"found lyrics"

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed

So, I was recently informed about this track, "Tortilla Chip Bag Song" by Pacing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O9Jm6LveGQ

...where the lyrics come from some text printed on a bag of Las Fortunitas tortilla chips.

What other songs are there where the lyrics come from some other, non-musical source? There's "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," and there are also some songs from the Hampton Grease Band (much of "Halifax" and the "Spray Paint" section of "Hendon"). What else ya got?

If you choose too long a name, your new display name will be trunc (SlimAndSlam), Thursday, 29 August 2024 01:00 (three months ago) link

(Musical settings of pre-existing poems don't count.)

If you choose too long a name, your new display name will be trunc (SlimAndSlam), Thursday, 29 August 2024 01:00 (three months ago) link

The lyrics of the song "Alaska" by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black appear to be taken verbatim from dialogue in the film Five Easy Pieces, mostly lines not from Karen Black but from the actress Helena Kallianotes.

Josefa, Thursday, 29 August 2024 01:10 (three months ago) link

Devo's "Big Mess" was based off a letter sent to a radio station by a very strange fan

"My Trademark" by Cardiacs was taken from Scrabble

frogbs, Thursday, 29 August 2024 01:13 (three months ago) link

"So What" - The Cure - lyrics read from a bag of sugar
"Voice of Harold" - R.E.M. - lyrics read from the liner notes of a gospel album
"Cordoba" - Eno & Cale - lyrics taken from a Spanish-to-English phrase book

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 29 August 2024 01:39 (three months ago) link

"Crown of Creation" - Jefferson Airplane - lyrics taken from “The Chrysalids”, a novel by John Wyndham

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 29 August 2024 01:41 (three months ago) link

Got another one: "The Lord Chamberlain's Regulations," by Flanders and Swann.

If you choose too long a name, your new display name will be trunc (SlimAndSlam), Thursday, 29 August 2024 02:03 (three months ago) link

The lyrics to "Three Rumsfeld Songs" from Phil Kline's 2004 Zippo Songs were taken verbatim from the Don's famous 'known unknowns' dribbling bullshit speech.

I spoke quietly, with a falling intonation (Matt #2), Thursday, 29 August 2024 02:06 (three months ago) link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_for_Nothing_(song)#Lyrics

In 2000, Knopfler appeared on Parkinson on BBC One and explained again where the lyrics originated. According to Knopfler, he was in New York City and had visited an appliance store. At the back of the store was a wall of televisions which were all tuned to MTV. Knopfler said that standing next to him, watching the TVs, there was a male employee, dressed in a baseball cap, work boots, and a checkered shirt, who was delivering boxes. As they were watching MTV, as Knopfler recalled, the man came out with lines such as, "What are those, Hawaiian noises?... That ain't workin'," etc. Knopfler then requested a pen to write some of these lines down, and eventually put them to music.[7]

I spoke quietly, with a falling intonation (Matt #2), Thursday, 29 August 2024 02:08 (three months ago) link

My first "band" did this at school, turning some printouts of incongruent phrases related to (IIRC) sentence reading into a cappella classics.

In the 60s, the Master Singers - four headteachers - had a couple of hits performing, respectively, the Highway Code and the weather forecast as Anglican chant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_Singers

you can see me from westbury white horse, Thursday, 29 August 2024 02:20 (three months ago) link

Matthew Sweet b-side "Teenage Female" from a fan letter.

Hideous Lump, Thursday, 29 August 2024 05:39 (three months ago) link

The Hampton Grease Band have a couple of these - "Halifax" draws on tourist pamphlets for the Canadian province, and then there's something else where Col. Bruce Hampton reads off the side of a spray can

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:14 (three months ago) link

shit i should learn to read, eh?

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:15 (three months ago) link

oh, there is always the minutemen's "Take 5, D":

Hope we can rely on you not to use shower
You're not keeping the tub caulked
Caused both downstairs bath ceilings and walls to be soggy
Tub has to be properly caulked prior to you showering
Walls are drenched, both roofer and plumber here
Had to pay for two service calls

Water drips from all around
Kathy's ceiling, my ceiling
Don't use shower, don't use shower

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:17 (three months ago) link

God is My Co-Pilot "About how I hate the boys" Sharon sings a found note from an elementary school-age girl dealing with first feelings

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:21 (three months ago) link

The Red Krayola with Art & Language's "Baby and Child Care" takes text from Dr Spocks childcare manuals. arguably not exactly "found", but makes for in interesting listen if you're into new-wave ubu-adjacent herky-jerk

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:35 (three months ago) link

Peter Hammill "Imperial Walls", text taken from an inscription on the wall of the Roman baths in Bath.

bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:36 (three months ago) link

The Pop Group, "Amnesty International Report"

Uses words from an Amnesty International Report on British Army torture of prisoners in Northern Ireland.

Defund Phil Collins (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:44 (three months ago) link

Throbbing Gristle, "Hamburger Lady"

Based on a letter sent to Genesis P-Orridge from Al Ackerman in Portland, Oregon.

Defund Phil Collins (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:47 (three months ago) link

Most of Karl Hyde's lyrics for Underworld apparently come from random snippets of dialogue he picks up in passing. He wrote a memoir, I Am Dogboy, that gets into this.

henry s, Thursday, 29 August 2024 13:59 (three months ago) link

"I Trawl the Megahertz" by Paddy McAloon is comprised of individual lines he picked up from radio call-in shows.

henry s, Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:01 (three months ago) link

"Penpals" - Sloan - more lyrics from fan letters that had been sent to Nirvana c/o Geffen.
"I Awake" - Soundgarden - from a note written by the bass player's girlfriend
"Cossacks" - Scott Walker - rumoured to be sourced from various places on the internet

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:06 (three months ago) link

TAS 1000 were a band whose songs were written around answering machine messages. Not sure if it counts as the vocals are samples/cut-ups of those messages, rather than sung versions of the contents.

emil.y, Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:09 (three months ago) link

Arguably "non-musical" but a large section of "The Boom Boom Bap" by Scritti Politti consists of lyrics that are simply the titles of the tracks on Run DMC's first album.

henry s, Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:11 (three months ago) link

Harry Partch - "Barstow: Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California" (pretty self-explanatory)

I spoke quietly, with a falling intonation (Matt #2), Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:14 (three months ago) link

In fact all of "The Wayward (A collection of musical compositions based on the spoken and written words of hobos and other characters— the result of my wanderings in the Western part of the United States from 1934–1941)", of which this is but a part.

I spoke quietly, with a falling intonation (Matt #2), Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:16 (three months ago) link

The Sisterhood “Finland Red, Egypt White” (from a technical manual for the AK-47 rifle)

assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:21 (three months ago) link

War - No More Trouble by Bob Marley

m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:22 (three months ago) link

Is a speech too close to a "pre-existing poem"?

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:25 (three months ago) link

Only if originally delivered in poetic form

I spoke quietly, with a falling intonation (Matt #2), Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:28 (three months ago) link

Or if re-worked by Bono

I spoke quietly, with a falling intonation (Matt #2), Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:28 (three months ago) link

Speaking of whom, the first part of "Zooropa" adapts lots of advertising slogans into lyrics

you can see me from westbury white horse, Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:32 (three months ago) link

"Sock It To Em J.B." by Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers - made famous by the Specials - is centred around a list of James Bond novels/films. Maybe this is moving too far into list song territory though.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Thursday, 29 August 2024 14:36 (three months ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.