I quite like songs where the fourth wall is broken, as it were, and the singer issues some instructions. We’ve got a great example on this episode on ‘Ode to the Mets’ by The Strokes:
Cuts you some slack as he sits back / Sizes you up, plans his attack / Da-da-da / Drums please, Fab …
And the drums come in.
Reminiscent of ‘I Am Damo Suzuki’: “Generous, valeric, Jehovah's Witness / Stands in Cologne Marktplatz / Drums come in…” … and talking of which …
Will you fuckin' get it together instead of showing off
There is no shortage of harangues to his band one could pick from Mark E Smith, but this is one of the more well known, relatively speaking. When I looked to check on which song on Totale’s Turns those words feature (it’s ‘No Xmas for John Quays’), the helpful search engine suggested that we should “try setting aside regular time to focus on each other, like having dinner or tackling a project together.”
Don’t push us when we’re hot
The producer Kosmo Vinyl agreed with the band beforehand that the ideal length of a song is two and a half minutes. So in Joe Strummer’s ear on ‘Armagideon Time’ he can hear Kosmo telling him to bring the song to a stop. The band, fortunately for us, went with the groove instead.
All right, Nils, all right
Nils Lofgren given the green light to solo by Neil Young on ‘Speakin’ Out’. Makes a pretty good job of it for a 22 year-old.
This monkey's gone to heaven / Rock me, Joe
Forensic scientists from the year 2525 with only the song to go on might well deduce that the guitarist’s name was Joe. And they’d be kinda right – Joey Santiago addressed by Black Francis, and he duly obliges.
But the daddy example of them all, and coming full circle to our theme for the episode, is the fulsome tribute (and what else can a tribute be other than fulsome) to the supergroup the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band assembled for the track ‘The Intro and The Outro’.
Nice to see Incredible Shrinking Man on euphonium / Drop out with Peter Scott on duck call / Hearing from you later Casanova, on horn... yeah! / Digging General de Gaulle on accordion... really wild, General!
Tracklist:
Homage to birdnoculars, Horsegirl
Homage, Terry
Ode to the Mets, The Strokes
Song for Tubbo, Spirental
Ode to divorce, Regina Spektor
Homage, Infrared Krypto
Hymn for a droid, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
The hymn for the cigarettes, Hefner
Song for America, Destroyer
A tribute to, The For Carnation
Homage to Catalonea, The Durutti Column
Song for the meek, Hydroplane
Song to the siren, Tim Buckley