Those Lyrics Sound Delicious! 8 Songs About Food

Music is like a buffet: you have so many flavors to choose from – pop, rock, rap, dance, folk, classic and so on. There’s something for everyone’s taste.

It is difficult to track the time when the first song was written, but we know some things for sure: songs can be just about anything! Perhaps there were times when people sang mainly about love (or pain because of unrequited love), but in the last few decades, we could hear songs with rather controversial lyrics including violence, politics or rebellion, but also some with lighter and more cheerful lines – like food, for example. Yes, there are dozens of songs about food. Believe it or not, they are not lullabies or songs for children that are intended to teach kids the names of the vegetables or how to eat healthily – they are "grown-up" songs sung by famous or less-known singers and bands.

            As you probably know, certain food items are often used as a metaphor for words that would be considered filthy and obnoxious, but this list is about the most popular songs about food and food only. Please note that songs are given in alphabetical order, not by popularity.

1. A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich and You

The title clearly shows the romantic nature of this song dating back almost a century. Sung in 1925 by the iconic British singers of that period, Gertrude Lawrence and Jack Buchanan, the song was inspired by another food-related line, "A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread and Thou" from an old Persian poem. Most of you probably have never heard the original record of the song, but you certainly did hear some of its versions in any of the Warner Bros. cartoons during scenes depicting cooking, eating or hunger.

2. Apples and Oranges – Pink Floyd

Mentioning apples and oranges in the same sentence could be either a comparison for two incommensurable things or a smoothie recipe, but in the Pink Floyd’s simple and cheerful song from 1967, those two fruits are simply on the shopping list of a girl the guy met in a supermarket. The band even recorded a video in a fruit market in Belgium.

3. Banana Boat Song – Harry Belafonte

This is a traditional Jamaican song that was sung by dock workers who worked throughout the night loading bananas onto ships. The song has been performed by many singers, but it was popularized worldwide by Harry Belafonte. The Banana Boat Song, also known as Day-O, was used in many movies, the most popular of which was Beetlejuice from 1988 starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara among others, and the entire song was featured in a funny dancing scene with actors being “haunted” by ghosts.

4. Boiled Beef and Carrots – Harry Champion

Song with such a delicious title! Sang by the English variety singer and comedian Harry Champion in 1909, this song praises one of the favorite working-class dishes and mocks vegetarians for eating “food for parrots”. It was part of Champion’s repertoire, but not the only one that centers on food – he also had the “Hot Meat Pies, Saveloys and Trotters” in 1913, “A Little Bit of Cucumber” in 1915, and a few other fast-tempo songs which mentions many food items like cucumbers, sour cabbage, meat, tomatoes and so on, as it speaks about the joys of certain types of food popular at the time with the working-class community in London. This guy obviously loved singing about food!

5. Food, Glorious Food

This is the one of the most noticeable songs from the award-winning musical “Oliver!”, which is an adaptation of the famous Charles Dickens’ novel “Oliver Twist”. It is the opening song based on the famous scene in the book where a half-starved Oliver Twist has the temerity to ask for more gruel. It mentions many meals that were either a dream or a reality to those children.

6. Soul Cake – Sting

Sting recorded this song in 2009, but the song itself is much older – it is an English folk song that dates back in the 1890s. It is about the actual soul cakes – small round cakes traditionally made for Halloween and All Saints’ Day to feed the dead. Obviously, the dead do not eat them, so people give the cakes to the poor and hungry who are begging. “An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry” - another part where food is mentioned in this rather sad and truthful song.

7. Sugar – Maroon 5

We may hate sugar when we put on some weight, but let’s be real: we have all got a sweet tooth sometimes. Especially for Adam Levine. I’m sure many of us wished those guys showed up as a surprise at their wedding as well, as they did in the outstanding video for the song. So, the next time someone asks you if you want some sugar, just say: “Yes, please!”.

8. Sugar on the Side – Blondie Feat. Systema Solar

Speaking of sugar, we should also mention this Blondie song made by the reformed band in 2013. Singing about breaking up with her partner, Debbie says: “Don't need your sympathy, I know you're not over me, and with a little sugar on the side, I'll be fine…”. Sounds familiar? Of course, sugar is so comforting, isn’t it? There isn’t a single love problem that sugar couldn’t solve! So, the next time someone asks you if you want some sugar, just say: “Yes, please… And a little bit on the side as well!”.

Source: https://www.songfacts.com/