He might not be the first, but nobody does it better than the great Bobby Rush. The man is 87 years old and still touring.
“Are we not men…”
Focus had several songs titled “Focus,” adding Roman numerals to indicate each successive version.
There must be something about the year 1927. A candidate (ahem!) for the first ever rock and roll song is Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues - Wikipedia. (See the wiki page for the rock and roll connection.)
And here is the song:
j
Weirdly enough, that’s actually a Motorhead song; the Ramones version is a cover. Is this a unique case of a band name-dropping its own name in a song they didn’t even write?
Mamie Smith Blues, from 1922; the lyrics refer to her label Okeh Records as well.
Well, there is something about the number 27…
Certainly not the earliest, but Clarence Carter says his name 4x in a row in Strokin’
1986
Wow, was that really 1986? I would have placed that as 89/90 or so – at least that’s where I became aware of it, somewhere between '89 and '92. But, yeah, that was one of the first songs to come to mind to me, as well, but it’s rather recent (all things considered in this thread.)
How about David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust?
(not the first, but maybe the best)
The Spiders from Mars were Ziggy Stardust’s (Bowie’s) backing band on the The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars concept album and Ziggy Stardust tour. The Spiders from Mars also appeared on the Aladdin Sane album and the follow-up tour.
Along the same vein, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Funny, this album came up in another thread recently, but the Ramones’ End of the Century has at least two songs that reference the band and their organization.
“The Return of Jackie and Judy” has the great verse “Jackie is a bookie/Judy’s taking loans/They both came up to New York/Just to see the Ramones.”
And the song “Danny Says” is a tale of life on the road, and is a big namecheck to their manager Danny Fields.
I refer you to the Lewis Boogie.
Bob Dylan’s Dream
Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream
But those are only the titles, he never drops his name in the songs.
ETA: but I just remembered another Dylan song that might count. In “Gotta Serve Somebody”, there’s the line “You can call me Zimmy”, which plays on his birthname Robert Zimmermann.
In A Simple Desultory Philipic, lyricist Paul Simon calls out Art Garfunkel: “I been mother, father, aunt and uncled, Been Roy Haleed and Art Garfunkeled”
Or the song Iron Maiden in the debut album Iron Maiden by the band Iron Maiden.
“I’m Henery the Eighth I am, Henery the Eighth I am I am…” ca 1509.
Darn! Well pointed out! Should have thought of that one, must have it somewhere, first Spanish press with awfully translated song titles, as was usual back then.