# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/41 "2011-04-21T20:19:22Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Can anyone think of any songs where the singer says “guitar!” as a way to introduce a guitar solo in the song? I’m thinking Kiss might do this, but I can’t think of the song. _So Fine_ by Guns 'n Roses has “Guitar, c’mon!” for the solo. As for self-reference, breaking the fourth wall, _Such Great Heights_ by the Postal Service has : “when you scan the radio I hope this song will guide you” _We Are Not Going to Make It_ by the Presidents of the USA (I think someone else actually wrote it, but they’re the most known for it) is a meta-song about how they aren’t any good. It begins with a failed take, and then makes references to the (in)ability of the drummer and singer using the singer and drummer themselves. There are also the lines: “we don’t have the talent and we don’t have the time and we don’t have the patience and we don’t know to rhyme” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/42 "2011-04-21T20:19:38Z")
‘Down Together’ by The Refreshments contains this lyric: “We could chase our shadows around the lawn until we’re both exhausted I could forget the words here one more time and hope that no one notices” For all of me that album ‘Fizzy, Fuzzy Big and Buzzy’ is one of the greatest albums of the 90s. It’s astonishing. ---
**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, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/43 "2011-04-21T20:22:05Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Nice! 🙂 You’re certainly welcome. Superdude. Resident Hair Band Semi-savant. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/44 "2011-04-21T20:23:03Z")
“Superpowers”- Five Iron Frenzy _Sometimes we have a deadline for writing our songs. Five minutes left to write this one la,la,la,la,la,la,la,la._ ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/45 "2011-04-21T20:31:25Z")
From _Once More with Feeling_, the musical episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. The song is “Walk through the Fire” > [@](#): > > (Spike) No I’ll save her, then I’ll kill her! > (Willow) I think this line’s mostly filler. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/46 "2011-04-21T20:38:19Z")
Kirsty MacColl’s “A New England” - “I was twenty one years when I wrote this song, I’m twenty two now, but I won’t be for long.” The Pogues’ “Rainy Night in SoHo” - “Now this song is nearly over. We may never find out what it means.” Sixpence None the Richer’s “Anything” - “This is my forty-fifth depressing tune. I’m looking for money as I clean my artistic womb.” Sixpence again, with “The Lines of My Earth” - “This is the last song that I’ll write, 'til you tell me otherwise, and it’s because I just don’t feel it. This is the last song, 'til you tell me otherwise, and it’s because I just don’t feel it anymore.” ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/47 "2011-04-21T20:42:42Z")
Not sure if you guys will think this one counts, but: _Beth_ - Kiss _Beth, I hear you callin’ But I can’t come home right now Me and the boys are playin’ And we just can’t find the sound…_ _Great Expectations_ - Kiss \*You watch me singing this song … You watch Pete beatin’ his drum\* ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/48 "2011-04-21T20:51:58Z")
The Clash, pressured by their label to produce a radio friendly hit song, came out with “This is Radio Clash.” ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/49 "2011-04-21T20:59:04Z")
_You can go ahead and get married And this’ll be our secret thing I won’t tell a soul Except the people in the nightclub where I sing_ –Old 97’s, Designs on You ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/50 "2011-04-21T21:01:25Z")
Steely Dan _Deacon Blues_ “I cried when I wrote this song Sue me if I play it wrong” ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/51 "2011-04-21T21:25:38Z")
[This Song Don’t Have a Video](http://www.vh1.com/video/loudon-wainwright-iii/59329/tsdhav-this-song-dont-have-a-video.jhtml) by Loudon Wainwright III ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/52 "2011-04-21T21:39:22Z")
“25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago and “These Words” by Natasha Bedingfield–both are about cases of writer’s block when trying to write the song. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/53 "2011-04-21T22:01:37Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Kirsty MacColl’s “A New England” - “I was twenty one years when I wrote this song, I’m twenty two now, but I won’t be for long.” Or even Billy Bragg’s “A New England” ;). The two lines you quoted are also the first two lines of Paul Simon’s “Leaves That Are Green.” Willie Nelson’s “Sad Songs and Waltzes” opens with “I’m writing a song all about you,” and laments in the chorus that “though [his] record may say it, no one will play it, 'cause sad songs and waltzes aren’t selling this year.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/54 "2011-04-21T22:14:32Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > Or even Billy Bragg’s “A New England” ;). Did Billy Bragg write that song? I had no idea it was a cover. MacColl’s version seems pretty gender specific, with lines like, “I put you on a pedestal, you put me on the pill.” Checking Wikipedia, it appears that she added a verse to the song, which I presume was that one. Bragg now includes it whenever he performs it, in her memory. I really need to get more of his albums. I’ve only heard _Mermaid Avenue_ to date. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/55 "2011-04-21T22:22:28Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > Or even Billy Bragg’s “A New England” ;). The two lines you quoted are also the first two lines of Paul Simon’s “Leaves That Are Green.” See post #16. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/56 "2011-04-21T22:26:28Z")
Doh! I checked for the Willie Nelson song, but I didn’t think to see if anyone had mentioned the Paul Simon one.:smack: > [@Miller](#): > > Checking Wikipedia, it appears that she added a verse to the song, which I presume was that one. Bragg now includes it whenever he performs it, in her memory. I think she added the one that ends “I never asked that boy to stay” - I can’t remember ever hearing it without the pedestal/pill verse. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/57 "2011-04-21T22:48:53Z")
Rutles, _Piggy In The Middle_ (a parody of “I Am The Walrus”) “I know you know what you know but you should know by now that you’re not me” . ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/58 "2011-04-21T22:54:20Z")
Violent Femmes, _Prove my Love_ “Third verse, same as the first” Wings, _Silly Love Songs_ “You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs. But I look around me and I see it isn’t so. Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs. And what’s wrong with that? Id like to know, cause here I go again I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you,…” ---
**Author:** ![President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/President_Johnny_Gentle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/59 "2011-04-21T22:58:41Z")
Okkervil River: “John Allyn Smith Sails”, (on an unrelated note, this song finishes with a new take on “Sloop John B.”) “By the second verse, dear friends My head will burst, my life will end So I’d like to start this one off by saying ‘Live and love’” ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/60 "2011-04-21T23:12:15Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Steely Dan _Deacon Blues_ > > “I cried when I wrote this song > Sue me if I play it wrong” Nitpick, I know, but it’s “sue me if I play too long” Lotsa brilliant lyrics in the Steely Dan catalog. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253.md?page=4)