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Hymn to Music

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Nothing can be better than a sweet love song
So sweet so sweet so mellow
When you got the girl that you love in your arm
Oh honey I love you I love you yeah
Music is the healing force of the world
It's understood by every man woman boy and girl
The O Jays, "I Love Music"

Singers, rappers, and other musicians sing about a lot of things. Love, sex, sorrow, revenge, a specific person or object, their home neighborhoods . . . And sometimes music itself.

A Hymn to Music is a song dedicated to music itself and the artist's love of it, whether professionally or on a personal level.

A supertrope of Heavy Meta, which is a singing about a specific genre of music. Compare Radio Song, about music's most common medium. Exhort the Disc Jockey Song is a subtrope.


Examples include:

  • "I Love Music", by The O Jays.
    I love music, sweet sweet music
    I love music, just as long as it's groovy
    I love I love I love I love I love I love music
    I love I love I love I love I love I love music
    I love music, any kind of music
    I love music, just as long as it's groovy
  • "Music", Madonna's hit.
    Music, music
    Music makes the people come together
    Music mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel
  • Cansei de Ser Sexy's "Music Is My Hot Sex".
  • "Thank You for the Music" by ABBA.
  • Fraggle Rock: At the beginning of the episode "The Minstrels", Cantus is seen for the first time in the series, singing "Let Me Be Your Song", all about the wonders of music.
    Cantus: [singing] Music grows in the rose,
    Rock and rain and the blowin' snowstorm.
    Everything seems to sing, everywhere I go.

    Cantus and Murray: I say, one, two, play me, do.
    Let me sound as sweet as you.
    Play me wide, play me long.
    Let me be your song!
  • The Hip-Hop/Soul Temporal Duet "Music" by Erick Sermon, featuring lines from an acapella outtake by Marvin Gaye.
  • Barry Manilow: "I Write the Songs" is written from the first-person perspective of music itself.
  • In classical music, anything in honour of St. Cecilia (patron saint of music) is likely to be this. Often, it's not just a single song but a long, multi-movement ode or cantata. Very popular in the Baroque era, and prominent examples exist by Handel (Alexander's Feast and A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, both based on poems by Dryden) and Purcell (Hail! Bright Cecilia and Welcome to all the Pleasures). In the twentieth century, Britten also wrote a Hymn to St. Cecilia.
  • Franz Schubert's An die Musike.
  • The Phineas and Ferb episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together" featured two: The first is "History of Rock" (sometimes called "Danny's Story"), a song by (then former) Love Handel frontman Danny about how he got started in music. The second is the short "Music Makes us Better" by the reunited band during the credits.
  • "I Love Rock And Roll" by Joan Jett
  • "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll" by Ozzy
  • "Music" by John Miles
    Music was my first love
    And it will be my last.
    Music of the future
    And music of the past
    To live without my music
    Would be impossible to do
    In this world of troubles
    My music pulls me through
  • The title song from The Sound of Music.
  • "Music Of The Night" from The Phantom of the Opera.
  • Jem has "When It's Only Me And The Music" and "Music Is Magic".
  • Common Rider's "Classics Of Love" is basically about music being a positive force in one's life ("Sun shining down on a cloudy day / I know those songs gonna last forever, that's what I say). It's also got a few Shout Outs to specific artists, most blatantly Desmond Dekker, The Clash, The Who and Ella Fitzgerald.
  • "Say It With Music" by Irving Berlin.
  • Gaita Zuliana in general, mixed with This Is a Song just to spice it.
  • American Pie by Don McLean for rock and roll.
  • The a cappella doo-wop group The Persuasions use "Still Ain't Got No Band" as their theme song.
  • Barbershoppers LOVE this trope. There are countless songs written by barbershop singers about their love of barbershop quartet music, such as:
    • Give Me That Barbershop Style
    • I Love That Barbershop Style
    • Bad Buncha Boys (Singin' Barbershop)
    • That Old Quartet of Mine
    • The Chordbusters March
  • "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray is another ode to rock.
  • Cornershop's Signature Song "Brimful of Asha". The verses pay tribute to the performers of Indian film music, while the middle eight comprises a list of shout-outs to the group's other musical influences.
  • "Turn It Loose" by The Judds, about country music specifically.
  • "Heart Songs" by Weezer is an ode to the bands and songs that front man Rivers Cuomo listened to growing up and influenced his musical style. He mentions a diverse group of artists including Gordon Lightfoot, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Slayer.
    These are my heart songs
    They never feel wrong
    And when I wake, for goodness sake
    These are the songs I keep singing
  • "Sound System" by Operation Ivy is about music's ability to improve your mood when things seem hopeless, if only temporarily:
    Sound system gonna bring me back up
    Yeah, one thing that I can depend on

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