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Underground > Radio & Music >

List the most bragadocious "i'm the king of the world" type songs

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09:48 / 09.03.07

I wanna wake up or get ready for work with some really ego inflating music. Like if I were singing the song, or it was my theme song for the day. Something like KRS1's I'm still number 1 or a song I found out about at Barbelith, Method Man's Release Yo' Delf. Something like the Misfits Where Eagles Dare.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:15 / 09.03.07

'King Back' by T.I.

Fast-paced, bombastic hip hop with big horns and what sounds suspiciously like a Jean-Michel Jarre sample thrown in. As you can imagine, it's mostly concerned with T.I. telling us how he is the King. There are other songs off the same album (which is also called King) that I could have recommended (e.g. 'Top Back' - yes, a lot of his songs have the word 'back' in the title), but this one seems the most appropriate, don't you think JD?

10:20 / 09.03.07

Hmm... they're not wholly "I'm fantastic" but both The Amorous Humphrey Plugg and Jackie by Scott Walker are pretty rousing.

uncle retrospective

10:52 / 09.03.07

Trouble by Elvis. Not only will you think your great but you'll be breaking pool cues on people. Also see the Danzig cover for more fun.

uncle retrospective

10:53 / 09.03.07

Oh and Elvis fucking Christ by the Cramps. What a song.

12:07 / 09.03.07

My favorite musical ego trip is "Why I Write Such Good Songs" by Kleenex Girl Wonder:

No one can sing like me
No one can play guitar like me
No one says the things I say
And no one else ever feels this way

Although there's some insecurity at the heart of it, it's still quite fun.

He also has an album (under his real name) called "Graham Smith is the Coolest Person Alive."

14:50 / 09.03.07

You might get something out of Dan Bern's Tiger Woods. It's kinda geeky and repetitive, but I like it.

15:04 / 09.03.07

Oh, and the Cramps also have The Most Exalted Potentate of Love.

Which is a much better song than "Tiger Woods."

It also lends itself to "Wiggle Stick" by Reverend Horton Heat, which is more, "I am the master of sex!" than just "I am the master!"

But, you know, they're all about magic private parts.

16:20 / 09.03.07

Monster Magnet got some of these songs. Some titles are self-explanatory:
Space Lord, Powertrip, Master of Light, Ultimate Everything, Ego The Living Planet, Masterburner and King Of Mars.

Especially Powertrip and Space Lord have the Fuck you, I´m Number One written big all over it. Although the lyrics sound selfaware of the hybris, Dave Wyndorf sounds as if he says: "Yes, the text has some ironic elements and I know there are different ways to get these songs. Still, I´m on the stage and you´re not!"

16:27 / 09.03.07

'Swampland' by the Birthday Party.

Edited highlights, thus;

'Lucy, I'll love you till the end ...
They hunt me like a dog
Down in Swampland

So come my executioner
Come my bounty hunter
Come my county killers
I cannot run no more
I cannot run no more
I cannot run no more
No I can't!'

Lucy you won't see this face again
When you're caught you swing and burn
Down in Swampland' etc

Is a bracing start to anyone's day, I think. Back when I was selling insurance in the Nineties, nothing else would do, first thing

16:54 / 09.03.07

If you're doing Danzig you might as well go with Twist of Cain or Mother. The Darque Elvis is lord of Why I Am Teh Awesomest. Though Hunter is also a lot of fun.

For non Danzig, I really like Reanimation by Blackalicious. Oh and of course Fette's Vette by MC Chris. YOU MUST LISTEN TO FETTE'S VETTE.

I'll even email it to you!

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

17:17 / 09.03.07

"Immortal" by the almighty Clutch.

Who's the man who stole fire for the people?
Who causes trembling in the bones of evil?
Who carved a mountain into a cathedral?
I am immortal

HELL YEAH

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

17:28 / 09.03.07

And "Goin' Out West" by Tom Waits, come to think of it.

17:54 / 09.03.07

I second "Immortal," though I'd also add "Careful With That Mic..." by Clutch as well. Just look at the first verse:

So tell me, when you took the Practice Scholastic Aptitude Test
did you know the answers or did you just guess?
You rely on gimmicks to amuse your fans
and act all urban to jack-up your sound-scan.
What's the matter with you? How come you rhyme monosyllabically?
Is atrophy shrinking your entire vocabulary?
Your style's like garbage cans meant to be taken out on a weekly basis.
Ever since your first record you've been in a state of suspended animation.
You look like Snuffaluffagus and Australopithecus,
Me Cray, you Abacus.
But enough about you, let's talk about me
and how single-handedly I redifined the science of Radio Astronomy,
making Nobel Prize winners question their notions of reality.
Oh, but I digress, you play Sorry, I play Chess
King's pawn to B3, Checkmate, go get some Percacets.

Mmm. Sweet, sweet Clutch.

19:45 / 09.03.07

What kind of beats does this Clutch guy rhyme over?

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

19:56 / 09.03.07

Clutch is a stoner rock band, and it's sort of a laggardly guitar-grinding stagger-drummed kind of thing. The song (as I understand it) is meant to be a swipe at the Limp Bizkit-style rap/rock bands of the '90s. It's on the album Pure Rock Fury -- there should be samples of it on Amazon.

22:00 / 09.03.07

There are other songs off the same album (which is also called King) that I could have recommended (e.g. 'Top Back' - yes, a lot of his songs have the word 'back' in the title), but this one seems the most appropriate...

Top Back is more violent, but it's what I play me, before I hit the basketball court. I kinda think it's so good that the rest of the album suffers by comparison.

Tom Paine's Bones

23:13 / 09.03.07

For comedy metal ego boosting there's always I Love Me by Lawnmower Deth.

I wish I were my own prodigal son and worship the ground that I walk upon, I love me, I love me!

08:35 / 10.03.07

Once upon a time there was this one man band called Brad is Sex. I dont even own a copy of his one release, but it was also titled Brad is Sex and the title track was also called Brad is Sex. It was basically about Brad being sex.

Do you remember a really REALLY lame movie called Xanadu with Olivia Neutron Bomb playing a Greek muse tasked with opening a roller-skating disco club? The soundtrack was by ELO (very much an acquired taste, that band) and had a really uplifting song at the beginning called "I'm Alive", which totally rocked.

And obviously there's "Prime Mover" by Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction.

00:33 / 11.03.07

Shining Armour by New Kingdom is the song that makes me feel about 100ft tall, invincible and of course kitted out in shining armour - this may not be a good thing. I had to mention it as it one of the few songs aside from Release yo' delf that allows me to be king of the world when I am in fact very drunk, walking home in the dark and trying to avoid any trouble.

I've been listening to this song for years and I have paid almost no attention to the lyrics. To be honest I couldn't give a shit what he's saying, the song is great.

I was going to link to a 30sec sample but it would really be worth your while to hear it on a decent stereo all the way through, the sample does not do it justice. It's not a song well suited to my laptop speakers when the rest of the household is sleeping.

10:26 / 11.03.07

50 Ft Queenie by PJ Harvey
Accelerator by Primal Scream
Loose by The Stooges
Shakespeare by Akala
Superbad by James Brown

Does anyone want a piece a me, huh, huh?

16:08 / 11.03.07

Not strictly bragadocious, but Talking Heads The Good Thing is uncommonly inspirational.

To quote me elsewhere:

I love The Good Thing. It's fantastically motivational. All that "a straight line exists between me and the good thing. I have found the line its direction is known to me" stuff really makes me feel like I can acheive my goals. It's all about cutting through the bullshit and trusting your instincts and doing what you really want, but, brilliantly, Byrne doesn't forget to remind you that you're going to have to work hard to get there.

Sorry, just gushed like a child.

The Good Thing
---------------------

I will fight; will fight with my heart.
I will fight; will fight with understanding.
In my mind, the weather never changes
Skill overcomes, difficult situations.

A straight line exists between me and the good things.
I have found the line and its direction is known to me.
Absolute trust keeps me going in the right direction.
Any intrusion is met with a heart full of the good thing.

Try to compare what I am presenting.
You will meet with much frustration.
Try to find ... similar situation.
You will always find the same solution.

As the heart finds the good thing, the feeling is multiplied.
Add the will to the strength and it equals conviction.
As we economise, efficiency is multiplied,
To the extent I am determined the result is the good thing.
So I say:
I have adopted this and made it my own:
Cut back the weakness, reinforce what is strong.

Watch me work!

16:10 / 11.03.07

Does anyone want a piece a me, huh, huh?

No, I'd just like you to write a little bit more about why those tunes are bragadocious.

Yet again with the fucksake.

22:26 / 11.03.07

And "Goin' Out West" by Tom Waits, come to think of it.

Oh hell yeah. I sang this song for a cover some friends of mine did, and fuck it's a great song. It just makes you want to stomp and yell and drink scotch 'til you fall over.

I ain't no extra baby I'ma leadin' man!

17:32 / 12.03.07

Good suggestions. I was gonna download off itunes, some singles, so I didn't get the TI tracks because I heard it was the album of the year, so I still have to pick it up.

MC Chris' Fett's Vette is a good song, but not very King of the World. That voice man, that voice. I found another good one searching around, The Roots Web which has a lot of old school rap braggadacio, and the guy ryhmes non stop for something like 3 minutes with no hook and no breaks.

17:35 / 12.03.07

Also a couple of King of the World, and King of the Underworld rap duets. 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted by Snoop and Tupac (and I'm actually not a huge fan of either of their solo work), and Natural Born Killaz by Dre and Ice Cube.

17:36 / 12.03.07

And Clutch. Those lyrics look sweet, but when I went for a listen I was like "Oh, no!", the music didn't do much for me.

18:19 / 12.03.07

I have a terrible weakness for MC Hawking's "What We Need More Of Is Science".

I shouldn't love it, but I do.

"I'm not Thomas Dolby - science doesn't blind me
Think you're smart? Form a line behind me."

Apparently Dr. Hawking approves.

Regrettable Juvenilia

23:25 / 12.03.07

You really, really shouldn't love that shit. How long can a joke that was weak to start with stick around?

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

23:33 / 12.03.07

I like MC Frontalot, so I'm in no position to criticize.

As far as Clutch goes, I'm gonna start a thread to avoid 'rot. But Clutch is MIGHTY.

The Return Of Rothkoid

22:05 / 13.03.07

Pretty much anything by Bob Log III.

Live, he does "The song that talks about everything that's wrong with me". It consists of one strum, before he holds up his hands saying "That's IT! THERE AIN'T NOTHIN' WRONG WITH BOB LOG!"

Mind you, when you dress like this, you can get away with anything:

03:05 / 14.03.07

How long can a joke that was weak to start with stick around?

I know, I know.

But it makes me purr with contentment.

07:57 / 14.03.07

i'd like to cast a vote for "i'm ready", off the royal trux' "accelerator" album.

not much to say about it; the first words tend to give my significant other the howling fantods. it's sort of my crunk anthem.

ysl link here

17:21 / 14.03.07

Isn't Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" the type from which all other bragadocious songs are drawn?

Seen on YouTube here, with The Band backing Mr. Waters.

17:58 / 14.03.07

For me, the obvious choice is MC Frontalot's Braggadocio.

I stand 77 feet tall, I got eight balls
and all'a'y'all are subject to my thrall
I act appalled when in receipt of less than the highest honor
some day I'll be both revered & passe like madonna

My personal favorite line:
pistachios ain't that great, I thought I'd mention 'em
distinctive from how awesome I am,

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