need upbeat egocentric song

Subject: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Dave Finley
Date: 30 May 98 - 03:48 PM

I'm a television writer looking for a public domain song to use in an children's cartoon - the show is about a girl who is persistently grabbing center stage, so it would be nice if the lyrics concerned a celebration of self. I was thinking of loud broadway tunes, but there might be a folk tune that would suffice. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Subject: Lyr Add: BLOODY ROTTEN AUDIENCE (Tony Miles)
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 30 May 98 - 06:59 PM

try this Tony Miles song from the database

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLOODY ROTTEN AUDIENCE
(Tony Miles)

Well, here's a song I've written specifically for you
Who sits in the audience and talk through all I do
I cannot understand it cause I'm pretty good, you see
So there must be something wrong with you, there's nothing wrong with me

Ch.: You're a bloody rotten audience whilst I am very good
If brains were made of oak and ash then you'd have balsa wood
I'm ethnic and authentic and I'm really full of class
While you're ignorant, you're cultureless, you're philistines en masse.

I'm an artist and authority on music and what's more
Incredibly informative on folksong and folklore
I'm a wonderful performer and so you all must be
So bloody thick and stupid not to like the like of me

I'm a folkie and that's obvious, you can tell it by me clothes
And when I sing traditional, I sing it through me nose
And if you insist on talking everytime I sing a song
I'll fix you with 'Bold Robin Hood', that's eighty verses long.

And when I sing contemporary, my heart and soul is pure
I must be bloody brilliant, cause my writing's so obscure
My hero's Leonard Cohen, I dig him perfectly
But I must be so much better because no one here digs me.

But now I'm going to leave you, cause I feel I'm wasting time
Couldn't possibly be wasting yours, so you must be wasting mine
And let me tell you now that I'm not out here for me health
So if you don't come and pull with me, I'll go and pull meself

Ch.: You're a bloody rotten audience whilst I am very good
If brains were made of oak and ash then you'd have balsa wood
I'm ethnic and authentic and I'm really full of class
But underneath it all I'm just a pain in the flipping ass.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
recorded by Eric Bogle & John Munro on "Plain And Simple"

A brilliant satire on the attitude of so many charlatan folksingers who spoil the folk club scene with their amateurish and elitist attitude, especially true for British folk clubs.

@humor @music @folk @bitching
filename[ ROTNAUD
MJ

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: rich r
Date: 30 May 98 - 08:55 PM

Somebody, possibly Christine Lavin, has a song that goes something like:

I, I, I, I, I, me, me, me, me, ...... etc.

There may be a couple other words also. It is egocentric and certainly upbeat

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY
From: Art Thieme
Date: 30 May 98 - 09:37 PM

An old 78 had this on it--a long time ago--don't recall who it was--- Mike Bloomfield is where I first heard it--then he played his source 78 for me---early 60s when we were both at Roosevelt University in Chicago---never went to classes---just sat in the student lounge & swapped songs & learned to pick. We both quit school & he went on to fame and then overdosed. I just went on---"and that has made all the difference."

--Art Thieme

"GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY"

God don't like ugly, Baby; your home is in hell,
God don't like ugly, baby; your home is in hell,
You sit around the house with your mouth in a pout,
All you need to be a beast is a tail and a snout,
God don't like ugly, Baby; your home is in hell.

Keep on truckin', mama, truck all your blues away,
Keep on truckin', mama, truck all your blues away,
A nickel is a nickel and a dime is a dime,
I can get it from you, babe, any old time,
Keep on truckin', mama, truck all your blues away.

What's that smells like fish, babe, I'll do it any time ya wanna do,
What's that smells like fish, babe, I'll do it any time ya wanna do,
Don't come in a bottle, don't come in a can,
It's what every good woman wants from every good man,
What's that smells like fish, babe, I'll do it any time you wanna do!

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Art Thieme
Date: 30 May 98 - 09:40 PM

SORRY, I just realized you wanted a children's song!...

Art

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Art Thieme
Date: 30 May 98 - 09:44 PM

BEATLES "I, Me, Mine".

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Barbara
Date: 30 May 98 - 09:53 PM

At camp we used to tease the staffers with attitude by dropping their name into this rhyme, to the tune of Frere Jaques:
I am cool, I am cool, my name's ____, my name's ____. See how cool I am, see how cool I am, my name's _____. that the sort of thing you want?
Shel Silverstein has some nice poems to that end, might be one with music... BArbara

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From:
Date: 30 May 98 - 11:18 PM

Not public domain, but Todd Rundgren's "I'm in the Clique" is certainly an "upbeat egocentric" song (I believe it is from his album "Runt" ca. 1970)

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: alison
Date: 31 May 98 - 07:25 AM

hi,

What about Joan Armatrading's "Me, myself, I."

Slainte

alison

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From:
Date: 31 May 98 - 03:52 PM

Isn't "Me Myself and I" by John Prine? May not be the same song though as it is not particularly egocentric.

What about that song that was a hit back in the 1970's, "(Oh Lord) It's Hard To Be Humble (When You're Perfect In Every Way)"

I always thought that "Having My Baby" by Paul Anka was one of the most egocentric songs I've ever heard, albeit unintentionally so.

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Will
Date: 31 May 98 - 05:09 PM

I'm almost certain the Armatrading did a version of "Me, Myself, I". I can hear her voice singing it, and I don't think it is chemically-induced. I'll look through albums later.

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Jun 98 - 03:48 AM

Joan Armatrading recorded "Me Myself I" in 1980, and BMI says she wrote it. The original poster wanted a public domain song, but we're not coming up with one. Maybe "traditional" music isn't egocentric. I was thinking of "I Gotta Be Me" - wasn't that a hit for Sammy Davis, Jr.?

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From:
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 06:49 PM

Must be a different song. Prine's song is older than 1980. It's about getting drunk so it is hardly egotistical.

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From:
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 06:52 PM

Well, there are those braggart folk songs, like When I Was A Little Lad, or I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago.

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 07:10 PM

Another classic of braggadoccio and swagger (though neither traditional nor PD) is Shel Silverstein's "I'm So Good, I Don't Have to Brag". I remember it from his "Crouchin On the Outside" 2-record LP on Fantasy.

I know this brings us no closer to a usable song, but it's fun to dredge up the songs of bombast and hubris now and again.

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 08:11 PM

How about Lavender Blue?

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 11:29 PM

Art- Do you remember an old chestnut which went "Ain't it fierce to be so beautiful?" or words to that effect. Might be what's being sought. dick

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Cuilionn
Date: 03 Jun 98 - 02:47 AM

Regarding public domain songs, this song was my anthem as a four-or-five year old...I always imagined myself to be the, er..."special" duck.

Six little ducks that I once knew/ Fat ones, skinny ones, tall ones too/ But the one little duck with the feather in its back/ She led the others with a "quack, quack, quack"

Down to the river they would go/ Widdle, waddle, widdle, waddle, to and fro/ But the one little duck with the feather in its back/ She led the others with a "quack, quack, quack."

Alright, I realize that was quite tangential, but when I was a little child, I sang those particular words with overwhelming egotism! Closer to the theme, but STILL not public domain, is a wonderful song written and performed by the group "Women, Women, & Song" of Vashon Island, WA. The song is called "I'm loveable", and includes the following chorus, delivered with unabashed delight and a sense of personal grandeur:

"I'm loveable.../ I'm genuinely rapturously beautifully elegantly LOVEABLE/ From ear to ear and head to toe/ From fingertips to the tip of my nose/ I'm loveable.../ I'm genuinely rapturously beautifully elegantly loveable!"

Add in the expansive gestures and hand-motions and it's quite a performance piece...kind of a grown-up version of "Really Rosie." (and if you don't know that reference, no is a good time to stop and look it up.) ;-)

Gabh spòrs,

--Cuilionn

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: judy
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 12:00 PM

My mother taught me this little ditty

I like myself, I think I'm grand
When I go to the movies I hold my hand
Put my arm around myself
(and darn if I can remember the last line)

And from the marvelous book "The New Song Fest" to the tune of Old Lang Syne:

The fish, it never cackles 'bout its million eggs or so
The hen is quite a different bird, one egg- and hear her crow
The fish we spurn, but crown the hen, which leads me to surmise
Don't hide your light, but blow your horn, it pays to advertise!

enjoy!
judy

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: Susan of DT
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 08:06 PM

Judy - are the last two lines:

I put my arm around my waist
When I get fresh, I slap my face

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: RS
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 10:12 PM

How about Peter Pan's "I Gotta Crow":

(This is from memory, definitely incomplete & not entirely accurate, don't quote me on the details ... )

I gotta crow - er er er oo!
I'm just the cleverest boy it was ever my fortune to know!
I gotta crow - er er er ee!
When I discover the cleverness of a remarkable me!

(and it goes on in this vein for quite a number of verses)

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: judy
Date: 05 Jun 98 - 12:19 AM

Thanks, Susan,

After I sent the message I remembered the "I slap my face" but couldn't remember the rest

enjoy!
judy

Subject: RE: need upbeat egocentric song
From: wolfz
Date: 06 Jun 98 - 10:58 AM

eagles- get over it (hell freezes over album)

has the lines:

i want to find your inner child and kick it's little ass!