# Songs where the protagonist is a dick **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659 "2018-01-28T15:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/21 "2018-01-28T17:44:22Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Can’t get much more dickish than the character in **Warren Zevon** ’s …there’s really no limit to the amount of songs you could name, after that. 😉 ---
**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:** [January 28, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/22 "2018-01-28T18:49:49Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I was at the gym yesterday listening to Pandora on my headphones and “I Saw Her Again” by the Mommas and the Pappas came on. I’d never really paid attention to the lyrics before but, wow, what a selfish asshole! > [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=04FrZPGqzpY](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=04FrZPGqzpY) > And he knows his behavior is bad but keeps doing it anyway. And the song is more true to life than you might expect - I’ve read that the emotional dynamics within that group were nightmarish. My vote for the thread: **“Backstreet Girl”** by the Stones. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/23 "2018-01-28T19:00:40Z")
Findem Fuckem and Flee One Less Bitch NWA ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/24 "2018-01-28T19:04:44Z")
The Pipettes were a retro-style girl group from a few years back with a modern take on relationships and the woman being in charge. Some of their songs fitting the OP are [One Night Stand](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pipettes/onenightstand.html), [Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pipettes/yourkissesarewastedonme.html), and [Sex](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pipettes/sex.html). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/25 "2018-01-28T19:33:31Z")
Used to Love Her- Guns And Roses ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/26 "2018-01-28T19:44:19Z")
> [@Uniqueorn](#): > > “Bobby Brown”, Frank Zappa Pretty much all of Zappa’s songs really. Kappa was a smug, sneering prick who hated most of the workd, and he wasn’t capable of writing lyrics from any other perspective. His music showed imagination. His lyrics never did. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/27 "2018-01-28T19:47:07Z")
“Cinderella” by Firefall. It’s sung by a jerk who impregnated a girl and then dumped her. But Firefall INTENDED for us to hate the narrator. By contrast, Springsteen probably expected us to like the equally reprehensible narrators of “Hungry Heart” and “State Trooper.” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/28 "2018-01-28T19:47:29Z")
You’re so Vain Carly Simon ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/29 "2018-01-28T19:55:46Z")
Are we talking about ANY song about a bad person, or songs sung from a bad guy’s POV? ---
**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:** [January 28, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/30 "2018-01-28T20:00:02Z")
“Working My Way Back To You” is the first-person story of a man who used to love to make you cry — you know, back when, in best _have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too_ fashion, he played around while you were soooo in love with him. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/31 "2018-01-28T20:07:13Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > And the song is more true to life than you might expect - I’ve read that the emotional dynamics within that group were nightmarish. This. It’s meta-assholish. John Phillips may have been one of the worst people of the folk-pop era, exceeded in the meta-assholish niche only by Benny and Bjorn (there was a lot of contractually-enforced mental cruelty to Agnetha and Anni-Frid near the end of the whole thing). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/32 "2018-01-28T20:10:20Z")
Tom Jones’ Delilah: > [@](#): > > She stood there laughing > I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/33 "2018-01-28T20:28:38Z")
Take The Money and Run The Steve Miller Band. How are these fucking murdering, burglarizing assholes the heroes of this song? ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/34 "2018-01-28T20:45:48Z")
I don’t know about being a “dick,” but something’s not right with the protagonist (from the singer’s POV) in just about every song on Elvis Costello’s first four albums. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/35 "2018-01-28T21:05:24Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Pretty much all of Zappa’s songs really. Kappa was a smug, sneering prick… That’s it in a nutshell. As much as I admire and enjoy his music up to 1975, I always felt he was a repugnant personality. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/36 "2018-01-28T21:10:24Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > And the song is more true to life than you might expect - I’ve read that the emotional dynamics within that group were nightmarish. I Saw Her Again was specifically inspired by Denny and Michelle’s affair. I’ve seen it theorized that John wrote the song to punish Denny by making him sing it, but since he cowrote it that doesn’t quite fit… (Of course, John might have written it himself and given Denny the credit just to punch home why, but that seems less likely.) One of the two protagonists of Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me (the one sung by Shaggy himself) is a dick, and the other (sung by Rikrok) is a recovering dick - Rikrok has cheated on his girlfriend, and despite Shaggy telling him to deny it and berating him for not sneaking around better, decides to admit it, apologize, and (implicitly) be better. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/37 "2018-01-28T21:11:52Z")
Tossup between “Pina Colada” and “You’re Beautiful.” I want to bash both singers in the mouth just to make them shut the fuck up! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/38 "2018-01-28T21:15:27Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I don’t know about being a “dick,” but something’s not right with the protagonist (from the singer’s POV) in just about every song on Elvis Costello’s first four albums. True, I can’t think of one that tells a story about a non-dickish normal person, but then again, other than love songs, those are usually pretty rare anyway from any artist. Some of the songs on the albums are just words that don’t clearly describe a story or message. I think that Radio Radio, Mystery Dance, and Sunday’s Best both have non-dickish, normal speakers and also deliver a comprehensible message, but don’t have protagonists per se because they aren’t really stories. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/39 "2018-01-28T21:19:03Z")
1970’s “In the Summertime,” by Mungo Jerry. \*\*\*If her daddy’s rich, take her out for a meal If her daddy’s poor, just do what you feel. * * * eta: Ray Dorset being the composer and lyricist behind the Mungo Jerry song. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659/40 "2018-01-28T21:29:04Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Can’t get much more dickish than the character in **Warren Zevon** ’s [Mr. Bad Example](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/warrenzevon/mrbadexample.html): > > _I started as an altar boy, working at the church > Learning all my holy moves, doing some research > Which led me to a cash box, labeled “Children’s Fund” > I’d leave the change, and tuck the bills inside my cummerbund_ > > My favorite line comes a bit later: > > _Of course I went to law school and took a law degree…_ > mmm I’ll see your Mr. Bad Example and raise you an “Exciteable Boy”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-the-protagonist-is-a-dick/807659.md?page=3)