Jittery Jams: 10 Songs For Coffee Lovers
All week, Morning Edition has been examining how coffee fits into modern life, which led us to look into the many ways the drink's trembling tendrils have reached into popular music. With the Beastie Boys taking their "sugar with coffee and cream," Carly Simon finding "clouds in my coffee," and countless singers using black coffee as a metaphor for a life in need of a swift kick, it was actually tough to narrow a caffeinated playlist down to just 10 selections.
This week, Alt.Latino is also looking at how the beverage has inspired music in coffee-producing countries. But in the meantime, for addicts and abstainers alike — as well as we honorary imbibers who subsist on a steady diet of Diet Coke via IV drip — here are 10 more coffee songs, by artists from Bach to Dethklok to Yung Joc. (And, come to think of it, at many points outside that particular spectrum.) Be sure to add your own selections in the comments.
Get the playlist on Spotify and Rdio.
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Transcript
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And all this week, we've been talking about coffee. Now, let's listen to some of the ways coffee percolates into our music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONGS, "COFFEE BLUES")
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT: Coffee time, I likes a certain brand. It's Maxwell House. Just like it says on the can: Good to the last drop.
MONTAGNE: Alright, that's Mississippi John Hurt singing the "Coffee Blues."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONGS, "COFFEE BLUES")
HURT: (Singing) Good morning, baby. How you doing this morning? Well, please, Ma'am, just a loving...
MONTAGNE: Ella Fitzgerald drowned her blues in "Black Coffee."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONGS, "BLACK COFFEE")
ELLA FITZGERALD: (Singing) I walk the floor and watch the door and in between I drink black coffee. Love's a hand-me-down brew.
MONTAGNE: The rock band Squeeze sang about "Coffee in Bed."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COFFEE IN BED")
SQUEEZE: (Singing) There's a stain on my notebook where your coffee cup was...
MONTAGNE: And the Beastie Boys take their coffee sweet.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "INTERGALACTIC")
BEASTIE BOYS: (Rapping) When it comes to beats, well, I'm a fiend. I like my sugar with coffee and cream...
MONTAGNE: But Heavy D & the Boyz keep it simple.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACK COFFEE")
HEAVY D & THE BOYZ: (Rapping) Black coffee, no sugar, no cream.
(Rapping) That's the kind of girl I need down with my team.
(Rapping) Black coffee, no sugar, no cream.
(Singing) That's just the way I like it.
MONTAGNE: No matter how you take your coffee, Frank Sinatra reminds us where most of it comes from.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COFFEE SONG")
FRANK SINATRA: (Singing) Way down among Brazilians, coffee beans grow by the billions. So they've got to find those extra cups to fill. They got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil...
MONTAGNE: That's "The Coffee Song" by Frank Sinatra. There are more coffee tunes at NPRMusic.org. And NPR Music's Alt.Latino is playing Latin American songs about coffee. You can hear them at NPR.org/altlatino.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COFFEE SONG")
SINATRA: (Singing) And when their ham and eggs need savor, coffee ketchup gives them flavor. Coffee pickles way out sell the dill...
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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