Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with lyrics

What's the name of this mysterious squirrel song?

obiwanwasabi — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:17:46 -0800

Singing Christmas squirrels toy - what's the name of the song?

What kind of service, exactly?

Bizurke — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:04:37 -0800

What does "Look I'll call you in the morning or my service will explain" (from the song "Another Hundred People") mean? It's a line from the song "Another Hundred People" from Company (youtube link) What kind of service is she talking about?

Though your confidence may be shattered, it doesn't matter.

e.e. coli — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:18:56 -0800

I love the Neil Young track "For the Turnstiles." It's a great performance of a great song. I walk around the house singing it, annoying my wife and frightening my children. But I've got to come to grips with the fact that I can't quite decipher whatever the literal meaning of the lyrics might be. Can you help me? All the sailors with their seasick mamas
Hear the sirens on the shore,
Singin' songs for pimps with tailors
Who charge ten dollars at the door.

You can really learn a lot that way
It will change you in the middle of the day.
Though your confidence may be shattered,
It doesn't matter.

All the great explorers
Are now in granite laid,
Under white sheets for the great unveiling
At the big parade.

All the bushleague batters
Are left to die on the diamond.
In the stands the home crowd scatters
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles.

Name that song.

Nonce — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:01:40 -0800

There is a song I've heard on Pandora that is clever and funny and about cybersex. One attribute I recall is that the singer (male) rhymes something with the lyrics, "semicolon parenthesis." What's the title of the song, and who sings it?

Welcome to Metafilter. You're a Mess.

benzenedream — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:34:33 -0800

What songs have sampled the philosopher Alan Watts? The Books' song "All our base are belong to them" has an Alan Watts sample, as does Giraffes? Giraffes! song "I Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Are Me And We Am I And I Are All Our Together: Our Collective Consciousness' Psychogenic Fugue". There must be a ton of other songs containing Watts' quotes. I thought there was a Lemon Jelly song as well, but can't find a reference to it at the moment.

If they did actually expect the Inquisition, what would they sing?

Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:33:17 -0800

Church Lyrics filter: Help me find old Catholic Church music with Latin lyrics (with English translations) about about smiting the Devil. I'm looking for lyrics that are ominous and very "Oh Lord, strike down Satan with your righteous smiteyness". Yeah see, this is why I'm asking for help.

Something that hundreds of years ago, a local church choir would have broken and brushed up on when they heard the Inquisitor was heading to town, and they wanted to greet him with appropriate music.

Lyrics to the song Remembrance

Paragon — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:37:12 -0800

Looking for lyrics to the traditional piano song 'Remembrance' It's my grandmother's funeral tomorrow, and she always used to recite a verse while listening to the traditional piano song 'Remembrance' (it's the song on this CD: An Hour of Piano Masterpieces). The verse was something like this:

???
of lands afar
these memories dear
how sweet they are

Googling has yielded nothing. So, what are the missing words? Are they associated with this song, or are they from a poem, or something else? Any help greatly appreciated.

Lyrics to Fool's Gold song "Surprise Hotel."

feathermeat — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:56:02 -0800

Lyrics to Fool's Gold song "Surprise Hotel." Can any Hebrew speakers transcribe the lyrics to "Surprise Hotel" for me? I want to be able to sing along!

Who'd you rather be; The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

Lorc — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:50:03 -0800

The song Gimme Sympathy by Metric has a line: "After all of this is gone, who'd you rather be; the Beatles or the Rolling Stones." What would you interpret that to mean? What characteristic of those bands is being contrasted here? Googling suggests that there was some Beatles/Stones dichotomy, but I'm not 100% clear on how it relates to that lyric.

I've sussed that the later lyric "play me something like Here Comes The Sun" is a reference to that Beatles song, so are The Beatles the "right" choice? Maybe?

Sorry for overthinking a plate of beans, but you know how when one line of a song sticks in your mind?

Full lyrics for the song are in the linked vid's description.

The fish part, I'm sure of.

Solon and Thanks — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:52:06 -0800

Argh! Please help me figure out this song fragment stuck in my head based on a clue or two. I heard it on the radio during a commercial. The song had an upbeat indie-pop sound. Male singer. I'm unsure of the lyrics I heard, but they involved blind/deaf/other disability blowfish (or other kind of fish.) I think the next part was "just doing their own thing" or "doing" something. I've tried googling a combination of the above lyrics, but clearly no dice.

I'm hoping that indie songs involving disabled fish are rare enough that the above will ring a bell.

Searching for Sara/Sarah!

bookmammal — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:14:51 -0800

Please help me ID a song from the 80's! I'm wracking my brain trying to find a song that I heard fairly regularly on the radio in the early 80's--probably 1982-1984. I'm pretty sure the name "Sara" or "Sarah" was in the title--but it is definitely NOT "Sara Smile" by Hall & Oates. I think that the group or singer was not super-popular, but I do recall the song getting pretty regular play in the Midwest. The only lyrics I seem to remember are "How did I let you go" (I think that was the very first line of the song) "Sara, I'll never forget your name" and "The moment is gone but the (...something--maybe memory?...) still remains."
I've tried some "find a song with the lyrics" sites, but no luck. Can the great hive-mind help me out?

This made so much sense last night while falling asleep

rossination — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:08:37 -0800

How is "I should mind" used to mean "I don't really mind"? This and other grammar/language questions inside. I'm trying to describe some interesting wordplay in the second verse of Berlin's "Blue Skies" and I can't figure out exactly how to articulate it.

Here is the section I'm looking at:

I should care if the wind blows east or west.
I should fret if the worst looks like the best.
I should mind if they say it can't be true.
I should smile smile that's exactly what I do.

To me, the first three lines sound like the singer is meaning "I should care" as "I don't really care if the wind blows east or west" (like a sarcastic, "oh, yeah, sure, I should care"), and this is continued over the next three lines as a way of basically saying he doesn't give a damn what anyone else says. The sincere "I should smile" in the fourth line means that what he really ought to be doing is smiling, and that's what he's going to do.

How do I describe the wordplay in the first three lines? It isn't really sarcasm, it's sort of a flippant expression. But I can't find another documented use of it (even though I feel like I've heard it before), so I have nothing to refer to to aid my explanation.

Any information is helpful, with or without citations.

What is the name of this birthday song?

fellion — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:07:33 -0800

Please help me figure out the name of this birthday song. My in-laws sing a variation of Happy Birthday and they don't know where they learned it from. I'd love to find a recording of it, but my Google-Fu is failing.

Lyrics are below. Please excuse the badly formatted stanzas.

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, now let's all bake a birthday cake for you!

Oh here's the sugar, here's the spice
Here are the candles, aren't they nice

Here's the frosting, here's the knife
Never saw such a cake in my life,
Make a Wish!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday now let's all bake a birthday cake for you.

Yum! Yum! Give me some, we'll have lots of fun!
Happy Birthday!

Cherry soul music

Foam Pants — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:33:53 -0800

I am seeking classic R&B, soul, reggae, or even blues songs that feature the word cherry I have a radio show that plays old R&B and soul with a smattering of other stuff that I like. I want to do a show featuring songs that highlight the word cherry. I am willing to span a wide range of popular music as long as the song would go well with a mix of Sam & Dave and Otis Redding. That means, while Warrant is a fine band, Cherry Pie is right out. Got any suggestions?

What's the name o' this song, I've gotta know! "I wake up when I wake up, I sleep when I lie down, I eat when I find food..."

gavtaylor — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:51:00 -0800

Name-that-tune-filter: I am looking for the title a song I heard recently. lyrics: "I wake up when I wake up, I sleep when I lie down, I eat when I find food" I loved this song when I heard it, but have been unable to google the lyrics even though I am pretty certain they are correct. The order of the chorus may be wrong, but it should be right enough for google.

The "I wake up when I wake up" is very catchy.

I think the band is a trio of musicians.

It's got a country feel to it, and it has catchy chorus.

Thank you so much!

What songs do you know about St. Louis?

AgentRocket — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:45:54 -0800

What songs are about St. Louis? Is there a list somewhere? I recently stumbled on this wikipedia list of songs about Boston, and it made me wonder if there is a list of songs about St. Louis. Assuming there is not, what songs are out there? This would make a good playlist.

By "about St. Louis," I mean ones that reference the City in some way (rather than just name check it once in a list of city names). The ones I can think of from the top of my head are:

Heavy Metal Drummer, Wilco ("...we used to go see, on The Landing in the summer")
Meet Me In St. Louis
Talkin' Baseball (St. Louis Cardinals Version)
St. Louie, Nelly (and a host of other Nelly/St. Lunatics songs)
Missing Missouri, Sara Evans (sort of: she talks about "the Cardinals playing on tv" in the bridge)

Need Lyrics for Sir Smoke A Lot

leecohen — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:18:03 -0800

Does anyone know the lyrics to Sir Smoke A Lot's rap song from Half-Baked? I've found the first part:

"I wanna talk to samson, fly me to the moon like that bitch Alice Cramson, cuz it's hard being black and gifted, sometimes i wanna throw it all down and get lifted.."

Is that the whole song, or is there more to it than that? Trying to educate some fellows about movies from my youth.

PS: I feel guilty putting the category "society & culture" on this post. Wish there was a category for "crappy pop-culture" or something...

What is the earliest known use of "baby" to address or refer to a lover in American song lyrics?

Joe Beese — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:53:36 -0800

What is the earliest known use of "baby" to address or refer to a lover in American song lyrics? Here's Charley Patton using it in "A Spoonful Blues" in 1929 - but I assume it dates back to the teens or the aughts, at least.

Know what I mean?

Mountain Goatse — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:34:15 -0800

Blur's Parklife. Huh? I really can't figure out what this song is about. I get the impression that there are issues of class and maybe region that are understandable to UKians, but as a west coast USian who doesn't know anything about Blur I'm clueless. So here are some questions:

What is the region/class dialect spoken? What is the social context behind what the narrator is saying? What is Blur trying to say about people like the narrator? What is a "parklife?" Vorsprung Durch Technic?

"And I can picture you in heaven with a blunt and a brew"...because I'm going to kill you?

ignignokt — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:20:26 -0800

In what was the context was Tupac's "God Bless the Dead" written? I haven't paid much attention to Tupac and Biggie, but I do know they had that big feud. So, God Bless the Dead, which was released after Tupac's death on his Greatest Hits album, confuses me.

The song starts with Tupac graciously saying "Rest in peace to my motherfuckin' Biggie Smalls." Yet Tupac died before Biggie. So, this seems like it's a veiled threat. However, the rest of the song seems to respectfully reach out to Biggie. The other guy on the song, Stretch (who happens (?) to sound eerily like Biggie), explicitly gives his respect and says "You my nigga for life, forever."

I can't figure out when this song was recorded via Google. Was it done pre-feud? Or was it done post-feud as a disturbing and sarcastic threat

really obscure folk(?)song ID

seansbrain — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:35:04 -0800

identify the originating song with these lyrics... It doesn't matter what you eat it all turns to meat eat your neighbor eat your neighbor, etc... Heard it from a cruise ship entertainer, of all people. Very strange.
My last try at researching it had me finding a random livejournal page which had the full lyrics, but nothing about it's origins. It identified it as "the taco bell song," though I imagine that's a misnomer.

Help me ID this song!

judomadonna — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:26:35 -0800

What's the name of this possibly 1970s adult contemporary FM radio hit? This song's refrain popped into my head last night, God knows why, and it's but one cheesy lyric I can remember:

And ooooooooooh, I love you.

The artist puts me in mind of Elton John but I'm pretty sure it's not him. Given that, I think the artist could be a one-hit wonder.

Toward the end of the song that refrain is sung again except the oooh is drawn out twice as long. It's a piece of cheese, surely, but I can't stop singing it and my wife wants to slap me. Help!

White Stripes lyrics

stopgap — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:21:12 -0800

Quick lyrics question on The White Stripes' "The Union Forever." I have always (and still) heard the line "Sure I'm C.F. Kane," but lyrics sites all say "Sure I'm C.F.K." What is actually being sung here?

Warm smell of what???

Solomon — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:04:09 -0800

In the song Hotel California by The Eagles, what is there a warm smell of during the opening verse? You can hear it 1:00min into the video linked above. There's something of a discrepancy on lyric sites as to what the word actually is. Googling "coletus" just turns up results for "coleus" which is a plant. As far as I know, they don't actually smell, unless its Coleus canina, which apparently smells of urine, and is used to keep cats out of the garden.

Lookout! Lookout! Lookout! Lookout!

Drasher — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:53:27 -0800

60s song filter: We are trying to find the song from the 60s (?) that is about a car/motorcycle crash. The song has singing and a narrative part if memory serves. At one point the girl screams: "Lookout! Lookout! Lookout! Lookout!"