What is it about songs with food in the title that makes people want to scream? Is it some secret emotion? Why do people get so worked up over a mediocre song like, “I’m a Happy Married Lady” by The Cure? Why don’t they listen to the entire song? If this were an actual song, The Cure would be making bread from their keyword, “married lady.” And if you could just find one Cure song on YouTube, it would be the ultimate guilty pleasure.
I was listening to a podcast recently about music and emotion – and the podcast was about an album called Songs With Food in the Title. The album was released in 2021. In the podcast, the host was talking about how the band had created such powerful songs with food in the title. The band’s first album was called One Sweet Day.
The host was looking through his song list one day and saw – that the band’s songs with food in the title ranked at or near the top. He asked the band’s guitarist, Benmontet Jackson, who was working on the album, why that was. Mr. Jackson said that he likes the songs on the playlist, but the main theme was “food.” So he decided to name one of the songs after a dish he loves to eat: cherry pie.
One of the most popular songs on the Songs – With Food in the Name playlist is “The Rainbow Connection,” a tribute to outgoing couples around the country. On this song, which is from the second album, Everyone is Beautiful, the narrator talks about how he and his wife enjoy the life they lead together. He talks about the joy of opening up the kitchen and finding recipes for everything from pizza to rainbow-colored candy corn. Then he gets into the story of how he and his wife fell in love and married.
Many artists have made music for the March for Our Health theme – which has been around for many years. The most recent songs to feature foods from the menu are songs from the movie, March of the Volunteers. In this movie, which was released in late February, volunteers dressed in doctor’s scrubs gather around a fire in the background while a chorus of children sing songs from the movie. This has become one of the bestselling videos of all time.
Many songwriters continue to contribute to the theme – making their own unique versions of the original songs. Recently, there was a cookbook released that features hundreds of different recipes for everything from bacon and cheese to salmon to popcorn. If you search on the Internet, you can find more than two-hundred different songs by various songwriters who incorporate the words “healthy” and “fruits and vegetables” into their lyrics.
If you love vegetables, it will make cooking for your loved one’s fun. If you love bacon, you might even make them a specialty item for dinner.
