Songs about Songs
After listening to "Old Fashioned Love Song" here is Oggy's list of good songs that are about songs. Sort of a Meta-song.
1- More Than a Feeling - Boston
Boston did a rare thing in the Disco era by recording one song after another NOT about sex and drugs. Not only that but the songs were rocking, perfectly produced tunes about...music, starting a band, finding yourself. There isn't one reference to strippers or cocaine in any Boston song. Considering their 1976 origins this is amazing. More than a Feeling is their biggest hit and it is about hearing a song on the radio and being transported beyond the moment. Who can't relate to that?
I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away
Its more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
till I see marianne walk away
I see my marianne walkin away
So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet I still recall as I wander on
As clear as the sun in the summer sky
Its more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
till I see marianne walk away
I see my marianne walkin away
When Im tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day
And dream of a girl I used to know
I closed my eyes and she slipped away
She slipped away. she slipped away.
Its more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
till I see marianne walk away
I see my marianne walkin away
2 -Old Fashioned Love Song - Three Dog Night
This song is supre meta because it SOUNDS like an old-fashioned love song. Then it turns uptempo and becomes a tribute to old fashioned love songs that, like the song itself, reminds the listener of promises and past loves. Take note that the lyrics "Coming down in three-part harmony" are sung in three part harmony. Wow!
Just an old fashioned love song
Playing on the radio
And wrapped around the music
is the sound of someone promising they'll never go.
You'll swear you've heard it before
As it slowly rambles on and on.
No need in bringing em back
Cause they've never really gone.
Just an old fashioned love song
Coming down in three part harmony.
Just an old fashioned love song
One I'm sure they wrote for you and me,
To weave our dreams upon and
Listen to each evening when the light are low.
To underscore our love affair
With tenderness and feeling
That we've come to know.
You'll swear you've heard it before
As it slowly rambles on and on.
No need in bringing em back
Cause they've never really gone.
Just an old fashioned love song
Coming down in three part harmony.
Just an old fashioned love song
One I'm sure they wrote for you and me
Radio Ga Ga - Queen
A tribute to the way of things past. When radio dominated media and music. "My only friend through teenage nights" Really it makes references to H.G. Wells, MTV and Grunge. Good stuff.
Radio Id sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And evrything I had to know
I heard it on my radio
You gave them all those old time stars
Through wars of worlds - invaded by mars
You made em laugh - you made em cry
You made us feel like we could fly
Radio
So dont become some background noise
A backdrop for the girls and boys
Who just dont know or just dont care
And just complain when youre not there
You had your time you had the power
Youve yet to have your finest hour
Radio
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio whats new?
Radio someone still loves you
We watch the shows - we watch the stars
On videos for hours and hours
We hardly need to use our ears
How music changes through the years
Lets hope you never leave old friend
Like all good things on you we depend
So stick around cos we might miss you
When we grow tired of all this visual
You had your time you had the power
Youve yet to have your finest hour
Radio
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio whats new?
Someone still loves you
Radio ga ga
Radio ga ga
Radio ga ga
Radio
You had your time you had the power
Youve yet to have your finest hour
Radio
Yesterday Once More - The Carpenters
Don't laugh. My mother's favorite group is the Carpenters. And I think Karen was a damn fine singer, one of the best ever. The arrangements are '70s, but it WAS THE '70s. This is right out of Hal David and Burt Bacharach's tool book. Excellent lyrics. Soothing chords. Descending baseline. Karen's songbird voice building to a touching climax. She makes the "sha-la-la-la" part sound truly nostalgic. It's gone, but no one can make her forget the way it made her feel. That nostalgia was perfect for the Carpenters. This song brings back memories of my mother putting an 8 track tape into a gigantic machine in our Maine house when my parents were still together. I wasn't in school yet. I'd paint in the basement and go for walks in (literally) blueberry fields and go home and bake a pie. There was a huge black and white television that got four channels and was turned on for maybe two hours all year (new Years eve). My mother would read teddy bear books to me and life was good...for about two years. Then it all went to shit. But this one song brings that back to me for about a minute and a half.
When I was young
Id listened to the radio
Waitin for my favorite songs
Waiting they played Id sing along
It made me smile
Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where theyd gone
But theyre back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well
(*) every sha-la-la-la
Every wo-wo-wo
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That theyre starting to sings
So fine
When they get to the part
Where hes breakin her heart
It can really make me cry
Just like before
Its yesterday once more
Lookin back on how it was
In years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed
It was songs of love that
I would sing to then
And Id memorize each word
Those old melodies
Still sound so good to me
As they melt the years away
Repeat (*)
All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry
Just like before
Its yesterday once more
Spirit of The Radio - Rush
This one is no joke. It's almost impossible to understand what the guy is singing about. "Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free." Like Boston, Rush sounds rocking but seldom deserves a PG rating. These guys pick the skin of chicken. They don't smoke anything. Incredible. That's probably why they're still touring. Spirit of the Radio is another tribute to Canadian radio, that staple of top 40 topics. The odd solo/coda tag with a Jamaican flavor and the timeless lyrics "The words of the prophets were written on the studio hall" ( I always thought the word was "subway hall" but it is "studio" and that makes much more sense.) and the echoes of salesmen. That's honesty that won't get you censored. Rush rules~!
Magic Changes - Grease Soundtrack
IF you ever get a chance to see the stage production of Grease you'll actually see this song is part of the story. Putzie, I believe, is trying to learn to play the guitar. He starts out by demonstrating that he has learned 4 chords. C - a minor - F - G7. The lyrics of the song actually begin with
"C C C C C C - A A A A minor - F F F F F f - G G G G seven..."
I saw the stage prod. in London and wrote these chords down on a piece of paper as the guy was singing them. I went home and instantly recognized these chords as quintessential '50 chord progression. Almost every song from the '50s can be played with these chords. ANd the idea of putting the chords in as lyrics struck me as very smart. I haven't forgotten. The song itself is a clever play on words that makes you think he's singing about a person, but he is actually in love with the chord changes, the chords themselves that allowed hundreds of songs to be effortlessly arranged in 1956. The movie adaptation of Grease only uses this song to make fun of John Travolta as he tries to sing it out of tune. The stage production gives the other characters a bit more depth.
What's that playing on the radio, why do I start swaying to and fro
I have never heard that song before, but if I don't hear it anymore
It's still familiar to me, sends a thrill right through me
Cause those chords remind me of the night that I first fell in love to
Those magic changes my heart arranges
A melody that's never the same, a melody that's calling your name
It begs you please, come back to me
Please, return to me, don't go away again, oh make them play again
The music I wanna hear is once again, you whisper in my ear
Oh my darling, aha
I'll be waiting by the radio, you'll come back to me someday, I know
Been so long since our last goodbye, but I'm singin' as I cry
While the bass is sounding, while the drums are pounding
Beatings of my broken heart will rise the first place of the charts
Oh my heart arranges, oh those magic changes, oooh yeah
Silly love song - Paul McCartney
From the pen of one of the great love song writers, this is a tongue in cheek love song that suggests loves songs are silly, but love isn't. His three ex wives probably disagree.
1- More Than a Feeling - Boston
Boston did a rare thing in the Disco era by recording one song after another NOT about sex and drugs. Not only that but the songs were rocking, perfectly produced tunes about...music, starting a band, finding yourself. There isn't one reference to strippers or cocaine in any Boston song. Considering their 1976 origins this is amazing. More than a Feeling is their biggest hit and it is about hearing a song on the radio and being transported beyond the moment. Who can't relate to that?
I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away
Its more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
till I see marianne walk away
I see my marianne walkin away
So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet I still recall as I wander on
As clear as the sun in the summer sky
Its more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
till I see marianne walk away
I see my marianne walkin away
When Im tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day
And dream of a girl I used to know
I closed my eyes and she slipped away
She slipped away. she slipped away.
Its more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
till I see marianne walk away
I see my marianne walkin away
2 -Old Fashioned Love Song - Three Dog Night
This song is supre meta because it SOUNDS like an old-fashioned love song. Then it turns uptempo and becomes a tribute to old fashioned love songs that, like the song itself, reminds the listener of promises and past loves. Take note that the lyrics "Coming down in three-part harmony" are sung in three part harmony. Wow!
Just an old fashioned love song
Playing on the radio
And wrapped around the music
is the sound of someone promising they'll never go.
You'll swear you've heard it before
As it slowly rambles on and on.
No need in bringing em back
Cause they've never really gone.
Just an old fashioned love song
Coming down in three part harmony.
Just an old fashioned love song
One I'm sure they wrote for you and me,
To weave our dreams upon and
Listen to each evening when the light are low.
To underscore our love affair
With tenderness and feeling
That we've come to know.
You'll swear you've heard it before
As it slowly rambles on and on.
No need in bringing em back
Cause they've never really gone.
Just an old fashioned love song
Coming down in three part harmony.
Just an old fashioned love song
One I'm sure they wrote for you and me
Radio Ga Ga - Queen
A tribute to the way of things past. When radio dominated media and music. "My only friend through teenage nights" Really it makes references to H.G. Wells, MTV and Grunge. Good stuff.
Radio Id sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And evrything I had to know
I heard it on my radio
You gave them all those old time stars
Through wars of worlds - invaded by mars
You made em laugh - you made em cry
You made us feel like we could fly
Radio
So dont become some background noise
A backdrop for the girls and boys
Who just dont know or just dont care
And just complain when youre not there
You had your time you had the power
Youve yet to have your finest hour
Radio
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio whats new?
Radio someone still loves you
We watch the shows - we watch the stars
On videos for hours and hours
We hardly need to use our ears
How music changes through the years
Lets hope you never leave old friend
Like all good things on you we depend
So stick around cos we might miss you
When we grow tired of all this visual
You had your time you had the power
Youve yet to have your finest hour
Radio
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio whats new?
Someone still loves you
Radio ga ga
Radio ga ga
Radio ga ga
Radio
You had your time you had the power
Youve yet to have your finest hour
Radio
Yesterday Once More - The Carpenters
Don't laugh. My mother's favorite group is the Carpenters. And I think Karen was a damn fine singer, one of the best ever. The arrangements are '70s, but it WAS THE '70s. This is right out of Hal David and Burt Bacharach's tool book. Excellent lyrics. Soothing chords. Descending baseline. Karen's songbird voice building to a touching climax. She makes the "sha-la-la-la" part sound truly nostalgic. It's gone, but no one can make her forget the way it made her feel. That nostalgia was perfect for the Carpenters. This song brings back memories of my mother putting an 8 track tape into a gigantic machine in our Maine house when my parents were still together. I wasn't in school yet. I'd paint in the basement and go for walks in (literally) blueberry fields and go home and bake a pie. There was a huge black and white television that got four channels and was turned on for maybe two hours all year (new Years eve). My mother would read teddy bear books to me and life was good...for about two years. Then it all went to shit. But this one song brings that back to me for about a minute and a half.
When I was young
Id listened to the radio
Waitin for my favorite songs
Waiting they played Id sing along
It made me smile
Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where theyd gone
But theyre back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well
(*) every sha-la-la-la
Every wo-wo-wo
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That theyre starting to sings
So fine
When they get to the part
Where hes breakin her heart
It can really make me cry
Just like before
Its yesterday once more
Lookin back on how it was
In years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed
It was songs of love that
I would sing to then
And Id memorize each word
Those old melodies
Still sound so good to me
As they melt the years away
Repeat (*)
All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry
Just like before
Its yesterday once more
Spirit of The Radio - Rush
This one is no joke. It's almost impossible to understand what the guy is singing about. "Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free." Like Boston, Rush sounds rocking but seldom deserves a PG rating. These guys pick the skin of chicken. They don't smoke anything. Incredible. That's probably why they're still touring. Spirit of the Radio is another tribute to Canadian radio, that staple of top 40 topics. The odd solo/coda tag with a Jamaican flavor and the timeless lyrics "The words of the prophets were written on the studio hall" ( I always thought the word was "subway hall" but it is "studio" and that makes much more sense.) and the echoes of salesmen. That's honesty that won't get you censored. Rush rules~!
Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion unobtrusive
Plays that song that`s so elusive
And the magic music
Makes your morning mood
Off on your way
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude
(CHORUS)
Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae
Bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback
On timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price
Almost free
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open hearted
Not so coldly charted
It`s really just a
Question of your honesty
Yeah, your honesty
One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity, yeah
(CHORUS)
For the words of the profits
Were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with
The sounds of salesmen
Of salesmen, ohh, salesmen
Magic Changes - Grease Soundtrack
IF you ever get a chance to see the stage production of Grease you'll actually see this song is part of the story. Putzie, I believe, is trying to learn to play the guitar. He starts out by demonstrating that he has learned 4 chords. C - a minor - F - G7. The lyrics of the song actually begin with
"C C C C C C - A A A A minor - F F F F F f - G G G G seven..."
I saw the stage prod. in London and wrote these chords down on a piece of paper as the guy was singing them. I went home and instantly recognized these chords as quintessential '50 chord progression. Almost every song from the '50s can be played with these chords. ANd the idea of putting the chords in as lyrics struck me as very smart. I haven't forgotten. The song itself is a clever play on words that makes you think he's singing about a person, but he is actually in love with the chord changes, the chords themselves that allowed hundreds of songs to be effortlessly arranged in 1956. The movie adaptation of Grease only uses this song to make fun of John Travolta as he tries to sing it out of tune. The stage production gives the other characters a bit more depth.
What's that playing on the radio, why do I start swaying to and fro
I have never heard that song before, but if I don't hear it anymore
It's still familiar to me, sends a thrill right through me
Cause those chords remind me of the night that I first fell in love to
Those magic changes my heart arranges
A melody that's never the same, a melody that's calling your name
It begs you please, come back to me
Please, return to me, don't go away again, oh make them play again
The music I wanna hear is once again, you whisper in my ear
Oh my darling, aha
I'll be waiting by the radio, you'll come back to me someday, I know
Been so long since our last goodbye, but I'm singin' as I cry
While the bass is sounding, while the drums are pounding
Beatings of my broken heart will rise the first place of the charts
Oh my heart arranges, oh those magic changes, oooh yeah
Silly love song - Paul McCartney
From the pen of one of the great love song writers, this is a tongue in cheek love song that suggests loves songs are silly, but love isn't. His three ex wives probably disagree.
You`d think that people
Would have had enough
Of silly love songs
But I look around me
And I see it isn`t so
Some people wanna
Fill the world with
Silly love songs
And what`s wrong with that
I`d like to know
Cause here I go again
I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you
I can`t explain
The feeling`s plain to me
Now, can`t you see
Ah, she gave me more
She gave it all to me
Now, can`t you see
What`s wrong with that
I need to know
Cause here I go again
I love you, I love you
Love doesn`t come in a minute
Sometimes it doesn`t come at all
I only know that when I`m in it
It isn`t silly, no, it isn`t silly
Love isn`t silly at all
How can I tell you
About my loved one
How can I tell you
About my loved one
How can I tell you
About my loved one
(I love you)
How can I tell you
About my loved one
(I love you)
I love you, I love you
(I love you)
I can`t explain
The feeling`s plain to me
Say, can`t you see
(I love you)
Say, he gave me more
He gave it all to me
Now, can`t you see....(repeat)
You`d think that people
Would have had enough
Of silly love songs
But I look around me
And I see it isn`t so, oh, no
Some people wanna
Fill the world with
Silly love songs
And what`s wrong with that
posted by Oggy Bleacher | 3:34 PM
