Almanac Music: Songs About Songs
[Source: Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: Songs About Songs
In this week’s Footy Almanac music piece, I look at the topic of ‘songs about songs’, that is, songs that reference themselves (or, indeed, songs in general) in some fashion. They could, for example, make a general allusion to themselves within the lyric, or in some other way refer to their own status as a song, such as mention why they were composed. Perhaps the best way to show the type of song I’m describing is to illustrate by using my own examples. As usual, readers are warmly encouraged to participate in the comments section with their own choices and further discussion.
‘Glass Onion’, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles (1968)
‘Glass Onion’, written by John Lennon, is a psychedelic rock number from the double album The Beatles. It can be seen as a quintessential song about songs, or indeed about the kinds of things that constitute ‘songness’, if one may coin a word. It does this through referencing a range of other Beatles songs, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, ‘I Am the Walrus’, ‘Lady Madonna’, ‘The Fool on the Hill’ and ‘Fixing a Hole’. It’s certainly a song through which one can see songs anew by peeling back the layers, if you’ll pardon the pun.
‘Your Song’, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, performed by Elton John (1969)
This gentle, piano-based ballad, with lyrics by Bernie Taupin, is a love song that is centrally about itself and its own creation. For example: ‘My gift is my song / And this one’s for you …’. ‘Your Song’ was Elton John’s first international hit and was voted in a British ITV poll in 2017 as Britain’s favourite Elton John song.
‘You’re So Vain’, written and performed by Carly Simon (1972)
‘You’re So Vain’, from Carly Simon’s third studio album, No Secrets, is a pop-rock number that was a major worldwide hit for Simon, and one that has attained iconic status. ‘You’re so vain / You probably think this song is about you …’ are the key lines here.
‘Song Sung Blue’, written and performed by Neil Diamond (1972)
This folk-pop ballad was a major international hit and U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #1 for Neil Diamond and much covered by other artists. Centrally, it’s about itself, a song dealing with the cathartic nature of songs with a ‘blues’ element: ‘Me and you are subject to the blues now and then / But when you take the blues and make a song / You sing them out again …’ ‘Song Sung Blue’ initially appeared on Diamond’s eighth studio album, Moods, and then on many of his live and compilation albums.
‘I Write the Songs’, written by Bruce Johnston, performed by Barry Manilow (1975)
To my ears, this song sounds pretty corny, but was a big international hit for Barry Manilow, as many would know. Bruce Johnston of Beach Boys fame was the writer. He has said the ‘I’ in the song was God. A number of other artists have covered ‘I Write the Songs’, including Captain and Tennille, who did the original version, Bruce Johnston and David Cassidy.
‘This Song’, written and performed by George Harrison (1976)
‘This Song’ is a jazzy, pop-rock joy, with clever, witty lyrics to boot. To give an example of the latter, the song commences:
‘This song has nothing tricky about it
This song ain’t black or white and as far as I know
Don’t infringe on anyone’s copyright, so
This song, we’ll let be
This song is in E
This song is for you and …’.
Wikipedia states: ‘Harrison wrote the song as a response to the copyright infringement suit launched against him over his early 1970s hit “My Sweet Lord”.’ The song was the first single released from Harrison’s 1976 album Thirty Three & 1/3.
‘Silly Love Songs’, written by Paul and Linda McCartney, performed by Wings (1976)
This major Wings hit is an iconic song about songs. According to Wikipedia: ‘”Silly Love Songs” was written as a rebuttal to music critics who had criticized McCartney for writing lightweight love songs.’ He is in effect having a dig at these critics by writing a love song that is centrally about love songs. The first six lines set the premise up in a masterful way:
‘You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs
I look around me and I see it isn’t so
Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs
And what’s wrong with that?
I’d like to know
‘Cause here I go again …’
A musical highlight of the song is the melodic bass line by McCartney.
‘I Bought a Flat Guitar Tutor’, written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman, performed by 10cc (1977)
Here’s a clever song, from 10cc’s fifth album Deceptive Bends, in which the lyric is basically the chords of the song itself – and there are quite a few chords, some quite exotic! In this sense, it is a self-referential piece of work par excellence.
‘Sad Songs (Say So Much)’, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, performed by Elton John (1984)
This catchy pop-rock number, the last track on John’s eighteenth studio album Breaking Hearts, is very much about the cathartic nature of ‘sad songs’, in that they basically help us release the unhappiness we are feeling: ‘ … from the lips of some old singer / We can share the troubles we already know’ are some apt lines from the first verse, in this context.
‘Yellow’, written by Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion, performed by Coldplay (2000)
‘Yellow’, a pop-rock love song, is one of Coldplay’s oldest and biggest hits. Early on in this evocative, melodic piece, there’s a self-referential section: ‘I came along / I wrote a song for you / And all the things you do / And it was called Yellow’. This song is from Coldplay’s debut album, Parachutes.
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So, Almanackers, it’s that time again! Over to you. Your responses to this topic are most welcome. Please add your own choice of a song (or songs) concerning the ‘songs about songs’ topic in the comments section, along with any other points you’d like to make.
[Note: Wikipedia has been a good general reference for this piece, particularly when it comes to checking dates and other details.]
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Another great topic KD
A few from my electronic musical rolodex
Same Old Song (Four Tops)
I Have To Say I Love You In A Song (Jim Croce)
Last Song (Edward Bear)
Love Song (The Damned)
Love Song (The Cure)
Old Fashioned Love Song (Three Dog Night)
Only A Northern Song (Beatles)
Play Mama Play (John J Francis)
Song For A Future Generation (B52s)
Song For Bob Dylan (Bowie)
Song From Under The Floorboards (Magazine)
This Is Not A Love Song (PIL)
Let’s All Turn On (Hoodoo Gurus)
Great list, Swish. Glad you really like the topic. I think it’s a particularly stimulating one, too. Thanks for your selections, and being ‘first cab off the rank’, so to speak
For the Sake of the Song, Townes Van Zandt
Somedays You Write the Song, Guy Clark
You Never Even Called Me By My Name, David Allan Coe
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song), Otis Redding
Wrote a Song for Everyone, CCR
Kentucky, February 27, 1971, Tom T Hall
especially the Tom T Hall song!
Thanks so much Rick, for these selections. Love the general country flavour here, too. (Otis Redding excepted.) To select two – ‘For the Sake of the Song’: Townes Van Zandt – what a beautifully poetic talent is at work here; ‘Kentucky, February 27, 1971’ – what a masterful example of the songwriting art, especially its ending, which maybe we’re half-expecting.
Yes, it’s beautiful philosophical musing, and a tear hits my eye listening to that second last verse every time.
Swish’s selections are excellent, I recently read a bio by the last surviving Four Tops member, Duke Fakir. Same Old Song is magnificent. The Jim Croce song mirrors the theme in CCR song. And I’m crazy for the Johnny Rotten song.
Another excellent thread KD.
Thanks again, Rick.
Yes, I always enjoy Swish’s contributions to these themed song-related pieces. (Cheers, Swish!) And am looking forward to what other Almanackers offer in response to this especially interesting ‘songs about songs’ theme.
Also, I’m just waiting for the first person to use to the term ‘self-reflexive’ – oh, it’s me!
Point of order, Mr Chairman. Great concept, but the criteria really got my head spinning. My modern reference is always Jason Isbell and 3 songs came to mind. “Songs that She Sang in the Shower” – “still ring in my ear, like Wish You Were Here”. Reckon that one qualifies.
But then I thought a couple of his songs that reference bands/musicians. “To a Band that I Loved” about a local band he grew up idolising.
“You were singing that night by yourself
And I thought I was the only one left
From an old southern town
New ideas bouncing round in my head
And I thought everyone like me was dead”
And his “Danko/Manuel” tribute song to the 2 members of The Band who died tragically young.
Then I started thinking about “American Pie” and I realised I was straying way too far from your concept – perhaps into the next one?
Love your work. PB.
Staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel
Writing “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” for you.
Hi Peter. Yes, the ‘songs about songs’ topic can be a head spinning one – but in discussions like these, I generally favour the ‘broad church’ approach: any song that is in some meaningful sense about other particular songs or songs in general is OK to include.
I suppose examples of ‘songs about songs’ in the purest sense are those in which a song draws attention to its own processes and/or its own features, such as the Tom T Hall song ‘Kentucky, February 27, 1971’ mentioned by Rick Kane (in which the last line is absolutely crucial) and ‘I Bought a Flat Guitar Tutor’ by 10cc, mentioned by yours truly.
Hi DB – yes, good, relevant quote from Dylan’s ‘Sara’ – right on topic. Thanks!
With a few of these, I might be drawing a bit of a long bow (not to mention some of these are not at all well known!). But here goes:
Love songs (Fleming and John)
The song is over (The Who)
Songs of Praise (Roy Wood)
Nancy sing me a song (Roy Wood)
The Song (Roy Wood)
Why does such a pretty girl sing those sad songs (Roy Wood)
Time of our life (Jeff Lynne’s ELO)
Beatles Forever (Electric Light Orchestra)
Don’t wanna (Electric Light Orchestra Part II. Lyrics include “don’t wanna sing”)
Kathy’s song (Simon and Garfunkel)
Song for Susan (Crosby Stills and Nash)
(Not so) happy song for problem children (Australian Crawl)
Hi Liam. Thanks for this interesting and varied bunch of songs.
To pluck out one for further comment: I’d entirely forgotten that Oz Crawl had done ‘(Not So) Happy Song For Problem Children”! What a title!
Smartarse Songwriters by Skyhooks from their best album, Ego is not a Dirty Word.
I don’t wanna hear no love songs, seventy-eight piece
Orchestra, girl choirs, fancy session men, multi-track
Harmonies, conga drums, moog synthesizers, electric
Pop-up toasters, Phase 3 GT Falcons with suckpower…
Yeah, Mickey. Thanks for ‘Smartarse Songwriters’. I know this one well, going back to the days of the ol’ family stereo playing the Ego is not a Dirty Word LP in the 70s.
Hey KD ¬ I’m back from an overseas sojourn and catching up on business, but I couldn’t leave this thread without:
The Song Remains The Same – LZ
Cheers, KD
Thanks so much, Karl, for your contribution here. Excellent – nothing like some Led Zep to get the juices flowing!
Still going!
(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song by BJ Thomas
Song #2, Blur
Our Last Song Together, Neil Sedaka
She Sang Hymns Out of Tune, The Dillards
and the reason I came back to add a few more songs
Where the Song Will Find Me, Lucinda Williams form her latest album, which is released tomorrow so go on, and get it!
Thanks, Rick – additional contributions always welcome!
I’ll certainly check out the Lucinda Williams material, too.
Here’s a few:
Sad Song – Lou Reed
This is Not a Love Song – Public Image Ltd
Not Given Lightly – Chris Knox
Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Oops: Sorry for the PiL repetition!
May I make up for it by these contenders:
An Ancient Song – Louis Tillett
This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr – Jeff Beck
I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song – Jim Croce
Song for Whoever – Beautiful South
White Man in Hammersmith Palais – The Clash
Hi Peter. Thank you for your excellent additions to what is rapidly becoming, overall, an excellent collection of ‘songs about songs’.
Of course there’s Eric Bogle’s classic; The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.
Glen!
What a fabulous song, and what a fine and fitting inclusion here, Glen!
For me, one of the most affecting verses in ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ is Verse 4, in which the singer sings the story of many of the original Anzacs:
‘So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve, to mourn, and to pity.’
Though the singer ‘thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me / To grieve, to mourn, and to pity’, it’s enough to make you want to cry, thinking of men fighting in a foreign war, then coming back back to their homeland badly wounded, but there is no one there waiting for them. This would have been the reality for so many.
It’s a powerful song Kevin. My mum had five uncles in the first AIF, four came back: one was a TPI. The other three all suffered to various degrees as did all of those who returned from the ‘Great Trade War’.
To make a slight change, though not to lesson the morbidity of the music does Eddie Cochran’s Three Stars fit in here? For those unaware Eddie sings of the three young rockers, all friends of his, killed in that tragic plane crash of February 1959: Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J.P. Richardson, ‘the Big Bopper’.
You hear his voice start to break as he sings tribute to Buddy Holly.. Sadly Cochran was dead by April 1960 joining his friends in the Rock’n’Roll heaven.
Glen!
Hi Glen, thanks for your further comments. Yes, so many Australians have been touched in some significant way by war and, I would argue, affected down the generations by it; for example, various members of the Densley family were in WW1 (as well as other wars), including my great-grandfather, who was in the thick of it as a machine gunner in France – he came back, though goodness knows what the psychological toll was.
Regarding ‘Three Stars’, it’s more a song about performers, as opposed to a song about songs – though in a loose sense the latter term could apply, as a characteristic of Buddy’s songs is mentioned (‘But just a song from, just a song from you / Could make the coldest heart melt’), as well as the lyrics of the Big Bopper (… those wonderful words, you know what I like …)
Cheers.
I just thought of another song in the context of the above discussion: ‘Country Death Song’ (1984) by Violent Femmes.