Thursday 4 June 2009

Musical media

TSF readers have added to the list of print media music and lyrics, including a song by the Beatles. Plus a few more obscure titles.

Pat Conroy in Barrie sent us this song:

That's Life (That's Tough), by Gabriel & The Angels (1962):

What's tough?

Life

What's life?

A magazine

Well how much does it cost?

It costs twenty cents

But I only got a nickel

Woah, oh well that's tough

Dennis Earl over at The Writings Of Dennis Earl blog, provided a few print media lyrics and says:

"You might be surprised to know this, but there are a ton of songs inspired by newspapers and journalism in general. (Just click here, for starters.)

Paperback Writer - The Beatles (1966): "His son is working for The Daily Mail/It's a steady job, but he wants to be a paperback writer"

Space Oddity - David Bowie (1969): "And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear"

Welcome To The Working Week - Elvis Costello (1977): "Now that your picture's in the paper/Being rhythmically admired"

Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees (1977): "We can try to understand/The New York Times' effect on man"

In My Tree - Pearl Jam (1996): "Up here in my tree, yeah/Newspapers matter not to me, yeah/No more crowbars to my head, yeah/I'm trading stories with the leaves instead, yeah"

History Repeating - Propellerheads featuring Shirley Bassey (1998): "The newspapers shout a new style is growing/But it don't know if it's coming or going/There is fashion, there is fad/Some is good, some is bad/And the joke is rather sad"

The Way I Am - Eminem (2000): "And all of this controversy circles me/And it seems like the media immediately/Points a finger at me/So I point one back at 'em/But not the index or pinky. And I am whatever you say I am/If I wasn't, then why would I say I am?/In the paper, everyday I am"

Spooky Girlfriend - Elvis Costello (2002): "Newspapers play with the words of the fanatic"

Thanks for the song lyrics, Pat and Earl.

Print media is something to sing about.

Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 02:07

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous4 June 2009 at 10:34

    Hey There

    One more for the list.... J Giels Band “Centrefold”
    ”The years go by I’m looking through a girlie magazine
    And there’s my homeroom angel on the pages in between”
    ”My blood runs cold, my memory has just been sold
    My angel is the centrefold” and so on.
    Great old tune

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4 June 2009 at 18:38

    Another Elvis Costello tune is 'Fish and Chip Paper':

    'Yesterday's news is tomorrow's fish and chip paper.'

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5 June 2009 at 11:07

    Perhaps it is best forgotten, but worth a mention is the 2002 Broadway musical version of one of the best newspaper movies of all time, "Sweet Smell of Success" (movie was 1957, starring Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster; musical was written by John Guare and Marvin Hamlisch and starred John Lithgow as columnist J.J. Hunsecker).
    I saw it during its brief and poorly-reviewed Broadway run and can attest that it really did not work as a musical - but the less-than-catchy songs remain, for what it's worth, including the opening number "The Column" and "Dirt," both about the sleazy biz of columnists and publicists.
    Look it up on Wikipedia if you're interested- there's even a cast recording available via Amazon.
    -Linda Williamson

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown5 June 2009 at 15:22

    Did anybody mention "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors" by Moxy Fruvous? You can't beat this lyric:
    So I got myself on a streetcar and it drove right into someone,
    You know the driver said:
    "I was lookin' straight ahead!"
    But he was reading the Toronto Sun

    ReplyDelete

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