Wired report on an interesting survey about the most sung-about body part in music. Interesting in concept but prosaic in terms of results – eyes come out on top overall (couldn’t see that one coming, hoho), except for hip hop, which firmly favours the ass. Had internal body parts been in the mix, however, I have a strong feeling that heart would have come out on top. The interactive map feature is especially entertaining for hip hop.
A quick and highly scientific study of my own music collection reveals the following results including various organs, based on title only, rather than lyrics within the songs:
Heart – 71 songs
Highlights: ‘May Your Heart Be The Map’ by Epic45, ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry’ by Glasvegas, ‘Be Quiet, Mt. Heart Attack!’ by Liars.
Head – 65
Highlights: ‘Big Furry Head’ – Amon Tobin, ‘Your Pretty Little Head’ – The Paperchase, ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded’ – The Fall
Eye – 59
Highlights:’Sad Eyes’ – Bat For Lashes, ‘TV Eye’ – The Stooges, ‘Evil Eye’ – Pussy Galore.
Hand – 56
Highlights: ‘Heart in the Hand of the Matter’ (see also heart above) – …Trail of Dead, ‘Terminator X Speaks With His Hands’ – Public Enemy, ‘Jesus’ Hands’ – AMC
Neck – 10
Highlights: ‘Protect Ya Neck’ – Wu Tang Clan, ‘Never Enough Necks’ parts one and two – The Fucking Champs.
Leg – 8
Highlights: ‘Unfold the Leg’ – Lungfish, ‘Nun’s Leg’ – Shit and Shine, ‘Spread Yr Leggs, Release The Batss’ by Die Monitr Batss.
Stomach – just the two
Highlights: ‘Stomach Worm’ by Stereolab, by default.
And I almost got to the end without saying ‘conclusive proof that the heart rules over the head’. DAMN.
4 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
I wonder what the least mentioned body part is. I mean, without getting into medical terminology. I bet there aren’t many songs about the pancreas.
Well, now that I can subscribe to this blog without having my Mac broken, I’ll celebrate with a comment.
And demonstrate that I have a considerably smaller iTunes collection than Mr Fowkes (judging by anatomical tallies, anyhow). So – my own top 5:
1. Heart – 30
(Highlights: Crank Heart, Xiu Xiu; Let Thine Heart Be Warmed, Scout Niblett; I’m Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn’t Break Your Heart, Eels)
2. Eye – 15
(Highlights: Western Eyes, Portishead; With Closed Eyes, Shannon Wright)
3. Hand – 14
(Highlights: The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life, Sunset Rubdown; One Hand, One Heart, Bernstein)
4. Head – 9
(Highlights: Headphones, Bjork; Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder), The Beach Boys)
5. Leg – 5
(Highlight: Legs, PJ Harvey)
Honorable mentions, meanwhile, to:
The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders, Sufjan Stevens
Backstabber, Dresden Dolls
Your Redneck Past, Ben Folds Five
Ah, my inner geek is sated.
And I shall blogroll you to celebrate also…
Why, thank you.
In a frenzy of semi-reciprocal linking, d’Overbroeck’s College (at which I now work) new website will link to Oxfordbands in the ’student life’ section. Haha …
Someday soon, of course, I’ll get around to blogrolling on Heavy Soil …