GranolaBox

As long as there have been songs with lyrics, musicians have probably been expressing their hatred for certain people in their music. Here are my ten favorite “Hatin” on people songs, with an opera thrown in for good measure.

1. You’re so Vain - Carly Simon
This song has probably inspired the most speculation as to who it’s about. Based on Simon’s past relationships there are a number of possible candidates. In an interview in the 80’s, she hinted the subject’s name contained the letter E, leaving Mick Jagger, Cat Stevens, Warren Beatty or James Taylor as the most likely candidates.

Favorite line:
Well, you’re where you should be all the time
And when you’re not, you’re with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend

2. Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan [tag]
I’d hate to be lambasted by someone as prophetic as Bob Dylan. Most music historians think the song is generally about all the “phonies” Dylan met during his time in Greenwich Village. There’s also speculation that the song is about poet and folk singer Richard Farina, who Dylan regarded as a backstabber.

Favorite lines:
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you

3. Addicted - Amy Winehouse
Click below for instructions on how to get on Ms. Amy’s s**tlist.

Favorite line:
Tell your boyfriend next time he around
To buy his own weed and don’t wear my shit down

4. Gypsy Woman - Hilary Duff
Yes, cute little Hilary Duff knows how to pack a lyrical punch. No, I don’t ordinarily listen to Hilary Duff, but I overheard this song when my daughter Large was playing it in the car. According to Large, the Duffster wrote this song about the woman her father left her mother for. Hilary also wrote a song called “Haters” which Large and other Hilary fans contend is about Lindsay Lohan. This song has better digs though.

Favorite lines:
Talks with a grin cause she’s got no shame
Enjoyed the fame, bringing down the family name

5. Better Man - Pearl Jam
As long as we’re talking about people that parents end up with, Eddie Vedder made it perfectly clear who this song is about. When I saw Pearl Jam a LONG time ago, he introduced this song saying “This is for the bastard who married my Momma.” Got some issues there Ed?

Favorite lines:
She lies and says shes in love with him, cant find a better man…
She dreams in color, she dreams in red, cant find a better man…

6. How Do You Sleep - John Lennon
John Lennon later apologized for this song about Paul McCartney. All the tension of the last few years of the Beatles came boiling to an ugly head in this song from Lennon’s Imagine album.

Favorite lines:
The only thing you done was yesterday
And since you’re gone you’re just another day…
The sound you make is muzak to my ears
You must have learned something in all those years

7. Jools and Jim - Pete Townshend.
As punk rockers became the darlings and the focus of the British music press they became more and more critical of the old gaurd bands like The Who. Two of them, Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons really pissed him off with derogatory remarks about Keith Moon after he died.

Favorite lines:
They don’t give a shit Keith Moon is dead
Is that exactly what I thought I read?
Typewriter tappers
You’re all just crappers
You listen to love with your intellect
A4 pushers you’re all just cushions
Morality ain’t measured in a room he wrecked.

8. Dear Mr. President - Pink
I thought Pink was all pop and no substance. All that changed when I heard this song. Check out Pink’s expression at the end of the song. If looks could kill we wouldn’t need to bother impeaching the bastard.

Favorite lines:
What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

9. You Ought to Know - Alanis Morisette
“Anger.” That’s what my friend Chuck said as he held up the Christmas letter my ex-wife wrote to everyone in my address book two months after we split up. I’m sure that’s what Chuck would say about this song that Alanis Morisette wrote to vent all her feelings about a nasty breakup.

Favorite lines:
It was a slap in the face
How quickly I was replaced
And are you thinking of me when you f… her?

10. Somebody More Like You - Nickel Creek
Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek seems like such a sweet guy. He’s all quiet and unassuming on stage while playing his amazing brand of virtuoso guitar. That’s why this song, his only writing contribution to Nickel Creek’s last album was kind of surprising.

Favorite lines:
I hope you meet someone your height
So you can see eye-to-eye
With someone as small as you

And the opera….
Tristan und Isolde - by Richard Wagner
Read anything about Wagner and you’ll find that he was one twisted puppy. He wrote Tristan und Isolde partially about his lover Mathilde Wesendonk, who was the wife of one of his wealthy patrons. Writers have also suggested that he drew inspiration from Lola Montez, a notorious dancer who created scandal everywhere she went. Wagner hated her so much because she gained fame and notoriety from doing the things that he usually got in a lot of trouble for. In the opera, Isolde embodied everything that Montez WASN’T.

Comment!
More good “hater” songs?

Technorati Tags: Bob Dylan, Amy Winehouse, Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Eddie Vedder, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Keith Moon, Dear Mr. President, Nickel Creek, Tristan und Isolde

Filed under: Music on September 2nd, 2007