Anyone who's ever been in a recording studio knows the value of a tasty take-out meal to stoke the creative fires. And along with, wine, women, and song, it never hurts to have a big turkey leg to gnaw on.
Almost every genre has an ode to food. Maybe not classical. String Cheese Symphonies are still scarce.
But we've found a few foodie hymns to get your toes tapping and your glands salivating:
10. Popcorn by Hot Butter
Largely forgotten, this ill-advised use of the early synthesizer makes the Rockford Files theme sound like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Which it already kind of did.
9. Savoy Truffle by the Beatles
Written by George Harrison about Eric Clapton's debilitating chocolate addiction, this White Album obscurity takes its lyrics from a box of candy. John Lennon doesn't appear on this track.
Of course, this song is about a gay dude's dog, not an oven-baked dish with eggs, milk, and cream in a pastry crust. But so what? It's kitschy-catchy.
7. Green Onions by Booker T. & the MG's
As an instrumental, this tune's only tangentially about scallions. In 1962, when 17-year-old Booker T. Jones came up with that organ riff, he was inspired by a cat in the studio who went by
6. Milkshake by Kelis
Not really referencing a frothy cold ice cream concoction -- but all about bringing boys to the yard -- Kelis' gyrating tune is stark and sexy. The video makes the most of Kelis' mouth and makes men bite their knuckles and squeeze out frustrated tears.
5. Coconut by Harry Nilsson
The brilliant, criminally underadored Nilsson cranked out so many gems in the '70s, it's easy to forget this unichord, circular, Caribbeanated conversation between a woman, her sister, and a perplexed physician. Put the lime in, drink 'em both up.
4. Cheese and Onions by the Rutles
"I have always thought/In the back of my mind/Cheese and onions," Ron Nasty (Neil Innes) and Dirk McQuickly (Eric Idle) sang back in 1977 for the first Rutles album, that hilariously blistering Beatles parody. Pioneering indie-rock legends Galaxie 500 later covered it.
3. I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow
Biting that Bo Diddley beat, "I Want Candy" was first a hit for the Strangeloves in 1965. But when Annabella Lwin dosed it with pubescent pheremones in 1982, it turned into a titillating new wave chestnut.
2. Custard Pie by Led Zeppelin
Opening Physical Graffiti with a luminous crush, "Custard Pie" is one of the last great songs the Zep cranked out. Like Warrant would prove later, "eating pie" slaps a little double on the ol' entrende: "Your custard pie, yeah/Sweet and nice/When you cut it, mama, save me a slice."
1. Roast Fish and Cornbread by Lee "Scratch" Perry
One of reggae's most enduring and seminal recordings from a certifiably mad genius, this track closed out 1978's Roast Fish, Collie Weed, and Cornbread. Weed, dub, real Jamaican yard food... this calls for Guinness and Red Stripe.
