# Songs about writing song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2019, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529 "2019-05-05T23:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [May 6, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/21 "2019-05-06T04:13:06Z")
[Generic Uptempo Folk Song](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DzDRb528As9I&ved=0ahUKEwigi5X5g4biAhXKVt8KHccdBVwQo7QBCCgwAQ&usg=AOvVaw0jDBAAxkmRj37s-j2dGBLM) by the Limelighters. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/22 "2019-05-06T05:17:09Z")
Prince, 1999: I was dreamin’ when I wrote this / Forgive me if it goes astray. Pulp, Something Changed: I wrote this song two hours before we met / I didn’t know your name or what you looked like yet ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/23 "2019-05-06T05:48:11Z")
“My Girl (Gone Gone Gone)” by Chilliwack: “She didn’t have to leave me She didn’t have to run She didn’t have to go without a word to anyone I hope she’s doing alright I got no way to know Unless she gets to hear this song Hear it on the radio” ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/24 "2019-05-06T07:23:27Z")
Jim Croce - “I’ll have to say I love you in a song”. Also, from Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, he describes constructing the song within the song: “It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing hallelujah” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/25 "2019-05-06T07:59:54Z")
“Leaves That Are Green” by Simon & Garfunkel > [@](#): > > I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song. > I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long > Time hurries on. These may not count: Joan Baez’ “Time Rag” — “And just before I run out of words that rhyme” Dylan’s “Sara” — “Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel Writin’ _Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands_ for you” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/26 "2019-05-06T08:37:25Z")
A great cynical song by a great band - \*The Beautiful South \*[Song For Whoever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-q_gAM1BXQ) > [@](#): > > Deep, so deep > The number one I hope to reap > Depends upon the tears you weep > So cry, lovey, cry > > Cry, cry > Cry > > Oh Cathy, oh Alison > Oh Philippa, oh Sue > You made me so much money > I wrote this song for you (I wrote this song for you) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/27 "2019-05-06T10:51:35Z")
How about Like Patsy Would, by Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose and Lori McKenna? > [@](#): > > If it comes from the whiskey, then pour me a drink > If it comes from the heartache, let me feel the sting > If it comes from the spirits, set 'em loose in this room > Either way tonight it’s just me and the truth > > I wanna pray like Jesus is listenin’ > I wanna play it like I’m made of strings on wood > I wanna write it down like Hemingway > Like it’s the last damn thing I’ll ever say > And try to sing it like Patsy would ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mr.Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Me)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/28 "2019-05-06T11:53:49Z")
[Hamilton Loomis - My Pen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTEuIC1YP_E) > [@](#): > > Sat down, to write a song > One that everyone could sing along > With some style, little bit of groove > But my pen just wont move > > I think its happening again > I think theres something wrong with my pen ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/29 "2019-05-06T11:55:36Z")
Steely Dan - “Deacon Blues” _I cried when I wrote this song_ ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/30 "2019-05-06T13:38:00Z")
There’s Arlo Guthrie’s “Motorcyle Song”. The actual singing part of the song has nothing about writing songs, but the spoken words part is all about the process of writing the singing part (and, IMHO, the spoken words are inseparable from the singing part). ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/31 "2019-05-06T14:02:14Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > In a meta way, songs about writing songs, especially songs about writing the song being sung, fascinate me in the same way that breaking the 4th wall does. What are some good examples? > > I’ll start > > [Sad Songs and Waltzes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK-DcAcQ-7Y), by Cake That’s actually a cover of a Willie Nelson song. Here’s one: 26 Second Song: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6Gf0N6FOSk0/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGGUgZShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCyDS4Z0bMVf-C3raBrl9FCLv_KnA "Shel Silverstein - 26 Second Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gf0N6FOSk0) ---
**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:** [May 6, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/32 "2019-05-06T14:02:32Z")
“Hearts”, by Marty Balin: _Is everything okay? I just thought I’d write a song / To tell the world how I miss you Cause each and every day I think of all the words I never said / And all the chances that I had to_ ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/33 "2019-05-06T14:10:01Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > That’s actually a cover of a Willie Nelson song. Thanks, I know Cake does a lot of interesting cover songs, I should have done a search at least on the writers. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/34 "2019-05-06T14:15:27Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > There’s Arlo Guthrie’s “Motorcyle Song”. The actual singing part of the song has nothing about writing songs, but the spoken words part is all about the process of writing the singing part (and, IMHO, the spoken words are inseparable from the singing part). On his live alive “The Compleat Tom Paxton,” he tells the marvelous tale about how he write his first song “The Marvelous Toy” in the strangest circumstances imaginable: “on a typewriter while doing some graduate work at a place called Fort Dix, New Jersey.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/35 "2019-05-06T14:41:56Z")
Sara by Bob Dylan > [@](#): > > Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel > Writin’ “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” for you ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@Mona\_Lott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lott)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/36 "2019-05-06T14:55:56Z")
Last Song by Edward Bear ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/37 "2019-05-06T15:40:34Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song. > I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long > Time hurries on. The initial couplet was also used by Billy Bragg in New England. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/38 "2019-05-06T15:43:23Z")
_School’s Out_ by Alice Cooper “We can’t even think of a word that rhymes.” ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/39 "2019-05-06T15:46:10Z")
“[Fountains of Wayne Hotline](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vVJ2Om-QVg)” from Robbie Fulks Robbie calls the hotline to help him finish his (rock/pop) song which is titled, “Fountains of Wayne Hotline”. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529/40 "2019-05-06T16:18:26Z")
_Love Song_ by Melissa Ferrick The lyrics refer to singing a love song but it’s really about her inability to write one since, at 21, she has had no experience to draw upon. _Well you ask me To sing you A love song And I smile I smile and say Hold on Let me think That would be an old one But how strange At twenty-one And I never even had one_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-writing-song/833529.md?page=3)