Food Songs

[liuzhou]

Apologies if this has done before but a search revealed nothing.

 

I've been thinking about songs (popular or classical or whatever) that are specifically about food and am surprised how few of them there seems to be.

 

I'm excluding things which are obviously metaphorical - when George Harrison sings "Piggies" he isn't really talking about bacon and when McCartney covers "A Taste of Honey" it has nothing to do with the stuff produced by bees. For example

 

My own initial list would include:

 

Bessie Smith - Give Me a Pig's Foot and a Bottle of Beer (although there are many drink songs).

Mothers of Invention - Call any Vegetable

Earth Opera - Roast Beef Love

 

and of course

 

The Cast of Oliver - Food, Food Glorious Food.

 

I'm sure you can come with many more.

[Lisa Shock]

Here's a few:

 

Monty Python - Spam

Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches

Harry Gibson - Who put the Benzadrine in Mrs Murphy's Ovaltine?

DeeDee Sharp - Mashed Potato Time

B52's - Rock Lobster

Jonathan Richman - I Eat With Gusto Damn You Bet

Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy

 

Dunno if parody counts, but Weird Al has a bunch of food songs:

My Bologna

I Love Rocky Road

Eat It

Lasagna

Taco Grande

Girls Just Want to Have Lunch

Waffle King

Addicted to Spuds

[liuzhou]

Some great contributions, Lisa.  Thanks.

Edited June 8, 2014 by liuzhou (log)

[ChrisZ]

Do you have kids?

 

This is a song from my primary school days - the quality of the video gives away how long ago this was.

 

And this is a more recent one.

 

There are actually lots of food songs if you start to include kids.  The Wiggles have 'hot potato' for example, but there are lots more that are similar.  I'm not sure why you're asking for for songs, so I'm not sure if that's helpful or not.  But unfortunately I can't do anything to get these songs out of your head once you listen to them...

[liuzhou]

 

Do you have kids?

 

Yes, but they are in their 40s. Can't see them boogying on down to the Wiggles. 

 

Pretty dreadful songs.

 

 

Sorry to be a nuisance, but could you please put the song details in the post, rather than just link to YouTube. You Tube is blocked here. I can get to them, but it's hard work. 

Edited June 8, 2014 by liuzhou (log)

[SylviaLovegren]

A great Canadian contribution, Stompin' Tom's iconic and excellent The Ketchup Song (ketchup loves potatoes!) 

 

 

If you can't youtube it, here are the lyrics (Leamington was, until just recently, the longtime home of a Heinz Ketchup factory)

 

There was a guy from PEI they used to call potato
He met this young Leamington, Ontario tomato
But he had eyes for other girls and she was a little mushy
So he said lets get wed, there's no sense being fussy

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes

Well he went down to Windsor town to buy a ring on Monday
Saturday they said ok we'll cut the cake on Sunday
But Sunday came and what a shame
they had no one to fetch it
Without a cake they just sat and ate potato chips and ketchup

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes

And so this guy form PEI they used to call potato
He's got two boys and a little girl, two spuds and one tomato
They romp and run around Leamington and boy when they get hungry
The bottle drips all over the chips way down in Ketchup country

Edited June 8, 2014 by SylviaLovegren (log)

[liuzhou]

The Beatles - Savoy Truffle

The Beach Boys - Vegetables (featuring Paul McCartney on celery)

[Plantes Vertes]

A song called Stand up for Good Food by David Ogden and Anna Farthing was performed by a choir at the BBC Food and Farming Awards recently (you can hear its composition discussed and listen to part of it from 14mins here if you have access).

Edited June 8, 2014 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[IowaDee]

Here's a couple I can remember my grandma singing in her kitchen.

 

Can she bake a cherry pie Billy Boy?

 

Mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread

 

Would Drinking rum and Coke-a-cola count?  

 

or

 

Mares eat oats and does eat oats?

[Tri2Cook]

Too High For The Supermarket by The Uninvited is about a stoned guy going shopping for the stuff to make the tuna sandwich he's craving. Pretty much food-focused all the way through...

Got the craving for some lunch but I ain't got nothing to munch.
My mind is set on just one wish, a big ol' sandwich... tuna fish.

Time to make a grocery run, I'll walk there in the morning sun.
Make a list of what I need most, tuna fish and bread for toast.

And though my stomach may be empty, I'll feed my head from the horn of plenty.
Roll a joint Bob Marley style and smoke it 'till it makes me smile.

Starting off in aisle one, fruits and veggies by the ton.
Hey check it out, radicchio, these red leaves, man, they almost glow.

And bok choy, I've always wanted to try it. I wonder if I have enough to buy it?
It's grown in Japan, or maybe China or maybe some farm in South Carolina?

Just then I hear a voice in my head, stay focused, man, tuna and bread.
But right now I'm in produce bliss. Oh man, I'm too high for this.

Too high for the supermarket.
Too high for the grocery store.
Too high for the supermarket.
Ain't gonna shop like this no more.

Everyone in here is staring at me.

Sixteen different brands of tuna, Chicken of the Sea or Big Kahuna.
Packed in oil, packed in water. Dolphin friendly, dolphin slaughtered.

And oh God, what about the bread? Should I get white or wheat instead?
Or rye, rye's the best I've tasted. Rye is best whenever you're wasted.

Too high for the supermarket.
Too high for the grocery store.
Too high for the supermarket.
Ain't gonna shop like this no more.

Finally done, it's check-out time. Searching for the shortest line.
The Express Lane! But they don't take checks and you've got to have ten items or less.

So let's see, Ding Dongs, a bag of chips, Cap n' Crunch and some onion dip.
It's sugar and salt, space and schism. The yin and yang of munchie Taoism.

I got my favorite beer, Carlinger and pre-sweetened Kool-Aid you eat with your finger
You lick your finger, then you stick it in the bag, then your stick it down your throat but not too far or you gag

That's less than ten, check me out, go ahead.
Oh, I forgot the tuna and the bread.

Too high for the supermarket.
Too high for the grocery store.
Too high for the supermarket.
Ain't gonna shop like this no more.

Edited June 8, 2014 by Tri2Cook (log)

[Shel_B]

Bread and Butter by the Newbeats

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5zWBtWnbKE

[Shel_B]

Yes, We Have No Bananas

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Hc80NpL4M

 

and the Peanut Butter Song

 

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

Edited June 8, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[ruthcooks]

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

[annabelle]

Bob Wills and the Texas Cowboys:  'Tater Pie

[Shel_B]

Bob Wills and the Texas Cowboys:  'Tater Pie

 

That would be the Texas Playboys ...

[dcarch]

A little off topic.

 

For the longest time, I thought Madonna was singing, "'Cuz everybody's living in a Cheerio world

And I am a Cheerio girl.----"

 

dcarch

[scubadoo97]

George Harrison's Savoy Truffle

[liuzhou]

 

George Harrison's Savoy Truffle

 

We had that one already.

 

Tom Waits - Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)

 

Bob Dylan - Country Pie

 

 

 

Please note: posting full song lyrics is probably against copyright rules. 

Edited June 8, 2014 by liuzhou (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Please note: posting full song lyrics is probably against copyright rules. 

I didn't post the full song lyrics... I left off all of the outro chorus repeats and ad-libs.  

 

[Alex]

J.S. Bach -- "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht" (Coffee Cantata)

 

Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd -- "The Worst Pies In London" & "A Little Priest" (Hey, it's still food.)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

The Arrogant Worms - Carrot Juice is Murder

The Arctic Monkeys - Black Treacle

The Lemon Pipers - Rice is Nice

 

And I can't believe nobody's yet mentioned Supertramp - Breakfast in America

[lesliec]

How about '[unspecified number] bottles of beer on the wall'?

 

There's an old, highly politically-incorrect (now - this sort of thing was OK in the 60s!) one from this part of the world called Puha and Pakeha about the (supposed) tendency of Maori to put Pakeha (us whiteys) in the stewpot.  Puha is a leafy vegetable, treated vaguely like spinach.

 

Then there's Streetband's Toast, from the 70s.

[Lisa Shock]

Weezer - Pork & Beans

[Tri2Cook]

The Dead Kennedys - Soup Is Good Food

Going way back to the punk music of my youth... and nothing beyond the title is actually about food.


 

[liuzhou]

 

nothing beyond the title is actually about food.

 

So that doesn't qualify then. Good as it is.