Songs By Songwriters About Other Songwriters Or Which Mention Them blah blah blah

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... and I mean songwriters, not musician/performers, so that's the 100 songs about Bob Dylan you had lined up out the window. I can only think of three offhand:

Jimmy Webb - P.F. Sloan ("I have been thinking 'bout PF Sloan, but no one knows where he has gone...")
Prefab Sprout - Hallelujah ("I hear the songs of Georgie Gershwin")
Lee Hazelwood - Stone Cold Blues ("... old Hank Cochran(?)'s still writing good songs")

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember doing nothing on the night Sinatra died
And the night Jeff Buckley died
And the night Kurt Cobain died
And the night John Lennon died
I remember I stayed up to watch the news with everyone
And that was a lot of nights
And that was a lot of lives
Who lost the tickets to what they need?

Badly Drawn Boy did the hard yards with four namechecks in a row in "You were right".

― papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

... I said songwriters not musicians/performers. Here's another one:

Kraftwerk - Franz Schubert

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry, I found it a little confusing. It's late here.

― papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't Schubert perform? Anyway, your title also says "by songwriters" so that's Kraftwerk out. Dylan wrote songs for other people, why doesn't he count?

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

From memory, so it's not entirely accurate:
"My Wife and I sit in bed in the dark,
wondering who sounds better in the dark.
Is it Townes Van Zandt or is it Guy Clark?"

Robert Forster "Danger in the Past"

My vote would go to Townes Van Zandt.

― king_oliver (king_oliver), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I took songwriter to mean someone who writes songs not someone who writes songs for other people. I'm dumb.

― papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Kraftwerk aren't songwriters? You rockist fiend you! I meant songwriters who are primarily known as songwriters and not performers - I mean, PF Sloan was a performer (and I've got the records to prove it!) but, if he's known at all, it's as a songwriter. Schubert and Gershwin were both performers of course.

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Cole Porter - Irving Berlin ("You're the top, you're a Berlin ballad")

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:23 (twenty-one years ago)

bowie.

track on hunky dory was all about Bob Dylan - called 'Song for Bob dylan' strangely ?

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I give up

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

wilco, "acuff-rose" (while roy acuff was a performer, fred rose was strictly a songwriter)

rem, "it's the end of the world as we know it" (mentions leonard bernstein)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

"I give up "
-- We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus

Jimmy Webb is performer, Lee Hazelwood is a performer, and Prefab Sprout is a band. The vagueness of the question should be cause for frustration, not the helpful answers from the Peanut Gallery.

How 'bout: "Walls built by bricklayers that mention other fences?"

― king_oliver (king_oliver), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

oh! I get it now. Still, George Gershwin could be considered a performer.

― Brian McGovern (king_oliver), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Schubert and Gershwin were both performers of course.
-- We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (kcoyne3...), November 30th, 2004.

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Dada, be careful you don't mark my answer wrong while you're giving everybody else the black X's.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck. apologies. quickly scanned the topic. scratch me off your xmas list.

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm confused. Why is Dylan not a songwriter?

― L.H.O.O.Q, Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Answer me how Prefab Sprout and Lee Hazelwood aren't performers, and maybe Ill get this.

― David Allen (David Allen), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

You wrote Your Cheatin' Heart about
A gal like my first ex- wife
You Moan The Blues for me and for you
Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life.

"Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life" -- Moe Bandy

― briania (briania), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Here's my tentative translation of the thread title into meaningful English: "Songs by Songwriters (Who May Also Be Well Know As Performers/Musicians) About Other Songwriters (Who, Although They May Have Occasionally Performed Or Played A Musical Instrument, Are Primarily Known As Songwriters Rather Than Performers/Musicians)"

― L.H.O.O.Q, Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

sweet home alabama

― lukey (Lukey G), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost
Just to clarify: the SECOND term in the formula, the guy that's MENTIONED has to be PRIMARILY a songwriter, I mean he could have performed in a restaurant or something but most likely most people don't have records on his name. So fact checking cuz's entries would be valid, correct?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

... I should really have just put "Songs About Songwriters (Who, Although They May Have Occasionally Performed Or Played A Musical Instrument, Are Primarily Known As Songwriters Rather Than Performers/Musicians) Or Which Mention Them blah blah blah". I think Jimmy Webb's "P.F. Sloan" song wrong-footed me 'cos it's quite intentionally a song about a songwriter by a songwriter.

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Magnetic Fields, The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure - this one's for Holland Dozier Holland

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post
How about "Songs about lyricist-composers, or teams there of"...

― king_oliver (king_oliver), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

So, under the current understanding of the rule, why not:

Chuck Berry - Roll over Beethoven
The Rutles(Neil Innes) - Blue Suede Schubert

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Chris Barnes Is A Pussy

YOU HID ON YOUR BUS
YOU WHERE AFRAID OF US
YOU WOULDN'T FIGHT ME CUZ YOU'RE GAY
YOU HAD YOUR ROADIES SAVED TODAY

CHRIS BARNES IS A FAGGOT- YOU'RE FUCKING GAY
CHRIS BARNES IS A FAGGOT- YOU'RE A FUCKING FAGGOT
CHRIS BARNES IS A FAGGOT- YOU'RE BREATH SMELLS LIKE CUM
CHRIS BARNES IS A FAGGOT- YOU LIKE DICKS UP YOUR ASS

YOU'RE A FUCKING MIDGET, SO YOU CAN BLOW GUYS WITHOUT KNEELING
YOU & ALLEN WEST MET AT A GAY BAR AND WANTED TO START A BAND
YOU GOT KICKED OUT OF CANNIBAL CORPSE BECAUSE YOU SUCK
YOU STARTED SIX FEET UNDER AND THEY SUCK TOO

I'LL FIGHT YOU ANYTIME YOU FAG
BUT YOU'LL HAVE YOU'RE RODIES FIGHT FOR YOU
IF YOU SO BRUTAL, WHY WONT YOU FIGHT ME BY YOURSELF
YOU FUCKING CUM GUZZLING FAGGOT HOMO PUSSY

― DJ Mencap0))), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

more frank tributes
crowded house "she goes on " (belinda carlisle covered this)
We owe it all to Frank Sinatra
The song was playing a she walked into the room
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
bon jovi"it's my life"
"like frankie said i did it my way"

― splitgurl, Wednesday, 1 December 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"I Dreamt I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night"

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

B&S "don't look back like dylan in the movies" by Stuart Murdoch
oops that was about Dylan in documentary subject MODE.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Gyllene Tider: "Flickan i en Cole Porter sång"
(That is Per Gessle's original early 80s band btw)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Also: Falco: "Rock Me Amadeus"

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Good one

Robbie Fulks: Fsck This Town " -mentions Tim Carroll (who I think of as guy who quit his band to become Nashville songwriter

Also could we not say that
Bring It To Jerome is about Jerome Kern?
Or that
Ach Du Lieber Augustin is about Jerry Lieber?

( I see the moderators have no interest in my request to delete DJ Mencaps post)

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)

(I see the moderators have no interest in my request to delete DJ Mencaps post)

well, that IS a song by a songwriter about a couple of other songwriters, though i guess you could argue that all the songwriters involved are also performers, though i'm not sure it's worth deleting the post just because of that.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 01:44 (twenty-one years ago)

All right, sorry. I got a little prudish in the last few months for some reason.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

ow about writers who are ex-performers ("I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives") Writers who are on hiatus from performing ("Over in the corner, much to mah surpise, Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes, wearin' his disguise.") Or deconstructed ("don't believe in zimmerman")or any/all of the above, as far as anybody could tell at the tyme("Wreck of the Arthur Lee") Do these count?

― don, Wednesday, 1 December 2004 02:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Anything Goes at this point, which was composed by songwriter Cole Porter, who was also known to tickle the black and white ivories on occasion and even sing in a rather pleasing voice, if not of Ethel Merman caliber.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 02:34 (twenty-one years ago)

"Where Is Geoff Boyd Tonight?" by Jason Morphew. OK, I think Geoff Boyd has performed, but he's not terribly well known...

― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

John Cale, "Brahms."

― don, Wednesday, 1 December 2004 03:13 (twenty-one years ago)

A pure example of what Dada is looking for might be found on Lou Reed's Magic & Loss, a tribute primarily to Doc Pomus, who was almost exclusively a songwriter and not a performer.

Duke Ellington certainly wrote a song or two about arranger & composer Billy Strayhorn, who mostly stayed out of the spotlight. The only thing I can think of is the And His Mother Called Him Bill album, but I think that's mostly Strayhorn compositions.

Lucinda Williams' "Drunken Angel" is a composite, I think, about Townes Van Zant and another Austin songwriter whose name escapes me.

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 03:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Boo Radleys' "Jimmy Webb Is God" off Kingsize -- kinda a weird reference to "playing his guitar," though, since Jim's pianist...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 05:30 (twenty-one years ago)

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