# Songs about non-traditional subjects **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804 "2007-10-07T00:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/1 "2007-10-07T00:35:45Z")
I’ve been listening to Bishop Allen’s song “[The Monitor](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858616617) ” on repeat for the last few days. Which is about the Civil War battle between The Monitor and The Merrimack. Which got me to thinking about songs about non-traditional (for popular music) subjects. A few off the top of my head: Barenaked Ladies’ “[Another Postcard](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Another-Postcard-lyrics-Barenaked-Ladies/75109254406B009748256DB700079955) .” About a bunch of postcards the lead singer receives in the mail… all picturing chimpanzees. Gorgol Bordello’s “[Supertheory of Supereverything](http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/gogol_bordello_lyrics_25182/super_taranta_lyrics_69345/supertheory_of_supereverything_lyrics_671860.html) .” About how science rules and religion drools. And finally, Mr. T Experience’s “[The History of the Concept of the Soul](http://www.lyricsandsongs.com/print_song/376138.html) .” Which is about exactly what it says. It includes footnotes. Before it comes up… some traditional subjects for popular songs: love, breaking up, how life is wonderful, how life sucks. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/2 "2007-10-07T05:08:35Z")
at least half the songs by They Might Be Giants ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/3 "2007-10-07T05:36:28Z")
Pretty much everything by the Tiger Lillies. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/4 "2007-10-07T05:38:02Z")
Well, there’s the Klein Four Group - math grad students singing a capella about love, physics and the calculus. [http://www.kleinfour.com/](http://www.kleinfour.com/) And Jonathan Coulton is known for writing folk songs about fairly nerdy topics - science, NPR, and our robot overlords: [http://www.jonathancoulton.com/](http://www.jonathancoulton.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/5 "2007-10-07T05:57:39Z")
Paul McCartney’s _Martha My Dear_ is about a sheepdog. Actually you could do a whole Beatles sub-list: _Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite_ is about a circus poster, _Tax Man_ and _Yellow Submarine_ and several others are about odd items for hit songs as well. Gordon Lightfoot’s wrote hit songs about _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ and _Don Quixote_. Loreena McKennit’s only mainstream hit to date was _The Mummer’s Dance_- mummers are pretty non-trad. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/6 "2007-10-07T12:27:17Z")
Personally, I think _Cake_ could be the champion of non-traditional subject-oriented songs. My favorite is _Comfort Eagle_, which from my POV appears to be about commercial interests taking over the world: \*We are building a religion We are building it bigger We are widening the corridors And adding more lanes - \*[Sheep Go to Heaven](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0mx5ERj1eI) \* is an argument between an atheist and a religious person, and actually creepily deep if you identify all the allusions (so I’ve read.) _I’m not going to smile today, I’m not gonna laugh, You’re out living it up today, I’ve got dues to pay_ The forceps line is supposed to refer to a monologue in \*[Waiting for Godot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot) [QUOTE=Waiting for Godot] Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. [/QUOTE] - (There was an absolutely brilliant analysis of this song I read online once, but the link is broken now.) Basically, this upbeat, peppy song broaches subject matter worthy of the abyss. I could easily name you 10 more examples of Cake songs about things outside the mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/7 "2007-10-07T12:35:13Z")
Pink Floyd had a love song about “Shut up, woman, you talk too much.” Semi-traditional. They also had a song about hepatitis. Jethro Tull had a song praising contruction workers, one about the homeless, and a couple of really long ones about… something. ETA: Gentle Giant had some interesting topics. Making friends with a giant was one. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/8 "2007-10-07T13:00:09Z")
[QUOTE=TheMerchandise] Before it comes up… some traditional subjects for popular songs: love, breaking up, how life is wonderful, how life sucks. [/QUOTE] My two favorite musicians, Kate Bush and Happy Rhodes, have 19 albums between them, and I’d say you could take the “lyrically traditional” songs out of all of them, put them together, and make a fine EP (ok, maybe a whole albums’ worth). That’s one of the (many) reasons I love them, their lyrics are always interesting and are _about_ things, things other than love, breaking up, how life is wonderful and how life sucks. My favorite from Kate might be **“Pull Out The Pin”** which is from the point of view of a Viet Cong soldier during the Vietnam war. To him, the American troops are big and alien and stinky (from hash and tobacco), and make for very easy targets. My favorite from Happy might be **“100 Years”** which is about a sentient computer that’s been abandoned on a dying space station. It’s slowly breaking down, it knows it’s slowly breaking down, but it can’t fix itself, and it’s truly puzzled as to why everyone left without giving it some sort of final directive. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/9 "2007-10-07T13:13:52Z")
Most of **Talking Heads** ’ early work was very non-traditional: psycho killers; lack of compassion (“I’ve heard all I want to and I don’t want to hear any more”); electric guitars going on trial; shopping lists denoting personality; the government personified as a happy suburbanite; dangerous air; love-affair-as-paper; love as something that induces unpleasant side effects, like boating accidents and bad investments … great stuff! Their later music is a little more straightforward, however: angst, love and babies. Yeah, I’m a fan. Could you tell? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/10 "2007-10-07T16:55:00Z")
[I Know What I Like](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_What_I_Like_%28In_Your_Wardrobe%29) by Genesis is a song which is told from the point of view of a lawnmower. Not exactly a traditional love song! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/11 "2007-10-07T17:09:54Z")
Are songs about murder/rape, etc. considered non-traditional for songs? In that case, Nirvana’s “Polly.” Also, Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” because most musicians aren’t well-read enough to pull of that kind of stunt. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/12 "2007-10-07T17:11:50Z")
There’s Christine Lavin’s “Planet X” about Pluto, and the controversy about whether it is a planet, or not. I’m also very fond of Boiled in Lead’s “The Microorganism” about STDs, specifically, I think HIV. (for all that it’s never explicitly mentioned in the song.) Of course, how can one not love a song with the line: “God is good, God is great; God’s a big invertebrate.” ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/13 "2007-10-07T17:34:28Z")
Peter Gabriel has several non-traditional subjects in his music, but I think the best example is “Family Snapshot”, written from the point of view of an assassin as he is committing his crime - then flashing back to an event in his childhood and feeling sorry for himself. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/14 "2007-10-07T17:42:39Z")
Half Man Half Biscuit - _Sealclubbing_ is, at least in part, about seal clubbing. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/15 "2007-10-07T17:46:38Z")
Most songs by TOOL? _Aenima_, about the end of the world, _Forty Six and Two_ inspired by Jung, _Eulogy_ about Jesus Christ and how much he sucked… ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/16 "2007-10-07T17:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Half Man Half Biscuit - _Sealclubbing_ is, at least in part, about seal clubbing. [/QUOTE] But but but but.. “Ferryland Sealer” is a traditional song, so seal clubbing must be a traditional topic. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/17 "2007-10-07T17:54:39Z")
Well, there’s always “Ben” by Michael Jackson. Heartwarming. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/18 "2007-10-07T17:57:08Z")
I just thought of another: [“Timothy”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_%28song%29) by the Buoys - a song about cannibalism. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/19 "2007-10-07T18:17:07Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] Well, there’s always “Ben” by Michael Jackson. Heartwarming. [/QUOTE] While on the topic of animals, we can’t forget Henry Gross’ “Shannon.” A song about a dead dog. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804/20 "2007-10-07T18:26:20Z")
The Bonzo Dog Band wrote songs about shirts, trouser presses, wardrobes (like in “The Lion, the Witch, and the”), tiger hunting, tents, and other odd things. The Who wrote songs about transvestism (“I’m a Boy”), child molesting (“Fiddle About”), bullies ("Cousin Kevin’), a spider (“Boris the Spider”), “Heinz Baked Beans,” visting a prostitute (“Trick of the Light”), a cloned human (“905”), and spousal abuse (“My Wife”). John Entwistle wrote many of these. And no song by Procol Harum or Flash and the Pan could ever be accused of having a traditional subject. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-non-traditional-subjects/421804.md?page=2)