Sheryl Crow’s All I Wanna Do has lyrics adapted from a poem by Wyn Cooper (apparently he scored big on royalties - poetry pays!).
The lyric includes a reference to the bar she is sitting in in LA - “We are drinking beer at noon on Tuesday; in a bar that faces the Giant Car Wash.”
Silversun Pickups are named after a liquor store.
A tad obscure, but his music is occasionally featured on NPR - Ann Arbor musician Dick Seigel has a song called Angelo’s, which is a long-time A2 breakfast joint.
Midnight Oil’s “Dreamworld” opens with “The Breakfast Creek Hotel is up for sale…”
The Brekkie Creek is one of Australia’s most famous pubs.
The Clash: White Man in Hammersmith Palais
From Tenacious D’s haunting love song, Fuck Her Gently:
“Whats your favorite posish? That’s cool with me
It’s not my favorite but I’ll do it for you
What’s your favorite dish? I’m not gonna cook it
But I’ll order it from Zanzibar”
Not that I’m doubting you, but you got a cite for that? Or is it a whoosh…
Lou Reed’s “Sally Can’t Dance” mentions that Sally “went to Les Jardins”. At least that’s how he pronounces it, but I assume he’s referring to Le Jardin.
I’m back
I’m back in the saddle again
I’m back
I’m back in the saddle again
Ridin’ into town alone
By the light of the moon
I’m looking for ole’ Sukie Jones
She crazy horse saloon
Barkeep gimme a drink
That’s when she caught my eye
She turned to give me a wink
That’d make a grown man cry
Sir Mix-a-lot Posse on Broadway references actual Taco Bell and Dick’s Drive-in locations on Broadway Ave in Seattle.
How refreshing to have a thread including both Mötley Crüe and Cole Porter. And now the Colombian composer and musician Lucho Bermúdez.
In about 1948 he wrote “San Fernando”, the now-demolished Club San Fernando, in Cali, Colombia.
A later version of “San Fernando”, with Beny Moré, also Ritmo 7.
Also mentioned in “Get in Line” by the Barenaked Ladies.
Nectar’s in Burlington, VT is referenced in the album title A Picture of Nectar by Phish, as well as the lyrics of the song “Cavern”.
I’m a freak, I like the girls with the boom, I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom.
“The Humpty Dance,” Digital Underground
“Eurotrash Girl” by Cracker: “Sold my plasma in Amsterdam/Spent it all in a night/Buying drinks at the Melk Weg/For a soldier in drag”
The Red Clay Ramblers wrote “Merchants Lunch” about a low dive in Nashville. Found an interview with Jim Love, their mandolin player:
The Merhants Hotel is now a restaurant. Google maps reveals a few bars in the vicinity–but none now called the Merchants Lunch. Ernext Tubb’s record store is a few doors down, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge is across the street & the Ryman is nearby.
Redd Kross - “Peach Kelli Pop”
Everybody take a ride, yeah
In your mama’s car
Let’s go to the Troubador
Pretend we’re seeing stars
Man, we’re cruising Hollywood
Do you get the joke? (ha-hah-ha)
Laughing at all the assholes at the Rainbow
Flying so high on coke
What a joke… wooh!
Tom Waits, “Nighthawk Postcards” from the famous “Nighthawks at the Diner” album.
There was a Terminal Bar on the corner of 17th and Wazee streets in Lower Downtown Denver long before Coors Field revitalized the area… It was really, really seedy. Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassady hung out there in the 50’s.
It was named The Terminal because it was a block from Union Station, but the story in Denver was that if you started drinking there, you were terminal.
There was also for many years a Terminal Bar in NYC, at Eighth Avenue & 41st St. near Times Square.
Martin Scorsese used the name for a bar in his movie After Hours (1985) but the actual bar he filmed in was really a place called the Emerald Pub, located in Soho.
The Byrds “Bad Night At The Whiskey” refers to the Whiskey A-Go-Go.
They were chucked out, apparently.
Later for the Kitsch: This is the best of them all:
John Lee Hooker, Boogie Chillen’
Well, my mama, she didn’t 'low me just to stay out all night long, oh Lord
Well, my mama didn’t 'low me just to stay out all night long
I didn’t care what she didn’t 'low–I would boogie-woogie anyhow
When I first came to town, people, I was walkin’ down Hastings Street
Everybody was talkin’ about the Henry Swing Club
I decided I drop in there that night
When I got there, I say, “Yes, people”
They was really havin’ a ball
Yes, I know
Boogie Chillen’
And yet the line “I meet 'em down at Barney’s Beanery …” escaped your notice?
Barney’s has another notable musical connection: it provided the background “vibes” for Janis Joplin’s Turtle Blues and is mentioned and drawn (by R. Crumb) on the cover of Cheap Thrills.
So, does having actual restaurant background noise in a song count as “lyrics”?