Anwen Crawford suggests one of Manic Street Preachers's many songs about music (which also include, she says a whole "subset of songs about themselves as a band -- this started early with songs like 'You Love Us'," but "post-Richey Edwards there's a whole slew of mournful lyrics about how much they miss him, the follies of youth")
As with so many Manics songs, I have no idea what they are on about - why are they railing against Motown? Are they railing against Motown?
(I really think they are quite frightful as lyricists, which makes it all the more puzzling why so many literati-type music fans are obsessed with them).
Neil Kulkarni says his favorite meta-music song is by Creedence Clearwater Revival -
Andrew Briggs drops a load
Strikes me as one of Ray Davies's more petty swipes, that one - perhaps there's some justifying back story, a run-in with some jaded faded pro who mocked their lack o' chops, but yeah...
Probably my least fave song on my favorite album by them, one of my favorite albums ever... remember being taken somewhere on first hearing Younger in 1983 (Micalef's copy)... could not believe something like "Everybody's Been Burned" could exist, could be so wise... still think "Mind Gardens" is incredible, the one everybody seems to regard as a period-piece embarrassment... my recent favorite on it is this one which has nothing to do with meta music, but let's have it
But yeah "So You Wanna Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star" - bit smug, isn't it? Bit superior....
One more from Mr Briggs
Crowleyhead of Dissensus proffers this -
Ooh it's got my man Don Blackman on it, lovely...
Dario Stajic with some dance-ish ones
There are a few other "Music Is My Life" type songs in the dance zone... this is the one that springs immediately and most fondly to my mind, although the phrase occurs in the vocal lick, not the title
Ooh gosh
Kevin Quinn (again!)
Kev says this is a riposte to critics who accused them of releasing samey material as singles...
This made me wonder if the Four Tops could really have critics.... what would they say? "Yo, guys - that last single was only exactly as immaculately sublime as the previous six... Cut it out"...
Still he might be right... in the same way that I and others took The Smiths "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before" as Morrissey playfully taunting critics and foes who accused him of retierating the same old misery-me moan-stance over and over again, song after song.... It might well be doing that, on the titular level, but if you listen to the lyric they relate some oblique tale of interpersonal something or other...
Likewise that Four Tops tune, internally, is a love song that makes sense but yeah, the title maybe has this rejoinder aspect...
I could look it up on the Internet to find the truth but I can't be bothered.
And finally the return of CJ - getting greedy
That one was on my list.
That one was not.
See also "Radio Unit Shifter" or whatever it was called... and quite a few others, probably
On my list, also.
Reminds me to post Dobie Gray's "Out On The Floor" - which isn't only about music, it's also about girls that are out of sight ("and I am approving"), and sharp suits and shiny shoes, and possibly pills of one kind of another... but music is the core of the floor, the pretext, the enabler.
Also on my list ... And there'll be more from Ariel P, meta-musician par excellence, in a post or two.
Connected in any way, shape or form to this book?
Whose author also created this piece of music-not-about-music...