It was quite an honour to be chosen as the cultural connoisseur worthy of compiling a top-five list of songs concerning food or, as I so often like to call it, “la musique nourriture.” The decision was tough, as there were many good contenders. Many songs, while deserving honourable mentions, fell short, most of the time due to a lack of focus. But who can forget lines like, “Well, does he like butter tarts?” from the great Len hit single “Steal my Sunshine” or the lewd puns of Ludacris’ “Area Codes”: “Read your [w]hore-oscope and eat some [w]hore-derves.” A worthy study of food-themed music would be hollow without a mention of Nelly’s “Batter Up” — conventionally perceived about baseball — but really a repressed rap song about whisking eggs in a bowl, most likely for any number of tasty treats. I believe that these five songs I have chosen — through the most rigorous of research — will be a delight to your listening appetites.
5. Piggies
by The Beatles
Many Beatles scholars will tell you this is a song about societal greed, obesity, and excess. The song is really less of a societal critique as some conclude it to be, and more a charming ode to being a carnivore. The listener follows the “little piggies” as they become “bigger piggies” and then, in great Orwellian fashion, begin to sit and eat bacon with their “piggy wives.” Now, maybe these piggies aren’t actually pigs and are human, or if they are pigs, they are cannibal piggies. Regardless, as the final words of the song — “Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon” — echo in the ears and mind, listeners can’t help but crave some salty piggies themselves.
4. I’m Lovin’ It
by Justin Timberlake
This song is technically not about food. The music video follows good ol’ JT chasing a girl. But remember folks, like JT tells us, “You know this ain’t a pick up line.” It’s true. The song is a representation of the brainwashing power that subliminal messaging has over our cultural ethos. Who can listen to those lines about “love,” having your own pace, and having to just “let it go” without conjuring an image of those great golden arches? “I’m Lovin’ It” is a salute to eating, to the best of restaurants: McDonalds. As JT, that loveable crooner, melodiously concludes the song and asks, “Don’t you love it too?,” we all know the answer: yes, we do.
3. The Muffin Man
by Frank Zappa
I think we can all agree that the cupcake, in its essence, is a glorified, over-dressed, snooty-booty poodle of a mere muffin. Zappa addresses this problem from the likeable perspective of nursery rhyme hero the Muffin Man (You know him right? The one who lives on Drury Lane.) Voicing the Muffin Man, Zappa sings, “Some people like cupcakes better. I for one care less for them!” The song is enlightening and brings awareness to the prejudice and inequalities within the food world.
2. Banana Pancakes
by Jack Johnson
It’s just like, a really good song, okay?
1. Eat It
by Weird Al Yankovic
I know it would’ve been a next level top-ten-list maneuver to conclude with Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 classic, “Alice’s Restaurant,” but that seemed too obvious for my taste. Instead, here is a lesser-known tune that I’m sure is a surprise to you all: Weird Al’s “Eat It.” Yankovic facetiously spells it out: people are starving around the world, yet as members of the Western world, we continue to send our food back. To eat, or as the French say, manger, is at the core of food’s existence. “Eat it / open up your mouth and just feed it” sings Al. He is rejoicing in the very reason we, as in all of humankind (except for maybe vegans), love food: to eat it.
