Saturday, January 26, 2008

a little chafafa aside/eat to the beat

I was listening to a local music program where the hosts were talking about music and food. They went on to talk about their favorite food songs. Now, I don't know about you, but a song about a Cinnamon Girl doesn't count; nor does a song about a Cornflake Girl, a song mentioning Brown Sugar or needing A Little Sugar in My Bowl. I fear these guys were missing something — something called metaphor. These songs aren't about food. I Want Candy? Come on, how naive are you guys? I started thinking about it and began my own list of songs about food — really about food or eating food. 
An early adolescent favorite of mine is You Be 'Illin' by Run DMC. The final verse:
Dinner, you ate it There is none left It was salty, with butter and it was def You proceeded To eat it 'Cos you was in the mood But, holmes, you did not read it was a can of dog food! You be illin'

What about Shonen Knife? They love to sing about food. How about their ode to hot chocolate?

Hot chocolate, super fine ground brown powder... Nobody can stop the melting chocolate Lets go surfing on a tidal wave of chocolate... Hot chocolate, mel mel mel mel mel mel mel mel melting 

What about the entire Viva! La Woman album by Cibo Matto? I mean, cibo matto in Italian means something like food madness. They sing about white pepper ice cream, beef jerky, birthday cakes, artichokes, chickens... 

Shopping From A to Z by Toni Basil? 

Snapped up the frozen food Chicken pot pie Rolling through the produce That's a better buy Satisfied the munchies With an open bag of chips Lady with the samples says Try it with this dip It's good with E (eggplant) F (fish), G (garlic), H (hairspray) I (ice), J (junkfood) K (ketchup), L (liver) Go shopping from A to Z

There are a ton of examples out there, in every genre. One more? The jazz standard The Frim-Fram Sauce by Nat King Cole, but done by everyone. 

A fella really got to eat And a fella should eat right... I don't want fish cakes and rye bread, You heard what I said. Waiter, please serve mine fried I want the frim fram sauce with the ausen fay With chafafa on the side.

Ok, I completely overlooked this wordy choice, but am adding it now — Rapper's Delight by The Sugar Hill Gang.

have you ever went over a friends house to eat/ and the food just aint no good/ i mean the macaroni's soggy the peas are mushed and the chicken tastes like wood... while the stinky foods steamin'/ your mind starts to dreamin'/ of the moment that it's time to leave/ and then you look at your plate and your chickens slowly rottin/ into something that looks like cheese/ so you say that's it, i got to leave this place/ i dont care what these people think/ i'm just sittin here makin myself nauseous/ with this ugly food that stinks

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

you mean you forgot cranberries, too?

beebimbop said...

wait, the band? oh, haha hmmm, "christmas wrapping" by the waitresses? i don't know.