Song Lyric Sunday: Cake, Anyone?

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After giving us food bands last week, for this week’s SLS Jim is inviting us to play songs about food, in his post Buffet Of Options. I anticipate an outbreak of gluttony! I thought about this for a nanosecond or two and decided that there was only one song I could play for this. Everyone likes chocolate cake, right? Here goes, then:

And at the risk of making you salivate at the thought of all that gooey niceness, here are the lyrics:

Not everyone in New York would pay to see Andrew Lloyd Webber
May his trousers fall down as he bows to the queen and the crown
I don’t know what tune that the orchestra played
But it went by me sickly and sentimental

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake
Tammy Baker’s got a lot on her plate
Can I buy another cheap Picasso fake
Andy Warhol must be laughing in his grave

The band of the night take you to ethereal heights over dinner
And you wander the streets never reaching the heights that you seek
And the sugar that dripped from the violins bow
Made the children go crazy, put a hole in the tooth of a hag

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake
Tammy Baker must be losing her faith
Can I buy another cheap Picasso fake
Andy Warhol must be laughing in his grave

And the dogs are on the road
They’re all tempting fate
Cars are shooting by
With no number plates
And here comes Mrs. Hairy Legs

I saw Elvis Presley walk out of a Seven Eleven
And a woman gave birth to a baby and then bowled .257
The excess of fat on your American bones
Will cushion the impact as you sink like a stone

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake
Tammy Baker, Tammy Baker
Can I buy another cheap Picasso fake
Cheap Picasso, cheap Picasso fake

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake
Kathy Straker, boy could she lose some weight
Can I buy another slice of real estate
Liberace must be laughing in his grave

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake 
Can I have another piece of chocolate cake 
Can I have another piece of chocolate cake 
(Piece of that thing on the plate)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Brian Timothy Finn / Neil Mullane Finn

Chocolate Cake lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Mushroom Music Pty Ltd, Words & Music A Div Of Big Deal Music LLC

Actually, now that I think about it, there isn’t much sweetness there at all, is there! Chocolate Cake was released in May 1991 as the lead single from Crowded House’s third album, Woodface, which followed it that July. It was thought to have offended quite a few due to its lyrics and as a result only fared moderately in the US, as it referred to Americans having an “excess of fat on your American bones,” and there are several fairly pointed personal jibes, too (though ‘Kathy Straker’ may have been a made up name). The single didn’t make the main US chart but did reach #2 in their Alternative Airplay listings, while also peaking at #20 in Australia and at #69 in the UK. Woodface spawned several hit singles in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the UK, but fewer in the US: I guess there were still some hurt feelings over there! It peaked at #2 in Australia, #1 in New Zealand, and #6 in the UK, but only got to #82 in the US. See what I mean? And just to make my point even more strongly for me, I tried to see what the Songfacts site said about this track, and what do you know? Despite having entries for a number of the band’s other songs they don’t even mention this one! And that is an American site: I rest my case – touchy, or what! It’s not as though Americans have ever been led by someone with a fragile response to criticism, is it? Oh, wait…

How can I make up for this with my American friends? I know – how about playing you another song, this time about one of the ingredients of a chocolate cake? Have this one on me, guys:

I know I’m on much safer ground with this one, as it was a track on the hugely successful album Hysteria. This was Def Leppard’s fourth offering, released in August 1987, and it got to #1 in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, as well as in Norway and Finland, selling more than 20m copies worldwide, 12m of those in the US. Over an eighteen month period (July ’87 to Jan ’89) seven of the album’s twelve tracks were released as singles. This was the third, in September 1987, reaching #2 in the US and #18 in the UK. It is still one of my favourite albums, and is to my mind as good as its sales figures would suggest. Not bad for a record that was three years in the making and saw the band’s drummer lose an arm in a car crash part way through!

That’s it from me for today. I’m now off to gorge on the other culinary delights that people are sharing for this theme. Enjoy your day, and I’ll see you again for Tuesday Tunes 😊

34 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Cake, Anyone?”

  1. Pingback: October Passed Me By | Take It Easy

  2. Never heard that first one. Wasn’t impressed by it. Now Def Leppard I like all their songs. My daughter had all their music and we played them in the house, in the car, in the walkman … well you get the picture. haha 🙂

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  5. I know that Def Leppard usually gets trashed by music critics (not sure why their opinion is any more valid than anyone else’s), but I’ve always been a fan. As you might have imagined, I had never heard the Crowded House song. I think they’re known as two-hit wonders here.

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    • Music critics are snobs – it’s on the person spec for the job. Crowded House did well just about everywhere other than N America. I never understood why – maybe it was the insults? 🤣

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  6. You won’t be surprised to find that I’ve never heard either of these before. The first one wasn’t bad, in fact I rather liked it … better than I like cake, in fact! But the second one … aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh …. I went running away after 52 seconds! And I bet that none of this surprises you, does it? 😉

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  10. I agree, I think a few of the (sorry) heavier lines of ‘Chocolate Cake left a yes, sorry again) bitter taste over in the land of the Super-duper X-tra large serves.
    Deaf L is fine, a good power rocker, and as for the cake left out in the rain? It kinda wears out its welcome by the fifth minute or so. But all to their own.

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  11. Crowded House were/are such clever, sharp lyricists, and their rhymes are never predictable. And the wrap them all round in such gorgeous, tasty melodies that don’t damage your teeth!

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