Non-rap examples of lyrics where the artist refers to him/herself by name

kind of a grey area there given the confusion between Alice Cooper the BAND and the guy who fired that band and changed his name to Alice Cooper

xp

holy shit @ that Sinatra tune

Sinatra's discography features some very novel corners.

Also think this happens a lot in reggae.

Also add Bohannon to Bo Diddley and Bootsy, and that's just the B's.

Sinatra's discography features some very novel corners.

no doubt - I consider myself a fairly big fan, but my interest hasn't stretched past the mid-60s really. I should probably listen to Watertown...

Watertown is one of my favorite albums of all time (no doubt helped by the fact that it was a total flop)

I remember being surprised to learn there IS an actual Watertown in northern New York.

Sensational Alex Harvey Band, "Framed"

I'm walking down the street mindin' my own affair
when two policemen grabbed me and I'm unaware
They said "Is your name Alexander?" and I said "Why, sure!"
They said "You're the cat that we've been looking for."

Another Alex...

In bed this morning you called me Clyde
Alex is the name that I go by!

Lou Reed, "My Old Man"

When I was a young boy in Brooklyn
Going to public school
During recess in the concrete playground
They lined us up by twos
In alphabetical order, Reagan, Reed and Russo
I still remember the names
And stickball and stoopball were the only games
That we played

similarly: "I'd like to send this one out to Lou and Rachel" in Coney Island Baby

Wacky Women by Sparks

Hello, everybody, this is Russell
Right before I sing I'm gonna make a muscle

Ouija Board, Ouija Board by Morrissey has the "S.T.E.V.E.N P.U.S.H.O. double F" part

"We Love Girls" by Buster has the band all sign off by name at the end:

"With love from Buster"
"With love from Robbie"
"With love from Peter"
"With love from Kevin"
"With love... from Les"

I just looked at their wiki page to check I had their names correct and Les died last month

forgot an obvious one, "B-I-D Spells Bid" by the Monochrome Set

An even more obvious one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVGl4dPzJJM

I truly apologize for dredging up traumatic memories that we've all so heroically learned to repress but I just have to ask:

Well

Are you Johnny Ray?
Are you Slim Ray?
Are you Paid Ray?
Who wants to know? Who wants to know?

Are you Sting Ray?
Are you Nick Ray?
Are you Jimmy Ray?
Who wants to know? Who wants to know?

― i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch)

thank god somebody mentioned jimmy ray; i was beginning to think you'd all gone barmy

in the original version of radiohead's "lift" from 1996 thom works his own name into the lyrics. don't think they ever released that one, though.

A warning from Wikipedia:

A November 2015 announcement on Jimmy Ray's official fan page stated that he is working on material for a comeback record. This was later confirmed in September 2016 on his Record label's website "La Rocka Records was created in 2016 as a launchpad for UK singer Jimmy Ray's 'comeback' album tentatively titled 'Live to Fight Another Day.'"

And now I'm a crushed credit card registered to Smith
Not the name that you call me with

Elliott Smith - The Biggest Lie

Robyn Hitchcock - my wife and my dead wife

My dead wife sits in a chair
Combing her hair
I know she's there
She wanders off to the bed
Shaking her head
"Robyn," she says
"You know I don't take sugar."

Bolan likes to rock now
Yes he does yes he does
Bolan likes to rock now
Yes he does, yes he does

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, "The Blimp"

Master master
This is recorded thru uh flies ear
'n you have t' have uh flies eye t' see it
It’s the thing that’s gonna make Captain Beefheart
And his magic band fat
Frank, it's the big hit
It's the blimp
It's the blimp, Frank
It's the blimp

The Roches - they'll tell you their names but they won't give out their phone numbers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ8MdYsgELs

Another Alexander O'Neal one, from In the middle:

Some people are satisfied
Living and loving on borrowed time
But if you can't be my own baby
All you have to do is say
Alex darling (doesn't?) play it that way

The Floaters - Float On

Almost every post-1975 Jonathan Richman song

Lambchop - "Kurt Wagner's Heart Attack"

Always loved this bit from "I Think She Likes Me" by Treat Her Right (Mark Sandman's pre-Morphine band)

"She listens to every word I say
I look at her she don't look away
I tell her that I play for "Treat Her Right"
She asks me if I'm gonna play tonight - Yeah!"

From Jarvis Cocker's lyrics/vocals for Barry Adamson's 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Pelvis'

Ahhh, can't you see what's on offer
Yeah babe it's going cheap today
I enter a room and all the girls say
C'mon Jarv, can I be the first?
Oh you make us so hot we feel we're gonna burst

She said Paul, you better look around
How long you think you can run that body down?
How many nights you think that you can do what you been doin'?
Who you foolin'?

--"Run That Body Down" (P. Simon)

"Boogie down with Davy now" from Bowie's 'John I'm Only Dancing Again'.

Old hat for Bowie, really -- from the mid-sixties, "Can't Help Thinking About Me":

"Now I leave them all in the never never land
The station seems so cold the ticket's in my hand
My girl calls my name, 'Hi Dave.
Drop in, see around, come back
If you're this way again.'"

I feel like this was a common device in old-school indiepop, but I can only think of a couple (non Jonathan Richman) examples:

Heavenly - Escort Crash on Marston Street

Hey now, Robert, you happy with your smashed up car
And your broken neck bone, and your facial wounds?
You've murdered Amelia. Pete can no longer play guitar
And Mathew's brain is damaged. But that's not so different
Could you tell at all?

and All Girl Summer Fun Band - Grizzly Bear

We all know that you can't always do what you feel
But if you know exactly how you feel, you can always come and tell me say,
"Hey Kim, I'm kind of feeling like a grizzly bear
Yeah, I feel like a grizzly bear,
I want to roll on the ground and I want to mess up your hair"

Learned about this one from the "You Must Remember This" podcast -- second episode ever! (And this song is not a joke -- I'm only quoting the first part of it, it gets crazier from there.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCCw6gYEeKw

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, December 7, 2016 12:53 PM (two months ago)

I like the one that goes

I'm Frankie Sinatra
I'm Frank Sinatra
I'm Frankie, me boy, you don't know
I've got the perfect voice to sing calypso

srsly though, thanks for sharing that, it's nuts

My favourite example of this ever: Goddo's "Sweet Thing."

youtube.com/watch?v=-2GK1jxvroE

"You like the fact I'm in the Goddo band / You're aware of a one-night stand."

(Didn't embed the video, so don't complain to me.)

"They call me, Dr. John, The Night Tripper"

Another Bowie, "Teenage Wildlife":

Same old thing in brand new drag comes sweeping into view
As ugly as a teenage millionaire pretending it's a whizz kid world
You'll take me aside, and say
"Well, David, what shall I do? They wait for me in the hallway"
I'll say "don't ask me, I don't know any hallways"
But they move in numbers and they've got me in a corner
I feel like a group of one, no no they can't do this to me
I'm not some piece of teenage wildlife

The Mighty Sparrow - Sparrow Dead

(he probably does this a lot but that's the one that immediately sprung to mind)

Belle & Sebastian - "This Is Just a Modern Rock Song"

Stevie's full of good intentions,
Richards into rock 'n' roll,
Stuart's staying in and he thinks it's a sin,
That he has to leave the house at all.

Electric Light Orchestra - "Shine a Little Love" (cued up: https://youtu.be/GJuTIxwQw0k?t=3m38s)

You shine a little love on my life
(Shiii-iii-iiine)
You shine a little love on my life
(E-L-O)
You shine a little love on my life and let me see

The Floaters - Float On

― MarkoP, Wednesday, December 7, 2016

And the song it inspired, The B-52s - "Song for a Future Generation"

Speaking of whom, also "52 Girls" namechecks Kate and Cindy.

No Bad Religion song can make your life complete ("No Direction")

Alice Cooper - "Be My Lover"

"she asked me why the singer's name was Alice, I said listen baby, you really wouldn't understand"

Jacques Brel, "Jackie"

Another one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAZwnl6UAig

Jacques Brel, "Grand Jacques"

Jerry Lee Lewis is the master of this
― Brad C., Wednesday, 7 December 2016 15:40 (two months ago)

Best example, "Lewis Boogie":

"My name is Jerry Lee Lewis, come from Louisiana
I'm gonna do you a little boogie on this here piano"

Mary J Blige x2

Doesn't matter if you're white or black
Let's get crunk cause Mary's back
(Family Affair)

Deep inside I wish that they could see
That I'm just plain ol' Mary, Mary (and throughout much else of the song)
(Deep Inside)

Anoter Lennon one on "God" :
"I was the Walrus but now I'm John"

oh and also in "Give Peace A Chance" : "Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko"

Beyonce certainly has plenty !

Me and Mike Watt playing the guitar