# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/101 "2011-04-25T23:16:12Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Elvis broke the 4th wall in a different way with “Blue Moon of Kentucky”, his second single. It starts out in the slow, Bill Monroe 3/4 tempo. Then Elvis stops the proceedings, saying, “Hold on, boys, that don’t _move_ me none. Let’s get real gone for a change.” Then they restart it as a rock ‘n’ roll version. Brings to mind Tina Turner patiently explaining how it’s going to play out: _“we’re gonna take the beginning of this song and do it easy, then we’re gonna do the finish rough. This is the way we do ‘Proud Mary’. And we’re rolling, rolling, rolling on the river. Listen to the story: **‘Left a good job in the city…’** ”_ ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/102 "2011-04-25T23:33:55Z")
Bowling for Soup’s Punk Rock 101 has the line “Same song, different chorus” as a bridge(?) between the first verse and the chorus, and “same song, second chorus” between the second verse and the chorus. Jack Johnson’s Sittin, Waitin, Wishin: _Now maybe you’ve been through this before But it’s my first time, so please ignore The next few lines 'cause they’re directed at you._ ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/103 "2011-04-25T23:47:58Z")
Two examples from _Showbiz Kids_ by Steely Dan. _They got the heavenly bodies, They got the Steely Dan t-shirts_ _Showbusiness kids making movies Of themselves, you know they Don’t give a fuck about anybody else_ ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/104 "2011-04-25T23:49:04Z")
Foo Fighters - The Last Song > [@](#): > > This is the last song (This is the last song) > This is the last song > That I will dedicate to you ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/105 "2011-04-26T02:17:28Z")
**_After the Lovin’_ - Engelbert Humperdink** : \*So I sing you to sleep After the lovin’ With a song I just wrote yesterday And I hope you can hear What the words and the music have to say. \* **_Romeo and Juliet_ - Dire Straits** _All I do is kiss you Through the bars of a rhyme_ ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/106 "2011-04-26T10:40:04Z")
\*Borrowed Tune \*- Neil Young: _I’m singing this borrowed tune I took from the Rolling Stones, Alone in this empty room Too wasted to write my own._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/107 "2011-04-26T10:49:40Z")
“An Old-Fashioned Love Song” spells out – in three-part harmony – that it’s just an old-fashioned love song, comin’ down in three-part harmony. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/108 "2011-04-26T12:25:53Z")
Nobody’s mentioned Herman’s Hermits’ “Henry VIII” yet? _Second verse, same as the first!_ I also thought of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music” and Archie Bell and the Drells’ “Tighten Up,” which are both songs about playing the song, essentially: _All we need is a drummer For people who only need a beat, yeah_ and _First tighten up on the drums Come on now, drummer I want you to tighten it up for me now_ ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/109 "2011-04-26T12:42:45Z")
The Leonard Cohen “the fourth, the fifth” thing wins by a long chalk. Soooooo clever. A close second, IMO, is Natasha Bedingfield. > [@Ponch8](#): > > “These Words” by Natasha Bedingfield–both are about cases of writer’s block when trying to write the song. I really like the following lines: Read some Byron, Shelley and Keats, Recited it over some hip hop beats. I’m having trouble saying what I mean With dead poets and a drum machine. ---
**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 26, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/110 "2011-04-26T12:54:24Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Nobody’s mentioned Herman’s Hermits’ “Henry VIII” yet? > _Second verse, same as the first!_ > > I also thought of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music” and Archie Bell and the Drells’ “Tighten Up,” which are both songs about playing the song, essentially: > _All we need is a drummer > For people who only need a beat, yeah_ > and > _First tighten up on the drums > Come on now, drummer > I want you to tighten it up for me now_ The intro to Tighten up (“Hi, I’m Archie Bell and the Drells”) was so memorable that it was parodied years later on the Simpsons: “Hi, I’m Archie Bell, and I’m also the Drells”. ---
**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 26, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/111 "2011-04-26T14:13:45Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Brings to mind Tina Turner patiently explaining how it’s going to play out: _“we’re gonna take the beginning of this song and do it easy, then we’re gonna do the finish rough. This is the way we do ‘Proud Mary’. And we’re rolling, rolling, rolling on the river. Listen to the story: **‘Left a good job in the city…’** ”_ This reminds me of Paul McCartney when he was on _Unplugged_. He started performing “We Can Work It Out,” and he started singing the wrong verse. So he stopped the band, then addressed the audience by saying, “this is so informal, we’ll start again.” This was put on the “Best of Unplugged” CD that came out several years ago. ---
**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 26, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/112 "2011-04-26T14:39:22Z")
I am music and I write the songs… ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/113 "2011-04-26T20:43:08Z")
Not really an actual song, but I think Detritus’s troll jody from Terry Pratchett’s “Night Watch” counts: _Now we sing dis stupid song! Sing it as we run along! Why we sing dis we don’t know! We can’t make der words rhyme prop’ly!_ ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/114 "2011-04-26T21:13:02Z")
> [@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. In “Tubular Bells” (probably best know as the theme to _The Exorcist_, Mike Oldfield announces each instrument as it is played (including, IIRC, a couple of different types of guitars), concluding, of course, with “tubular bells”. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/115 "2011-04-26T21:48:51Z")
Robbie Williams, Strong. ‘- When I get drunk I dance like my dad, and that’s a good line to take it to the bridge’ ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/116 "2011-04-27T00:11:53Z")
\*“This is the song that never ends, It just goes on and on my friends. Some people started singing it, Not knowing what it was, And they’ll continue singing it forever just because This is the song that never ends…” \* ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/117 "2011-04-27T00:36:40Z")
> [@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. I think CCR does that in “Jambolya” ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/118 "2011-04-27T00:43:34Z")
For self-referential songs, the first thing that popped into my head was the first line of John Cougar’s first hit: “A little ditty about Jack and Diane” But IMO the all-time cleverest is from a song that’s pure fluff: “Sunshine Lollipops,” by Leslie Gore. The refrain goes: “My life is sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows That’s how this refrain goes So come on, join in!” ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/119 "2011-04-27T01:57:24Z")
Newish Australian band, called _Operator Please_, had a reasonably succesful (In Australia) single off their debut album, called “_It’s a song about Ping Pong_” Looking it up on Wiki I see “The song was featured in the 16th episode of season 4 of the television series CSI: NY.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253/120 "2011-04-27T08:18:50Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > In “Tubular Bells” (probably best know as the theme to _The Exorcist_, Mike Oldfield announces each instrument as it is played (including, IIRC, a couple of different types of guitars), concluding, of course, with “tubular bells”. Two nitpicks: this was first mentioned by Mutantmoose in post #84, who correctly identified the person as Viv Stanshall from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-break-the-4th-wall/579253.md?page=7)