# Songs that break the 4th wall **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253 "2011-04-21T17:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/1 "2011-04-21T17:29:07Z")
I can only think of a few right off the top of my head: 1. _Philosophy_ by Ben Folds Five (“and now it’s time for this song to end”) 2. _This Song Is Just Six Words Long_ by Weird Al Yankovic (this one should be obvious) 3. _Little Miss (Can’t Be Wrong)_ by Spin Doctors (“Whatcha gonna do to get into another one of these rock-n-roll songs?”) 4. _Your Song_ by Elton Song (again, this should be obvious) Come on, Dopers…tell me more! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/2 "2011-04-21T17:36:11Z")
“This is the theme to Gary’s show, the opening theme to Gary’s show…” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/3 "2011-04-21T17:49:30Z")
“You at home can easily decide what’s right, by glancing very briefly at the songs I write.”–Pete Townshend, _However Much I Booze_. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/4 "2011-04-21T17:51:14Z")
The Hook by Blues Traveler? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/5 "2011-04-21T17:51:45Z")
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. - Bumper of my SUV by Chely Wright: “So I hope that lady in her mini-van / Turns on her radio and hears this from me.” - That’s as close as I’ll get to loving you, by Aaron Tippin: “But I can sing this song to everybody / and pretend it’s not about you.” - I’m over you, by Rebecca Lynn Howard: “Maybe this song won’t make it outta my living room / But maybe someday you’ll log onto Youtube…” - Sk8er Boi, by Avril Lavigne: “I’ll be at a studio, singing the song we wrote / about a girl he used to know.” ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/6 "2011-04-21T17:53:14Z")
This is Not a Love Song by PIL. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/7 "2011-04-21T17:56:14Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/8 "2011-04-21T17:58:22Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/9 "2011-04-21T18:01:53Z")
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. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/10 "2011-04-21T18:02:21Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > 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… 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](http://www.sing365.com/music/Lyric.nsf/Kathy's-Song-lyrics-Simon-and-Garfunkel/D808D4ED6108B91A48256896000E2C74) off the Sounds of Silence album. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/11 "2011-04-21T18:02:50Z")
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…” ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/12 "2011-04-21T18:12:16Z")
“I’m too sexy for this song.” - Right Said Fred ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/13 "2011-04-21T18:16:10Z")
[A Song For You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37dw2r45Xzg), by Leon Russell - \*“…but we’re alone now, and I’m singing this song for you” \* ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/14 "2011-04-21T18:44:48Z")
“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.”) [“The Song that Never Ends”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_That_Never_Ends) ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/15 "2011-04-21T18:48:30Z")
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._ ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/16 "2011-04-21T19:00:01Z")
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. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/17 "2011-04-21T19:13:49Z")
_Number Three_ by They Might Be Giants (“There’s just two songs in me, and this is number three.”) ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/18 "2011-04-21T19:13:50Z")
Jimi Hendrix, “Can You See Me?”: “Can you hear me? Singing this song to you?” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/19 "2011-04-21T19:16:45Z")
Does Ringo saying “I need go to the bathroom” during the “na na na na” part of _Hey Jude_ count? ~5:36 [here](http://youtu.be/eDdI7GhZSQA) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/20 "2011-04-21T19:22:27Z")
I think the most brilliant example of this is the first verse of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah:” > [@](#): > > It goes like this > The fourth, the fifth > The minor fall, the major lift 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! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253.md?page=2)