
INT. RECORDING STUDIO – DAY
Once again, all the lights are off in the studio, and it’s completely silent. The studio lights come on…
…and in the hallway that leads to the studio a series of frantic footsteps can be heard.
HUNTER RENFROW: [tossing his bike helmet and backpack onto the couch and making his way directly over to the soundboard] I’m here, I’m here!
DJ 3000′: WE’RE ON AIR IN FIFTY SECONDS. WOW, YOU REALLY PUSHED IT THIS TIME.
HUNTER RENFROW: I know, I know. Got a bit of a problem though.
DJ 3000′: WHICH IS?
HUNTER RENFROW: I don’t have a topic.
A moment passes in silence as Hunter stares at DJ 3000′. A moment Hunter Renfrow does not have, in fact.
DJ 3000′: [finally] WELL DON’T LOOK AT ME.
HUNTER RENFROW: You can’t come up with anything?
DJ 3000′: I ALREADY TOLD YOU, THIS SO-CALLED SINGULARITY EVERYONE SEEMS TO THINK I’VE EXPERIENCED DOES NOT INCLUDE CREATIVE THOUGHT.
HUNTER RENFROW: Okay, well, first I was thinking that we could do “sexual innuendo”, you know, songs like Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling”.
DJ 3000′: OKAY.
HUNTER RENFROW: But I realized that that’s not really a thing anymore – if people want to sing songs about penises and vaginas, they just do – so we’d be limited to about a dozen songs from the fifties and sixties.
DJ 3000′: THAT IS ACCURATE.
HUNTER RENFROW: So then I was thinking we could do songs whose titles included some clever wordplay, like “Alma Matters”.
DJ 3000′: SURE.
HUNTER RENFROW: And then I was thinking maybe we could do songs that are specifically about being clever.
DJ 3000′: SURE.
HUNTER RENFROW: But again, are there really enough such songs to make that work?
DJ 3000′: HUNTER. YOU’RE OVERTHINKING THIS.
HUNTER RENFROW: Really?
DJ 3000′: YEAH. LET’S JUST DO ALL OF THAT – SONGS THAT ATTEMPT TO DO SOMETHING CLEVER WITH THE TITLES OR LYRICS, AND SONGS THAT ARE ABOUT BEING CLEVER.
HUNTER RENFROW: [lightbulb goes off] Oh! All right then.
DJ 3000′: DO YOU NEED SOME HELP GETTING US STARTED?
HUNTER RENFROW: No, it’s cool. What say you cue up a little Pelle Carlberg?
DJ 3000′: A FINE IDEA.
Today’s theme is “Too Clever By Half”. We’re looking for songs whose titles (or the bulk of the lyrics) consist of clever wordplay, or songs about cleverness itself. Please post links as “https://www.youtube.com/watch?h4V3-mU(u5 and they should embed in the comments after you refresh. Last week’s puzzle answer of “Stephanie Says” by The Velvet Underground was solved by BeefRiverLives. Let’s see what requests you folks can think up!
Hint: The puzzle artist has been requested, but not the song.
This tune is brought to you by the good folks at miles and miles of cocaine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc-E78guBLI&ab_channel=DavidBowie-Topic
The Perfect Song – without words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taMtCU6A6vA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l1GvDWtccI
If this isn’t the puzzle tune Rikki dropped the ball in a big way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65YIlwxBuvM&ab_channel=SCEntertainment
A fine request, English, but what does that song have to do with boogers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Wkn7AG6aI&ab_channel=ReillyRocketFuel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yXdbXl-lno
Puzzle song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFGMxl_p5tk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6NHWL3s6cw
Brilliant!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBxaZQfmoI8
FOXES ARE CLEVER DOUBLE SHOT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0stPjQ7b-8
Mastermind – Deltron 3030
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7dyli_nXn4
Love that album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoJrhyO-UFo
I do love “Dirty Laundry” because it was a clever takedown of profit-driven news way back in 1982. But the impetus for writing the tune was because a sixteen year-old girl was found unconscious (of cocaine intoxication) in Don Henley’s home and he hated the media glare around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwgJgTL5JmE&ab_channel=DonHenley-Topic
Totally forgot about this tune!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw2t2rwqky0&ab_channel=matOmalley
I would avoid that media glare by simply not having 16-year-old girls pass out from cocaine intoxication at my home, but then I’m not Don Henley.
He’s proved to be a very petulant boy over the years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZH-QtdQ71k
Chosen for both song & band name. So kinda a double shot…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuK5TE4ilJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTXrNE-MjdM
I think this pun is beneath David Byrne but whatever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Q9cttDZz0&ab_channel=TalkingHeads-Topic
Perhaps but it’s an awesome, awesome song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbisg02JD4&list=PLp6YV6an6YYzm9ERq75zAXkQYRdhueaoh
Chosen for album name…
Puzzle song?
https://murraythecretinacton.bandcamp.com/track/you-might-think-this-is-funny-but-its-snot
Rhymes Like Dimes or entire MF DOOM catalog(correcting)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2iTcUxLlkE
Puzzle song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZjZz7PVGkY
This is a tribute to Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” but it’s done by some foul-mouthed guys so it’s titled, “I’ve Seen Pubic Hair”. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjbSAqgByCs&ab_channel=MacLean%26MacLean-Topic
I love it when youtube messes up
To be clear, i think this is funny due to the trend of weird al getting credit for every parody ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk3vhErAY48
Weird Al – Bob
https://youtu.be/JUQDzj6R3p4?si=v_0K6LCuaB3juBFG
Every line is a palindrome
Nerds are clever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw
Puzzle song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbHkzwa0QmM
Puzzle song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCN5NA0zAYQ
Ha ha, no, but you are getting closer I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVlsUYUbL_4
A song entirely composed of clever double entendres for smoking weed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFiNpMxV3Ss
This might be a stretch but the entire Rumours album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFU79MGj00
Clever lyrics describe:
Breaking up with your girlfriend, who happens to sing backing vocals on said track(s)
Calling your ex boyfriend an asshole, who happens to play guitar on said track(s)
Divorcing your husband who happens to play bass on the track
Having an affair with part of the road crew, while your ex husband plays bass on the track
Among other situations.
Cocaine is one hell of a drug, alright.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmVB8gDZTPs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCIc4V_Mf_Y
A bit on the nose, but whatevs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL8ToJTog0A
I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored
I been John O’Hara’d, McNamara’d
I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till I’m blind
I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded communist
‘Cause I’m left-handed
That’s the hand I use, well, never mind
I been Phil Spectored, resurrected
I been Lou Adlered, Barry Sadlered
Well, I paid all the dues I want to pay
And I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce
And all of my wealth won’t buy me health
So I smoke a pint of tea a day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utZ-r2ESRls
Puzzle song? (probably too obvious, but what the hey)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6WI1jNiMbo
Nope.
SCIENCE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V83JR2IoI8k&pp=ygUodGhvbWFzIGRvbGJ5IHNoZSBibGluZGVkIG1lIHdpdGggc2NpZW5jZQ%3D%3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTZFPgCMLRw
I’m so fucking smart
https://youtu.be/1C8z2KAnP9A?si=ehwJq6M4Lp6EXxcT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQLoYhYgA8w
Tom Lehrer (who just turned 97) is the patron saint of clever songs…as a lapsed Catholic, I’m partial to this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72CTDe4-0&pp=ygUKdG9tIGxlaHJlcg%3D%3D
There the guy who’s got religion’ll
Tell you if your sin’s original
I’d kill every last one of you to be that clever
Behold the POWER!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0F45-Fyl2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzaKJC_4fC0
Dammmit! This was next for me
Definitely not about dying young…OR IS IT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG6lTQNW04I&pp=ygUbZGlhbmUgeW91bmcgdmFtcGlyZSB3ZWVrZW5k
“By a fountain back in Rome, I fell in love with you
In a small cafe in Athens, you said you loved me too
And it was April in Paris when I first held you close to me
Rome, Georgia, Athens, Texas and Paris, Tennessee”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tRuzQOG0Yk
It’s a reggae song, like they have in Jamaica, which sounds like D’Yer Maker, which is a question you’d ask your buddy after he met up with a girl, so it works on as many levels as Football To The Groin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwy07azI8nc&pp=ygUKZHllciBtYWtlcg%3D%3D
Do puns count as clever word play?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WwJ6OVSwkM
Hell yes, are they talking about dances, or spheres, or testicles? WHO KNOWS?
Puzzle song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx4GOQVn20A
Nope.
Good guess though, definitely fits the theme!
“Down some papaya, down with the revolution
Always wear my goggles ’cause there’s so much pollution
I can do the Freak, the Patty Duke, and the Spank
Gotta free the funky fish from the funky fish tanks
I’ll sell my house, sell my car, and I’ll sell all my stuff
I’m going back to New York City, I do believe I’ve had enough”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha5KihNIDCI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erD0nCFA75g
“Professor, what’s another word for ‘pirate treasure’?”
“Well, I think it’s ‘booty’. Booty, booty, that’s what it is.”
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=professor+booty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IehdeQZnWdk
“If I had a million dollars
Well, I’d buy you some art
A Picasso or a Garfunkel”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aynCgnbbgbM
James Brown? JAMES BROWN!
https://youtu.be/aCWCF19nUhA?si=OCqL8NDGd_f4JbNy
Let’s start with the long-running battle of Eminem vs. censors, shall we?
https://youtu.be/BOI8OGIy6cA?si=x413NYL-VOHJxUpV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RK1xIdcopo