# Meta-songs: Songs about being a musician **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 6, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057 "2022-09-06T14:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/1 "2022-09-06T14:20:54Z")
I used the expression “once bitten, twice shy” the other day, which led me to start singing the song to myself under my breath, which turned into a bit of an earworm, which got me to thinking, there have to be a million songs about the various aspects of being a musician and touring. Here are some I can think of just off the top of my head without any googling: - As mentioned “Once Bitten Twice Shy”- originally Ian Hunter, but the Great White cover seems like the only one that’s ever played on the radio anymore. - “Shooting Star” - Bad Company - “Turn the Page” - Bob Seger - “The Load-Out” - Jackson Browne - “Stray Cat Blues” - The Rolling Stones Famous musicians tend to be egotistical types, so what better song lyric subject than oneself- or a fictionalized version of oneself? Bring them on… ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/2 "2022-09-06T14:25:36Z")
- “Jukebox Hero”, Foreigner - “Sultans of Swing”, Dire Straits - “Piano Man”, Billy Joel - “The Load Out/Stay”, Jackson Browne - “I Write The Songs”, Barry Manilow - “Limelight”, Rush ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/3 "2022-09-06T14:27:49Z")
Kevin Johnson-"[Rock&Roll, I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yuwhUx35Uc) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/4 "2022-09-06T14:31:00Z")
Weird Al-“[Perform This Way](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_BmTGv43M)” ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/5 "2022-09-06T14:33:16Z")
- “Late In The Evening”, Paul Simon - “On Broadway”, George Benson - “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”, John Mellencamp ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/6 "2022-09-06T14:33:25Z")
Homeward bound - Simon and Garfunkel ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/7 "2022-09-06T14:33:50Z")
Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You - Sugarloaf On the Road Again - Willie Nelson Rock & Roll Band - Boston ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/8 "2022-09-06T14:37:18Z")
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/9 "2022-09-06T14:38:35Z")
> [@solost](#): > > songs about the various aspects of being a musician and touring or _not_ touring: there’s [“Session Man”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZzEMEa6iOk) by The Kinks, and [“Studio Musician”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmNIVoeS2c) (recorded by Barry Manilow on his _Live_ album, ironically enough, and written by Rupert Holmes). ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/10 "2022-09-06T14:40:35Z")
Good point- I wasn’t trying to limit the thread to songs about musicians touring- I guess I should have said “…aspects of being a musician _ **or** _ touring…” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/11 "2022-09-06T14:42:37Z")
The Cover of “Rolling Stone” - Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/12 "2022-09-06T14:44:13Z")
Ugh, this is my least favorite type of song. A pet peeve of mine. Chicago “Critic’s Choice” Ben Folds “One Down” ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/13 "2022-09-06T14:49:16Z")
Life’s Been Good – Joe Walsh ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/14 "2022-09-06T14:55:26Z")
The Mudshark (and numerous others) - The Mothers ---
**Author:** ![Nunyadambizznezz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nunyadambizznezz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunyadambizznezz)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/15 "2022-09-06T15:03:09Z")
Jackson Brown - The Load Out/Stay. “We gotta drive all night to do the show in Chicago…or Detroit…I don’t know. We do so many shows in a row and these towns all look the same. I used to work on the road constantly, not as a musician, but when you do that the road gets weary. You can easily empathize. You learn how they could be a prisoner of what we all from the outside see as so glamorous. It deprives you of so many other aspects of life. Of all of them, this was my favorite road weary song. The differences were negligible between us compared to the similarities. Not a truck driver either. I would stay in a hotel at a location a month or three or maybe just a week. You get used to a spot, co-workers, restaurants, roads, hotel staff, anything to hold on to, then leave. “Oh wont you stay, just a little bit longer”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/16 "2022-09-06T15:05:20Z")
“So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” - The Byrds ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/17 "2022-09-06T15:07:55Z")
“25 or 6 to 4” - Chicago “These Words” - Natasha Bedingfield Both are about trying to write songs. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/18 "2022-09-06T15:12:25Z")
Another name for these is [“dues songs”](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266). One of my favorites is [“Get A Haircut And Get A Real Job”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9qIPAdLhfI) by George Thorogood. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/19 "2022-09-06T15:12:49Z")
The Kinks: _Motorway_, _The Moneygoround_ The Who: _New Song_, _Guitar and Pen_ Fountains of Wayne: _Road Song_ Paul Revere & The Raiders: _Out On That Road_ ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057/20 "2022-09-06T15:13:01Z")
A couple more groupie songs: What’s Your Name - Lynyrd Skynyrd Ladies of the Road - King Crimson [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-songs-songs-about-being-a-musician/971057.md?page=2)