# Songs that are puns (and other wordplay) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2007, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748 "2007-08-24T12:38:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/41 "2007-08-24T22:25:29Z")
King Crimson’s “The World’s My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum” ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/42 "2007-08-24T23:27:39Z")
And of course, Frank Zappa was well known for his puns, i.e. “Sheik Yerbuti”. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/43 "2007-08-24T23:44:40Z")
Jerry Lee Lewis, “Great Balls of Fire” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/44 "2007-08-25T00:22:35Z")
When you’re in love with a beautiful woman it’s hard. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/45 "2007-08-25T01:19:53Z")
This reminds me of a separate thread I was gonna ask. Does anyone remember, must have been in the early 80s, a gimmick song whose title/chorus was: _“If You See Kay”_ tell her I love her… blah blah something… Get it? i **F** yo **U** see ( **C** ) **K** ay? I’ve done Google searches with absolutely no results. I’m thinking that it must have been just a local radio station’s joke song. Either that or I dreamt the whole thing… ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/46 "2007-08-25T01:32:10Z")
While we are talking country music, my favorite wordplay, and song, is Shelby Lynne’s [What About the Love we Made](http://www.lyricsdownload.com/shelby-lynne-what-about-the-love-we-made-lyrics.html). The love they made resulted in a child and what is the break-up going to do to her. As far as puns, damn near everything on the Cramps, [Date with Elvis](http://www.google.com/musicl?lid=JPX2SnX5rgE&aid=FoRn9plTDI) album. SSG Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/47 "2007-08-25T01:46:48Z")
**Hail Ants** , check out post #37 in this thread ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/48 "2007-08-25T01:54:48Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] When you’re in love with a beautiful woman it’s hard. [/QUOTE] Softly, as I leave you. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/49 "2007-08-25T02:11:07Z")
Mike Cross wrote words for the old Appalachian fiddle tune [_Whiskey 'Fore Breakfast_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu8_-jNhwT8). ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/50 "2007-08-25T02:30:50Z")
**Hail Ants** , the version of “If You See Kay” you heard was most likely the one by April Wine. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/51 "2007-08-25T02:36:29Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] **Squeezebox** by _The Who_ [/QUOTE] Which, for some reason, leads me to **Big Ten Inch** by Aerosmith. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/52 "2007-08-25T02:45:08Z")
**Billy Bragg** has a song entitled **"Wish You Were Her"** ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/53 "2007-08-25T04:36:52Z")
There’s the old Benny Bell 78, “Shaving Cream,” which was revived in the mid-'70s thanks to exposure on the Dr. Demento Show. A song with a similar construction is “Polka Dot Undies” by Bowser & Blue. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/54 "2007-08-25T05:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=Indyellen] Which, for some reason, leads me to **Big Ten Inch** by Aerosmith. [/QUOTE] That was, incidentally, a cover of a 1952 song by [Bull Moose Jackson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Moose_Jackson). Other examples: Frank Black (formerly Black Francis of the Pixies) has worked a couple [acrostics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrostic) into his lyrics. In the Pixies’ “Ana,” the first letters of each line spell out the word “surfer,” which I assume is a reference to their earlier album _Surfer Rosa_. (Scroll down [this page](http://frankblack.net/tabs/pixies.asp?song=boss-ana) for the lyrics.) He’s also apparently worked an acrostic about his pets into one song, “Valley of Our Hope”; see the fourth post on [this page](http://forum.frankblack.net/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=69&whichpage=2) for an explanation. And the lyrics of [Robert Onion](http://frankblack.net/tabs/song.asp?song=dits-robertonion) contain the acrostic phrase, “ROBERT THE CASE FOR MARS.” No, I don’t know what that means. Also, I remember reading about some local band a few years ago who titled one of their songs “Suture Self.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/55 "2007-08-25T06:42:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Elvis Costello songs often contain a fair amount of wordplay, which is sometimes cool and sometimes annoying. I don’t know if you are loving somebody. I only know it isn’t mine. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2007, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/56 "2007-08-25T12:24:27Z")
[QUOTE=Hail Ants] This reminds me of a separate thread I was gonna ask. Does anyone remember, must have been in the early 80s, a gimmick song whose title/chorus was: _“If You See Kay”_ tell her I love her… blah blah something… Get it? i **F** yo **U** see ( **C** ) **K** ay? I’ve done Google searches with absolutely no results. I’m thinking that it must have been just a local radio station’s joke song. Either that or I dreamt the whole thing… [/QUOTE] Stolen directly from [James Joyce’s Ulysses](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb346/is_200411/ai_n13420160) If you see Kay Tell him he may See You In Tea Tell him from me The third line is prounced C-U-N-T ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/57 "2007-08-25T13:33:29Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] ABBA’s _Eagle_ is a song about being an Eagle, but is also an homage to the group the Eagles [/QUOTE] Cite? It doesn’t sound like an Eagles homage. ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/58 "2007-08-25T13:40:42Z")
Not exactly wordplay, but a subtle choice not to use punctuation: **Come on Eileen** by Dexy’s Midnight Runners ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/59 "2007-08-25T15:49:37Z")
Lyle Lovette’s **“Flyswatter / Icewater Blues”** from the amazing album _Joshua Judges Ruth_ ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748/60 "2007-08-25T22:19:19Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] Lyle Lovette’s **“Flyswatter / Icewater Blues”** from the amazing album _Joshua Judges Ruth_ [/QUOTE] _Joshua Judges Ruth_ also being a pun (of course) along the lines of writing a trio of pieces for small wind instruments and calling it _Three for Fife_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-puns-and-other-wordplay/416748.md?page=4)