What are your
favourite songs about
inanimate objects?
Last Friday, Joanna listed 35 songs that prove that men can be really musically romantic if they want to be. But she limited her list to songs where the performers were rhapsodizing about people and ignored all of the great songs devoted to joyously celebrating the inanimate. Here are five of my favourites:
“It’s Money That I Love” by Randy Newman
Now it could be said that there are many songs out there that are about the joys of being wealthy, but leave it to Randy Newman to truly get to the heart of the matter and lay it all out on the line.
“Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley
Written by Carl Perkins, Elvis popularized this ode to easily ruined footwear. Sounds like a lot of trouble to me. That’s why I stick with inexpensive canvas sneakers.
“Do the Shake” by The Village People
This paean to the mighty milkshake came about when producer Allan Carr struck a deal with a national dairy organization during the pre-production of his fabulous post-disco era disco flop Can’t Stop the Music. They gave him a very big check and the stars of the film performed a 4 minute number about milkshakes that had nothing to do with the rest of the movie. HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD!
“Upholstery” by The Juicy Fruits
A LOT of songs have been written about cars over the years, but leave it to the genius of Paul Williams to craft a moving tribute to the leather covering the seats inside those cars for Brian De Palma’s comic-horror-musical masterpiece, Phantom of the Paradise.
“The Thong Song” by Sisqo
Leave it up to Sisqo to get to the heart of this potentially uncomfortable subject.
‘Kay, so those are my pics. Now it’s time for you to share yours in the comments!
I like Elvis Costello’s “Radio Radio.”