Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith delivers an ultimatum blues to a freeloading lover, dressing up a blunt economic demand in barnyard comedy and…
economic independence sexual and domestic reciprocity female autonomy
Black Sabbath
This closing track from Paranoid pairs a lurching instrumental jam with a half-comic, half-paranoid account of drug-induced…
drug paranoia unreliable perception self-deception
Mos Def
A breezy account of a teenage joyride that stalls on an absurd, deflating detail: a jammed seatbelt that thwarts the narrator's…
adolescent desire freedom and mobility comic frustration
Richard Thompson
A jaunty, almost comic account of a wrecked relationship, where the narrator recounts being physically and emotionally battered…
toxic romance emotional exhaustion comic violence
Tom Petty
Tom Petty turns a chorus of romantic devotion into a punchline by surrounding it with a comic gallery of failed relationships.…
romantic complacency divorce and dysfunction irony as affection
Ethan Whitney
A straightforward pop declaration of romantic devotion dressed up in comic-book imagery. The narrator pledges protective,…
devoted love self-sufficiency vs. support escapism
The Who
A restless, half-comic confession of spiritual searching that name-drops the counterculture's gurus only to find them useless.…
spiritual seeking disillusionment with counterculture idols self-knowledge as impossible task
Little Feat
A wry breakup narrative that keeps undercutting its own heartbreak with comic self-interest. The narrator confronts a cheating…
infidelity and betrayal performed heartbreak vs. real indifference serial romance
John Prine
John Prine builds a comic song out of the format of a newspaper advice column, staging a series of absurd reader complaints that…
absurdity of everyday complaint futility of advice-seeking identity and self-acceptance
Hank Williams
This is a live radio performance of Hank Williams' comic novelty song, framed by an announcer's folksy introduction before…
privacy versus gossip marital independence rural community friction
The Smiths
A serial motormouth apologizes for cruel things he's said, then dramatically inflates his guilt by comparing himself to a martyr…
guilt and self-loathing comic martyrdom the damage of words
Beastie Boys
A cartoonishly juvenile chant dressed up as a party anthem, built on a nursery-rhyme hook and a rambling anecdote about a…
adolescent bravado misogyny as performance comic self-deprecation
Steve Earle
A wry character sketch of an unrepentant romantic drifter told from the outside, by a narrator warning a woman about the man's…
romantic recidivism performance vs. sincerity the myth of the outlaw lover
George Jones
A honky-tonk confessional in which the narrator describes his own drinking as an inevitability rather than a choice, framing…
compulsive drinking fatalism disguised as humor social ritual of the bar
Big Star
A woozy, half-collapsed love song built from disconnected snapshots rather than a story, drifting through washes of noise and…
fractured attention desire as disorientation voyeurism and observation
A restless plea to be driven anywhere but home turns into a swooning fantasy about dying alongside the person behind the wheel.…
homelessness and unbelonging romantic devotion as self-annihilation loneliness disguised as humor
Mississippi John Hurt
A rollicking Piedmont blues built entirely on a single, transparent sexual double entendre. Mississippi John Hurt uses the…
sexual innuendo folk humor itinerant male desirability
Snoop Dogg
A lighthearted stoner anthem built on a single extended pun: rolling so much weed becomes a kind of workout, a "kush up." Snoop…
marijuana culture excess and abundance leisure as status
XTC
A wounded husband quits the role of comic fool in his own marriage, reframing infidelity as a circus act he refuses to keep…
betrayal and infidelity public humiliation loss of dignity
Angel Olsen
A driving, garage-pop declaration of romantic persistence, in which the narrator refuses to let a faltering relationship end…
romantic persistence refusal to quit desire versus communication
Buzzcocks
A jittery first-person monologue about mental and physical disintegration, delivered with the manic energy of a nervous…
mental collapse alienation sensory overload
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse builds a shaky optimism out of wreckage imagery, insisting that even a broken-down vehicle still gets you…
near-disaster and survival willed optimism emotional evasiveness
A shaggy-dog folk tune that shrugs at life's absurdity and cruelty in the same breath, moving from a domestic-violence vignette…
cyclical dysfunction absurdism resignation and acceptance
A defiant novelty-tinged honky-tonk anthem in which an aging performer refuses the trappings of old age, insisting his body may…
aging and mortality defiance of retirement identity tied to performance
Warren Zevon
A junkie in a rundown corner of Los Angeles narrates his own decline in a strangely tender, almost comic voice, addressing an…
addiction and withdrawal romantic longing as survival strategy poverty and bureaucracy
Carole King
This is Carole King's musical setting of Maurice Sendak's alphabetized catalogue of alligator antics, originally written for the…
childhood chaos domestic mischief alphabet as form
New Order
Your Silent Face is built around long stretches of synthesizer instrumental with only a handful of terse, elliptical verses…
emotional numbness communication breakdown absence and negation
MF DOOM
MF DOOM turns a satirical eye on rap's tough-guy posturing, mocking MCs whose lyrics function as confessions that could be used…
hip-hop authenticity and posturing self-incrimination and surveillance street credibility vs. performance
Kanye West Tribute Band
A Ray Charles sample and a party-ready hook frame a much darker set of verses about money, sex, race, and resentment between men…
gender and money distrust and betrayal black masculinity and provider anxiety
Ice Cube
This is Ice Cube's contribution to the 'Friday' soundtrack lineage, a loosely structured verse-by-verse tour of a South Central…
neighborhood pride and territoriality hedonism as escape normalized violence