# Metasongs! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761 "2006-02-03T01:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/21 "2006-02-03T15:27:13Z")
Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust Melody”. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/22 "2006-02-03T17:10:28Z")
I’m still a little unclear about if this qualifies, but it’s one of my favorites, **The Cowboy Song** by Roy Robinson. The song was covered by Garth Brooks, but it was done much better by others, particularly Don Edwards. The song describes events in the life of some cowboys, and mentions them singing certain other songs to demonstrate the mood. During the normal hard times of hard work and bad weather, the cowboys sing “Strawberry Roan” and “Little Joe”. When they barely escape with their lives after a stampede, they sing “Amazing Grace”. And when one of their numbers die, at the funeral they sing “Bringing in the Sheaves” and “The Rugged Cross”. [Lyrics are here](http://www.planetgarth.com/lyrics/the_cowboy_song.php) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/23 "2006-02-03T18:50:41Z")
Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/24 "2006-02-03T19:05:18Z")
**The Magnetic Fields** do this quite a bit, as _69 Love Songs_ is an album not about love, but about love _songs_. “I think I need a new heart” immediately springs to mind - _Time stands still All I can feel is the time standing still as you put down the keys and say don’t call me please while the radio plays “I Think I Need a New Heart”_ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/25 "2006-02-03T19:05:29Z")
Having just read [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=357088) thread, I have to mention “American Pie.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/26 "2006-02-03T19:19:43Z")
Crododile Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/27 "2006-02-03T19:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > “I think I need a new heart” immediately springs to mind - > > Time stands still > All I can feel is the time standing still > as you put down the keys > and say don’t call me please > while the radio plays > “I Think I Need a New Heart” Lots of great ideas, including some songs that are “meta” in ways I hadn’t even thought of, but this one (and Crocodile Rock) are what I had in mind. I swear it’s like listening to an Escher painting. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/28 "2006-02-03T20:14:37Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > **The Magnetic Fields** do this quite a bit, as _69 Love Songs_ is an album not about love, but about love _songs_. Yeah, Stephin Merritt sprang immediately to mind, but I couldn’t at the moment think of any specific examples. His stuff is almost entirely meta, but the examples that came to mind were more subtle; parodies of certain song types, rather than explicit references to them. Like “Papa was a rodeo/Mama was a rock’n’roll band.” I need to get my box out and relisten; been too long. ---
**Author:** ![booklyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@booklyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklyn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/29 "2006-02-04T03:01:17Z")
“This is a hit” By Rilo Kiley ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/30 "2006-02-04T03:06:08Z")
“Dixie Chicken” by Little Feat. The title of the song is the name of the ‘other’ song the temptress sings for the narrator. I thought about the OP all day. Finally came up with one. I’m so proud of myself. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/31 "2006-02-04T14:47:26Z")
Songs about _the idea of_ songs, songness, or songitude are truly metasongs. Songs about only _one_ other song are one notch above coattail songs (which are songs “inspired by” other songs). When I feel like it I’ll think of some examples. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/32 "2006-02-04T16:18:26Z")
“This Song” by George Harrison — a self-referential classic ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/33 "2006-02-04T16:25:37Z")
Randy Newman’s “The Story of a Rock and Roll Band”: “I love their “Mr. Blue Sky” Almost my favorite is “Turn to Stone” And how 'bout “Telephone Line”? I love that E.L.O.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/34 "2006-02-04T17:14:39Z")
_Estas son las mañanitas que cantaba el Rey David, pero no están tan bonitas como las cantan aquí._ —one of many different versions of a Mexican folk song, “Las Mañanitas.” ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/35 "2006-02-09T00:35:23Z")
Got one! I had to work at it, but Coldplay’s “Yellow.” > [@](#): > > I came along > I wrote a song for you > And all the things you do > And it was called yellow Yes? Maybe? Validate meeeee! ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/36 "2006-02-09T04:14:10Z")
Well, here’s a fine one, **Ogre** not specifically in the title, but enough by a well-enough known band referencing a specific song; from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday_(song)) "John Lennon himself snubbed “Yesterday” in “How Do You Sleep?”, a song on his Imagine album, released a few years after the Beatles broke up. Lennon tells McCartney “The only thing you done was yesterday / and since you’re gone you’re just another day”, also referring to McCartney’s then-recently-released poppy single “Another Day.” Lennon also did a humorous take of the song while recording in the mid-70s, where he altered the lines, “Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be, there’s a shadow hanging over me” to “Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be, 'cause now I’m an amputee”. The 30 second clip was later released on the John Lennon Anthology in 1998. Shortly before his death in 1980, Lennon explained that he thought the lyrics didn’t ‘resolve into any sense… They’re good — but if you read the whole song, it doesn’t say anything; you don’t know what happened. She left and he wishes it were yesterday — that much you get — but it doesn’t really resolve. … Beautiful — and I never wished I’d written it.’ " The whole lyrics can be seen [url=http://www.lyrics007.com/John%20Lennon%20Lyrics/How%20Do%20You%20Sleep%20Lyrics.html]here, scroll down a wee bit. I’d think this counts as a metasong, due to some extraordinary juice between parties. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/37 "2006-02-09T04:27:21Z")
Lordy, here’s the right link to the lyrics: [right hyar](http://www.lyrics007.com/John%20Lennon%20Lyrics/How%20Do%20You%20Sleep%20Lyrics.html) Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/38 "2006-02-09T06:04:21Z")
“Goodnight Song”, by Tears For Fears. > [@](#): > > Here on the stage, the time has come > And with the strains of “be my angel”, of rock in 2/4 > Time may keep alive that old swan song > That we’ve been playing, forever, 'til the time may be right to say goodbye > … > And our Goodnight Song > Played so wrong > Blame the crowd, they > Screamed so loud, so long “My Iron Lung”, by Radiohead > [@](#): > > This…this is our new song > Just like the last one > A total waste of time > My Iron Lung ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/39 "2006-02-09T07:08:42Z")
“Where Are You Tonight?” by Cowboy Junkies referring to the famous Patsy Cline tune: _There’s a young man in the corner, playing “Crazy” all night long Quarters piled high upon the table…_ Staying in the Cowboy Junkies vein, this snatch of lyrics from “Cowboy Junkies Lament” always calls to mind the characters from Bob Dylan’s “Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts”: _Old lady Rose, lookin’ down her nose At lonely Miss Lily hiding in the hall Lily’s just prayin’ for the trial to be over Lady Rose’s just waitin’ for the axe to fall_ I doubt it’s coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761/40 "2006-02-09T08:14:03Z")
Uhh… Just wanted to post 'cause my real name showed up in this thread. Freaky. How about PiL’s “This is Not a Love Song”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metasongs/342761.md?page=3)