) - 3:05
20. Courney Love (Willis) - 2:59
21. Jefferson Airplane (Willis) - 3:09

RIP.

best line in "the unseen power..."
"Time After Time / Was my least favorite song"

― david day (winslow), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:35 (twenty years ago) link

yes that line is the very crux

― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:37 (twenty years ago) link

"Sweet Gene Vincent" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads
"Bo Diddley is a Communist" by Eugene Chadbourne
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett)
"Three Stars" by Eddie Cochran (Holly, Bopper, Valens)

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:39 (twenty years ago) link

"The Baltimores" - Jonathan Richman
"Velvet Underground" - Jonathan Richman

Wasn't "Whole of the Moon" by the Waterboys supposed to be about Prince?

Also, I seem to remember some band recording a song called "Michael Stipe (Suck My Long Skinny Pipe" but I'm buggered if I can find any reference to it on Google.

― retort pouch (retort pouch), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:58 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, what about songs about Kurt Cobain - they could be a genre in themselves:

1) Mighty K.C. - For Squirrels
2) I Don't Blame You - Cat Power
3) Sleeps with Angels - Neil Young
4) About A Boy - Patti Smith
5) A bunch of Hole's Live Through This

Also, don't forget the Replacement's pre-Alex Chilton shout-out:

Johnnie's Gonna Die (Johnny Thunders)

Also, if you included rap dis/battle records in this we could keep thing going thread going indefinitely.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:45 (twenty years ago) link

there's probably more Kurt Cobain stuff I'm forgetting...

Also, what if You're So Vain by Carly Simon is really about Mick Jagger and not Warren Beatty, then that would count too.

Oh yeah and How Do You Sleep by Lennon is about McCartney...

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:47 (twenty years ago) link

"Jad Fair Drives Women Wild" - The Spinanes
"Mark Robinson" - The Graverobbers
"Cath Carroll" - Unrest
"I Love Calvin" - Unrest (Calvin Johnson/Beat Happening)
"Butch Willis Is A Psychopath" - Unrest
"Jumper Clown" - Marc Riley & the Creatures (Mark E. Smith/The Fall)
"James Brown" - Cabaret Voltaire
"Levi Stubbs' Tears" - Billy Bragg
"Rita MacNeil" - Stompin' Tom Connors
"Lady k.d. lang" - Stompin' Tom Connors
"He Was A Big Freak" - Betty Davis (rumoured to be about Jimi Hendrix)
"Miracle Land" - East River Pipe (Kurt Cobain)

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:50 (twenty years ago) link

Also, I neglected to mention the deathless "Morrissey Rides A Cockhorse" by the Warlock Pinchers.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:57 (twenty years ago) link

Here's an obscure one:

On Paul Weller's 2000 solo album Heliocentric there's a song called "He's the Keeper" which is a tribute to Ronnie Lane of the Small Faces....

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:57 (twenty years ago) link

I wonder why I never get any work done?

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:58 (twenty years ago) link

How about "Tupelo" by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds?

"Pray Like Aretha Franklin" by Scritti Politti (It isn't about her, but the category seems to have stretched)

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:58 (twenty years ago) link

Another Cobain song: 'Let Me In' by REM.

― retort pouch (retort pouch), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:59 (twenty years ago) link

Frank Black - "The Man Who Was Too Loud" (about - yes - Jonathan Richman, if memory serves)

and, oh yeah - Momus - "Walter Carlos"

― retort pouch (retort pouch), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:02 (twenty years ago) link

Haha, another one:

Ween - "I Hate The Smiths (And Stephen Morrissey)"

― retort pouch (retort pouch), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:04 (twenty years ago) link

Jazz Butcher, "When Eno Sings" and "Southern Mark Smith"; MES songs should have should have their own category.
"Mark E. Smith" Bar-B-Q Killers
"MES and Brix" Barbara Manning
"Two States" by Pavement (okay, not really but it might as well be, in the manner of Unseen Power of the etc.)
and the songs previously mentioned

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:20 (twenty years ago) link

not to mention the small spate of techno songs about dead rock stars- "James Brown Is Dead", "Michael Jackson Is In Heaven Now","Who Is Elvis?" and its own parody, "Who Is Brenda?" (on some screwy 90210 parody record)

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:23 (twenty years ago) link

'squarepusher stole my barbeque' by special moth

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:24 (twenty years ago) link

"Morissey Rides a Cockhorse" by Warlock Pinchers
"Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?" (about Hank Williams) by Waterboys
"Prince Alone in the Studio" by Smog
"For the Mekons et al" by Palace
"Roll Over Beethoven" any version

― Moss Feaster (Moss Feaster), Thursday, 11 September 2003 04:00 (twenty years ago) link

"Michael Jackson" - Fatboy Slim
"Ladykiller" - Lush
"James Brown" - Blood Brothers
"Be My Yoko Ono" - Barenaked Ladies
"Girls" - D12

― Famous Athlete, Thursday, 11 September 2003 05:19 (twenty years ago) link

"I Just Wanna Get Along" - the Breeders. Nice "fuckyou" song, that.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 11 September 2003 05:33 (twenty years ago) link

'jimmy webb is god' the boo radleys
'a banda do ze pretinho' jorge ben

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Thursday, 11 September 2003 05:35 (twenty years ago) link

"The Freed Pig" Sebadoh (J Mascis)
"Nick Drake Tape" Clem Snide
"The wreck of the Arthur Lee" Robyn Hitchcock
"I saw Nick Drake" Robyn Hitchcock
And then there's The Boy with the Arab Strap
And then there's Mojo Nixon

― Shmuel (shmuel), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:09 (twenty years ago) link

'Johnny Thunders' by Vic Godard; 'I Can't Get "Bouncing Babies" by the Teardrop Explodes' by the Freshies

― bham, Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:12 (twenty years ago) link

Malkmus did a retrospective appreciation of Reckoning for a magazine (Uncut? Mojo?) recently that confirmed his dislike of 'Time After Time'. I think he's nuts.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:13 (twenty years ago) link

"bring me the head of jerry garcia" by iron prostate, "empty garden" by elton john.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:20 (twenty years ago) link

is this thread just for songs completely about a musician, or ones that just mention other musicians?

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:28 (twenty years ago) link

"Cool as Kim Deal" - Dandy Warhols

"Needle and the Damage Done" - Neil Young

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Thursday, 11 September 2003 08:06 (twenty years ago) link

You're One by Imperial Teen is about Kurt Cobain too.

― Damian (Damian), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:36 (twenty years ago) link

They Might Be Giants, "We're The Replacements"

― Nick Mirov (nick), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:53 (twenty years ago) link

Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly'
Eileen Rose, 'Tom Waits Crooning'
Black Box Recorder, 'Andrew Ridgeley'

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 11 September 2003 10:02 (twenty years ago) link

bill drummond 'julian cope is dead'
julian cope 'bill drummond says'

― joni, Thursday, 11 September 2003 10:31 (twenty years ago) link

Miles Davis wrote "He Loved Him Madly" as a tribute to Duke Ellington when he died.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 11 September 2003 13:01 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 31 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

New Babe The Blue Ox album has a song called D. Boon and I got curious. I wonder if he's actually the musician with the most songs about him. Quick scan of Spotify reveals a whole bunch.

― dlp9001, Friday, 25 July 2014 14:56 (nine years ago) link

seven years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzjO6ADwD74

― xzanfar, Friday, 25 March 2022 13:40 (two years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WRSO3usjKA

― xzanfar, Friday, 25 March 2022 13:41 (two years ago) link

Joni Mitchell - "That Song About the Midway"
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/joni-mitchell-dumped-david-crosby/

― raven, Saturday, 26 March 2022 11:21 (two years ago) link

one month passes...

Pee Shy - "Jad Fair"

― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 16:56 (one year ago) link

Cat Power, "Song to Bobby"

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 17:01 (one year ago) link

William Butler Yeats in jeans
Got up to play guitar and sing
In some joint in Mission Beach last night
At the door sat Tom Waits
In a porkpie hat and silver skates
Jugglin' three collection plates, Jesus Christ

Townes Van Zandt standin' at the bar
Skinnin' a Hollywood movie star
And he can't remember where he parked his car
Or to whom he lost the keys
Full of angst and hillbilly haiku
What's a poor Ft. Worth boy to do
Go on rhyme somethin' for em' man
Show him how you really feel

--Guy Clark, but I like James McMurtry's version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jwuzD-OHFE

― deep luminous trombone (Eazy), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 17:08 (one year ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nysF0cVlF4A

Wiley - P Money

I can't think of another song bigging someone up who's part of the same scene

― paolo, Thursday, 28 April 2022 07:11 (one year ago) link

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