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.)
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 showerYou're not keeping the tub caulkedCaused both downstairs bath ceilings and walls to be soggyTub has to be properly caulked prior to you showeringWalls are drenched, both roofer and plumber hereHad to pay for two service calls
Water drips from all aroundKathy's ceiling, my ceilingDon'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
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