Frankly, I'd rather life were more like Lucky Charms, but whatreyougonnado.
May 24, 2011 11:49 AM Subscribe
I would like to find more songs with lyrics that express life philosophies in terms of food.
Examples:
Small Faces - Happy Days Toy Town ("Life is just a bowl of All Bran, you wake up every morning and it's there.")
The Beatles - It's All Too Much ("All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece but not too much.")
XTC - Senses Working Overtime ("And all the world is biscuit-shaped, it's just for me to feed my face.")
I think they're funny, and I want more!
Examples:
Small Faces - Happy Days Toy Town ("Life is just a bowl of All Bran, you wake up every morning and it's there.")
The Beatles - It's All Too Much ("All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece but not too much.")
XTC - Senses Working Overtime ("And all the world is biscuit-shaped, it's just for me to feed my face.")
I think they're funny, and I want more!
Response by poster: Just a note, I'm interested more in tidy little aphorisms than in songs that are generally about food.
posted by phunniemee at 12:04 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by phunniemee at 12:04 PM on May 24, 2011
Sleater Kinney - Modern Girl
(I'm so hungry / Hunger makes me / A modern girl
I took my money / And bought a donut / The hole's the size of / The entire world)
posted by amelioration at 12:05 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
(I'm so hungry / Hunger makes me / A modern girl
I took my money / And bought a donut / The hole's the size of / The entire world)
posted by amelioration at 12:05 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
Maybe not quite what you're looking for, but I find Pete Townshend's Cookin' really charming.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 12:06 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by easy, lucky, free at 12:06 PM on May 24, 2011
The Beatles - "Savoy Truffle" ("You know that what you eat you are/But what is sweet now turns so sour")
Notably, both this song and your "It's All Too Much" example, which has a similar theme, were written by the same Beatle -- George Harrison.
posted by John Cohen at 12:11 PM on May 24, 2011
Notably, both this song and your "It's All Too Much" example, which has a similar theme, were written by the same Beatle -- George Harrison.
posted by John Cohen at 12:11 PM on May 24, 2011
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Gump"
Gump sat alone on a bench in the park
"My name is Forrest," he'd casually remark
Waiting for the bus with his hands in his pockets
He just kept saying life is like a box of chocolates
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:17 PM on May 24, 2011
Gump sat alone on a bench in the park
"My name is Forrest," he'd casually remark
Waiting for the bus with his hands in his pockets
He just kept saying life is like a box of chocolates
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:17 PM on May 24, 2011
Lemon Tree has been recorded by a number of artists; the Peter Paul & Mary version may be the best known.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:33 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:33 PM on May 24, 2011
oh god i can't believe i'm typing and linking to this Warrant's "Cherry Pie"
posted by jbickers at 12:34 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jbickers at 12:34 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
Bowl of Oranges by Bright Eyes:
But if the world could remain within a frame
Like a painting on a wall
Then I think we'd see the beauty
And we'd stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed
Like a bowl of oranges...
posted by spinto at 12:35 PM on May 24, 2011
But if the world could remain within a frame
Like a painting on a wall
Then I think we'd see the beauty
And we'd stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed
Like a bowl of oranges...
posted by spinto at 12:35 PM on May 24, 2011
You might enjoy Cibo Matto's Viva! La Woman album. Every song has something to do with food, occasionally on a philosophical/metaphorical level.
posted by wondermouse at 12:42 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by wondermouse at 12:42 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ani DiFranco, 32 Flavors
squint your eyes and look closer
i'm not between you and your ambition
i am a poster girl with no poster
i am thirty-two flavors and then some
and i'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you're going to get hungry
and eat most of the words you just said
posted by flex at 12:45 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
squint your eyes and look closer
i'm not between you and your ambition
i am a poster girl with no poster
i am thirty-two flavors and then some
and i'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you're going to get hungry
and eat most of the words you just said
posted by flex at 12:45 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
C Is for Cookie!
(That's good enough for me.)
posted by dywypi at 12:48 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
(That's good enough for me.)
posted by dywypi at 12:48 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
"wish I was a Kellogg's Cornflake, floatin' in a bowl takin' movies..."
Simon & Garfunkel, Punky's Dilemma
posted by SomeTrickPony at 12:55 PM on May 24, 2011
Simon & Garfunkel, Punky's Dilemma
posted by SomeTrickPony at 12:55 PM on May 24, 2011
Several songs from Poison Boyfriend by Momus have nice little tidbits:
from "Violets":
The generous American is loosening his belt
Savouring his childhood in an after-dinner mint
posted by perhapses at 12:58 PM on May 24, 2011
from "Violets":
The generous American is loosening his belt
Savouring his childhood in an after-dinner mint
posted by perhapses at 12:58 PM on May 24, 2011
If you don't mind Japanese, RADWIMPS's Order Made compares life to sandwich-making, accompanied by an adorable video.
posted by segfault at 12:58 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by segfault at 12:58 PM on May 24, 2011
Does booze count? Magnetic Fields Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin.
posted by ephemerista at 12:58 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by ephemerista at 12:58 PM on May 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
Kate Bush's Eat the Music.
Like a pomegranate
Insides out
All is revealed
Not only women bleed
posted by artifarce at 1:02 PM on May 24, 2011
Like a pomegranate
Insides out
All is revealed
Not only women bleed
posted by artifarce at 1:02 PM on May 24, 2011
Sour cream forever, emblazoned on my heart
You know I can't forget you; I told you from the start.
But if I ramble now and then
You know I will return again
Because I can't forget you, sour cream.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:16 PM on May 24, 2011
You know I can't forget you; I told you from the start.
But if I ramble now and then
You know I will return again
Because I can't forget you, sour cream.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:16 PM on May 24, 2011
Cowboy Junkies: Cold Tea Blues
If I pour your cup, that is friendship
If I add your milk, that is manners
If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste,
That is tea
But if I measure the sugar
To satisfy your expectant tongue
Then that is love,
But if I measure the sugar
To satisfy your expectant tongue
Then that is love,
Sitting untouched and growing cold
posted by bonehead at 1:29 PM on May 24, 2011
If I pour your cup, that is friendship
If I add your milk, that is manners
If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste,
That is tea
But if I measure the sugar
To satisfy your expectant tongue
Then that is love,
But if I measure the sugar
To satisfy your expectant tongue
Then that is love,
Sitting untouched and growing cold
posted by bonehead at 1:29 PM on May 24, 2011
Jason Mraz, Too Much Food
You can say that I'm one curly fry in the box of the regular
Messing with the flavor oh the flavor that you savor
Saving me for last but you better not eat me at all
Living in a fast food bag making friends with the ketchup and salt
People say that I'm crazy for not moving on to better things
Instead I'm sitting around trash talking with the onion rings
But it's much too soon to leave this easy life
Pass me the spoon. Pass the analytical knife
posted by terilou at 2:04 PM on May 24, 2011
You can say that I'm one curly fry in the box of the regular
Messing with the flavor oh the flavor that you savor
Saving me for last but you better not eat me at all
Living in a fast food bag making friends with the ketchup and salt
People say that I'm crazy for not moving on to better things
Instead I'm sitting around trash talking with the onion rings
But it's much too soon to leave this easy life
Pass me the spoon. Pass the analytical knife
posted by terilou at 2:04 PM on May 24, 2011
I never was a cornflake girl,
seemed like a good solution
hanging with the raisin girls.
posted by litleozy at 2:30 PM on May 24, 2011
seemed like a good solution
hanging with the raisin girls.
posted by litleozy at 2:30 PM on May 24, 2011
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore.
posted by amyms at 3:15 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by amyms at 3:15 PM on May 24, 2011
When I knew which side my bread was buttered, I took the knife as well. (George Michael, Freedom '90)
posted by amyms at 3:22 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by amyms at 3:22 PM on May 24, 2011
Baby Got Back
Give me a sister, I can't resist her
Red beans and rice didn't miss her
And don't think it's just about butts...
Sir Mix-a-Lot comments in a 1992 interview: "The song doesn't just say I like large butts, you know? The song is talking about women who damn near kill themselves to try to look like these beanpole models that you see in Vogue magazine." He explains that most women respond positively to the song's message, especially black women: "They all say, 'About time.'"
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:28 PM on May 24, 2011
Give me a sister, I can't resist her
Red beans and rice didn't miss her
And don't think it's just about butts...
Sir Mix-a-Lot comments in a 1992 interview: "The song doesn't just say I like large butts, you know? The song is talking about women who damn near kill themselves to try to look like these beanpole models that you see in Vogue magazine." He explains that most women respond positively to the song's message, especially black women: "They all say, 'About time.'"
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:28 PM on May 24, 2011
Yeah, Tori Amos has a zillion--Raspberry Swirl, In the Springtime of His Voodoo, Honey, Doughnut Song, Me and a Gun...
Maybe not philosophical enough, but Weezer's line in El Scorcho "I'll bring home the turkey if ya bring home the bacon".
posted by ifjuly at 6:15 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
Maybe not philosophical enough, but Weezer's line in El Scorcho "I'll bring home the turkey if ya bring home the bacon".
posted by ifjuly at 6:15 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh, and Ani DiFranco's line you are a china shop/and I am a bull/you are really good food/and I am full, perhaps.
posted by ifjuly at 6:17 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by ifjuly at 6:17 PM on May 24, 2011
Counting Crows - Colorblind (I am colorblind - coffee black, and egg white)
DMB - Too Much -
I'm going to eat up your cities.
your homes, you know
I've got a stomach full it's not
a chip on my shoulder
I've got this growl in my tummy
and I'm gonna stop it today
I eat too much
I drink too much
I want too much
Too much
posted by carlh at 6:21 PM on May 24, 2011
DMB - Too Much -
I'm going to eat up your cities.
your homes, you know
I've got a stomach full it's not
a chip on my shoulder
I've got this growl in my tummy
and I'm gonna stop it today
I eat too much
I drink too much
I want too much
Too much
posted by carlh at 6:21 PM on May 24, 2011
Oh man, and one of my favorite expressive uses of food in a song ever--Kris Kristofferson's line in Sunday Morning Coming Down about how "that Sunday morning smell of someone frying chicken" contributes to him feeling, as a scruffy drunk, "all alone". I prefer the Crooked Fingers cover of it, though.
posted by ifjuly at 6:22 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ifjuly at 6:22 PM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
You say tomAYto, I say tomAHto,
etc. -- Cole Porter?
posted by DMelanogaster at 8:02 PM on May 24, 2011
etc. -- Cole Porter?
posted by DMelanogaster at 8:02 PM on May 24, 2011
Me and Mia - Ted Leo 'Call your friends, because we've forgotten What it's like to eat what's rotten' song about anorexia
if booze counts, there's too many. because I'm me, Citrus - The Hold Steady. Gin and tonic as a metaphor for God
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:19 PM on May 24, 2011
if booze counts, there's too many. because I'm me, Citrus - The Hold Steady. Gin and tonic as a metaphor for God
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:19 PM on May 24, 2011
Disappointments range from finding there's no milk left
To finding out there is no god.
So I'll just make another pot of lan-choo tea
Drink it black, and watch the box.
Rob Clarkson - I'm Not Sleeping (Very Well At All)
posted by pompomtom at 12:08 AM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
To finding out there is no god.
So I'll just make another pot of lan-choo tea
Drink it black, and watch the box.
Rob Clarkson - I'm Not Sleeping (Very Well At All)
posted by pompomtom at 12:08 AM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
Don't Rain on My Parade - "Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter."
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:09 AM on May 25, 2011
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:09 AM on May 25, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
AND ALL THE MILK HAS TURNED
AND CAPTAIN CRUNCH IS WAVING FAREWELL
WHEN THE BIG ONE FINDS YOU
MAY THIS SONG REMIND YOU
THAT THEY DON'T SERVE BREAKFAST IN HELL
The Breakfast Song, by the Newsboys. (sorry for the weird user-generated video)
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:54 AM on May 24, 2011