# 'Band "A" Sings About \[Being\] Band "B" Singing Onstage' Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017 "2002-08-08T20:15:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/1 "2002-08-08T20:15:27Z")
It’s an interesting genre. Some band or performer sings about some other band or performer being onstage and performing. A somewhat silly idea when you think about it– > [@](#): > > “We’re Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…” > “Umm, no, you’re the Beatles. We’re onto you, guys.” –but some rather good songs in the genre nevertheless. Bennie and the Jets Willie and the Poor Boys Duchess (Genesis) (nominate your favorites) Of course some of the songs of this general type are actually telling a tale about the other performer of whom they sing, whether fictional or otherwise (e.g., Joan Baez singing about the guy who was playing Real Good for Free; or the Genesis song Duchess about the performer in the waning years of her popularity who misses being the big star). I think it’s the others, though, that intrigue me, the ones where the content of the song is mainly just “Well, hey, there’s this band and, like, they get up on stage and sing songs and people come to hear them perform”. It’s as if they are saying “This isn’t us, up here performing these licks, this is how it goes down when that other band I’m singing to you about gets up here and does their chops, they sound like this!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/2 "2002-08-08T20:30:50Z")
If I’m getting what you mean correctly… how about “Shooting Star” by Bad Company? ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/3 "2002-08-08T20:43:03Z")
The Replacements, by TMBG ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/4 "2002-08-08T20:50:36Z")
How about “Uncle John’s Band”, Grateful Dead? ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_dupont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@andrew\_dupont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrew_dupont)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/5 "2002-08-08T20:56:10Z")
An obscure addition to the list, but the British a cappella group The King’s Singers sings of Freddy Feelgood and his Funky Little Five Piece Band. It’s quite an impressive song, especially when they launch into the jazz improv. They do a damned good job of mimicing a clarinet, a trombone, a trumpet, a bass, and a drum set. ---
**Author:** ![Ich\_Bin\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ich\_Bin\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ich_Bin_s)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/6 "2002-08-08T21:11:32Z")
The entire album of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, by **David Bowie**. I’m soaking in it now. ---
**Author:** ![Ich\_Bin\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ich\_Bin\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ich_Bin_s)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/7 "2002-08-08T21:23:04Z")
The entire album of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, by **David Bowie**. I’m soaking in it now. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/8 "2002-08-08T21:30:27Z")
Well, Dire Straits’ most famous songs are all about musicians. “Sultans of Swing” is about an amateur Dixieland jazz band that plays music in dingy bars before tiny, indifferent crowds, just for love of the music. “Walk of Life” is about a guy playing rock and roll oldies in the subway, hoping to get some money from passersby. (And, while it doesn’t QUITE fit the topic, “Money For Nothing” is about rock stars on MTV, being mocked by blue-collar workers at an appliance store). Others? Well, there’s Tom Petty’s “Into the Great Wide Open.” ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/9 "2002-08-08T21:45:34Z")
I think these are what you’re looking for… Boston - “Rock and Roll Band” bachman Turner Overdrive - “Taking Care of Business” ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/10 "2002-08-08T21:56:28Z")
Best performer from outer space ever: “Ziggy Stardust”. David Bowie told me. Second Place: “The Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley. A guy likes the character so much, he decides to become him: Bo Diddley. And music has never been the same. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/11 "2002-08-08T22:25:12Z")
Spider Murphy and the Purple Gang…the band described in the Elvis song, _Jailhouse Rock_. Haj ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/12 "2002-08-08T22:28:55Z")
Blotto – “We are the Nowtones.” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/13 "2002-08-08T23:10:15Z")
_The Ballad of Curtis Low_ by Lynard Skynard ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/14 "2002-08-09T00:20:45Z")
“Sally Simpson” by the Who is the story of a teenage girl who rushes the stage at a rock concert, and was (according to Townshend) partially inspired by events he witnessed at a Doors concert several years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/15 "2002-08-10T07:34:31Z")
The entire album _Cruising With Ruben and the Jets_ by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention is a tribute (with a touch of parody) to doo wop. In the liner notes, there’s the story of Ruben and the Jets (Ruben actually left the band to work on his car, but the decided to keep the name because it sounded “real sharp”). Later, Zappa helped a friend by the name of Ruben Ladron de Guevara form a real band named Ruben and the Jets. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/16 "2002-08-10T11:49:50Z")
“What’s that man movin’ across the stage? It looks a lot like the one used by Jimmy Page!” Paul McCartney, “Rock Show” ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/17 "2002-08-10T15:03:40Z")
Essentially the entire album _The Wall_ by Pink Floyd, but specifically the songs “In The Flesh?” and “In The Flesh.” (Yes, it’s deliberate.) “So you thought you might like to go to the show, To feel the warm thrill of confusion, that space cadet glow. Tell me is something eluding you, sunshine? Is this not what you expected to see? If you want to find out what’s behind these cold eyes, you’ll just have to claw your way through this disguise.” and “So you thought you might like to go to the show, To feel the warm thrill of confusion, that space cadet glow. Well, I’ve got some bad news for you all: Pink isn’t well, he stayed back at the hotel. He sent us along as a surrogate band, we’re gonna find out where you fans really stand.” ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/18 "2002-08-10T15:40:25Z")
**The Highwaymen** (IIRC) sang _Songs That Make a Difference_ that had the line “Joanie Mitchell cried on _Both Sides Now_”. NP: **Rush** - _Test For Echo_ ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/19 "2002-08-10T16:08:19Z")
Good topic!! Dire Straits - **Sultans of Swing** or Billy Joel - **Piano Man** (this might be pushing it because he is essentially singing about himself) ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-a-sings-about-being-band-b-singing-onstage-songs/123017/20 "2002-08-10T17:53:05Z")
Not to mention Frank Zappa’s _Joe’s Garage_. > [@](#): > > We could jam in Joe’s Garage > His mama was screamin’ > His dad was mad > We was playin’ the same old song > In the afternoon ‘n’ sometimes we would > Play it all night long > It was all we knew, ‘n’ easy too > So we wouldn’t get it wrong > All we did was bend the string like… > Hey! Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band’s _Turn the Page_ > [@](#): > > Here I am > On the road again > There I am > Up on the stage > Here I go > Playin’ star again > There I go > Turn the page