recurring characters

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other than concept LP's, rock, pop or hip-hoperas, why do artists refer in song to characters they introduced previously?...to throw a bone to their long-time fans?...a minor case of Writers Block (a "lyrical punt", if you will)?...for instance, I'm sittin' here listening to Ray Parker Jr's "Woman Needs Love", and we find that Jack went back up the hill to find that somebody else had been loving Jill...so, he's supposed to feel guilty about that, I guess...and I'm thinking, wait: didn't Jack go down the hill 'cos that Jill weren't putting out?...this is inconsistent, to say the least...

but, it's all good...let's celebrate the Jacks, walruses and Johnny Thunders of the world, who live on (and on) in musical cameos...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:33 (nineteen years ago)

hey, Bo Diddley

― Dr. Alicia B. Titsovich (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

Yoko

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

Nightclub Dwight to thread.

when EPMD put out new records back in the day, I was always excited to hear what happened to Jane.

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

why is that poodle always walking through on zappa songs

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

R. Totale

― Dr. Alicia B. Titsovich (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

a certain "Emily" used to show up quite a bit in Laura Nyro's songs...I was a bit disappointed to learn that Emily wasn't a specific individual, but rather Laura's personification of womanhood...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

Janitor

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:59 (nineteen years ago)

Ground control to Major Tom.

― LC (Damian), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

Boney Maroney's had more than his share of cameos. Long Tall Sally might've, too. And Deacon Jones.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

that Boney Maroney does an awesome wrist-ballet, I hear...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

Boney Maroney is a she not a he.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

not according to Ian MacCullough...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

who's he?

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

craig finn to thread

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

The Stallion. (I also maintain that Dr Rock and Captain Fantasy are in fact relatives who alternate between cooperation and suspicion, power-team and arch-nemeses by turn, but this view may be considered unorthodox.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

I wish critics would stop using Craig Finn as a recurring character, it's becoming a crutch.

― Eppy (Eppy), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

Do endless songs about unrequited love count?

If so, I nominate Daniel Johnston with about 100 Laurie songs

Oh.. and add dozens of songs about Caspar the Friendly Ghost..

― Jack Battery-Pack (Jack Battery-Pack), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 10:04 (nineteen years ago)

P-Funk to thread

― Tad Sneery (Dada), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 10:05 (nineteen years ago)

Jane from EPMD's albums.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 10:19 (nineteen years ago)

"Stinky McGee" from all of Killing Joke's songs

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 11:09 (nineteen years ago)

charlotte the harlot

― dave q (listerine), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 11:10 (nineteen years ago)

Man watching city fall
The clock keeps on ticking
He doesn't know why
He's just cattle for slaughter
The requiem (for Stinky)

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 11:13 (nineteen years ago)

Tom Waits expanded Frank of Frank's Wild Years into an entire album.

Also, Johnny B. Goode.

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 11:15 (nineteen years ago)

chuck e weiss ('i wish i was in new orleans' and i believe elsewhere)

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 11:17 (nineteen years ago)

Mr. Jones

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

why do artists refer in song to characters they introduced previously?...to throw a bone to their long-time fans?

This was totally the case when Bon Jovi revived Tommy and Gina on "It's My Life."

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

Also, for the one or two other Jefferson Starship fans on this board, there's Paul Kantner's recurring "Rose" character in "Lightning Rose," "Rose Goes to Yale," and "Champion."

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

my mom said to get things done
you'd better not mess with Major Tom

well, Peter Schilling messed with Major Tom on that one hit of his...messed with him good...

was this a cheap appropriation?... would the song have been such a smash if it didn't reference the Bowie character?...and was Bowie right to bring him back in the first place?...(it's hard to feel the same way about the ending to "Space Oddity", knowing that Major Tom turned out to be a junky, but maybe that's what happens when one is lost in space)...

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

Billie Jean! Especially weird cause she's introduced before she gets her own song.

― Rodney doesn't like polka. He is racist. (R. J. Greene), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

What about Belle and Sebastian and their "Lisa" who features in so many songs? Has the band said one way or another if she is the same girl?

She went blind because she was beautiful, only slightly mental
She knew a girl who'd been abused, it changed her philosophy in '82

I'm pretty sure she did more but my Google-fu is out of whack.

Curious, "everything" - why Yoko? Yoko as in "Oh Yoko," "Dear Yoko" and "Woman"?

― his sister pam (hissisterpam), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

Annie (of Hank Ballard and the Midnighters' "Work with Me Annie," "Annie's Aunt Fannie," and "Annie Had a Baby" fame)

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 23:46 (nineteen years ago)

the legendary pink dots ... lisa's christening, lisa's funeral, lisa's resurrection, lisa's separation, ...

― kephm (kephm), Thursday, 14 September 2006 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

32 posts and no Eminem, no Glass Onion, although I appreciate that the inclusion of either would be a little devious. Same with Pink Floyd mentioning a hypothetical 'Pink' in 'Have A Cigar' and then going and writing a flipping album about him five years later (not to mention their continual Barrett references). I'm also sure that Eels have done this, although I've found no examples.

Pulp's 'David' is a genuine addition to this thread, however. He crops up a few times.

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Thursday, 14 September 2006 00:20 (nineteen years ago)

Paul Simon's Mother

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Thursday, 14 September 2006 00:34 (nineteen years ago)

I know she was with some kid called David -- possibly even during his last summer -- but where else is he, Obvious Ninja? *not challenging, is interested*

― his sister pam (hissisterpam), Thursday, 14 September 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, hey - does Abbey Road count? Mean Mr Mustard, "His sister Pam," etc.

― his sister pam (hissisterpam), Thursday, 14 September 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

I thought there were more instances but it sadly looks like I'm wrong. :(

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Thursday, 14 September 2006 23:12 (nineteen years ago)

They Might Be Giants that did a song that brought back the Rabid Child and Chesspiece Face.

I mean hi I'm a nerd.

― William Ryan Stuart Hamilton (Stagger Lee), Thursday, 14 September 2006 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

What, unlike the rest of us?

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Thursday, 14 September 2006 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

apart from the various Totales in early Fall songs, didn't the Man Whose Head Expanded show up in a later song? Something off Perverted By Language I think.

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Thursday, 14 September 2006 23:53 (nineteen years ago)

Not sure if "character" is the right word, since he was her cat, but Arnold managed to pop up on every Karen Mantler (Carla Bley's daughter) album. It lent a nice (though ultimately sad) unity to things.

― dlp9001 (dlp9001), Friday, 15 September 2006 01:44 (nineteen years ago)

UTFO/roxanne

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 15 September 2006 04:27 (nineteen years ago)

as to the "why":

surely commercial considerations have something to do with at least some of these. people pay money to see/hear sequels.

but i also assume that quite often it's just part of the artist's DNA. songwriters tend to fall back on the same vowel sounds and other language idiosyncracies over and over again because that's what they hear in their heads. bruce springsteen, for example, likes the name mary. i'm sure that's a little bit of his catholic upbringing showing through, but i'm equally sure he just likes the way the name scans over his music, and it's an easy name to sing. same with, say, bo diddley: part braggadocio, part discovering the name that goes perfectly with half the songs you write.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 15 September 2006 04:36 (nineteen years ago)

Another Fall one, the clone(s) of J. Temperance appear in the Unutterable's 'Sons of Temperance'. But who can be sure.

― S- (sgh), Friday, 15 September 2006 05:19 (nineteen years ago)

"judy is a punk"
"the return of jackie and judy"
...and i think they showed up again, but i don't remember where.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 15 September 2006 05:36 (nineteen years ago)

"bo diddley" is a good example of, what is that word again? "onomatopoeia"? (of course it is, I just looked it up). you know, when the word itself perfectly describes the sound.

― hank (hank s), Friday, 15 September 2006 12:11 (nineteen years ago)

John Fogerty took his "Jody" character through a few songs--"Hey Tonight" "Almost Saturday Night" and at least one other (I forget the title)

Springsteen's used "Mary" several times. It might be his version of the Nyro-"Emily" thing.

― Picnics and Pixie Stix (Charles McCain), Friday, 15 September 2006 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

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