Friday, June 25, 2010

Weekend Listomania (Special Extremely Meta Audio/Video Edition!

Well, it's Friday, and you know what that means, Yes, my Oriental top hat containment dome specialist Fah Lo Suee and I will be heading off to...well, it's a secret, actually, but it involves the blood of Catholic babies and a new recipe for Wheat Thins.

But perhaps I've already said too much.

That being the case, and since things will be a little quiet around here till we return, here's a fun little project for us all:

Best or Worst Post-Elvis Pop/Rock/Soul Song Either Referencing A Song (or Songs) or Having the Word "Song" in the Title!!!!

Self-explanatory, I think, and no arbitrary rules whatsoever, you're welcome very much. And apologies if we've done something like this before, but of course as you know I'm senile.

And my totally top of my head Top Eight are:

8. Bob Dylan -- Sara


Bob Dylan - Sara .mp3
Found at bee mp3 search engine
"Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel/Writin’'Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' for you." Right, Bob. You didn't actually write that song, hopped up on the goofballs, in the hallway of a Nashville studio while the highly paid session guys waited for you to finish it.

What a fricking liar.

7. Edward Bear -- Last Song



"This is the last song I'll ever sing for you..." I don't know what the woman in question had to say when she first heard this piece of crap, but I hope it was "God, I fucking hope so." Incidentally, the following excerpt from Edward Bear's Wiki entry -- The band is a favourite of Quentin Tarantino, who feels the band should be regarded as "The Beatles of Canada" -- is the single most terrifying thing I've ever read.

6. Buddy Holly -- Peggy Sue Got Married




"You recall the girl that's been in nearly every song..." The greatest sequel in pop music history, I think; this is the version overdubbed in stereo by The Fireballs in the early 60s, and it's one of my favorite things ever.

5. Tone Loc -- Funky Cold Medina



"And like Mick Jagger said/I can't get no satisfaction..." I think we all know the feeling, my friend. This remains one of the last truly great frat-rock (in the 60s sense) records, incidentally, although at the time it came out, nobody seemed to notice its obvious lineage.

4. The Pogues -- And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda



Folkie Eric Bogle's often-covered anti-war classic. The Pogues version seems to be regarded as definitive, or at least as definitive as these things get, and with good reason.

3. John Lennon -- How Do You Sleep?



"The only thing you done is 'Yesterday...'". I still say this is a very nice piece of music let down by an embarrassingly bitchy lyric. Seriously, if John was that pissed he should have picked up the phone and spared the rest of us the temper tantrum. IMHO.

2. Fountains of Wayne -- Peace and Love



Because, you know, we like to have something recorded in this century. Plus, this inspirational verse:

Lying on the floor
Just playing my guitar
Trying to find the chords for
"Just The Way You Are"


Heh.

And the Numero Uno Eskimo Club bottle of a song just has to be...

1. The Guess Who -- When the Band was Singing Shakin All Over




A rather dispiriting ode to their first hit, the kick-ass cover of the same Johnny Kidd and the Pirates song later immortalized by The Who. From their even more dispiriting 1975 album, and I mean so dispiriting that even a rabid Guess Who fan like myself was relieved that the band packed it in immediately after.

Incidentally, if you don't get the Eskimo Club bottle metaphor, I'm old enough to be your grandfather.

But alrighty then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania -- theme: best or worst performance as a Nazi by and actor or actress -- is now up over at Box Office. As always, it would be an act of great kindness if you could see your way to going over there and leaving a comment, despite the clunkiness of the new commenting system. Thanks!]

33 comments:

David said...

"So I ripped off the chords to 'Bron-yr-Aur…'”: Red House Painters, “Song for a Blue Guitar”

“96 Tears through 24 hours/and sex once every hour"--X, "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline"

“No one wants a tune about the 100th luftbaloon…” –“Plus Ones,” Okkervil River

“Time After Time,’ was my least favorite song…”—Pavement, “The Unseen Power of the Picket Fence”

Wendy said...

"It's The Same Old Song" by the Four Tops ... with, of course, the one and only Funk Brothers.

Steve Simels said...


“No one wants a tune about the 100th luftbaloon…” –“Plus Ones,” Okkervil River


You know, those guys have always left me cold, but that's a great line. I may have to reassess.

Edward said...

"Somewhere in the distance I hear 'Who Shot Sam'"- Elvis Costello Motel Matches

"Looks like Billy Boy Oliver singing 'I Wish You Would'"- Elvis Costello "Baby's Got A Brand New Hairdo"

Extensive quote from Sister Ray in Jonathan Richman's 'Velvet Underground'

There are probably enough answer songs, like Judy's Turn to Cry to fill the whole catagory.

"Your Song" - Elton John

"Turkish Song of the Damned" -The Pogues

"Terry's Song" - Bruce Springsteen

"Song To A Deadman" - T-Bone Burnett

Frank's Song - Tom Waits

No More Songs - Phil Ochs

I could go on, but have to go to work;>

Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary said...

I would write "Song Sung Blue" by Neil Diamond, but I might lose my breakfast.

So I'll say "The Singer Not the Song" by the Glimmer Twins.

dave™© said...

"Sad Song" by Lou Reed.

Inspirational verse:

"I'm gonna stop wasting my time
Someone else would have broken both of her arms
Sad song - sad song..."

dave™© said...

Gee, I always kinda liked the bitchy lyrics for "How Do You Sleep" - but you could always have picked "Glass Onion" ("I told you about Strawberry Fields...").

dave™© said...

And how can you forget Sonny Bono's magnum opus, written during his divorce from Cher, "Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer (and Papa Used to Write All Her Songs"? It was no "A Cowboy's Work is Never Done," but it does have "song" in the title!

dave™© said...

"Song is Over" - the Who
"Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma" - Melanie
"A Song for You" - Leon Russell

Jon said...

That Hootie song where he sung a whole verse of "Idiot Wind."

Jon said...

Oh, and "Less Than A Feeling" by the Hoodoo Gurus.

J. Loslo said...

Radar Love!

"The radio plays some forgotten song/
Brenda Lee's 'Comin' On Strong.'"

Or words to that effect.

steve simels said...

You know, say what you will about Hootie, but I have to admire a bunch of guys who titled the followup to their bazillion selling debut album "Fairweather Johnson."
:-)

Michael said...

Johnny Rivers (favorite guilty pleasure)- Summer Rain
All summer long we spent dancin' in the sand
And the jukebox kept on playin'
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Noam Sane said...

David Sylvian, "Pop Song", which is nothing of the sort:

Behind the iron gates
The shifts were worked in silence
Each weekend beckoned like Ulysses' Sirens
And as the words were few
We'd listen to the radio
It was loud and irritated me so

I'll tell you I love you
Like my favorite pop song


Captain Beefheart, "81 Poop Hatch", from Ice Cream for Crow, which remains my favorite Captain album:

a typical musician’s nest of thoughts filter through dust speakers …
"Why don’t you go home? Oh Blobby, are you great," exclaims two lips in some jumbled rock ‘n’ roll tune, and wears a spot I cannot scratch


...and for the more traditional-minded, Van Morrison's lovely waltz, "Song of Home", from his fine last record, "Keep it Simple".

Van also shouts out some songs and singers at the end of the exquisitely enervating "Real Real Gone"...Wilson Picket's "In the Midnight Hour," Solomon Burke's "If You Need Me," James Brown's "Try Me".

Edward said...

Ok more:

"Roy Orbison's singing for the lonely"- Bruce Sprinsteen -Thunder Road (so it is more of an allusion, it'll do)

"The boys from the NYPD choir were singing 'Galway Bay'" -The Pogues Fairy Tale of New York

Jonathan Richman's Parties In The USA mentions Louie Louie, Little Latin Loop De Lou and Hang On Sloopy

Wendy said...

Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) by Otis Redding

And the Beatles were self-referential on more than one occasion ... "All You Need Is Love" ends with a reprise of "She Loves You", and "Glass Onion" has tons of references to earlier songs:

I told you about strawberry fields,
You know the place where nothing is real
Well here's another place you can go
Where everthing flows.
Looking through the bent backed tulips
To see how the other half lives
Looking through a glass onion.

I told you about the walrus and me-man
You know that we're as close as can be-man.
Well here's another clue for you all,
The walrus was Paul.
Standing on the cast iron shore-yeah,
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet-yeah.
Looking through a glass onion.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Looking through a glass onion.

I told you about the fool on the hill,
I tell you man he living there still.
Well here's another place you can be,
Listen to me.

Fixing a hole in the ocean
Trying to make a dove-tail joint-yeah
Looking through a glass onion

John Fowler said...

this week's Listomania is sort of in two categories - I ended up picking nominees for the less interesting part - 'Song' in the title. In some cases, it seems to be a somewhat lame way to title a song when you can't think of anything else - e.g., 'The Riff Song'. Still, some great tunes here, I think. Featuring a song for biology nerds, and Liz Phair x2!

Cadamole - "A Biologist's Mother's Day Song". A niche market song, I suppose - it 'went viral' among biologists last Mother's Day. The biology is spot on & humorous, the sentiment is sweet, and the tune is good too!

Liz Phair - "Divorce Song", off of Exile in Guyville. On many days I would argue that this is the best track on this album...

Liz Phair + Material Issue - "The Tra-La-La song", off of Saturdays Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits. As discussed previously on this blog.

R.E.M. - "Finest Worksong", off of Document. Wins out over "Pop Song 89".

Otis Redding - "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)", off of Ultimate Otis Redding. I see, already nominated by Brooklyn Girl!

Blur - "Song 2", off of Blur.

Fountains of Wayne - "Valley Winter Song", a second choice off of Welcome Interstate Managers.

CCR - "Wrote a Song for Everyone", off of Green River.

Randy Newman - "God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)", off of Sail Away.

Simon & Garfunkel - "59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)", off of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme.

John Mellencamp - "Authority Song", off of Uh-huh.

Research Turtles - "The Riff Song", off of Research Turtles. Probably the least good song on that album, originally pointed out by Steve a few weeks ago. thanks again, as these guys have stayed on my playlist quite a bit recently!

Flock of Seagulls - "Space Age Love Song", off of their first (self-titled). Not as good as "Wishing", but better than "I Ran". But, is it possible to look past the haircuts???


And a nominee for worst, most-annoying 'Song' song:
"The PiƱa Colada Song", by Rupert somebody, I think...

Noam Sane said...

Valley Winter Song

The greatness of this tune cannot be overstated. Nice list, JF.

Faze said...

Kirsty MacColl's Quietly Alone:

"the synthesizer's playing 'Johnny B Goode', so I'd rather go home and stay quietly alone"

Unknown said...

Mitch Friedman - "This Is A Song"

MBowen said...

Aww, you missed the best one:

"Sweet Home Alabama, play that dead band's song

Turn those speakers up full blast, play it all night long!"

here and here

TJWood said...

A few others:

Bad Company, "Shooting Star" (references "Love Me Do" by the Beatles in the first verse)

U2, "Angel of Harlem" (the song's about Billie Holliday, but "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane is the song that gets the mention in the lyric)

And--I had to double check to make sure this one hadn't been mentioned yet, and it's hard to believe on a blog called PowerPop that it hasn't:

Big Star, "Thirteen" (with, of course, the reference to "Paint It Black" by the Stones)

Mike J said...

Song in the title
A House - 13 Wonderful Love Songs
Alex Chilton - The Oogum Boogum Song
Ashtray Boy - Song for Rupert
Bad Religion - Punk Rock Song
BNL - Little Tiny Song
Bat for Lashes - Siren Song
Beatles - Honeymoon Song
Belle & Sebastian - Song for Sunshine
Ben Folds Five - Song for the Dumped
Big Star - India Song
Brian Wilson - Song for Children


I'll stop with the B's since there's still 292 more songs in the list.

dave™© said...

So no one's mentioned "I Wrote a Simple Song" by Billy Preston? How about "This Song" by Beatle George?

And speaking of the Bee-at-els, come on guys - Harry Nilsson! "You Can't Do That"!! BEATLES FOREVER!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-3IH3T1DoE

dave™© said...

Wow, here's Harry singing "You Can't Do That" live at a Beatles' convention in '84. Definitely past his prime, but worth checking out for historical purposes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C63OcPY6AiE

Brooklyn Girl said...

More Beatles: "Northern Song"

Brooklyn Girl said...

And how can we forget Traffic's "(Here's a Little Song) You Can All Join in"?

Easily, I guess. :-)

David said...

In "Night Moves," when Bob starts hummin' a song from 1962..." (I like to think it was "Duke of Earl" or "Telstar"...but that's just me...)

J. Loslo said...

I heard Seger say in an interview that the song he was referring to was "Raindrops" by Dee Clark, although that song actually came out in '61.

Dave said...

There have been many "medley" songs, from Buchanan & Goodman's "Flying Saucer" singles to Spyder turner's bizarre "Stand By me," but against all odds, Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music" seems to transcend the genre. For sheer exuberance and utter craziness, it's had to top.

Anonymous said...

If I can nominate an album rather than a song, the Stone's Get Yer Ya Yas Out, which visually quotes Visions of Johanna. AP

John Fowler said...

Late with another one, and I finally found a 'reference' song - not the easier 'Song' songs...

this one just =had= to be included - it's got a song reference, but the artist is mis-identified, of course:

Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl" (!!), off of Beelzebubba.

to quote:
And someone played a Beach Boys song
On the jukebox
And it was "California Dreamin'"
So we started screamin'
"On such a winter's day"