Oct 142010
What I’m looking for here is a list of songs that you feel best encompasses each of the Seven Deadly Sins.
In case you’ve forgotten them, the sins are Pride, Greed, Wrath, Envy, and my three personal favorites, Sloth, Gluttony, and Lust.
The most creative answer will be determined by a special blue ribbon panel of judges and will be awarded the coveted RTH No-Prize.
It would be too easy and not necessarily informative to simply provide song titles with the sins in the title, right?
How about Nick Lowe’s “Let’s Eat” for Gluttony?
Correct. The spirit of the lyrics should describe the essence of the sin.
I am going to go with the All James Brown version.
1. Pride: “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud”
2. Greed: “I’m a Greedy Man”
3. Wrath: “The Payback”
4. Envy: “I Got a Bag of My Own”
5. Sloth:This is a tough one. How about “Talkin’ Loud and Saying Nothing”
6. Gluttony: “Do the Mashed Potatoes”
7. Lust: “Sex Machine”
Excellent, Misterioso! Well done.
Thank you–but let me be clear: I don’t want nobody to give me nothing; open up the door, I’ll get it myself.
Though he’s railing against it, the best JB sloth song (and maybe his best song) is “Get Up Offa That Thing”.
I’ll throw “My Ding A Ling” into the…er, ring…but not for lust. I think it’s more of a sin of pride, Chuck Berry penning the first Phallic Oblivion song.
Let’s see if I can knock the obvious Beatles-themed one out of the way, which isn’t as fun or creative as misterioso’s James Brown approach. I’ll keep covers off the table:
Pride – Girl
Greed – Taxman
Wrath – Run For Your Life
Envy – You’re Gonna Lose That Girl
Gluttony – Savoy Truffle
Lust – Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?
Sloth – I’m Only Sleeping (narrowly edging out I’m So Tired, where he at least reaches for that cigarette. He really was the Laziest Man In England.)
Get Up Offa That Thing, yes! Good call, an excellent anti-sloth anthem. Superb suggestion.
Another impressive entry. I really like the single band approach. I have to throw out the original answers I was going to use and step up my game. If not a single artist, then at least a theme.
Yeah, the single-band or otherwise thematic approach is the way to go. Here’s are my XTC-based answers:
1. Pride: “No Thugs in Our House”
2. Greed: “I Bought Myself a Liarbird”
3. Wrath: “Dear God”
4. Envy: “That’s Really Super Supergirl”
5. Sloth: “Leisure”
6. Gluttony: “Funk Pop a Roll”
7. Lust: “Rocket from a Bottle”
YMMV
Pride – My Adidas – Run DMC
Greed – I Want More – Can
Wrath – I Wanna Destroy You – Soft Boys
Envy – Why Can’t I Touch It? – Buzzcocks
Sloth – Schubert Symphony #8 (Unfinished)
Gluttony – We Had It All – Scott Walker
Lust – Feelin’ On Your Booty – R. Kelly
These lists format nicely in the thread, but in Last Comments not so much.
Saints and Sinners Edition: The Seven Deadly Sins by Rock Town Hall Patron Saint Bob Seger
Pride – Like A Rock
Greed – Still The Same
Wrath – Shakedown
Envy – Mainstreet
Sloth – Rock And Roll Never Forgets (not unlike James Brown on Get Up Offa That Thing, Seger is trying to talk us out of “feelin’ weary when the work day’s done”)
Gluttony – Chain Smokin’
Lust – Betty Lou’s Gettin’ Out Tonight (in which the town drug store is forced to shut down because they run out of condoms!)
Bonus Lust Entry – I bet “Nutbush City Limits” sounds really filthy when Seger sings it.
Added to the To Investigate list. I am noticing – at the moment – that the PREVIEW button is back. That Back Office kicks ass on our behalf, no?
Stirring entry, alexmagic!
Country time
Pride – I’m Ragged But I’m Right by George Jones
Greed – One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash
Wrath – Fist City by Loretta Lynne
Envy – My Son Calls Another Man Daddy by Hank Williams
Sloth – Act Naturally by Buck Owens
Gluttony – Roly Poly by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys
Lust – Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
We are now using the most recent version of WordPress to power RTH. The only downside to living on the bleeding edge is that many of the “plugins” (ie Lastest Comments) have not been adapted.
This is the case with Latest Comments. We had choices but this one worked the best and was the only one that could provide links to the actual original comment. It did however lose the ability to maintain many of the formatting tags. Given the choices this one had more plusses than minuses. If/when this one gets updated (I’ve sent a request to the original programmer but they are doing this stuff as a labor of love which means I can’t ride his ass…) we will be alerted and make it happen. We’ll also keep an eye open for new ones that might do what we want.
In the meantime please enjoy the new comment “preview” button. It’s shiny and new and will make you forget all about unformatted Latest Comments.
Thank you for your attention.
Now I ask you…Who hits the seven sin’s harder then my choice :
Iggy Pop
Pride – “New Values”
Greed- “I’m a Conservative”
Wrath “Search and Destroy”
Envy “Five Foot One”
Sloth “I’m Bored”
Gluttony “I’m livin on Dog Food”(OK, not reeeally about gluttony but had to list it)
Lust. “Penetration” or later “Sixteen” or maybe 30 others…..
Thank you. [I previewed that comment first.]
Excellent list. I’m not totally clear on “Funk Pop a Roll” for gluttony as main theme (feels more wrath-oriented to me, a big middle finger to the record industry), though I see the connection in “gulping in your opium so copiously” and “only want bread but they’re force-fed cakes”.
Yeah, it was the fat-cat imagery of the record execs that I had in mind. Initially it was going to be my Wrath entry, but “Dear God” seemed better for that spot.
alexmagic, that is outstanding. I would suggest “Her Strut” the following for “Lust.”
I don’t know about the one band theme, but…
The opening number would of course be “Seven Deadly Sins” by the Wilburys. Then the Purple Midget (Prince) would be our narrator and bookend the show.
Pride–“Sexy M.F.” by Prince
Greed–“Money (That’s What I Want)”–by whoever you like
Wrath–“When The Man Comes Around”–Johnny Cash
Envy–“Jessie’s Girl” (duh)–Rick Springfield
Sloth–“Longview” by Green Day
Gluttony–“Eat It” and “Fat” by Weird Al
Lust–“Darling Nikki” by Prince
TB
Thanks to Mr. Isoso putting a one band frame on this, I can come up with something. I was getting nowhere working with the full universe of songs.
The Kinks
Pride – I’m Not Like Everybody Else
Greed – Father Christmas
Wrath – Destroyer
Envy – lots of these but I’ll go with David Watts
Sloth – Sunny Afternoon
Gluttony – Alcohol
Lust – You Really Got Me
Seriously, the most Old Testament of them all is Tom Waits. The man knows his sins:
Pride: I’ll Take New York; Straight to the Top; Big in Japan
Greed: Another Man’s Vine
Wrath: This is one of TW’s specialties: Just a Whitman’s Sampler: 16 Shells From a 30-6, Knife Chase; In the Colosseum; Murder in the Red Barn; Black Wings
Envy: Going Out West; Yesterday is Here
Sloth: I Don’t Wanna Grow Up; Whistle Down the Wind; Anywhere I Lay My Head
Gluttony: Filipino Box Spring Hog
Lust: “I can’t resist…” Temptation
Black Flag’s slam-dancin’ Seven Deadly Sins:
Pride–My Rules
Greed–Gimme Gimme Gimme
Wrath–Salt On A Slug
Envy–Revenge
Sloth–Can’t Decide
Gluttony–Six Pack
Lust–Slip It In
Or Sloth: TV Party Tonight
Nice list!
Cher, that R. Kelly song RAWKS! Thanx for the heads up.