Re: songs that reference band member's name in the lyrics

There's a line in the new Here for You song... "i love harmonies like ethan's..."

Which, when I scroll down to the credits, there's an Ethan in the band.

Where else has this happened?

[hereforyou.bandcamp.com]

The three most obvious that spring to mind for me:

Ramones - "Ramona"
Mamas & Papas - "Creeque Alley"
Pixies - "Monkey Gone to Heaven"

Not a band, but T Bone Burnett makes himself a meta character in "The Strange Case of Frank Cash and the Morning Paper."

And of course, "Ballad of Mott" by Mott the Hoople.

The Beatles - "Glass Onion"



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2024 06:34PM by breno.

“CC, pick a bad guitar and a talk to me” Poison

“I hear you, Punky” on ‘LA Lady’ by Angel

Sorry, most post punk new wave jangle poppers don’t do this kinda stuff.

Well joe strummer says ‘sing Michael sing’ to mick jones at the beginning of Rudie can’t fail

And I swear Johnny rotten says ‘I’m a lazy Sid’ instead of I’m a lazy sod at one point in ‘seventeen’

It's stretching it to call it a song, but Sparks - "The Wedding of Jacqueline Kennedy to Russell Mael"

My poor brother had been coveting the 45 with that as the b-side for years (I think it was on an import version of "Looks Looks Looks") and found it AND Sparks' rare (around St. Louis, anyhow) cover 45 of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" at a record convention in 1980 or 81. He was elated to have found these two long sought-after treasures, sure they were going to be true Sparks classics. We got back to our friend's house, and gathered around the stereo to.listen to our hauls (I scored a copy of the at-that-time pretty rare Loaded and a copy of "Feeling Stupid" by Jona Lewie). My brother dropped the needle on "The Wedding of Jacqueline Kennedy and Russell Mael" and then me and our friend Terry watched him die a little inside as he realized this song he'd waited for years to hear was in fact the most half-assed throwaway b-side Sparks would ever record.

But he was still hopeful as he put "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on the turntable - it was produced by Rupert Holmes, same as Big Beat had been, so he reasonably expected it to be cut from the same cloth as that album, but no - it was a gloopy orchestral cover. No clue what the hell the Mael brothers were thinking on that one. At least its b-side "England" was a reasonably acceptable Sparks song, to keep my brother's day from being a complete fiasco.

Not that I fared much better with Jona Lewie - he was one of the few artists on Stiff that none of us had anything by, so I was all excited thinking that Lewie was going to be MY Stiff artist to collect, since my brother had pretty much locked up the rest of them. "Feeling Stupid" was okay - nothing to write home about, but nothing to dash the hopes, either. But then the flipside, "God Bless Whoever Made You" was nearly as drippy as Sparks' "I Want To Hold Your Hand." (Too bad it wasn't "You'll Always Find Me In the Kitchen at Parties" - I would've counted that as a win if I'd picked that up in 1980.)

I don't remember what our friend Terry brought home from the convention that day - maybe Children of the Night by Nash the Slash, which I know he was looking for but don't recall if he found it that day or not - but I do remember his uncharitable howls of laughter while listening to the Sparks and Jona Lewie disasters. But whatever. I brought home a copy of Loaded which still made me the winner for the day.

Ha! I just went ahead and listened to "The Wedding of Jacqueline Kennedy to Russell Mael" for the first time in decades to see if it was indeed as much of a waste of a b-side as I remembered it. It definitely is. But it could just as definitely be dropped into the middle of Dazzle Ships without anyone batting an eye.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2024 09:51PM by breno.

"Hollywood Swinging" - Kool & the Gang
"Volcano Girls" - Veruca Salt
"This Beat Goes On" - The Kings
"Love Store" - The Kings
"Wild and Loose" - The Time
"Smokin' in the Boys Room" - Brownsville Station (Mötley Crüe changed out names and did the same thing on their cover)

The Sweet - Ballroom Blitz

Zappa mentions Warren Cuccurullo multiple times throughout Joe's Garage. And Vinny Colaiuta at least once. Actually, he mentions the names of bandmates in songs (Ruth Underwood, Steve Vai come readily to mind) throughout his discography.

Delvin, pretty sure The Time mention their names in multiple songs. Jesse and Jerome are mentioned in "Jungle Love." And I'm pretty sure Morris' name is spoken by female voices a few times.

"My first name ain't baby / It's Janet, Miss Jackson if you're nasty"

I want to say fIREHOSE did this a few times, but I don't remember which songs off the top of my head.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2024 11:05AM by zoo.

The Dictators - Burn, Baby, Burn! "burn Ross burn"
Who Will Save Rock and Roll "show `em where you live Ross"

Kid Creole mentions Coati Mundi and the Cocoanuts in several songs.

Super Freak "Temptations sing"

Not sure if this qualifies but the many, many James Brown songs where he calls out either Maceo Parker or Fred Wesley to play.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2024 10:58AM by Heff.

> Delvin, pretty sure The Time mention their names in multiple
> songs. Jesse and Jerome are mentioned in "Jungle Love." And I'm
> pretty sure Morris' name is spoken by female voices a few times.

Oh yeah, The Time's repertoire includes plenty of songs where Morris calls out another band member's name as a shout-out -- i.e., as something incidental to the lyrics. Plenty of artists do that. Indeed, it's hard to find a James Brown song that doesn't include James shouting to one of his musicians. (And if Morris had his way, his name would be spoken by every female singer in every song.)

I was limiting my list to songs where a band member's name actually is part of the lyrics.

Delvin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh yeah, The Time's repertoire includes plenty of songs where Morris calls out another band member's
> name as a shout-out -- i.e., as something incidental to the lyrics. Plenty of artists do that. Indeed, it's hard to find a James Brown song
> that doesn't include James shouting to one of his musicians. (And if Morris had his way, his
> name would be spoken by every female singer in every song.)
>
> I was limiting my list to songs where a band member's name actually is part of the lyrics.

Yes, good distinction!

Television: "Venus De Milo"

Then Richie, Richie said
"Hey man, let's dress up like cops, think of what we could do"
Something, something said "you better not"

De La Soul - "The Magic Number," "Can U Keep a Secret", etc.

That'ud be Birmingham's best : Ballad of Mott the Hoople

Looks like our geriatric minds forgot this:

<[trouserpress.com];

Not quite the same topic, as that thread leaned more towards referring to the band itself and not the individual members, but close enough.

In that thread, the Bonzos got much discussion, yet somehow no one called out "The Intro and the Outro."

Jonathan Richman is also mentioned, but not "Back In Your Life" and whichever song it was where he called out "Leroy and Asa and D. Sharpe" - my mind is drawing a blank. (EDIT: It's "Morning of Our Lives.")

"Ant Rap" has also managed to not be mentioned til now.

"Darrio" by Kid Creole & the Coconuts is based on August Darnell's nickname.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2024 10:58PM by breno.

It looks like that previous thread also didn't mention _Down In Bermuda_ by Jonathan Richman.

"Surrender"

The Adam Ant reference made me remember..."Man Called Marco." The "lyrics" consist of the following:

Hello, I'm Marco
Allow me to introduce
My Firebird Seven

“Left my wallet in El Sugundo”

Bip and Zoo: Minutemen - History Lesson, Part II, Watt name-checks D. Boon.

Five*Words Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bip and Zoo: Minutemen - History Lesson, Part
> II, Watt name-checks D. Boon.
Close, but you got it backwards! D. Boone: “me and Mike Watt playing guitars.“

The walrus was Paul.

There is a reference to Henri Padovani in the Police's first single "Fall Out," when Sting shouts his name as Padovani's guitar solo begins. He was summarily sacked by the band for his inability to even play three chords.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2024 01:35AM by Fleeingbandit.

In his book Broken Music, Sting recounts his earliest days with The Police, including Padovani's tenure. To hear him tell it, Sting and Stewart disagreed on whether to keep the Corsican guitarist on board. Stewart, revealing his inclination to grab the bandwagon, argued that Henri had the look and the raw approach that was suited to a nascent punk rock band. Sting, coming from more of a jazz fusion background, didn't see this as good reasons to put up with a second-rate guitarist: "Stewart, you're a better guitarist than Henri, and you're crap."

The argument got settled when Andy Summers joined the band: he told Stewart and Sting, basically, "Either Henri goes, or I do."