Self-Reflexive Songs

Self-Reflexive Songs are songs whose lyrics refer to the song itself as though it was a separate entity.


Examples are:


Carly Simon's "You're so Vain" with the lyrics "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you."


Elton John's "Your Song" with "And you can tell everybody this is your song It may be quite simple, but now that it's done."


The Beautiful South's "Song for Whoever" with "I wrote this song for you".


David Bowie's "Five Years" with "I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milk shakes cold and long; Smiling and waving and looking so fine, don't think you knew you were in this song,"


Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" with "Here is a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note."


Spamalot's "The Song that Goes Like This" with amongst almost completely self-reflexive lyrics "For this is the song that goes like this. Yes it is. Yes it is!"


The Song That Never Ends with "This is the song that goes on forever, Cause it never ever ends"


It is not the same as self-relection where the writer refers to themselves but where the writer refers to the song itself. Often the lyrics are self-reflexive in a knowing, humourous way so as to emphasise the artifice in the song.


Note: There use to be a list of Self-Reflexive Songs on Wikipedia. A copy of that list can be found here.