Ooey gooey and oh-so-delicious, cheese is just about everyone’s favorite snack. Whether you like sharp cheddar, stinky blue, melty brie, or the seemingly ubiquitous stretchy mozzarella, the stuff is magic on the taste buds. It’s even inspired some excellent songs.
Videos by American Songwriter
Racking your brain to recall any songs you may know about cheese? No need! We’ve compiled a list of the three best cheese-inspired songs for you to enjoy along with your charcuterie board, cheeseburger, or countless other delicacies involving cheese.
[RELATED: The Tough-Love Meaning Behind “Tulsa Time” by Don Williams]
1. “Mice Eat Cheese,” Modest Mouse
This song comes from the Pacific Northwest-born rock band Modest Mouse on the band’s 2001 LP, Sad Sappy Sucker Chokin on a Mouthful of Lost Thoughts. What better band to write about cheese than one named after the food’s favorite animal connoisseur? Lead singer Isaac Brock sings on the track:
Mice eat cheese
And for the most part they do as they please
But cat comes home
Mice don’t feel very free to walk around
Walk around
2. “Big Cheese,” Nirvana
This song from Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, uses cheese as a metaphor. Indeed, cheese can mean food, money, or in this case, stand for the head honcho (i.e. the Big Cheese). So sings the band’s enigmatic, brilliant frontman Kurt Cobain about Sub Pop’s co-founder Jonathan Poneman:
Big cheese, make me
Mine says, go to the office
Big cheese, make me
Mine says, one that stays
Black is black, straight back
Need more enemies
Show you all what a man is
Big lies make my
Mine says, go to the office
Big cheese, make me
Message, what is it
3. “Cheeseburger In Paradise,” Jimmy Buffett
If cheese has a downside, it’s that it’s so good but not nearly as good for you. Here, iconic beach bum songwriter Jimmy Buffett sings about the perils of the food, especially when it’s laid over a big juicy hamburger. From Buffett’s 1978 album Son of a Son of a Sailor, the late singer belts:
Tried to amend my carnivorous habits
Made it nearly seventy days
Losin’ weight without speed, eatin’ sunflower seeds
Drinkin’ lots of carrot juice and soakin’ up rays
But at night I’d have these wonderful dreams
Some kind of sensuous treat
Not zucchini, fettuccini, or bulgur wheat
But a big warm bun and a huge hunk of meat
Cheeseburger in paradise
Heaven on earth with an onion slice
Not too particular, not too precise
I’m just a cheeseburger in paradise
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
