3 Self-Referential Classic Rock Songs From the 1970s That We Stan

Sometimes you’re so cool that you just have to sing about yourself. You look around the room or the recording studio and you think, “What should I put in this next song?” But then you see yourself in the mirror and BAM, it hits you. Put you in the song! Well, that’s at least the strategy that these artists here below chose. They decided that the best lyrics to write for their tracks were about themselves. Well, we can’t blame them. They are really cool. Indeed, these are three self-referential classic rock songs from the 1970s we stan.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Be My Lover” by Alice Cooper from ‘Killer’ (1971)

Alice Cooper has never seen a topic that’s off-limits. And on this song that includes himself and his ponderous name. Cooper sings, “She asked me why the singer’s name was Alice / I said ‘listen baby, you really wouldn’t understand.’” Indeed, Cooper evades the question. Because rock music means you always look at the problem, but you never have to solve it or provide closure. That’s the magic of the moment and the magic that Cooper understood on this catchy number.

“Dance This Mess Around” by The B-52’s from ‘The B-52’s’ (1979)

The B-52’s were one of the most fun bands of the 1970s and 1980s. You never knew what they were going to say or sound like next. But on this song from the band’s self-titled 1979 LP, singer Cindy Wilson references her B-52’s bandmate, singing, “Hey, so Fred, don’t that make you feel a whole lot better, huh?” The song and lyric make you feel as if you’re part of the band yourself. Like you’re in on it. And that makes the whole process that much more fun.

“Piano Man” by Billy Joel from ‘Piano Man’ (1973)

Billy Joel’s classic song “Piano Man” from the 1973 album of the same name comprises a pastiche of players. Someone should create a poster music fans can place on their walls that indicates just all the people in the bar that Joel sings of. A waitress is practicing politics, and a businessman is getting stoned. It’s like a Shakespearean play and Joel, a former lounge bar piano player, knows the scene like the back of his skilled hands. But one of the people he references in the song is himself, when one of the characters approaches Joel and says, “Bill I believe this is killing me!“

Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images