Category: Songs About…
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32 Songs About Family
When I consider songs about family, I’m drawn to oddball perspectives and appalled by the populist feelgood drivel of “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge and “Daughters” by John Mayer. However, having a 14-year-old son is a daily reminder that some people didn’t grow up watching All in the Family and Different Strokes, so these…
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25 Songs About Sex
Seventy percent of rock music is fundamentally and/or tangentially about sex. The other 30 percent of rock music is about guys who can’t seem to get any sex. The phrase “rocking and rolling” originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean as a sexual analogy. Likewise, the subtext of “boy meets girl” is…
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25 Songs About Chicago
Chicago is my hometown. Born on the West Side and raised in the suburbs of DuPage County, I spent the first 30 years of my life in the Windy City, including a five-year stretch on the North Side (Bucktown). I miss my city every day. To be honest, I mostly miss the food and the…
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25 Songs About the Moon
The moon is one of the more popular themes in popular music. Songs about the moon (or moon-adjacent) are not quite in the “love” category of blanket coverage, but significantly more popular than, say, songs about Chicago or Japan, or even cats and dogs. The moon is a popular subject because it sounds good to…
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25 Songs About Japan
From Buck Owens to The Flaming Lips, artists have been singing about Japan for decades—sometimes as wide-eyed tourists, sometimes as dreamers, and too many times as creepy reports of the Asian fetish. This list vaguely explores how musicians across genres have (mis)interpreted the country as both place and idea: a symbol of distance, fantasy, and modern…
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25 Songs About Friends
Sometimes when I’m creating these lists, there’s a shocker at the beginning. For example, in 25 Songs About California, I open with a spiel about not including “Hotel California”, an obvious choice that appears on every other list. Likewise, in 25 Songs About New York, I start by telling the reader that you’re not gonna…
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25 Songs About New York
I enjoy the freedom of telling you what to expect at the beginning of a post because it either gets you onboard with the program or sends you on your way. Both are positive outcomes. If you’re looking for songs about New York and expect to find Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” anywhere on…
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25 Songs About California
You’ll be disappointed if you clicked on this post expecting to see “Hotel California” by the Eagles anywhere on the list. The best-selling rock hit of 1977–78 isn’t even among my top 50 songs about the Golden State. Why? Of the 50 United States, only two, maybe three states come close to California in terms…
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25 Songs About Going Down to Mexico
Because geography, there are few things more quintessentially American than the concept of “going down to Mexico.” Nobody ever says they’re going up to Mexico—that would be silly. Whether you’re an outlaw in search of refuge or a college kid on Spring Break, it seems like almost everybody, at some point in our lives, will…