Food music

I'd love to hear some of your favorite food-related music.

Here are a few songs about women and food that I've been listening to lately. (Warning: Men may not appreciate some of these.)

Miss Platnum: Give Me the Food "I am Romanian. I love to eat."
video at Miss Platnum's MySpace page, from the album Chefa

Stella Mayhew: I'm Looking for Something to Eat "I made up my mind, I must eat all the time."
mp3 at University of California, Santa Barbara, from a 1909 Edison cylinder

Jamie Anderson: Menstrual Tango (Yes, it's a food song.) "Let's all tango together. Let's go out to eat!"
mp3 at JamieAnderson.com, from the album Never Assume

Les Reines Prochaines: The Lady is Hungry "The lady would buy things she had never bought before."
mp3 at wfmu.org, from the album Le Coeur en Beurre

Eddie Cantor: Hungry Women "They never eat cheap."
mp3 at the Internet Archive, from a 1929 78-rpm recording; also on the album Cocktail Hour

One of my favorite Sammy Cahn lines, from the Cahn-Van Heusen song written for Sinatra called "The Look of Love" (not to be confused with the Bacharach-David song written for Dusty Springfield a couple years later):

I've seen the look

Of a jockey on a winner

I've seen the look

Of a fat man having dinner...

nice

-ramon

http://media.switchpod.com/users/ramonp ... uccino.wma

El Jibarito - Jose Curbelo & His Orchestra. Not about the sandwich, but the title makes my mouth water.

uh. the bumblebee tuna song by mephiskapheles, of course.

http://ilovebumblebeetuna.ytmnd.com/

Ramon wrote:http://media.switchpod.com/users/ramonpublius/EinsteinCheeseFriesandCappuccino.wma

I suppose that the composers of instrumental music have more challenges than most in coming up with titles, but it is interesting that so many have food names.

The National Promenade Band: Leg of Mutton, 1914 (mp3)
Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five: Struttin' with Some Barbecue (streaming: Windows Media / Real Audio)
Link Wray: Fatback (mp3)

On the other hand, it's odd that there's so little serious music that's really about food.

I know about hundreds of songs that refer to food, but once you eliminate instrumental numbers; the comic and novelty songs ("Yes! We Have No Bananas"), parodies ("Eat It!") and children's music ("On Top of Spaghetti"); the innuendo songs where food references stand in for money, drugs or sex ("I'm a biscuit roller, baby / I wanna roll your dough") and other uses of food as metaphor ("Someone left the cake out in the rain") or simile ("Hair of gold and lips like cherries"); and songs where the food reference is incidental or just a space filler ("Incense and peppermints, meaningless nouns"); there's not so much left.

Food is such an intrinsic part of life. It certainly plays an important role in the literary and visual arts. I wonder why music so rarely treats it seriously.

A rather comprehensive list here.

I especially like "Hot Biscuits and Sweet Marie" by NRBQ, but then I like pretty much anything by NRBQ.

A Tribe Called Quest's "Ham 'N Eggs" was always a favorite of mine -- probably fits on the goofy side of the ledger, but delightfully catchy as well. I probably haven't heard the song in a good ten years, but every time I eat asparagus, I think "asparagus tips look yummy, yummy, yummy..."

A Tribe Called Quest wrote: In ten minutes, she started yellin (come and get it)
And the gettin's were good
I said, I shouldn't eat, she said, I think you should
But I can't, I'm plagued by vegetarians
No cats and dogs, I'm not a veterinarian
Strictly collard greens and a occasional steak
Goes on my plate
Asparagus tips look yummy, yummy, yummy
Candied yams inside my tummy
A collage of good eats, some snacks or nice treats
Apple sauce and some nice red beets
This is what we snack on when we're Questin'

Savoy Truffle
by The Beatles

Creme tangerine and montelimat
A ginger sling with a pineapple heart
A coffee dessert--yes you know it's good news
But you'll have to have them all pulled out
After the Savoy truffle.

Cool cherry cream and a nice apple tart
I feel your taste all the time we're apart
Coconut fudge--really blows down those blues
But you'll have to have them all pulled out
After the Savoy truffle.

You might not feel it now
But when the pain cuts through
You're going to know and how
The sweat is going to fill your head
When it becomes too much
You're going to shout aloud
--Creme tangerine.

You know that what you eat you are,
But what is sweet now, turns so sour--
We all know Obla-Di-Bla-Da
But can you show me, where you are?..

Creme tangerine and montelimat
A ginger sling with a pineapple heart
A coffee dessert--yes you know its good news
But you'll have to have them all pulled out
After the Savoy truffle.

stevez wrote:Savoy Truffle
by The Beatles

Creme tangerine and montelimat

I always wondered about "montelimat." A search turns up some eGulleters speculating that it's a long-lived typo: "Montelimar is the name of a town in France, famous for producing nougat."

George Harrison claimed he wrote the song about Eric Clapton, a chocoholic with bad teeth, and based the lyrics on a box of candy.

I Me Mine by George Harrison, Simon and Schuster, 1980, wrote:"Savoy Truffle" is a funny one written while hanging out with Eric Clapton in the ’60s. At that time he had a lot of cavities in his teeth and needed dental work. He always had a toothache but he ate a lot of chocolates -- he couldn’t resist them. Once he saw a box, he had to eat them all. He was over at my house and I had a box of Good News chocolates on the table and wrote the song from the names inside the lid.

Of course, when I first heard this song, back in the day, it never occurred to me it was actually about candy. I thought it was an, ahem, psychedelic fantasy, like "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ... "nothing is real...."

"If you cook a chicken save me the head,
I should be workin' but I'm home in bed"

"Chicken Head" Bobby Rush Galaxy Records

Food, Glorious Food
From Oliver

Food, glorious food!
Hot sausage and mustard!
While we're in the mood --
Cold jelly and custard!
Pease pudding and saveloys!
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys --
In-di-gestion!

The Pork Song

wake up in the mornin about 6 a.m.
escapin from nightmares of bacon and ham
this job ain't pretty, no its not
quite frankly, each mornin i'd rather be shot
it's pork

[chorus]
YEAH PORK!
YEAH PORK!

open up the fridge see how many buckets you got
one or two, but you ain't got a lot
your pullin' skills gotta be honed
plop it on the table and pull it of the bone
pull that pork

[chorus]

servin customers all through the day
you don't get any tips after they pay
and just when you think you've got enough
you gotta go back and pull more of the stuff
pull more pork.

[chorus]

cleanin up's gotta be the most fun
'cept for people comin in before you're done
and just when you think you're finished again
you turn your back and Tony comes in
wantin pork!

[chorus]

Kman wrote:I especially like "Hot Biscuits and Sweet Marie" by NRBQ, but then I like pretty much anything by NRBQ.

I'll have to look for their version. I like Lincoln Chase's original.

stevez wrote:The Pork Song

wake up in the mornin about 6 a.m.
escapin from nightmares of bacon and ham
this job ain't pretty, no its not
quite frankly, each mornin i'd rather be shot
it's pork

[chorus]
YEAH PORK!
YEAH PORK!

Steve, do you know if anybody ever recorded this? Or even performed it? It seems to be a blogger takeoff on Heywood Banks' novelty song Toast (video).

Here's a Proper Pork song (mp3).

Pork has been a pretty popular subject for food songs, from bluesmen like Cryin' Sam Collins in the 1920s to 21st-century techno-rockers like Cobalt Minor.

Louisiana music (from zydeco to New Orleans funk, blues and jazz to others) is, unsurprisingly, full of cooking and food references. A personal favorite (although written by a Mississippian who made Chicago his home) is "Red Beans Cookin'" by Muddy Waters (my favorite version is the rollicking arrangement by Professor Longhair).

McKinley Morganfield (aka Muddy Waters) wrote:Got my red beans cookin'
Got my red beans is cookin'
Got my red beans is cookin'
Got my red beans is cookin'
Yea my red beans is cookin'
When they get done
I'm gon' give you some

I'm goin' down to Louisiana
Gonna find me a ham bone, boy
I'm goin' down to Louisiana
Gonna find me a ham bone, boy
I'm gonna have all these women
Jumpin' for joy

[...]

This has always been one of my favorites:

Church
Lyle Lovett

I went to church last Sunday
So I could sing and pray
But something quite unusual
Happened on that day

Now church it started right on time
Just like it does without a doubt
And everything was all just fine
Except when it came time to let us out

You know the preacher he kept preaching
He told us I have one more thing to say
Children before you think of leaving
You better think about the Judgment Day

Now everyone got nervous
Because everyone was hungry too
And everyone was wondering
What was the next thing he would do

And the preacher he kept preaching
He said now I'll remind you if I may
You all better pay attention
Or I might decide to preach all day

And now everyone was getting so hungry
That the old ones started feeling ill
And the weak ones started passing out
And the young ones they could not sit still

And the preacher's voice rose higher
So I snuck up on the balcony
And I crept into the choir
And I begged them brothers, sisters, help me please

I said when I give you a signal
I said when I raise up my hand
Won't you please join with me together
And praise the Lord I have a plan

And the preacher he kept preaching
Long is the struggle, hard the fight
And I prayed, Father please forgive me
And then I stood up and with all my might
I sang

To the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat
We've got some beans and some good cornbread
And I listened to what the preacher said
Now it's to the Lord let praised be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat

Yes and I did give a signal
Yes and I raised up my hands
And then joined with me the choir
Yes every woman, child, and man
They sang

To the Lord let praised be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat
We've got some beans and some good cornbread
And I've listened to what the preacher said
Now it's to the Lord let praised be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat

And the preacher he stopped preaching
And a hush the church did fill
And then a great white dove from up above
Landed on the window sill

And the dove flew down beside him
And a fork appeared right in his hand
And with everybody watching
The preacher ate that bird right there and then

And now everyone got really nervous
And the preacher he did start to glow
And as we watched in disbelief
These were the words he spoke

He said now Mama's in the kitchen
And she's been there all day
And I know she's cooking something good
So let's bow our heads and pray
And he sang

To the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat
We've got some beans and some good cornbread
Now listen to what the preacher said
He said to the Lord let praised be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat

And the moral of this story
Children it is plain but true
God knows if a preacher preaches long enough
Even he'll get hungry too
And he'll sing

To the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat
We've got some beans and some good cornbread
Now listen to what the preacher said
He said to the Lord let praised be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat

The Chapel Hill trash rock band, Southern Culture on the Skids probably has the greatest number of songs devoted to food or food culture among its repetoire. One of their albums is titled "Too Much pork For Just One Fork".

Their discography includes:

Eight Piece Box which contains the lyric, "I got me a thigh, then got me a breast. My mouth got so tired I had to take me a rest." The band's fans throw KFC drumsticks at them when they play this song live.

Camel Walk which includes the lyric, "Baby, would you eat that there snack cracker in your special outfit for me, please."

Other titles of note are "Fried Chicken and Gasoline" a tribute to a trucker and the women he's never had; "Tuna Fish Every Day" and "Biscuit Eater".

Well if your in the mood, there’s always Pink Floyd: Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast
student video, song edited for length, audio poor but passable
From the album Atom Heart Mother

-ramon

YourPalWill wrote:This has always been one of my favorites:

Church
Lyle Lovett

I love Lyle Lovett - everything he ever recorded.

From my favorite Lovett song:

...and this old porch is like a steaming, greasy plate of enchiladas
With lots of cheese and onions and a guacamole salad
And you can get'em down at the LaSalle Hotel
In old downtown
With iced tea and a waitress
And she will smile every time...

BUT the classic food song, from 1976, kudos Larry Groce (who???):

Junk Food Junkie


You know I love that organic cooking
I always ask for more
And they call me Mr. Natural
On down to the health food store
I only eat good sea salt
White sugar don't touch my lips
And my friends is always
Begging me to take them
On macrobiotic trips

But at night I stake out my strongbox
That I keep under lock and key
And I take it off to my closet
Where nobody else can see
I open that door so slowly
Take a peek up north and south
Then I pull out a Hostess Twinkie
And I pop it in my mouth

Yeah, in the daytime I'm Mr. Natural
Just as healthy as I can be
But at night I'm a junk food junkie
Good lord have pity on me

Well, at lunchtime
You can always find me
At the Whole Earth Vitamin Bar
Just sucking on my plain white yogurt
From my hand thrown pottery jar
And sippin' a little hand pressed cider
With a carrot stick for dessert
And wiping my face
In a natural way
On the sleeve of my peasant shirt

Ah, but when that clock strikes midnight
And I'm all by myself
I work that combination
On my secret hideaway shelf
And I pull out some Fritos corn chips
Dr. Pepper and an Ole Moon Pie
Then I sit back in glorious expectation
Of a genuine junk food high

Oh yeah, in the daytime I'm Mr. Natural
Just as healthy as I can be
But at night I'm a junk food junkie
Good lord have pity on me

My friends down at the commune
They think I'm pretty neat
Oh, I don't know nothing about arts and crafts
But I give 'em all something to eat
I'm a friend to old Euell Gibbons
And I only eat homegrown spice
I got a John Keats autographed Grecian urn
Filled up with my brown rice

Oh, but folks lately I have been spotted
With a Big Mac on my breath
Stumbling into a Colonel Sanders
With a face as white as death
I'm afraid someday they'll find me
Just stretched out on my bed
With a handful of Pringles Potato Chips
And a Ding Dong by my head

In the daytime I'm Mr. Natural
Just as healthy as I can be
But at night I'm a junk food junkie
Good lord have pity on me

can't let the thread go without one of the best food songs of all time

Goodie Mob, Soul Food

My old boy from the point
But I'm from Southwest and every
Now and then I get put to the test
But I can't be stopped
Cause I gotta come true ain't go no gun
But I got my crew
Didn't come fro no beef cause I don't eat steak
I got a plate of soul food chicken, rice and gravy
Not covered in too much
Drinking a cup of punch, tropical
Every last Thursday of the month

Daddy put tha hot grits on my chest in tha morning
When I was sick Mary had tha hot soup boiling
Didn't know why but it felt so good
Like some waffles in that morning
Headed back to tha woods
Now I'm full as tick
Got some soul on blast in tha cassette
Food for my brain
I haven't stopped learning yet
Hot wings from Mo-Joes
Got my forehead sweating
Celery and blue cheese on my menu next

Southern Fry won't allow my body to lie still
Tied face goons surround me like cancer drill
me with second-hand obstacles


Come and get yo' soul food, well well
Good old-fashioned soul food, all right
Everythang is for free
As good as it can be
Come and get some soul food

Sunday morning where you reating at?
I'm on 1365 Wichita Drive
Ole' burd working the stove ride
Churches dripping chicken in yesterday's grease
Didn't go together with this quart of Mickey's
Last night hanging over from a good time
yeah beef is cheaper but
It's pumped with "red dye" between two pieces of bread
Shawty look good with dem hairy legs
Wish I could cut her up but, ma stomach come before sex
A house full of hoes now what's the ingredient
Spaghetty plus her monthly flow
They know they making it hard on the yard
Fuck Chris Darden, fuck Marsha Clark
Taking us when we're in the spotlight for a joke
Changing by the day I see it's getting bigga in my square
Looking at Lenox from the outside
With a stare no money to go inside
Tameka and Tiffany outside tripping
And skipping rope to the beats from my jeep
As I speak wuz up from the driver seat

A heaping helping of fried chicken
Macaroni and cheese and collard greens
Too big for my jeans
Somke steams from under the lid that's on the pot
Ain't never had allot but thankful for
The little that I got why not be
Fast food got me feeling sick
Them crackers think they sick
By trying to make this bullshit affordable
I thank the Lord taht my voice was recordable
Come an get your soul food well well..
Hold up C it's what I write
And Miss Lady acting like we in jail
Says she ain't got no extra hush puppis to sell
Bankhead seafood making me hit that door
With a mind full of attitude
It was a line at tha beautiful
JJ'S Ribshack was packed too
Looking to be one of dem days
When Momma ain't cooking
Everybody's out hunting with tha family
Looking for a little soul food

Come and get yo' soul food, well well
Good old-fashioned soul food, all right
Everythang is for free
As good as it can be
Come and get some soul food

I can't believe that no one has mentioned my all-time favorite.

Fish heads fish heads
Roly poly fish heads
Fish heads fish heads
Eat them up
Yum

Best,
Michael

I've posted this before, but it's relevant to this thread, and it amuses me (I'm easily amused).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzpN9ce_qF0

Edit: Damn, eatchicago - great minds think alike, and so do we.

Eat It
Wierd Al Yankovic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAs9e6O23qs

Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Get yourself an egg and beat it
Have some more chicken, have some more pie
It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried
Just eat it, eat it, just eat it, eat it

Excerpts from a few of my faves:

Godley Creme, Snack Attack: wrote:They want me to be as light as a feather
so the Doctor's wired my jaws together
now I'm locked in the bedroom away from the food
so I lie on my back in the dark in the nude
I can't eat no more
I got to use a straw

But if the Devil dragged me down to the kitchen
I wouldn't put up a fight
I'd gladly sign away my soul
for a T-bone steak tonight

I feel like Kojak sitting in a Cadillac
I gotta eat, I gotta eat a Flapjack
a stack, a rack, a six-pack Jack
just call me Jack Kerouac
click-clack open up the hatchback
I could eat a Bubble car or a packamack
pattacake, pattacake Big Mac
good God it's a snack attack

Gimme sausage, egg and beans and chips
milkshakes, clambakes, fondue & dips
and sauces, horses, 17 courses
of barbequed beef with asparagus tips
rashers of bacon, bagels and lox
and tandoori prawns and a box of chocs
spaghetti with mussels, parma hams
& deep frozen waffles with syrup & jams

Also, Timbuk3's Dirty, Dirty Rice (can't find the lyrics right now)

This was on WFMT this morning, appropriately enough. I'm linking to an MP3 because, well, reading the lyrics scarcely does the gleeful hideousness of the performance justice.

Lime Jello, Marshmallow, Cottage Cheese Surprise
by William Bolcom

One of my favorites - Tom Waits' "Eggs and Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson):"

Nighthawks at the diner
of Emma's 49er, there's a rendezvous
of strangers around the coffee urn tonight
All the gypsy hacks, the insomniacs
Now the paper's been read
Now the waitress said

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast
Coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
Chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
What kind of pie?

In a graveyard charade, a late shift masquerade
2 for a quarter, dime for a dance
With Woolworth rhinestone diamond
Earrings, and a sideway's glance
And now the register rings
And now the waitress sings

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast
Coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
Chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
What kind of pie?

The classified section offered no direction
It's a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud
Now the touch of your fingers
Lingers burning in my memory
I've been 86ed from your scheme
I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene
I'm a refugee from a disconcerted affair
As the lead pipe morning falls
And the waitress calls

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast
Coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
Chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
What kind of pie?

It's from his "Nighthawks at the Diner" album - great song, great album, much better listened to then read.

I like the version of Polk Salad Annie by its writer Tony Joe White best but Elvis is much more amusing.

-ramon

off the top of my head, here's a few

"too much pork for just one fork" - southern culture on the skids
"fried neckbones and some home fries" - willy bobo
"sikiya sauce" - orchestre les noirs
there's 3 or 4 versions of "el manicero (the peanut vendor)" I'd put on there- cuban, senegalese, congolese
"greasy chitterlins" - oscar brown
"paid in full" - erik b and rakim (a nice big plate of fish, which is my favorite dish)
"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" -Hank Williams
there's a mess of "hot popcorn" songs by james brown and others - see here for more info

when i've got a little more time, I'll add some audio links to these

YourPalWill wrote:The Chapel Hill trash rock band, Southern Culture on the Skids probably has the greatest number of songs devoted to food or food culture among its repetoire. One of their albums is titled "Too Much pork For Just One Fork".

The Internet Archive has a bunch of SCOTS concert recordings online.

Mike G wrote:I'm linking to an MP3 because, well, reading the lyrics scarcely does the gleeful hideousness of the performance justice.

Lime Jello, Marshmallow, Cottage Cheese Surprise
by William Bolcom

There's a terrific music video, too: Windows Media or RealMedia. "Gleeful hideousness" is apt.

zim wrote:"fried neckbones and some home fries" - willy bobo

Santana did a good cover of this.