Psychologist summer playlist
July 15, 2023 8:45 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking for songs/albums titled or inspired by different principles, models or philosophies, for example, "Occam's Razor" by Frank Zappa or "Murphy's Law" by Róisín Murphy.

Has someone written a ballad for Pavlov's Dog? What about the Dunning Kruger effect? I'm here for them all, even the tangentially related ones.
posted by socky_puppy to Media & Arts (19 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Aimee Mann - Pavlov’s Bell
posted by wheatlets at 8:47 AM on July 15, 2023 [3 favorites]


Would "The Pleasure Principle" by Janet Jackson do?
posted by sigmagalator at 9:26 AM on July 15, 2023


The Magnetic Fields - The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure
posted by LionIndex at 9:27 AM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]


The album 2112 from Rush might fit.
posted by davidmsc at 9:41 AM on July 15, 2023


Schrodinger's Cat Tears For Fears
Compendium: The Philosopher's Song - Monty Python.
Not a song but an advert for Dunning Kruger whiskey
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:48 AM on July 15, 2023


The Police (featuring Sting) had "Synchronicity I" and "Synchronicity II" which are loosely inspired by Carl Jung and for some reason the Loch Ness monster.

(And I must now link to this completely amazing Revolver interview that I cannot believe is real where Stewart Copeland just razzes Sting over and over about it.)
posted by credulous at 10:04 AM on July 15, 2023 [3 favorites]


They Might Be Giants - Dinner Bell had some Pavlovian lyrics
posted by knile at 11:15 AM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]


Prince Paul’s “Psychoanalysis.”
posted by johngoren at 11:33 AM on July 15, 2023


Has someone written a ballad for Pavlov's Dog?

There was a whole band called Pavlov's Dog.
posted by flabdablet at 11:52 AM on July 15, 2023


From Friends: Joey sings in a musical called Freud!

Alanis Morissette did a song called The Couch (he content matches the title as well)
posted by underclocked at 11:56 AM on July 15, 2023


Maybe Deja Vu, the album by Crosby Stills Nash and Young - ?
posted by JonJacky at 1:10 PM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]


Joan Baez's 1968 anti war album Baptism would seem to fit the bill.
posted by jamjam at 2:10 PM on July 15, 2023


Would "The Pleasure Principle" by Janet Jackson do

Note that Gary Numan's first solo record has the same title.
posted by Rash at 2:38 PM on July 15, 2023


I recommend Songs of Couch and Consultation (1961) by Katie Lee. It's a clever concept album about Freudian Therapy, with sardonic and well-researched lyrics.
posted by ovvl at 5:28 PM on July 15, 2023


Cool idea! Here are a few suggestions:
"Newton's Laws" by The 49 Americans
"The Golden Rule" by SNOG
"Indoctrination (A Design for Living)" by Dead Can Dance
"Newton's Gravitätlichkeit" by Einstürzende Neubauten
"The Rule of Thirds" by Death in June
"Supertheory Of Supereverything" by Gogol Bordello
posted by abraxasaxarba at 5:49 PM on July 15, 2023


Does math count? Jonathan Coulton - Mandelbrot Set

(And I must now link to this completely amazing Revolver interview that I cannot believe is real where Stewart Copeland just razzes Sting over and over about it.) holy … that is amazing
posted by Mchelly at 7:51 PM on July 15, 2023


Parliament had an album called Funkentelechy vs the Placebo Syndrome, which includes the track Funkentelechy in which lyrical references are made to the pleasure principle
posted by cubeb at 6:35 AM on July 16, 2023


Tears for Fears’ album The Hurting was inspired by the primal theory work of Arthur Janov.
posted by jabes at 7:00 AM on July 16, 2023 [1 favorite]


May not be specific enough to serve as an answer:

https://www.mindingtherapy.com/the-therapist-song/

And I think ~half of Dar Williams' catalog might fit. Heck, her 1993 album was literally called "The Honesty Room." After All, and What Do You Hear in These Sounds
... “Look, you come here every week
With jigsaw pieces of your past
Its all on little soundbytes and voices out of photographs
And that’s all yours, that’s the guide, that’s the map
So tell me, where does the arrow point to?…

And when I talk about therapy, I know what people think
That it only makes you selfish and in love with your shrink
But oh how I loved everybody else
When I finally got to talk so much about myself…

posted by adekllny at 9:22 AM on July 16, 2023


« Older another poem/quote request -- nostalgia   |   Laser cutting and engraving software for the Mac Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments