songs that reference the singer's affliction (be it blindness or what have you)

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clarence carter doing "i can't see myself" and "i'd rather go blind"
ray charles doing "i didn't see a thing"

other examples? maybe for paraplegics, the mentally ill, etc.

also please let us know if you find your examples funny, tasteless, both, or neither.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

genesis, "i can't dance"

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

"DEPRESSION'S GOT A HOLD OF ME / DEPRESSION: GOTTA BREAK FREE"

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

this is of interest, amateurist:

When Jimmie Rodgers sang "T.B. Blues," his audiences knew that he meant it--and that was one of the things, amid all the hillbilly hokum of the day, that distinguished him from the likes of Vernon Dalhart and Carson Robinson. It is what country music fans mean today when they bestow their highest accolade on an artist by calling him "sincere."
--NOLAN PORTERFIELD, "Jimmie Rodgers"

Also, note:

Sleepy John Estes--Stone Blind Blues, '47
Sonny Terry--I Woke Up This Morning and I Could Hardly See, '62
Memphis Jug Band--Meningitis Blues, '30
Memphis Minnie--Memphis Minnie-Jitis Blues (version of "Meningitis Blues," written by Minnie and featuring her on guitar), '30

Not really funny or tasteless--although the title to "Minnie-Jitis Blues" is certainly droll, I guess.

― es hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

guess i have to tell 'em/ I got no cerebellum

― dave q (listerine), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)

joe walsh "i broke my leg"

― dave q (listerine), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

Ian Dury, "Spasticus (Autisticus)"

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

Daniel Johnston - "Monkey in a Zoo"
Also, Vic Chesnutt covers this song on the recent Johnston tribute album, and really makes it his own.
Obviously, both are sincere.

― Mila, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

Metallica - One

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

general plaints about the singer's angst aren't really what i had in mind

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

dude's singing about having no arms, no legs, no face...

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

(x-post)
that jimmie rodgers example reminds me of an amazing article that dan baum wrote in the new yorker about a year ago about jake walk, or jake leg, a strange paralysis caused by drinking the patent medicine Jake, which was popular among poor people, mostly black, in the prohibition era. its ingredients included a toxic plasticizing agent.

though the paralysis was something of an epidemic, it receive little mainstream attention and has been largely lost to history. it's been remembered partly because of the bluesmen who sang about it. among the examples he cites:

mississippi sheiks, "jake leg blues"
ishmon bracey, "jake liquor blues"
tommy johnson, "alcohol and jake blues"

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but in "One" that's the character in the song, not the actual dude in Metallica.

Anyway, I feel certain that Erick Sermon, Kool G Rap, and Biz arkie have all mentioned their lisps at one time or another, but I can't think off the top of my head where.

― Austin (Austin), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Dunno if Willie Dixon wrote "300 Pounds Of Joy" and "Built For Comfort" for himself or Howlin' Wolf, but they were both kinda chunky so it doesn't make much difference.

Not quite on topic, but still: I've always found it curious how Jeff Healey's best-known songs, "Angel Eyes" and "See The Light", both feature explicit ocular references. Neither were written by Healey himself.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Moulty - The Barabarians

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

The narrator in "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town" was all blinded and maimed by his patriotic chore.

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

Damn...can't remember the name of that Manic Street Preachers song about Richey's anorexia...

― Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

houston - eye like that.

yeah yeah yeah

― f-a-b-o-l-o-u-s (adamwest), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

Stevie Wonder's "You are the sunshine of my life"?

― falseazure, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

dude's singing about having no arms, no legs, no face...
-- Snappy (jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj...) (webmail), February 2nd, 2005 6:05 PM. (sexyDancer) (link)

but does the singer, himself, actually have no arms, legs, or face? i'm talking about songs that allude to the actual reality of the singer and his or her afflictions.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

go after all the other works of fiction above before bitching twice about mine.

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

Jimi Hendrix "Manic Depression"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

Every song about heroin addiction ever. So numerous it could be its own thread.

Observe Elliot Smith, although I don't recall the particulars of his struggles with what substance when: "I don't care if I fuck up, I'm going on a date with a rich white lady..."

― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

Snappy, the point is that Jimmy Rodgers actually did have TB, Clarence Carter and Ray Charles were actually blind, etc.. Whereas Metallica-dude isn't a quadruple amputee.

It's a pretty basic difference.

― Austin (Austin), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

Doesn't fit here, but Billy Idol — "Eyes Without a Face" — interesting to visualize.

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 19:16 (twenty years ago)

Kanye West, "Through the Wire," obv. (broken jaw)

Ronnie Milsap, "Stranger in My House" ("somebody here that I can't see")

Digital Underground, "The Humpty Dance" (if a nose that's big like a pickle is, indeed, an affliction)

AC/DC, "Big Balls" (elephantisis is no laughing matter!)

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 19:19 (twenty years ago)

More worrying for Hupty Hump was the apparent diminiution of his mental faculties. After all, he "gets stupid" and uses "a word that don't mean nothin' like looptid." It sounds like he's doing alright on Shock-G's latest album, though, so whatever was causing his affliction appears to have been taken care of.

― Austin (Austin), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 19:24 (twenty years ago)

Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back... the motherfucker is addicted to fat bitches...

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

Kiss - "Going Blind"

― darin (darin), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

Van Morrison - "Melancholia"

― Chris Hill (Chris Hill), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

if being on your deathbed counts as an affliction, then pretty much all of warren zevon's last album qualifies.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

JOEY RAMONE HAD A CEREBULLUM
MOULTY REALLY DID LOSE HIS HAND

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

Did I miss it, or has no one mentioned....

"Yes, I am Blind" by Morrissey?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

watch out, Alex, pedants here lurk.

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

the two examples i proposed are a specific kind of funny (or potentially funny, or just amusingly tasteless) because the *songs* use blindness as a kind of metaphor, or at least use the phrase "i didn't see it"/"i can't see it" in a figurative sense BUT the singers are, in fact, demonstrably blind.

i'm not being pedantic, i just thought i'd let you know what i had in mind when i created the thread.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

The Fall - It's a Curse

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

Every Wesley Willis song where he talks about the hell demons in his head

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 21:54 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, Amateurist - I correctly understood the point of the thread but missed the "funny/tasteless/etc." request. Both of the Willie Dixon songs are kinda funny, but then obesity isn't as inherently tragic as blindness or tuberculosis or whatever.

And I just thought of another one! Frank Zappa, in "Dancin' Fool", observing that one of his legs is shorter than the other - a real-life result of his being shoved offstage by a "fan" in 1971. Irreverent to fairly humourous.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 22:23 (twenty years ago)

it doesn't exactly fit but i thought i should also mention charlie feathers' "stutterin' cindy"

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 22:36 (twenty years ago)

Aw, yeah! Finally remembered it after it scratched at my brain all day: "The Spiderbite Song" by the Flaming Lips.

― Chris Hill (Chris Hill), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

maybe
Congress Woman Malinda Parker Jackson, "Cousin Mosquito #1 & #2"

― sibsi (sibsi), Thursday, 3 February 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

Damn...can't remember the name of that Manic Street Preachers song about Richey's anorexia...

4st 7lb

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Thursday, 3 February 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

Screamin' Jay Hawkins: "Constipation Blues"

Organized Konfusion: "Bring It On" (where Pharaohe Monch battles his asthma, metaphorically)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 3 February 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

Aphex Twin - Ventolin

― Ben Dot (1977), Thursday, 3 February 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

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