I can only think of a few right off the top of my head:
Philosophy by Ben Folds Five (“and now it’s time for this song to end”)
This Song Is Just Six Words Long by Weird Al Yankovic (this one should be obvious)
Little Miss (Can’t Be Wrong) by Spin Doctors (“Whatcha gonna do to get into another one of these rock-n-roll songs?”)
Your Song by Elton Song (again, this should be obvious)
Come on, Dopers…tell me more!
“This is the theme to Gary’s show, the opening theme to Gary’s show…”
“You at home can easily decide what’s right, by glancing very briefly at the songs I write.”–Pete Townshend, However Much I Booze.
The Hook by Blues Traveler?
Does any song that refers to itself as a song or speculates on how people may react to hearing it count as breaking the fourth wall? I can think of a few examples like that.
This is Not a Love Song by PIL.
While not explicitly stating that it is a song, Barenaked Ladies’ Pinch Me acknowledges that it has an audience with the lyrics,
If I pack the car and leave this town
Who’ll notice that I’m not around?
I could hide out under there
I just made you say “underwear”
More direct is Humor of the Situation off of the same album:
I’ve never felt so small, I’ve never been so dissed
As I shiver, dripping, while the chorus goes:
Come on now now, come on now now
Enjoy the humor of the situation
Simon and Garfunkle had one, but man am I spacing on the name now…
All I’m coming up with is the lyric “and the song that I was writing remains undone…”
Now that’s gonna bother me for a while…
You’re So Vain “you probably think this song is about you”, by Carly Simon
The Crunge by Led Zeppelin “I can’t find the bridge, has anybody seen the bridge? Where’s that confounded bridge”
I Predict by Sparks, “I predict this song will fade out” (at which point, the singing fades out, but the track comes to an abrupt end)
That Barenaked Ladies lyric ( that ends with “I just made you say ‘underwear’”) is one of my favorite lines in music.
And a song I was writing is left undone
I don’t know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can’t believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme.
Kathy’s Song off the Sounds of Silence album.
The Who, “Getting in Tune”: “I’m singing this note 'cause it fits in well with the chords I’m playing.”
Buffalo Springfield, “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing”: “Who should be sleeping that’s writing this song, wishing and hoping he weren’t so damn wrong?”
Jimi Hendrix, “Can You Hear Me”: “…singing this song to you?”
Matching Mole, “Signed Curtain”: “This is the first verse…and this is the chorus, or perhaps it’s a bridge…”
King Crimson, “Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With”: “And when I have some words, this is the way I’ll sing, through a distortion box, to make them menacing…”
“I’m too sexy for this song.” - Right Said Fred
A Song For You, by Leon Russell - *“…but we’re alone now, and I’m singing this song for you” *
“You Can All Join In” by Traffic (“This is a song you can all join in with/it’s very simple and I hope it’s new.”)
“Just a Song” by Dave Mason. (“Now I’m finding all I need in just a song.”)
Jenny Lewis, “It Wasn’t Me”
But I’ll use a pop song to clear my name
Under the bridges of fame it’s always nighttime
I’ll end with a closer and say goodnight.
You’re So Vain by Carly Simon (I bet you think this song is about you.)
Leaves That Are Green by Simon and Garfunkle (I was 21 when I wrote this song. I’m 22 now, but I won’t be for long.)
A bit of Googling indicates that Billy Bragg appropriated that line for “A New England” as well.
Number Three by They Might Be Giants (“There’s just two songs in me, and this is number three.”)
Jimi Hendrix, “Can You See Me?”: “Can you hear me? Singing this song to you?”
Does Ringo saying “I need go to the bathroom” during the “na na na na” part of Hey Jude count?
~5:36 here
I think the most brilliant example of this is the first verse of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah:”
as the song proceeds from the four chord (F) to the five chord [G], then to Am (the minor fall) and back to F (the major lift). Just incredible!