List of self referential songs

List of self referential songs

A self referential song is a song that refers directly to itself. A song must directly refer to itself, rather than just describe a song that could fit the current song. Songs in alphabetical order.

Self Referential Songs

"Anthem" by Rush

"Well I know they've always told you

Selfishness was wrong

Yet it was for me, not you

That I came to write this song"

"Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan

"This is the night of the expanding man

I take one last drag as I approach the stand

I cried when I wrote this song

Sue me if I play too long"

This brother is free

I'll be what I want to be

"Hook" by Blues Traveler

"There is something amiss, I am being insincere.

In fact I don't mean any of this, still my confession draws you near.

To confuse the issue I'll refer to familiar heroes of long ago;

No matter how much Peter loved her, what made the Pan refuse to grow..."

"New England" by Billy Bragg

I was 21 years when I wrote this song

I'm 22 now but I won't be for long

"Number Three" by They Might Be Giants is a song about how the song (which is the third track on the album was written in spite of there only being "two songs in me".

There's only two songs in me, and I just wrote the third

Don't know where I got the inspiration or how I wrote the words

Spent my whole life just diggin' up my music's shallow grave

For the two songs in me and third one I just made

"Samba de Uma Nota So" or "One-Note Samba" by Antonio Carlos Jobim covered by Stan Getz, Frank Sinatra and Stereolab

"Eis aqui este sambinha, Feito numa nota s�"

"This is just a little samba, Built upon a single note"

"Song for the Asking" by Paul Simon

"Here is my song for the asking

Ask me and I will play

So sweetly, I'll make you smile."

"Song for the Lonely" by Cher

"This is a song for the lonely, can you hear me tonight?

For the broken hearted, battle scarred

I'll be by your side

And this is a song for the lonely

When your dreams won't come true

Can you hear this prayer

Because someone's there for you"

"This is Just a Modern Rock Song" by Belle & Sebastian

"This is just a modern rock song,

This is just a tender affair,

I count "three, four" and then we start to slow,

Because a song has got to stop somewhere."

"This is Not a Love Song" by Public Image Ltd

This is not a love song

"This Song" by Badly Drawn Boy

"This song will need you when you're old,

This song will heat you when you're cold,

Believe you when I don't,

This song will heal you from you're soul."

"This Song's Just Six Words Long" by Weird Al Yankovic - Even though the title is a falsehood, the lyrics in the song refer to themselves constantly.

"This song's got nothin' to say

But I'm recording it anyway"

"Tribute" by Tenacious D

"This is not The Greatest Song in the World, no.

This is just a tribute.

Couldn't remember The Greatest Song in the World, no, no.

This is a tribute, oh, to The Greatest Song in the World"

"Yellow" by Coldplay

"I came along, I wrote a song for you, And all the things you do, And it was called 'Yellow.'"

"You're So Vain" by Carly Simon (sampled and quoted in "Son Of a Gun" by Janet Jackson)

"You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you"

"Your Song" by Elton John is about his inspiration for the song

"My gift is my song and this one's for you. You can tell everybody that this is your song."

Self Referential Songs

See Also