# Your favorite songs, poems, movies, etc, about doing nothing, being nothing... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2002, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411 "2002-08-31T04:47:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/1 "2002-08-31T04:47:25Z")
…and aspiring to same. Please link to or quote content to ensure strict inclusion criteria are met. Please viciously critique others’ submissions so wannabe losers are weeded out. [Mine](http://www.exileonmainstreet.net/disco/flowers/fence.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/2 "2002-08-31T05:05:54Z")
[Sitting on the Dock of the Bay](http://www.duchessathome.com/music/dockofthebay.html) ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/3 "2002-08-31T05:27:26Z")
Yep, that Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, is pretty bleak. Made all the more so by the fact he’s in ‘Frisco, where he’s probably paying upwards from $2500 a month for the dock-sittin’ space (it’s ocean view). But he does mention “morning sun,” which has long been invoked as a metophor of hope for better things to come ([eg.](http://www.allspirit.co.uk/morning.html)). So, sorry. You’re a winner. You’re not a loser. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/4 "2002-08-31T05:51:32Z")
[Loser](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beck/29198.htm) by Beck. A meaningless collage of absurdist imagery evocative of white trash stereotypes. And it gets double-minus points for being ironic. Irony is sooo passé. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/5 "2002-08-31T07:36:14Z")
Granted, it oozes loserness and spraypaints going-nohwere images. A tried and true nihilist will find validation in the words. However, a truly pathtic soul, grasping for any brittle straws of hope, might latch on to these lines: “I’m a driver, I’m a winner things are gonna’ change I can feel it” …however inappropriately. (Remember, these losers are _desperate_). So…_ **ch, ching** _: Winners: 2 Losers: 1 (at least until someone obliterates my own submission) ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/6 "2002-08-31T17:08:07Z")
[http://www.letssingit.com/brothers-statler-flowers-on-the-wall-bkrjxmf.html](http://www.letssingit.com/?%5Burl)]Countin’ flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all Great song, that. ---
**Author:** ![Shmoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@Shmoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmoo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/7 "2002-08-31T17:20:46Z")
By Phish off Billy Breaths (sp?)… I’m not sure of the title, but the gist of the song is talking about everything he doesn’t want to be in life & why, & the chorus is ‘come waste your time with me, come waste your time with me…’ I love that song. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/8 "2002-08-31T18:46:31Z")
“Nothing” from “A Chorus Line.” See at [http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Balcony/5705/Chorus.html](http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Balcony/5705/Chorus.html) (scroll down) ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/9 "2002-08-31T19:03:08Z")
The “da-da-da” song. It might have meaning, but because of that wonderful volkswagon commercial it is completely tied in my mind with doing/thinking/pondering nothing. ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/10 "2002-08-31T20:22:51Z")
**Shmoo** : Phish - Character Zer0. **amarinth** : Geggy Tah - Whoever You Are. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/11 "2002-09-01T10:36:42Z")
Unless I’m misunderstanding the OP, there’s gotta be a hundred Ramones songs that fit the bill, including: **Chainsaw** > [@](#): > > Sitting here with nothing to do > Sitting here thinking only of you **Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue** > [@](#): > > Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue > All the kids want something to do **I Wanna Be Sedated** > [@](#): > > Twenty twenty twenty four hours to go > I wanna be sedated > Nothing to do nowhere to go-oh-oh > I wanna be sedated Or for a change of pace, how about **Black Flag** and **Wasted** > [@](#): > > Someday > I’ll feel no pain > Someday > I won’t have a brain > They’ll take away the part that hurts > And let the rest remain I hope I’m not too viciously critiqued 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/12 "2002-09-01T16:10:13Z")
What about _Basket Case_ by Green Day? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/13 "2002-09-01T16:30:56Z")
Green Day, yes. But you’ve got the song wrong. “Bite my lip and close my eyes, Take me away to paradise. I’m so damn bored I’m going blind And loneliness has to suffice. Bit my lip and close my eyes, Slipping away to paradise. Some say, “quit” or I’ll go blind, But it’s just a myth.” ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/14 "2002-09-01T17:04:06Z")
Well, this hasn’t really worked out the way I thought it would. See, I was intending this thread to be a place where alla us losers could rip apart other people’s pathetic attempts at being losers and expose them for the winners they really are. The whole dubious thing was in large part an attempt to bring some levity into [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=133321), and try to make **dwyr** feel better by illustrating (a) being a loser is actually no mean feat, (b) there’s a hellava lot of us losers out here, and (c) as Stubb says in Moby Dick (the movie, that is—I never read the book, you kiddin), “A laugh is the best answer to all the strange in life.” But then someone over there lambasted me for SPAM™ing, which I don’t quite understand, and it seems no one really picked up the threads there or here, and the whole misguided attempt has gone South, eaten the worm, puked on itself, and fallen flat. Which is more than this loser could have hoped for (if he’d hoped for anything) (…which of couse he didn’t). > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HenrySpencer \* > \*\*Unless I’m misunderstanding the OP, there’s gotta be a hundred Ramones songs that fit the bill, including: > > **Chainsaw** > **Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue** > **I Wanna Be Sedated** > Or for a change of pace, how about **Black Flag** and **Wasted** > I hope I’m not too viciously critiqued 😉 \*\* So, since you, **HenrySpencer** , have invited vicious critique: **Chain Saw** Based on the lines you quote, one might mistake this song as a losers’ anthem. Placing those words in context, however, as a whole the song seems more about a lost love, and not really about being a loser per se. While there’s not enough evidence to incriminate the protagonist as a winner, he doesn’t, based on this, qualify as a loser. Sorry. **Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue** The foul stench of ambition permeates this diddy right from the get go. C’mon, any song with “wanna” after “I” is quite clearly not gonna cut it. You gotta try harder than that. This kid’s a winner. **I Wanna Be Sedated** MOS. **Black Flag** and **Wasted** Jeepers, Poindexter, I don’t know what you been smokin’, but it sure as hell ain’t been weed. This guy’s not only hopeful, but he seems quite cocksure that better days are a_head_. Why not nominate [this](http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/sunwill.htm) disconsolate serenade of irremediable hopelessness? The Winners increase their lead. ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/15 "2002-09-01T17:32:18Z")
Hard to beat John Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful when they observed “What a Day for a Daydream,” if you ask me! It’s so sweet to “bury my face in somebody’s new-mown lawn,” though I haven’t done that since I was in short pants… ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/16 "2002-09-02T06:16:46Z")
[The trying loser](http://www.oz.net/~moz/lyrics/theworld/youjusth.htm) [The boozer loser](http://www.thewho.net/discography/songs/HoweverMuchIBooze.html) [The bus ridin’ loser](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/9574/lyrics_america.htm) What loser fools, all. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/17 "2002-09-02T11:50:46Z")
It seems I’m such a winner that I see other winners as losers, just because they’re not quite up to my winning level ;). Not quite enough of a winner though to avoid writing **Wasted** when I meant **Fix Me** , but there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/18 "2002-09-02T13:01:31Z")
Julie with… by Brian Eno fits the bill perfectly. See the [lyrics](http://www.sing365.com/music/Lyric.nsf/songUnid/ADD58CC409EB3A7B48256967000CC717) and some [reflections](http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/vilvo78a.html). ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/19 "2002-09-02T14:11:48Z")
Both “Roamin’ 'Round” and “Dead in the Water” by the **Supersuckers** off [Must’ve Been High](http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=1929287920/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/artistid=SUPERSUCKERS/itemid=399171) seem to fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411/20 "2002-09-02T15:11:58Z")
**Road to Nowhere** by The Talking Heads **Is That All There Is?** by Peggy Lee [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-songs-poems-movies-etc-about-doing-nothing-being-nothing/126411.md?page=2)