What are some catchy, lesser-known, non-hit songs I can sing?
July 2, 2022 12:51 AM   Subscribe

I want to find non-romantic rock songs, with interesting or poetic lyrics and nice melody lines, probably by lesser-known artists (but not necessarily) to add to my singing repertoire. I have been learning to play ukulele and sing along. Song suggestions can be from any time period since the '60s, and can be from various rock genres including punk, folk and indie.

I understand that preferred song choices are very unique to each individual. But as a long-time Mefite, I have a feeling some of you will have some great ideas from your nerdy music knowledge. I am just bored of singing hits and love songs during my practice sessions. It is too much like karaoke. All song or band suggestions will be appreciated.
posted by TreeHugger to Media & Arts (27 answers total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
Two suggestions from Australian songwriting storytelling legend, Paul Kelly, written about ten years apart. Both are about someone doing time or recovery and both are about connection/reconnecting with loved ones and family.
To Her Door (a Silver-Top is a brand of taxi and The Buttery is a drug rehabilitation venue).
How to Make Gravy (tomato sauce = ketchup)
posted by Thella at 1:49 AM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]




Nick drake, pink moon.
posted by fake at 3:08 AM on July 2, 2022


Devemberists - Rox in the Bo
(First that came to mind but I think a lot of their songs would work)
posted by crocomancer at 3:19 AM on July 2, 2022


Jonathan Richman has some great fun songs. Reno, Since She Started to Ride, You’re Crazy For Taking The Bus, She Doesn’t Laugh At My Jokes, I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar, and Vampire Girl would be great starts.
posted by backwards guitar at 3:49 AM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]


Julia Nunes did a great Beach Boys cover on uke, and a lot of her older videos have ukulele arrangements of unexpected songs.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 3:55 AM on July 2, 2022


Colin Hay has had a modest solo career since his Men at Work days, and he has a wonderful song called Beautiful World.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:16 AM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]


Check out the B side tracks to some of your favorite singles.

That's where Queen's '39, a delightfully weird little song with the plot of Interstellar was hiding, right there on the B side of love ballad You're My Best Friend which gets plenty of radio play.

Not necessarily recommending '39, but recommending the method. You'll find a lot of very good but less commercially marketable stuff plumbing the B sides of music you already enjoy.
posted by phunniemee at 4:50 AM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]


Neko Case's Local Girl seems less like a love song and more like lamenting the passage of time. The song changes up three times in about 4 minutes
posted by jander03 at 5:13 AM on July 2, 2022


People seem to have completely forgotten about The Roches, three sisters with a lot of non-romantic songs and some wonderful humor and wordplay.

My favorite for singing in the shower is Mr. Sellack. Two other funny songs are The Death of Suzzy Roche and Nurds (warning: one ableist slur in describing name-calling in high school). The Troubles might also be good.

When I searched Roches and ukelele, I found people singing The Hammond Song and Quitting Time.

You might also want to think about rock musicals. Hair and Godspell have some great songs.
posted by FencingGal at 5:25 AM on July 2, 2022 [5 favorites]


Seems like the Smothers Brothers' songs would be good for ukulele. Lot of funny ones like Mediocre Fred and The Last Great Waltz.
posted by evilmomlady at 5:30 AM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]


Off-the-beaten path songs that are catchy, singable, melodic, with interesting non-cliched lyrics not often about romance and lots of ukulele parts to boot? You are looking for the nearly-forgotten eighties/nineties Boston-via-SF indie band Ed’s Redeeming Qualities.

Their early releases are all on Spotify/Apple Music, and are primarily ukulele/violin/percussion. Two solid albums (“More Bad Times” and “It’s All Good News”) on folk label Flying Fish and a bunch of DIY releases which include some of the songs that made it onto their nineties releases on Slow River (some of which can be found on YouTube).

One representative song—which I am choosing because it has been running in my head for the past day and a half, as testament to its catchiness and good-humored absurdity—is King of Calypso.
posted by sesquipedalia at 6:18 AM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]


I bet you’d like 10,000 Maniacs, especially the record In My Tribe.
posted by corey flood at 6:45 AM on July 2, 2022


Piggy
posted by eviemath at 6:56 AM on July 2, 2022


Connie Converse - I Have Considered The Lilies
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:29 AM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]


Only If You Run - Julian Plenti
posted by terretu at 7:40 AM on July 2, 2022


Teenage Fanclub, Star Sign
Fountains of Wayne, Utopia Parkway
Soft Boys/Robyn Hitchcock, I Wanna Destroy You (or The Face of Death or Leppo and the Jooves or, or, or...)
John Muir, The Moon-Men (all of The American Song-Poem Anthology is worth digging into... I've had great fun covering How Can a Man Overcome His Heartbroken Pain and so has Yo La Tengo!)
Graham Parker, Waiting for the UFOs (his OK Hieronymus is super catchy but also very dark, CW for suicide & other violence)

A few better-known ones that charted in the UK / Canada / college radio but that but weren't really hits in the US, all fun to play & not love songs:
The Kinks, Waterloo Sunset
Wire, Outdoor Miner
Martha & the Muffins, Echo Beach
Jesus & Mary Chain, Head On
posted by miles per flower at 7:51 AM on July 2, 2022


Most of the They Might Be Giants catalog : )
posted by bitterkitten at 8:08 AM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]


Kate Bush is having a resurgence due to being featured in Season 4 of Stranger Things and has some beautifully poetic lyrics.
posted by platinum at 11:30 AM on July 2, 2022


I find Fountains of Wayne’s first album and also Utopia Parkway excellent for singing in the car. Plus, all their songs have stories in them.
posted by scratch at 1:57 PM on July 2, 2022


One of my favorite bands, now disbanded is Sharks. Albums: Joys of Living, No Gods, and Selfhood. Eminently singable and I love their lyrics. So sad they aren't together anymore. One of their songs: https://youtu.be/KUdTwXl_5xk
posted by poppunkcat at 2:03 PM on July 2, 2022


Black Sheep Boy, by many but originally Tim Hardin (works fine as "Girl" too)
125 - Stina Nordenstam
posted by rhizome at 3:51 PM on July 2, 2022


John Prine- In Spite of Ourselves
posted by jeszac at 5:49 PM on July 2, 2022


You might find some among the many songs Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys have recorded. Yes, they are considered "rockabilly" but they do have several nice melodic tunes, plus some Freddy Fender covers which you won't find a lot of ukelele folks doing
posted by TimHare at 6:56 PM on July 2, 2022


Response by poster: Thanks everyone, great suggestions! I'm going thru them all one by one, to choose what feels right personality-wise for me. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to mark one or more of these as the "answer", but if so, it's hard to choose because there were so many good replies. Feel free to post more 🙂
posted by TreeHugger at 9:56 PM on July 2, 2022


My favorite song lately. Ukelele friendly, though non-english if that's a deal breaker. Manu Chao - Desaparecido
posted by Carlo at 11:48 AM on July 3, 2022


Jonathan Coulton has some great non-love songs (although his love songs are pretty great, too).

There are lyrics and tabs at his web site.

A few to get you started

Re: Your Brains
Ikea
I Feel Fantastic

A couple of fun Christmas songs:

Christmas is Interesting
Chiron Beta Prime

Have fun!
posted by kristi at 8:14 AM on July 5, 2022


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