Ready For Some “Tasty” Music?
First, thanks to my blogging friend Clive for this great idea – celebrating music about food!
I love this image of vinyl as the “meat” for a great burger:
Music is such a part of our lives – there are so many songs that take me to a specific time in my life.
First, let’s begin with a song that is truly and only a celebration of food!
“Cheeseburger In Paradise”
Jimmy Buffett’s love letter to the all-american burger makes me hungry every time I hear it!
Here’s the burger and the lyrics:
“Cheeseburger in paradise
Medium-rare with mustard’d be nice
Heaven on Earth with an onion slice
I’m just a cheeseburger in paradise
I like mine with lettuce and tomato
Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes
Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer
Well, good God almighty which way do I steer
For my
Cheeseburger in paradise”
Here is Buffett performing the joyful song live:
Next up, a quirky hit from the 70’s that took two disparate food items and crashed them together:
“Coconut” by Harry Nilsson
“Coconut” is a very catchy song written by Harry Nilsson, released in 1971. The song features the lyrics “Put the lime in the coconut and drink ’em both up,” which has been widely interpreted as a reference to a tropical drink made with lime juice and coconut milk. For those who want to know what the song is about, here is what wikipedia says:
The song is meant to be quizzical and non sense. That is because the person who called the doctor to ask for a relief for their bellyache actually got sick, apparently , because they drank the ‘lime in the coconut’ drink with rum in the first place.
As the lyrics note:
“Now lemme get this straight
You put the lime in the coconut, you drank ’em bot’ up
Put the lime in the coconut, you drank ’em bot’ up
Put the lime in the coconut, you drank ’em bot’up
Put the lime in the coconut, you call your doctor, woke ‘I’m up
Said “doctor, ain’t there nothing’ I can take?”
I said, “doctor, to relieve this belly ache”
I said “doctor, ain’t there nothin’ I can take?’
I said, “doctor, to relieve this belly ache”
You put the lime in the coconut, you drink ’em bot’ together
Put the lime in the coconut and you’ll feel better
Put the lime in the coconut, drink ’em bot’ up
Put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning”
So the doctor tells them to have a ‘lime in the coconut’ as a remedy for their bellyache, which the song suggests was caused by drinking the “lime in the coconut” – there you go! So of course they made a music video where all of the musicians are dressed as Gorillas because why not?
Enjoy!
Finally here is a song about grapes….we actually wine so why not? It’s a very popular song that makes me want to drink a glass right now!
“Red Red Wine” by UB-40
I included the UB-40 version of the song, which was originally written by the iconic Neil Diamond – the lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who uses red wine to forget his problems!
Neil’s lyrics really lay it out:
“Red, red wine goes to my head
Makes me forget that I still need her so
Red, red wine, it’s up to you
All I can do I’ve done
Memories won’t go, memories won’t go…”
Here is UB-40’s version, performed live:
By the way, drowning your sorrows in vino is good for you!
Click here to see all of the health benefits of wine!
While not a song about food, I did make a short music video called “Seoul Food” that celebrates the street food of that incredible city:
Here it is – from bacon-wrapped hot dogs to yellow tied dry fish!
You can see more of the incredible “Seoul Food” scene by clicking on my story here:
By the way, be careful of songs with food in the title – there are so many songs with food in the title that aren’t actually about food!
As I was researching this post, I realized that most songs that have a food item in the title are not about food at all – cue Rihanna!
“Birthday Cake” by Rihanna
Well, did you really think this was about a bakery item?
Check out the lyrics:
“It’s not even my birthday (My birthday)
But he wanna lick the icing off (The icing off)
I know you want it in the worst way (The worst way)
Can’t wait to blow my candles out
OK then…and Led Zeppelin apparently were NOT dessert fans when they wrote this:
“Custard Pie” by Led Zeppelin
The legendary “hammer of the gods” were also about much more than food…..as this terrific rocker from their iconic album “Physical Graffiti” shows:
“Your custard pie, yeah, sweet and nice
When you cut it, mama, save me a slice
Your custard pie, I declare, it’s sweet and nice
I Like your custard pie
When you cut it, mama mama, please save me a slice…”
You don’t have to be “Caligula” to know what this is about!
Finally, one more to consider:
“Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard
There are many songs with “sugar” in the title…for example, “Brown Sugar” by The Rolling Stones is REALLY obvious….just as this classic by Def Leppard is:
“Pour some sugar on me
Ooh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me
C’mon, fire me up
Pour your sugar on me
I can’t get enough
I’m hot, sticky sweet
From my head to my feet, yeah!”
Enjoy their energized video!
Not only are lots of songs not really about food, some albums covers use food in a different way as well…for example:
Yep, this is a real album cover….and there are some that are even worse!
Click here to see the worst album covers of all time – if you dare!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Books / Media, Food, Food Porn, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
and don’t forget ‘cherry pie’ another not so much about food. and we have a diner that’s been here since the 60s that is named ‘afternoon delight’ after the song )
Yes indeed great examples!
A great post, John. I love Red, red wine. The cheeseburger song was funny!
fun post. How about we like bread and butter you should make a mixtape to be played in the kitchen While cooking. I’m giving my age away with the mixtape.
UB40 really annoy me. They made a career out of copying and ripping off better singers and musicians because people at the time knew nothing of the original versions. Their reggae version of ‘Red Red Wine’ was a straight copy of the Tony Tribe reggae single on Trojan Records that I had owned since 1969. That was a reggae version of a cover by jimmy James and The Vagabonds from 1968 which I also owned, and my dad had the Neil Diamond original on an album.
(Rant over… 😊)
Best wishes, Pete.
I dont know anything about them other than the success of this song but appreciate the insight
A fun post .John, I too love Red Red Wine…