Request: Songs about the band

[barondave]

I have this mad desire to make another Mind's Eye Music compilation (ie, a Thematic Mix CD that will go to several people, perhaps you), aiming for Convergence. I have many possibilities, and thought of another as I was listening to Tom Jones: Self-Chronicling songs. That is, songs about the band/singer performing.

Early candidates:
Creeque Alley, by the Mamas and the Papas
Smells Like Teen Spirit, by Pearl Jam (though I'll probably use the Chantmania version)
Green Onion, by the Beatles
Tom Jones International
I can't even think of the rapper's name, but it's a bouncy rap "ziggy zaggy". (I don't have a copy of this anyway.)
The Monkees is an obvious choice, but I used it on MEM II (and TV theme songs is a different MEM)
The Intro and the Outro by Bonzo Dog Band (though that's stretching it)

Big Bopper?
Does What's Love Got To Do With It? or Private Dancer by Tina Turner count? Autobiography is not exactly what I'm looking for.
Fanboy by Luke Ski? Does that count?

Suggestions are encouraged.

Comments

[pgdudda.livejournal.com]

"What's Love..." is a bit too autobiographical, but "Private Dancer" is excellent in that it can be interpreted several ways. It also happens to be one of my favorite Tina songs...

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

Tenth Avenue Freezeout by Springsteen makes passing reference to the band...

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

Stay (?) by Jackson Browne

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Hmm... you're the first to mention this one. I don't have a copy, so will track it down.

[joelrosenberg.livejournal.com]

Taken at All -- Graham Nash
Mr. Soul -- Neil Young
Out of My Mind -- Neil Young
Eight Miles High -- Clark, McGuinn, Crosby

[joelrosenberg.livejournal.com]

And, for that matter, "Change Partners", by Steve Stills. It's done somewhat metaphorically, although there's a few phrases that give it away.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I'm unfamiliar with these, except for Eight Miles High, and not familiar enough with that to have pegged it as about the band. I'll check it out.

If Hotel California, by the Eagles, is about fame and how it traps you, then perhaps it fits in. But since it doesn't talk about the Eagles directly, it's on the fringe.

[joelrosenberg.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what Hotel California is about -- which is probably why I didn't mention it, If I was going to look at that crowd's stuff for that sort of thing, it'd probably be Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good to Me So Far," which is about, well, how life's been good to him so far.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Happy songs count, if they chronicle a performer's history. Heck, you just reminded me of a similar example: Cover of the Rolling Stone, by Dr. Hook.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

"Turn the Page"
"Happy Family" King Crimson
"Solsbury Hill"
"The Load Out" (turns into "Stay")
"We're an American Band"
"Smoke on the Water"

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Similarly, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, by Pink Floyd. I'll have to listen to Smoke On the Water again to see how well it fits.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

If you can get it, you might want to listen to "Dopes on the Water" by Nash the Slash.
Another band song (parody)

A song

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

Danny O'Keefe recorded a song called "The Road" (not the same as my song of the same title, although he and I both hail from Vashon Island, Washington) that seems to fit in the general category. A very, very borderline case would be "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel. By the way, when you go looking for the Beatles song you mention, the title is "Looking Through A Glass Onion" -- "Green Onions" (note plural) is an instrumental piece by Booker T and the MGs. But you'd probably have figured this out before too long.

Nate

Re: A song

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Many bands have songs about touring as part of their second (or early) albums, eg On The Road by Willie Nelson. I tend to place Homeward Bound in that generic category, but I'll check it out.

You're right about Glass Onion. (I misheard my inner voice singing the wrong song, Savoy Truffle: "Creme Tangerine and montelimat" somehow fused into "Green Onion".)

Most of your songs are autobiographical, but if I had to pick one self-chronicling your musical journey it would be Preposterous.

I'll look for the Canned Heat song; I don't have a copy. Indeed, most of the suggestions I started with are of the subset "owned by me" and most of the suggestions here are not in that subset.

Another idea

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

On the first Canned Heat album, *Boogie With Canned Heat* I believe the second song on one side or the other contains a chorus, "The police in Denver -- don't want no longhairs hanging round. (I'm missing a line.) -- trying to tear Canned Heat's reputation down." If one likes the blues, this is a good simple example of it -- and it's obviously self-referential.

Nate

[davidwilford.livejournal.com]

Best Self-Referential Band Song Ever: "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, on their "Machine Head" album (1972)

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Well, that's about an incident in the band's career, not a chronicle of their history. Still, it fits.

But now that they mention Zappa, I wonder if I can find 200 Motels...

[chasophonic.livejournal.com]

Lodi by CCR
Piano Man, Billy Joel

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Hmm... maybe. Lodi is certainly about a bad road trip, but not a chronicle of the band. Similarly, Piano Man is one gig's worth of angst. Self-referential, but not quite the history of a career. Any folkies talk about their early days and what's become of them since?

Ooh, of course, We, by the Roches...

[djande.livejournal.com]

Loudon Wainwright III -- The Home Stretch

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Hmm... maybe. That describes his life (maybe), but not his musical career. If this one slips in, then I'd have to include Neil Diamond's I Am, I Said.

[djande.livejournal.com]

Maybe a 2-disc set is in order?

Songs about the band

[(Anonymous)]

How about "The Ballad of John and Yoko"? I know it's not about the Beatles specifically, but it is about John and Yoko.