Food, glorious food–an everyday staple that has inspired artists in every genre for millennia. From the Paleolithic painters of Altamira who sketched out visions of animals they hoped to nosh, to the life-altering Madeleine tea cake in Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past,” humble comestibles have transformed high and low-brow culture forever.
And nowhere is this more true than in the wonderful world of music, where artists make it a solemn practice of indulging in and titillating all of our appetites. Below, check out my top picks for songs that make me hungry for food…and lovin’.
4. Kool & the Gang’s “Chocolate Buttermilk”: Yes, it’s an instrumental. But damn if I’m not licking my slavering lips by the end of the funk and horn-heavy classic, torn between biting into a hunk of chocolate cake or using it for naughtier purposes of which my old Sunday school teachers would most certainly disapprove. Check out the boys in top form below. And if you feel the need to feed, git to the kitchen with ya and make a chocolate buttermilk cake. What you do with that cake when it’s baked and frosted is totally up to you.
3. Prince & the New Power Generation’s “Cream”: No one except a man who I could snap over my knee like a twig (but still strangely find incorrigibly sexy and who spent much of his career insisting upon being alluded to as a symbol), could possibly turn the most innocuous, pure and innocent edible ingredient into a vehicle for the most debauched, dirty and exxxperienced expression of sonic sex. Incidentally, he allegedly wrote the double-entrendre-loaded ballad while gazing at himself in the mirror. Whip up some cream and indulge in your most hedonistic instincts.
2. Primus’ “Pudding Time”: While funk metal fusion is not typically my first go-to genre of choice when attempting to get in the mood (for anything), Primus possesses an unparalleled ability to make me want to stuff oozing globs of bittersweet, gelatinous chocolate goo into my gob. Spoon into this recipe from Smitten Kitchen while listening to “Pudding Time” to get your juices flowing.
1. Fats Waller’s “You’re Not the Only Oyster in the Stew”: What the song lacks in subtlety it makes up for in smooth delivery. The jazz maestro makes singing about various vaginas he could sample seem positively PG, which just makes it all so much smuttier. (Listening to this song is the equivalent of stumbling upon an undiscovered film of Mary Poppins indulging in a little light S&M with Mr. Banks). He also makes me crave a creamy, pungent crock of oyster stew a la the Food Network’s Paula Deen in bed with a bottle of bubbly and a little company.
TOPICS: Eat to the Beat