Comments on: Songs about shame

Question: Songs about shame

Korou — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:31:17 -0800

What songs are about shame?

By: extrabox

extrabox — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:50:59 -0800

Madonna's Nobody's Perfect.
(...in a Madonna kind of way)

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:54:23 -0800

Beatles - I'm a loser. It isn't quite perfect...

Pink Floyd - Have a Cigar. Again, not exactly perfect, but...

By: Triode

Triode — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:55:41 -0800

Jimmy Cliff: Shame and Scandal.
"You can't marry that girl / I have to say no / That girl is your sister but your momma don't know"...
"His momma she laughed / she said go man, go / your daddy ain't your daddy, but your daddy don't know."

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:56:30 -0800

Johnny Cash - I Hung My Head. That's definately shame.

By: Triode

Triode — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:58:40 -0800

Oops, the song predates the version I'm familiar with.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:02:22 -0800

Beck - Nobody's Fault But My Own

By: nanojath

nanojath — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:04:18 -0800

"Running Dry," Neil Young - "I'm sorry for the things I've done, I've shamed myself with lies..."

"If Mama Knew," Leo Kottke - "If momma knew where I'd been goin'/My life would be a bed of pain/And my father's name be my mother's shame"

"Shame," Depeche Mode - "Soap won't wash away your shame"

There's got to be a million, but that's what comes off the top of the head...

By: Good Brain

Good Brain — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:21:17 -0800

um, Living in Shame, the Supremes

By: ori

ori — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:35:06 -0800

lennon - jealous guy
radiohead - creep
madness - embarrassment

By: panoptican

panoptican — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:41:56 -0800

Greg Brown - Ashamed of Our Love

By: nile_red

nile_red — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:45:03 -0800

Shame - Matchbox 20
Light of Some Kind - Ani Difranco (kindof)

By: AmbroseChapel

AmbroseChapel — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:59:38 -0800

No mention of Shame by Evelyn "Champagne" King?

No mention of Shame On You by various artists over the years, with it's lyric "Shame shame shame shame shame shame shame, shame on you, if you can't dance too"? It's subtle, but you know, I think it's about shame.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:00:03 -0800

I went Googling for the lyrics of Elvis Costello's Hidden Shame, and found this interesting snippet:

The impetus for [Elvis Costello's] The Delivery Man is "Hidden Shame", a song Costello had written for Johnny Cash in the mid-'80s. The song's character (assuming the name Abel for this record) was inspired by a real-life story of a man who confessed to the murder of a childhood friend after a prison stay for lesser crimes. "Hidden Shame"'s lyrical twist ("They locked me up here for the ideas in my head / They never got me for the thing I really did") is an appropriate starting point for one of The Delivery Man's central themes: the idea that one can find a sort of substituted redemption for a past crime by paying for a lesser one. That concept is echoed from Abel's point of view in the title track: "When they let me out, I had a brand new identity".

By: nenequesadilla

nenequesadilla — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:09:45 -0800

Where Happiness Lives -- Magnet

By: Mike C.

Mike C. — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:24:27 -0800

I suppose some of these weren't intended to express shame, but I find it anyway.

The Cardigans - "Live and Learn"
David Gray - "Please Forgive Me"
The Cure - "Never Enough"
Ginny Owens - "Something More"
Chris Isaak - "Wicked Game"
Jem - "They"
Led Zeppelin - "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do"
Led Zeppelin - "Nobody's Fault But Mine"
Loretta Lynn - "Van Lear Rose"

I don't own much (nearly zero) country music, but I bet that'd be a gold mine. Could be you'll find some good shame-like themes in gospel music, too.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:31:31 -0800

There's "Shame on You" by the Darling Buds, which outlines the reasons why the person the song's addressing should be ashamed (it's arguable if it makes a compelling case; but hey, it's the Darling Buds -- lyrics were never their strong point.)

Well, that and the song I'm about to write about my shame in knowing that much about the Darling Buds.

By: hortense

hortense — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:32:14 -0800

"Dang Me" by Ray Stevens (aught'a take a rope and hang me)

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:40:16 -0800

"Dang Me" by Ray Stevens
Roger Miller, no? Though I guess it's been covered a lot.

/Boo-woo Boop boop boop boop boo -ba-oo-ba boo boo bow

Also the other song I'm going to write about my shame in owning Ray Stevens' Comedy Video Classics.

By: jontyjago

jontyjago — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:48:33 -0800

Embarrassment by Madness.

By: sophist

sophist — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:54:04 -0800

Butthole Surfers - The Shame of Life
Wu-Tang Clan - Shame on a Nigga'
PJ Harvey - Shame

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 02:16:50 -0800

Timbuk 3 had one called "Shame On You."

In the final verse of "Old Country Death Song" by the Violent Femmes, the narrator announces his intention to "hang myself in shame."

By: paulsc

paulsc — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 02:49:04 -0800

Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" is about the shame and regret a father feels after missing much of his kid's lives while traveling on business. I've seen grown men in airport bars cry when they heard this.

By: Pericles

Pericles — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 03:38:52 -0800

"Dan's Underpants" by the Macc Lads. A poignant tale about defactating in one's underwear after a curry.

By: mykescipark

mykescipark — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 04:24:38 -0800

In a more minimalist, haiku-like vein, one might also mention "Shame" by Minnesota's evergreen Low.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 04:35:56 -0800

Richard Thompson, For Shame of Doing Wrong.

By: dmd

dmd — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 04:53:48 -0800

Sony Music Finder used to be great for finding songs on a particular topic (it's meant for use by people who are looking to license a song for use in a commercial, film, whatever), but it seems they're no longer letting the general public wander in.

By: allen.spaulding

allen.spaulding — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 05:04:28 -0800

A Quick One, While He's Away is a long epic by The Who about a woman who has an affair and then owns up to it. Issues of shame and forgiveness and it goes on forever. The Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus is my favorite version.

By: mikel

mikel — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 05:33:24 -0800

Not exactly on point, but Uncle Tupelo's Steal the Crumbs features the lyric, "...working in the halls of shame..."

By: gai

gai — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 05:57:40 -0800

Fiona Apple's Criminal

By: Octaviuz

Octaviuz — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 06:16:49 -0800

Well, it uses the word anyway.
A Murder of One by Counting Crows.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 06:25:19 -0800

I think that Mike C. is right, and that country music would be a gold mine of songs about shame. I listen to some, and the one that sprang immediately to mind was: Mama Tried by Merle Haggard:

And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.
No-one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied.
That leaves only me to blame 'cos Mama tried.

I used to listen to this when I was in college and thought that I was bad, and have fits of melodramatic regret.

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 07:26:06 -0800

"Regret" by Ben Folds Five?

By: escabeche

escabeche — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 08:04:23 -0800

"Pink Frost," by the Chills. "How can I live when you see what I've done?"

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 08:06:04 -0800

Shame about Ray- Lemonheads.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 08:15:22 -0800

Train Song-Tom Waits

By: Asparagirl

Asparagirl — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 08:33:51 -0800

There's "Eat For Two" by 10,000 Maniacs, about a secret pregnancy.

By: lorbus

lorbus — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 09:40:16 -0800

"The Shame" by Blood Brothers

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 09:54:26 -0800

John Lennon, "Jealous Guy"
James Carr, "The Dark End of the Street"
Clarence Carter, "Slip Away"

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 10:19:24 -0800

The best song about shame is Wire's "I should have known better." Really. It's the aural equivalent of smashing, crashing shame. It doesn't mention shame, but that's what it's about: the physical, psychic experience of shame ripping through and intensifying everything to a breaking point.

Here are lyrics, though they really don't do it justice. As always with a tremendous band like Wire, it's really more about the sound and the delivery.

In an act of contrition
I lay down by your side
It's not your place to comment
On my state of distress
For this is for real
I've tears in my eyes
Am I laughing or crying?
I suggest I'm not lying

I haven't found a measure yet to
Calibrate my displeasure yet so

To ignore my warning
Could be your folly
The judgment is harsh
I offer no plea

Valuing the vengeance which you treasure
I've redefined the meaning of vendetta

The procession's disordered
You protect your possessions
In light of your actions
I question your love

May I make an observation
Your bite is worse than my aggression

I should have known better
I should have known better
Than to become a target
Albeit a target which moves

No offer of terms or concessions
For statements or confessions

You don't feel warm, I pass close by
You shiver, I whisper
Excuse me, what's your problem?
Oh, I see
I should have known better

It sort of makes your head hurt when you hear it. And irritates you at how empty and distant it is. I think that's what a song about shame should do. Really, go out and buy a copy of Wire's 154, the record it's on, right now. You'll see.

By: headspace

headspace — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 10:32:28 -0800

"Do You Believe in Shame" by Duran Duran. (Post-80s, not synthpop... much.)

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:05:48 -0800

No mention of the Spinners' It's a Shame (written by Stevie Wonder)?

By: quadog

quadog — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:05:57 -0800

Randy Newman has a song called "Shame" which is about his shameless affection for a younger woman who he tries to "woo" back with pity, threats of violence and promises of wealth. There's a hilarious point in the song where he gets so worked up he tells his background singers to be quiet. Damn, that's intelligent.

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:07:41 -0800

"House of the Rising Sun" (the Animals, but covered by more or less everyone) is a classic that comes to mind.

By: zerolives

zerolives — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:18:13 -0800

Shame by the Smashing Pumpkins?

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:19:42 -0800

Oh, and speaking of Stevie Wonder, the song "So What the Fuss" is pretty much about, um, shame:

So What the Fuss

If I'm caught at a dance party without my dancin shoes
And everybody dances on my bare feet
Shame on me
If I'm mindin my business just doin the right thing
And you try to front me off in the street
Shame on you
If a family's waiting for that special blessing to
come their way
But they ain't tryin to get on their knees and pray
Shame on them
And if we live in a time where every nation's fightin
'round the world
Yet we can't all agree that peace is the way Shame on us
Shame on me, Shame on you, Shame on them, Shame on us
(repeat)
So what the fuss

If I gotta get up early in the morning for a job
interview
And I forget to set the stupid alarm
Shame on me
If my children are playin outside like little children
do
And you come 'round there tryin to bring them some
harm
Shame on you
Should I be drivin thru a klantown, find a restaurant
to get me some food
And someone says "hey boy, we don't serve your kind"
Shame on them
And if we live in a democracy and you don't use your
power to vote
Knowin some would like to turn back the hands of time

Shame on us
Shame on me, Shame on you, Shame on them, Shame on us
(repeat)
So what the fuss

If I'm hooked on a habit knowin damn well it could
cost me my life
Yet I keep doin what I should do without
Shame on me
If you're locked in a marriage and your other half
just gives you abuse
Yet you've convinced yourself that there's no way out
Shame on you
If we're jammin the music and somebody's got the
audacity
To say that they can jam it better than us
Shame on them
And should there be just a handful that believe that
we are totally free
And there's no need to fight for equality

Shame on us
Shame on me, Shame on you, Shame on them, Shame on us
(repeat)
So what the fuss

By: needs more cowbell

needs more cowbell — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 15:04:31 -0800

Love Child by Diana Ross touches on the shame of being an illegitimate child...

By: Neiltupper

Neiltupper — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 17:55:27 -0800

Big second for Neil Young's Running Dry - a seldom played but exquisite song about shame.

By: SoftRain

SoftRain — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 19:22:38 -0800

Usher's "Confessions Part II". In the video he's so ashamed of getting another girl pregnant he RIPS OFF HIS SHIRT.

....Yeah, I got nothing.