50 Fun Facts About Songs with Food in the Title

Paul McCartney used which breakfast dish as the working title of the Beatles ballad Yesterday?

Scrambled eggs was the placeholder title Paul McCartney used after the whole melody came to him in a dream, before he had written the real words.

Which singer-songwriter's 1971 epic American Pie mourns the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly?

Don McLean learned of the 1959 crash as a 13-year-old paperboy, from the bundle of newspapers he was about to deliver.

Food, Glorious Food is the opening number, sung by hungry workhouse boys, of which stage and film musical?

Oliver! opens with the boys dreaming of a feast before they are handed only gruel, and it was the first Dickens musical to become a stage hit.

The Beatles' Strawberry Fields Forever is named after a Salvation Army children's home in which city?

Liverpool's Strawberry Field stood close to John Lennon's childhood home, and he based the song on memories of playing in its garden.

Sugar, Sugar topped the US and UK charts in 1969 for which cartoon band from a comic book?

The Archies existed only in Archie Comics and on screen, so session singer Ron Dante supplied the lead vocal on the record.

Watermelon Sugar, inspired by a Richard Brautigan novel, won a Grammy in 2021 for which English singer?

Harry Styles opened the 2021 Grammy ceremony with a jazzy version of the song, which then won Best Pop Solo Performance.

Which entertainer's only US number one was The Candy Man, a song from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?

Sammy Davis Jr. topped the Hot 100 for three weeks in 1972 with his cover; in the film itself the song is sung by Aubrey Woods as the sweet-shop owner.

Milkshake, a 2003 hit written and produced by the Neptunes, comes from which singer's album Tasty?

Kelis has said the milkshake of the title is a metaphor for whatever makes a woman special.

Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 US number one was renamed after which Japanese beef dish its words never mention?

Sukiyaki was picked only because it was short, catchy and recognisably Japanese; the song's real title means I Look Up as I Walk.

C Is for Cookie, sung by a googly-eyed blue monster, is a signature song of which children's TV series?

Sesame Street's original version was made in 1971 and was one of the few sketches on the programme that Jim Henson directed himself.

Pour Some Sugar on Me was a last-minute addition to Hysteria, a 1987 album by which English rock band?

Def Leppard finished it in two weeks, after Joe Elliott and producer Mutt Lange improvised words into dictaphones from opposite ends of the control room.

Brown Sugar, recorded at Muscle Shoals in Alabama, opens the 1971 album Sticky Fingers by which band?

The Rolling Stones recorded it over three days in December 1969, but it did not come out until 1971, when it reached number one in the US.

Peaches, a 2021 US number one featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon, is a single by which Canadian singer?

Justin Bieber entered the Hot 100 at number one with it, handing both of his featured singers their first chart-topper.

Selena Gomez teamed up with which K-pop girl group for the 2020 single Ice Cream?

Blackpink reached number 13 in the US with it, the first top-twenty Hot 100 single by a female Korean act, and Ariana Grande was among its writers.

Butter, an English-language disco-pop single, debuted at number one in the US in 2021 for which boy band?

BTS scored a fourth US number one in under nine months with it, and Billboard named it the Song of the Summer.

Joe Jonas fronts which band, whose debut single Cake by the Ocean grew out of a mangled cocktail name?

DNCE got the title from their Swedish producers, who kept mixing up the name of the cocktail Sex on the Beach.

Cherry Pie, written in about fifteen minutes on a pizza box, was a 1990 hit for which glam metal band?

Warrant's frontman Jani Lane dashed it off because the president of Columbia Records wanted a rock anthem, making it a very late addition to the album.

Sugar, We're Goin Down, whose video stars a boy with deer antlers, was the first top-ten hit for which band?

Fall Out Boy broke through with it in 2005, pairing music by singer Patrick Stump with words by bassist Pete Wentz.

Which singer wrote Cheeseburger in Paradise after a rough boat trip spent living on canned food?

Jimmy Buffett celebrated reaching the island of Tortola with a cheeseburger, and the song later lent its name to a chain of restaurants.

Candyman, a swing-style single from the album Back to Basics, pays tribute to the Andrews Sisters for which singer?

Christina Aguilera has said she and her co-writer meant it as a tribute to one song in particular, the trio's Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

Lollipop, an Auto-Tune-heavy lead single from Tha Carter III, won a Grammy for Best Rap Song for which rapper?

Lil Wayne shared the song with singer Static Major, who died about two weeks before it was released.

Blueberry Hill, a Glenn Miller hit in 1940, is best remembered in a rock and roll version by which pianist?

Fats Domino turned the 1940 ballad into a rock and roll standard; Sammy Kaye had made the very first recording, 13 days ahead of Glenn Miller.

Tutti Frutti, whose nonsense refrain imitates a drum pattern, was the first major hit for which rock pioneer?

Little Richard's original words were too risqué to record, so local songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie was brought in to clean them up.

Rock Lobster, the debut single that prompted John Lennon to record again, launched which American band?

The B-52's reminded Lennon of Yoko Ono's music, and hearing the song in 1980 ended his five-year break from the studio.

Raspberry Beret, held at number two in the US by a Duran Duran Bond theme, was a 1985 hit for which artist?

Prince released it with the Revolution on Around the World in a Day, adding strings and Middle Eastern finger cymbals to his sound.

The video for Sugar, inspired by the comedy Wedding Crashers, shows which band surprising couples at weddings?

Maroon 5 hired director David Dobkin for the video, the man who had made Wedding Crashers itself in 2005.

Chop Suey!, the lead single from the album Toxicity, earned a first Grammy nomination for which metal band?

System of a Down's bassist has said the song was first called Suicide, and that the new title is that word chopped in half.

Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), a Jamaican dock workers' folk song, became a 1956 signature hit for which singer?

Harry Belafonte made the song famous far beyond Jamaica, where dock workers sang it while loading banana boats at night to avoid the daytime heat.

I Can't Help Myself, subtitled Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, was a 1965 Motown number one for which vocal group?

Four Tops singer Levi Stubbs led the Holland–Dozier–Holland song, which Billboard named the biggest R&B single of 1965.

Which comedy act's food-themed parodies include My Bologna, Lasagna and I Love Rocky Road?

Weird Al Yankovic taped the first version of My Bologna in a college bathroom, chosen because its tiled walls gave him ideal acoustics.

Which group first took Lady Marmalade to number one, decades before the Moulin Rouge soundtrack remake?

Labelle were handed the song by New Orleans producer Allen Toussaint, and in 2021 the Library of Congress added their record to the National Recording Registry.

Green Onions, a 1962 organ instrumental improvised by a 17-year-old, was recorded by which Stax house band?

Booker T. & the M.G.'s first saw it issued as a B-side, before the label quickly flipped the single and made it the A-side.

Jambalaya (On the Bayou), named after a Creole and Cajun dish, was written by which country singer?

Hank Williams began writing it while listening to Cajuns talk about food on a tour bus, and it became his most recorded song.

In the English nursery rhyme The Muffin Man, the muffin seller lives on which London street?

Drury Lane is the usual address, though versions differ: another English one says Dorset Lane, and a Dutch one swaps the muffins for mussels.

Which children's group sings Fruit Salad and reworked the rock song Hot Tamale into Hot Potato?

The Wiggles reworked several tunes by the Cockroaches, an earlier pop band, to suit preschoolers, and Hot Tamale was one of them.

Animal Crackers in My Soup was introduced in the 1935 film Curly Top by which child star?

Shirley Temple introduced it on screen, with words by Irving Caesar and Ted Koehler set to a tune by Ray Henderson.

Chicken Fried, re-recorded in 2008 as the first single from The Foundation, is a song by which country group?

Zac Brown Band had to wait their turn: another group, the Lost Trailers, put the song out as a single in 2006 before it was withdrawn from radio.

Las Ketchup, whose Ketchup Song became a worldwide dance hit in 2002, are a pop group from which country?

Las Ketchup formed in Spain, and their nonsense chorus is a joke: a club-goer's garbled attempt to sing along to Rapper's Delight.

Chocolate Salty Balls, sung by Isaac Hayes as a school chef, became a UK number one from which animated series?

South Park gave Isaac Hayes his only UK number one: the single missed the top by 8,000 copies behind the Spice Girls, then dethroned them a week later.

Coconut, the novelty hit over the end credits of Reservoir Dogs, was written by which singer?

Harry Nilsson built the whole song on a single arpeggiated C7 chord, and it still climbed to number eight in the US.

George Harrison wrote the Beatles track Savoy Truffle about which guitarist friend's love of chocolates?

Eric Clapton's sweet tooth inspired the words, which list flavours from a box of Mackintosh's Good News and warn him what they would do to his teeth.

Popcorn, the Gershon Kingsley tune that Hot Butter made a worldwide hit, was first played on which instrument?

The Moog synthesizer even named the 1969 album the tune came from, Music to Moog By, while its title joins pop music with corn, for kitsch.

Pork and Beans, whose video gathered YouTube celebrities and memes, won a Grammy for which band?

Weezer took home the Grammy for the clip, and the song itself spent eleven weeks on top of Billboard's Modern Rock chart.

Cornflake Girl, a piano-led 1994 single from the album Under the Pink, is by which American singer-songwriter?

Tori Amos took her inspiration from Alice Walker's novel Possessing the Secret of Joy and its theme of betrayal between women.

Cinnamon Girl, written during a bout of flu, debuted on a 1969 album with Crazy Horse by which singer?

Neil Young wrote it at home in Topanga, California, in the same feverish spell that produced Cowgirl in the Sand and Down by the River.

Tangerine, a ballad Jimmy Page first tried with the Yardbirds, appears on the third album by which band?

Led Zeppelin's ballad began as a 1968 Yardbirds recording under another title, which stayed unreleased until 2017.

Strawberry Wine, a 1996 country number one, was the debut single of which singer?

Deana Carter launched her career with the Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison song, which topped the country charts in both the US and Canada.

A Taste of Honey was a hit single from Whipped Cream & Other Delights, an album by which Tijuana Brass leader?

Herb Alpert's 1965 instrumental recording won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and spent five weeks on top of the easy listening chart.

Salt Peanuts, a 1941 bebop tune co-written with drummer Kenny Clarke, was composed by which jazz musician?

Dizzy Gillespie wrote it, though it has been wrongly credited to Charlie Parker, who set the record straight on stage at Massey Hall in 1953.

The Strangeloves, the trio who first recorded I Want Candy, posed as sheep-farming brothers from which country?

Australia was the invented homeland of Giles, Miles and Niles Strange, the shaggy-wigged alter egos the three writers adopted for publicity photos.