It's the journey...

In a desultory sort of way, Himself and I collect china. So on a trip to the Netherlands some years ago, we resolved to look out for Dutch pottery. Although the blue-and-white Delftware is probably the best-known, every part of the Netherlands has its unique style of pottery, and our search led us to tiny towns, minuscule museums and other fascinating places most tourists don't visit -- even a toilet factory in Maastricht, which housed, in the basement of its showroom of gleaming bathroom fixtures, a little display of antique pottery made by its founder, Petrus Regout (including chamber pots, of course).

What does this have to do with food, or music? Nothing except that the trip taught me that a quest can lead you into all sorts of interesting byways.

So it is with food songs. It's a quirky approach to music appreciation, I know, but the search for food-related music has led me to artists I'd never have discovered otherwise, particularly international bands (such as Black Debbath, above, the Japanese pop group Shonen Knife and the British ska band 7 Seconds of Love). Even when it turns out that a song that at first glance seems to be about food is really an instrumental or about something else altogether, I often discover worthwhile music. (Of course, it helps that my tastes in music are nearly as eclectic as my tastes in food.)

While I guess no one else here quite shares my particular obsession with this manifestation of food in culture, I hope you are listening to and enjoying the songs.

Here's Tab Benoit covering Too Many Dirty Dishes (video)

Albert Collins wrote:Too many dirty dishes in the sink for just us two
I said, too many dirty dishes in the sink for just us two
You got me wonderin' baby
Who's makin' dirty dishes with you?

How about a little love for our own Dick Baker? A singer and piano player, he spent nearly his entire career in Chicago. Among other gigs, he had a syndicated musical variety show on WGN radio in the 1940s, a popular children's show (The Happy Pirates) on WBKB-TV in the 1950s, and performed at nightclubs such as the Ivanhoe and Mangam's Chateau in the 1960s and 70s. Two Ton Baker, The Music Maker weighed about 350 pounds and recorded several songs about food, clearly a topic dear to him.

Let's start with one of his better known songs, I Like Stinky Cheese.

Next up, his children's "classic," I'm a Little Weenie. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore.

Still with us? Try A Chocolate Sundae on a Saturday Night.

If you made it this far you might as well finish with The Soup Song and Eachy Peachy Pie.

There's an excellent website devoted to Two Ton Baker where you can find many more songs, biographical information and lots more.

Rene G wrote:Two Ton Baker, The Music Maker weighed about 350 pounds and recorded several songs about food, clearly a topic dear to him.

I remember Two Ton best as they guy who indelibly impressed upon the minds of young people the coordinates for Riverview, the most wonderful place in 50's Chicago...Western and Belmont! I never drive past that intersection without remembering Two Ton (dressed as a clown, I seem to recall) shouting that out.

David Hammond wrote:I remember Two Ton best as they guy who indelibly impressed upon the minds of young people the coordinates for Riverview, the most wonderful place in 50's Chicago...Western and Belmont! I never drive past that intersection without remembering Two Ton (dressed as a clown, I seem to recall) shouting that out.

On http://twotonbaker.com, Dick Baker (no relation) wrote:Two Ton also was in demand as a commercial pitch man. Perhaps most memorable was his long tenure as spokesman for the Riverview Amusement Park, which featured him singing a ditty he made up for the commercial and whirling into view jammed into a roller coaster car, singing “Laugh your troubles away!”

Two Ton Baker was also responsible for another 1950s classic you might remember, Bert the Turtle (The Duck and Cover Song).

Rene G wrote:Two Ton Baker was also responsible for another 1950s classic you might remember, Bert the Turtle (The Duck and Cover Song).

Related to classic 50's educational films, I grew up in Elmhurst with the original Mr. Bungles (his name was Glenn Pape, and I still talk to him now and again; he lives in Oregon but he was selected to be the brunette badboy in a movie that featured a number of blonde, blue-eyed good kids).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s7X5-Drctk

Fun fact: Phil, the goodest of the good kids in the film, eventually ended up a hopeless acid freak and walked into a fast moving train. "He always enjoyed looking at the good food in the cafeteria. It tasted good and was good for him, too."

Rene G wrote:How about a little love for our own Dick Baker? A singer and piano player, he spent nearly his entire career in Chicago. Among other gigs, he had a syndicated musical variety show on WGN radio in the 1940s, a popular children's show (The Happy Pirates) on WBKB-TV in the 1950s

Baker didn't only do children's songs. He apparently recorded the original version of the No Beer in Heaven polka, in English, anyway, before such polka legends as Frankie "Who Stole the Keeshka?" Yankovic and Chicago's "Li'l Wally" Jagiello made hits with it. (Jagiello, "The Polka King," is perhaps best known outside polka circles as one of the composers of "Let's Go Go Go White Sox," recorded with Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, which had a resurgence in 2005. I've been searching for his recordings of "I Like Her Golabka" and "She Likes Kielbasa.")

Tom Waits. He’s not for everyone, no doubt about it, but if we’re talking food—which we appear to be, he’s a rich source of lyrics. Indeed, his lyrics are extraordinary regardless of subject, but the brief mention of him upthread barely scratches the surface. Now, they’re not all great songs but even his titles are, shall we say, ummm, picturesque. There’s “Starvin’ in the Belly of A Whale” and “Gin Soaked Boy” or “Jockey Full of Bourbon” and the wonderful “The Piano Has Been Drinking.” I’ll jump past those, though, to get to three great “food pieces”: “Ice Cream Man,” the extraordinary “Chocolate Jesus,” and the wonderfully evocative “Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House).” Herewith some excerpts:

Ice Cream Man
“I'll be clickin' by your house about two forty-five
Sidewalk sundae strawberry surprise,
I got a cherry popsicle right on time
A big stick, mamma, that'll blow your mind

'Cause I'm the ice cream man, I'm a one-man band (yeah)
I'm the ice cream man, honey, I'll be good to you.

Baby, missed me in the alley, baby, don't you fret
Come back around and don't forget,
When you're tired and you're hungry and you want something cool,
Got something better than a swimming pool

'Cause I'm the ice cream man, I'm a one-man band
I'm the ice cream man, honey, I'll be good to you...”


from Chocolate Jesus
“Don't go to church on Sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way
But I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more

I fall on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied

Well I don't want no Anna Zabba
Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well it's the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul.”

And, finally, from Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House)
“...As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes
And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.

Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene"
As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes
And the Texaco beacon burns on,
The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special'...
Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil"
"You know it could be a distributor and it could be a coil."

The early mornin' final edition's on the stands,
And that town crier's cryin' there with nickels in his hands.
Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,
Eggs - roll 'em over and a package of Kents,
Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight,
Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late.”


I do believe I should rest my case.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Tom Waits. He’s not for everyone, no doubt about it, but if we’re talking food—which we appear to be, he’s a rich source of lyrics.

Waits is hit or miss for me. Often remarkable lyrics, but his musical style is all over the map. I enjoy his rough-voiced, Dylanesque folky style, as well as his bluesier and jazzier moments, but sometimes, as with "Jockey Full of Bourbon," his sound is just too weird.

Weird though it is, one Waits number that definitely deserves mentioning here is the extraordinary "Filipino Box Spring Hog."

Cookin' up a Filipino box spring hog
Dig a big pit in a dirt alley road
Fill it with madrone and bay
Stinks like hell
And the neighbors complain
Don't give a hoot what they say
Slap that hog
Gotta roll em over twice
Baste him with a sweeping broom
You gotta swat them flies
And chain up the dogs
Cookin' up a Filipino box spring hog

Play it the next time you drive through Wheeling. And Stand By Your Ham.

Edit to replace broken link.

Musical views of genetically modified food

Meatberry Pie (mp3) from Garden Variety by the Green Beings wrote:We don't want meatberry pie or hogapple sauce
Or cucumbers crossed with snails
Don't give us veggie-veal, or fishy-corn meal,
Or grapes with blubber from whales!
If you offer me oats with genes from goats
Then I will just say 'see ya!'
Although you might not die
From a meatberry pie
It's a berry bad idea!

"The Green Beings are a food-rock band, performing original music for a healthy, culinarily responsible audience."

It Still Seems Like Food to Me (flash) from Still Stayin' Alive by Carl Winter wrote:What's the matter with the food I'm eating
Are you worried that it's modified?
Maybe I should buy my food organic
Till these high-tech fears subside
Inside I tell ya that I'm not so worried, honey
Even if Monsanto's makin' lots of money
Roundup-ready soy beans,
BST and fish genes
It still seems like food to me

"By day, Carl Winter is director of the FoodSafe program and extension food toxicologist in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California at Davis. The rest of the time, he's a singer of science."

Pied pipers of Passover

Something for every musical taste, if unfairly hard on the fare....

Pop

Manischewitzville by Billy Ray Sheet wrote:Passover time again in Manischewitzville
Searchin' for my last crumb of chometz
Time to buy chrain
And pour the beer down the drain

Blues

Passover Blues by Jeff Weiner and Bob Cramer wrote:We got matzo and haroses, got chopped liver
And grandma's chicken soup
Yeah, we got the the bitter herbs to remind us
of our large sufferin', baby
Hey, I like that liver, grandma,
How 'bout one more scoop?
Shoulda done like I did last Passover
And got a burger on the ride over

Hip hop

Matzah! by Eric 'Smooth-E' Schwartz wrote:But I gotta question
About the bread that is unleavened
Causin' indigestion
Matzah!
Eat it for week we gots ta

Disco

Matzo Man by American Comedy Network wrote:Serve it for the seder -- it's a feast
Doesn't have much flavor, and no yeast
Matzo balls are heavy, so better eat 'em slow
And they're sort of binding -- won't let my people go

Folk

20 Things to Do with Matzah by Michelle Citrin and William Levin wrote:1. Catch it like a Frisbee with your friends in the park, or you could
2. jump in the water and pretend you're a shark
3. You can make a matzah pick and play the guitar, and you can
4. make a matzah license plate for your car

Rock

I Love the Jewish People I Just Hate Their Food by 'Stuttering John' Melendez wrote:I love the Jewish people I just hate their food
Matzo balls look like the bread's been already chewed

Gut Pesach!

I think that New Orleans singer and songwriter Paul Sanchez is one of the most underappreciated lyricists in regional pop music. He performs this regularly with his band Cowboy Mouth:

Hurricane Party

We had a little party me and my friends
A hurricane was coming to New Orleans again
somebody brought scotch somebody brought beer
I shoulda' kept the hooch and thrown'em outta here

A friendly game a penny a hand
Smoke a cigar act like a man
Waintin' for the gale force winds to blow
Shuffle up the cards and let the liquor flow

My hurricane party got outta control
I'm lying in the gutter eatin' tootsie rolls
With red ant bites all over my ass
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat

Somebody's girlfriend showed up by surprise
With cookies in her hands and dollar signs in her eyes
I started dipping her cookies in scotch
Well she won all my money and my pocket watch

Well I passed out and I woke up
The house was empty and so was my cup
From out on the front porch I heard them shout
I wish they'd come in so I could throw them out

My hurricane party got outta control
I'm lying in the gutter eatin' tootsie rolls
With red ant bites all over my ass
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat

Everybody's wrestling out in the dirt
I laughed so hard till my stomach hurt
They saw me clean they heard me laugh
They started charging at me and I grabbed the bat

My hurricane party got outta control
I'm lying in the gutter eatin' tootsie rolls
With red ant bites all over my ass
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat
I used to know the way to Fenway Park!

FYI...Cowboy Mouth will be playing the Sheffield Garden Walk on July 20 at 8 pm.

YourPalWill wrote:I think that New Orleans singer and songwriter Paul Sanchez is one of the most underappreciated lyricists in regional pop music. He performs this regularly with his band Cowboy Mouth:

Hurricane Party

Thanks, Will.

Cowboy Mouth performing "Hurricane Party" in Chicago (video)

Is it possible that no-one has included this number by the immortal Steve Goodman??

Chicken Cordon Bleus

When I first met you baby, you fed me on chicken and wine.
It was steak and potatoes and lobster and babe I sure felt fine.
But now all you ever give me is the seaweed and the alfalfa sprouts
And sunflower seeds and I got my doubts -
Babe, you left me here with the Chicken Cordon Bleus.

My stomach is empty and all I got is food for thought.
And I been sittin' here thinkin' 'bout the twenty lbs. of groceries we bought . . .
We bought ten lbs. of brown rice and five more of beans
And five pounds of Granola and you know what that means,
I'm just a regular fella with the Chicken Cordon Bleus.

Now won't you play me them fat licks!

You know, I'm starved for affection and babe, I can't take no more.
You know this stuff is so weird that the cockroaches moved next door.
Babe, can you see that old dog, he's out in the street
He's got a big smile on his face 'cause they let him meat.
And babe I got the lemon and the Chicken Cordon Bleus!

[spoken over guitar vamp . . . ]
Babe, I'm goin down to the bakery
And I'm going to find me a jelly roll
And some cannoli.
Some French pastry.
A chocolate éclair don't sound too bad.
How about some lasagna ?
You know fat is where it's at.
My shadow disappears ...


Giovanna

Gypsy Boy wrote:Tom Waits. He’s not for everyone, no doubt about it, but if we’re talking food—which we appear to be, he’s a rich source of lyrics. Indeed, his lyrics are extraordinary regardless of subject, but the brief mention of him upthread barely scratches the surface. Now, they’re not all great songs but even his titles are, shall we say, ummm, picturesque. There’s “Starvin’ in the Belly of A Whale” and “Gin Soaked Boy” or “Jockey Full of Bourbon” and the wonderful “The Piano Has Been Drinking.” I’ll jump past those, though, to get to three great “food pieces”: “Ice Cream Man,” the extraordinary “Chocolate Jesus,” and the wonderfully evocative “Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House).” Herewith some excerpts:

Ice Cream Man
“I'll be clickin' by your house about two forty-five
Sidewalk sundae strawberry surprise,
I got a cherry popsicle right on time
A big stick, mamma, that'll blow your mind

'Cause I'm the ice cream man, I'm a one-man band (yeah)
I'm the ice cream man, honey, I'll be good to you.

Baby, missed me in the alley, baby, don't you fret
Come back around and don't forget,
When you're tired and you're hungry and you want something cool,
Got something better than a swimming pool

'Cause I'm the ice cream man, I'm a one-man band
I'm the ice cream man, honey, I'll be good to you...”


from Chocolate Jesus
“Don't go to church on Sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way
But I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more

I fall on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied

Well I don't want no Anna Zabba
Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well it's the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul.”

And, finally, from Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House)
“...As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes
And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.

Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene"
As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes
And the Texaco beacon burns on,
The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special'...
Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil"
"You know it could be a distributor and it could be a coil."

The early mornin' final edition's on the stands,
And that town crier's cryin' there with nickels in his hands.
Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,
Eggs - roll 'em over and a package of Kents,
Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight,
Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late.”


I do believe I should rest my case.

Haven't heard the Tom Waits version, but I wonder if its's influenced by the original by John Brim written back in the 50's?

And it goes something like this:

Ice Cream Man

Written by:
John Brim.
© Arc Music Corp. BMI.
All Rights Reserved.
---
(Dedicate one to the ladies...)
Now summertime's here babe, need somethin' to keep you cool
Ah now summertime's here babe, need somethin' to keep you cool
Better look out now though, Dave's got somethin' for you
Tell ya what it is
I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
Oh my my, I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
Hold on a second baby
I got good lemonade, ah, dixie cups
All flavors and push ups too
I'm your ice cream man, baby, stop me when I'm passin' by
See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
Hold on, one more
Well, I'm usually passin' by just about eleven o'clock
Uh huh, I never stop, I'm usually passin' by, just around eleven o'clock
And if you let me cool you one time, you'll be my regular stop
All right boys
I got good lemonade, ah, dixie cups
All flavors and push ups too
I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
Yes I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
They say all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
Ah, one time
I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
They say all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
One time, boys
I'm your ice cream man
I'm your ice cream man
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-baby
Ah my, my, my
All my flavors are guaranteed to satis-uh-fy
Ow



Mr Brim was a fine gentleman, a blues legend, and I did have the pleasure of hosting him at my home a time or two back in the 80's.

vacation place? Wisconsin
favorite sausage? Johnson's
favorite chicken? swanson's

It is a Chicago based site and since there are some food shout outs I thought some would like this video. Very Chicago and very entertaining.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oqrtoFWglMY

anyone ever taken the other to Bennigan's to see how the steaks are?

Gypsy Boy wrote:Tom Waits.... Ice Cream Man

Liz in Norwood Park wrote:Haven't heard the Tom Waits version, but I wonder if its's influenced by the original by John Brim written back in the 50's?

Supposedly not. Not that Wikipedia is a definitive source, but they and others claim Waits' version is wholly original.

Anyway, the sound is quite different:

Tom Waits' Ice Cream Man

John Brim's Ice Cream Man

The Brim version is the one covered by Van Halen.

Giovanna wrote:Is it possible that no-one has included this number by the immortal Steve Goodman??

Ah, I knew somebody would mention "Chicken Cordon Blues" eventually. What a talent Goodman was! Although my personal favorite remains Lincoln Park Pirates.

Old-time tamale tunes

The various tamale threads have had me hummin' some old-time tamale tunes.

Musical evidence shows that the tradition of roving tamale salesmen dates back at least to the early 20th century and and hints that they were common in Chicago. The songs make it pretty clear that those sellers were African Americans, unlike most of today's tamaleros, who are largely Mexican immigrants. It's hard to say what kind of tamales they sold, but I'd guess it would be the traditional Chicago corn roll or Mississipi Delta style.

In 1909, Chicago composer Herbert Ingraham published "The Hot Tamale Man."

Hot tamale wrapped in corn so neat,
Hot tamale made of chicken meat,
Hot tamale makes you feel so jolly and gay,
That's why I say:
Buy a hot ta-mot out of a steamin' pot
While they are nice and hot
You'll get the best I got

Singer Pearl A. Hunt's picture graces the cover of the sheet music, but I can't find evidence that she recorded the song. However, the much better known Arthur Collins, a popular vaudeville minstrel and radio artist of the period, recorded "The Hot Tamale Man" for both Victor and Columbia in 1909. (Although the song's lyrics are innocuous, Collins' performance unfortunately features an interlude of the appalling ethnic jibes rife in the popular entertainment of that era. The ubiquitous "coon" acts are best remembered today, but just about everyone came in for crude burlesques, including Jews, Germans, Italians, Asians, the Irish and even "The Argentines, the Portuguese and the Greeks.")

Chicago composers Fred Rose and Charlie Harrison added to the musical praise of itinerant tamale men with the lively "Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man" in 1926, a Charleston-dance tune that became a standard of the period's Chicago/New Orleans jazz. (Rose would later move on to Nashville and country-music fame, but he and Harrison also collaborated on "I'll Meet You in Chicago (at the Fair)," in 1928, presumably to promote the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair.)

"Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man" was first recorded in 1926 by Charles L. "Doc Cook" Cooke. Cooke, a Ph.D. keyboardist, composer and conductor who had studied at the Chicago College of Music under composer Louis Victor Saar and Chicago Symphony Orchestra program annotator Felix Borowski, presided over Cook and his Dreamland Orchestra, house musicians of Paddy Harmon's Dreamland Ballroom at Paulina and Van Buren in Chicago.

The Dreamland version has the best sound, but Cooke also recorded the song in 1926 with his smaller band, Cookie's Gingersnaps. Both recordings feature the legendary Freddie Keppard on cornet.

Except for a few shouted interjections ("I've got red hot! Red hot, that's what!") both versions are instrumental. It's unclear when lyrics were introduced to the song, but on their 2001 release, the New Leviathan Oriental Fox-Trot Orchestra, a New Orleans jazz revivalist group, performs "Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man" with these words:

Just see that bucket steamin'
And hear those folks all screamin'
"Here comes the Hot Tamale Man!"
He comes down Main Street yellin'
"Here comes the Hot Tamale Man!"
Watch him Charleston down the line
Shoutin' "I got red hot!"
Everybody fall in line for "Red hot! That's what!"
Come on folks, get out your money,
He needs shoesies for his honey,
Here comes the Hot Tamale Man!

You can contrast the uptempo song's sophisticated, urban sound with the earthy, early blues of "Molly Man" by Red Hot Ole Mose (a secular stage name for the Rev. Moses Mason, best known as a gospel singer). Though recorded in Chicago in 1928, "Molly Man," with its references to cotton fields, is clearly set in the rural South:

Molly man's coming, I hear his voice
He's got hot tamales, and it's just my choice
Come on boys, and don't wait too long
All my 'males soon will be gone
I can judge by the way you act
Somebody around here had on a cotton-picking track
Feeling tired, shoulder's getting sore
If you see 'male, you're going to take some more
Two for a nickel, four for a dime
Thirty cents a dozen, and you'll sure eat fine
Good times have come in, don't you see the signs
Cotton bolls are open, you can make a-many dimes
I can judge by the way you walk
You going to carry half a dozen off
If my holler, boys, trouble your mind
You had to come running with a dime
Good times have come in, don't you see the signs
White folks standing around here spending a-many dimes
'Males so hot it burns my hand
Says I can't hardly get them out of my can

Famed bluesman Robert Johnson, originator of "Sweet Home Chicago," also sang about a tamale seller, although his 1936 composition, "They're Red Hot," describes a hot tamale woman.

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale
She got two for a nickel, got four for a dime
Would sell you more, but they ain't none of mine
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got 'em for sale, yes, yeah
Hot tamales and they're red hot

Give these red-hot tunes a listen.

Arthur Collins-The Hot Tamale Man, 1909 (Warning: Offensive language.)

Doc Cook and his Dreamland Orchestra-Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man, 1926

Cookie's Gingersnaps-Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man, 1926

New Leviathan Oriental Fox-Trot Orchestra-Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man, 2001

Red Hot Ole Mose-Molly Man, 1928

Robert Johnson-They're Red Hot, 1936

Music for a toast restaurant:

Heywood Banks-Toast.
Streetband-Toast.

The Capitol Steps are the country's foremost musical political-comedy troupe.

The Capitol Steps wrote:CHINA is secretly pleased by protests during the Olympic torch relay and controversy over Tibet, since they divert attention from the big business of exporting dangerous products. Already China leads in providing tainted pet food, hazardous toothpaste, and poisonous toys. Last week, we learned that contaminated heparin, a blood thinner, is suspected in dozens of deaths in 11 countries.

The Capitol Steps: Buy, Buy, American Pie (mp3)

Not food music, per se, but a video blog about musicians and their food interests:

Cooking with Rockstars

Two music videos about kimchi:

Kimchi Kkakdugi, from North Korea

A Song for Kimchi, children's song

If anyone can translate or identify the artists, please do.

Well, it's not exactly food music, or not entirely, but it's awfully funny:

Dishes Like to be Dirty by Olde English (video)

I'm surprised that the band Cibo Matto hasn't emerged on this thread. Their first CD is full of food-related song titles: Apple, Beef Jerky, Sugar Water, White Pepper Ice Cream, Birthday Cake, Know Your Chicken, The Candy Man, Le Pain Perdu, and Artichoke. And the music is as tasty is the titles!

Here is the menu-related portion of the playlist from the LTHForum 1,000-Recipe Potluck.

Leftover Salmon - Hot Corn, Cold Corn 1997
Joyce Poynter - Chilli Dippin' Baby 1957
Monster Crossing - Extra Garlic 2004
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players - Eggs 2001
I Love Egg - Egg Song
Fats Waller - Hold Tight (I Want Some Seafood Mama) 1939
Guys on Ice (The Ice Fishing Musical) - Fish is the Miracle Food 1999
GiR2007 (James Provan) - Fishcakes! 2007
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Pizza Power 1990
Nancy Eaton - One Meatball 2006
Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Mexican Food 2000
Sherman "Blues" Johnson & his Clouds of Joy - Hot Fish 1952
Fats Waller - Hold Tight (I Want Some Seafood Mama) 1939
Savannah Churchill and her All Star Seven - Fat Meat is Good Meat 1942
Gillo - The Proper Pork Song ca. 2005
Andre Williams and the Natural Bridge Bunch - Pig Snoots-Part 1 1968
National Pork Board - Pork. The Other White Meat 1987
National Pig Association (of Great Britain) - Stand By Your Ham 2008
Norman Greenbaum - Canned Ham 1970
FlowGo - Meatloaf Dance ca. 2008
Dizzy Gillespie - Hey Pete! Let's Eat More Meat 1946
Mickey Katz - Sixteen Tons 1950s
Jerry Lee Lewis - Meat Man 1973
Cibo Matto - Know Your Chicken 1996
Eve Boswell - Pickin' a Chicken 1956
Cab Calloway - A Chicken Ain't Nothin' But a Bird 1940
Yamaha Music Foundation - The Salad Song 1992
Dole 5 A Day Friends - Salad Sisters 2004
Harry Champion - A Little Bit of Cucumber 1917
The Evelyn Situation - Fruits and Vegetables 1994
Sesame Street - Jim Henson - Captain Vegetable 1982
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention - Call Any Vegetable 1967
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention - Soft-Sell Conclusion 1967
Tony Rebel - Fresh Vegetable 1990
The Beach Boys - Vegetables 1967
The Darlings with Andy Griffith - Boil Them Cabbage Down 1964
Frito Lay - The Frito Twist 1960s
Naomi Hall - Macaroni and Cheese 2000
Annie Ross - Farmer's Market 1952
Nancy Jo Berg as Aurora - Jimmy the Boy Wonder: Wonderful Beans! 1966
Mother Goose - Baked Beans 1977
Johnny Nicholas - My Rice Ain't Got No Gravy 1994
Wynonie Harris - I Like My Baby's Puddin' 1950
Uncle Neptune - Blueberries 2003
Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches 1995
Rathergood.com - Cake 2008
Jimmie Revard and his Oklahoma Playboys - Cake Eating Man 1936
Tom Smith - Hot Sauce and Ice Cream 2007
Frank Triolo with the Shipmates Orchestra - Ice Cream Baby 1958
Shonen Knife - Flying Jelly Attack (live) 1997
G. Love and Special Sauce - Cold Beverage 1994
Donny Baker & the Dimensionals - Drinkin' Pop-Sodee Odee (Pop Pop) 1953
Coca-Cola - Zing! 1962
Pepsi - Pepsi-Cola Hits the Spot 1939
Ralph Covert (Ralph's World) - Happy Lemons 2002

I heard this on Sirius' "Backspin" the other day, and this particular verse reads like the occasional LTH rant:

Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang:

[ . . . ]

like a can of beer that's sweeter than honey
like a millionaire that has no money
like a rainy day that is not wet
like a gamblin fiend that does not bet
like dracula with out his fangs
like the boogie to the boogie without the boogie bang
like collard greens that dont taste good
like a tree that's not made out of wood
like goin up and not comin down
is just like the beat without the sound no sound
to the beat beat, ya do the freak
everybody just rock and dance to the beat
have you ever went over a friends house to eat
and the food just aint no good
i mean the macaroni's soggy the peas are mushed
and the chicken tastes like wood
so you try to play it off like you think you can
by sayin that youre full
and then your friend says momma he's just being polite
he aint finished uh uh that's bull
so your heart starts pumpin and you think of a lie
and you say that you already ate
and your friend says man there's plenty of food
so you pile some more on your plate
while the stinky foods steamin your mind starts to dreamin
of the moment that it's time to leave
and then you look at your plate and your chickens slowly rottin
into something that looks like cheese
oh so you say that's it i got to leave this place
i dont care what these people think
im just sittin here makin myself nauseous
with this ugly food that stinks
so you bust out the door while its still closed
still sick from the food you ate
and then you run to the store for quick relief
from a bottle of kaopectate
and then you call your friend two weeks later
to see how he has been
and he says i understand about the food
baby bubbah but we're still friends
with a hip hop the hippie to the hippie
the hip hip a hop a you dont stop the rockin
to the bang bang boogie
say up jump the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie the beat
i say hank can ya rock
can ya rock to the rhythm that just dont stop
can ya hip me to the shoobie doo
i said come on

[ . . .]

Check out wonderful if eccentric jazz vocalist Slim Gaillard singing “Dunkin Bagel”—“Dunkin bagel . . . splash in the coffee!” From a very amusing website called And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl, "The Jewish Past as Told by the Records We Have Loved and Lost."

Attention LAZ: Note the mention of Eartha Kitt's recording of "Rumania, Rumania"! So intriguing, I had to buy the mp3 from Amazon for a whole $0.89.

EvA wrote:Check out wonderful if eccentric jazz vocalist Slim Gaillard singing “Dunkin Bagel”—“Dunkin bagel . . . splash in the coffee!”

Ay, s'iz a mekhaye -- thanks! I knew Gaillard's "Matzoh Balls," of course, but I hadn't heard this one before.

Eartha Kitt doing "Rumania Rumania" doesn't surprise me as much as Chubby Checker's "Hava Nagilia Twist"!

Pork music



Kraftwurst - We are Pork Products (video)





7 Seconds of Love - Fun with Pork (mp3)


Also check out "Hover Bacon" and "Hitting Pigs with Hammers," among other foodie tunes at http://rathergood.com.

LAZ wrote:Pork music

What immortal lines:
The pigs come from the piggery
They mince them now we're sausagy.

Thanks for sharing!

If you want to hear a real good song about the state of fast food, listen to " Junk" by Bronski Beat, a British band from 80's.