History Main / SelfDemonstratingSong

* The Venezuelan genre of Gaita Zuliana is full of songs that straddle between this trope and ThisIsASong, in a SeriousBusiness way. Often the lyrics describe how the song is going trough the [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth traditional Gaita guidelines and tropes]]. And there is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRHmDX6Po8U Gaita Onomatopeyica]] (Onomatopoeic Gaita), which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* [[WebVideo/{{Charlieissocoollike}} Charlie McDonnell]] has a song on his album called "A Song About a Song".

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInThePrincessAndThePauper'', the pauper-turned-princess and her etiquette master have a song detailing what a princess must do. One of the pieces of advice is "always harmonize in thirds". Guess what they do on that line.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "(This song's just) six words long." [[LyingCreator A lie]]. The chorus is just six word's long, but the song is somewhat longer.

* "Song Inside My Head" by Music/TheArrogantWorms. The song is about an EarWorm and it IS an EarWorm. Chances are, like the song's protagonist, you'll have it stuck in your head whether you like it or not.

* Likewise, The Frantics have a tune tentatively called "This Song":

:: The next time the chorus comes around the song uses "June" instead of "spoon".

->''"That song had no content! It wasn't even about the movie, it was about itself! That's like breaking the ninth wall!"''
-->-- '''Jed''', ''WebVideo/CommentaryTheMusical''

->''"That song had no content! It wasn't even about the movie, it was about itself! That's like [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaking the]] [[UpToEleven ninth wall!"]]''

[[AC:Live-Action Film]]

--> Everybody's going to the moon \\
Everybody's going, it'll be quite soon \\
It's customary in songs like this \\
To use a word like spoon... \\
You know everybody's going to the moon
** The next time the chorus comes around the song uses "June" instead of "spoon".

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:Music]]

-->All we need is a drummer for people who only need a beat ''(only a drum beat is heard)''\\
I'm gonna add a little guitar and make it easy to move your feet ''(a guitar riff is added)''\\
I'm gonna add some bottom so that the dancers just won't hide ''(now you hear a bass riff)''\\
You might like to hear my organ, I said now ride Sally ride ''(an organ plays... and so on)''
** Music Instructor's cover of Ultravox's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd847TfxgCc Hymn]] does the same thing, before launching into the actual covering of the song.

-->If you're listening to this song \\
You may think the chords are going wrong \\
But they're not; we just wrote it like that \\
When you're listening late at night \\
You may think the bands are not quite right \\
But they are, they just play it like that \\
It doesn't really matter what chords I play \\
What words I say or what time of day it is \\
As it's only a Northern song
* "25 or 6 to 4" - Music/{{Chicago}}'s breakout song, one of the founders of 70's rock and considered to this day to be one of the greatest songs ever written is about... Not having anything to write about. No, seriously, that's it. People have been trying to find a deeper meaning in it for decades (ranging from drugs to sex to The Vietnam War), but just give up people, it's really about nothing.
** It's about the real life case of a songwriter trying to come up with lyrics, looking at the clock, and seeing it was already after 3:30 am. Twenty-five or (twenty-)six minutes to four, specifically.
* "Dance Stop" by DanielAmos is about society doing its best to ignore a nuclear apocalypse, dancing right until the bombs detonate. The music is fast and upbeat, and DA would encourage fans at concerts to dance along.

* "Song Inside My Head" by TheArrogantWorms. The song is about an EarWorm and it IS an EarWorm. Chances are, like the song's protagonist, you'll have it stuck in your head whether you like it or not.
* "This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends..."
** NewerThanTheyThink: "The Song That Never Ends" was composed by Norman Martin in 1988; otherwise it would have made a good UrExample.
* [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Weird Al's]] "(This song's just) six words long."
** [[LyingCreator A lie]]. The chorus is just six word's long, but the song is somewhat longer.

-->Well, we've got no class
-->And we've got no innocence
-->And we've got no principles
-->We can't even think of a word that rhymes!
* BadReligion: "Cease". Final lines:
-->What pretension! Everlasting Peace
-->Everything must <Abrupt cutoff. CD ends.>

-->'Cause nowadays, music's too political\\

Man, I'm just kidding, or am I?

-->Alone I compose a bittersweet ditty\\

Then do it again

-->It doesn't matter what I sa-ay-ay [=\=] As long as I sing with infle-ection,\\

The hook brings you back, on that you can rely-ay-ay-ayayay!
* [=DaVinci=]'s Notebook, "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=734wnHnnNR4 Title Of The Song]]".

-->This is the first verse of this song
-->It sets the beat and starts out strong
-->This song is fast, in 4/4 time
-->A catchy little tune, and the words all rhyme

-->It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
-->The minor fall, the major lift
* MitchBenn is fond of this; for example, "Boy Band", "West End Musical" and "The Apathy Song".

* Subverted or Averted (Depending on your opinion) in the song ''The Sultans of Swing'' by Music/DireStraits. Many genres of music are listed in the Sultans' repertoire, and the song itself does not belong to any of them.

--> ''Oh this is the verse that sounded just like the verse you heard before, yeah.''
--> ''But if you please take note that lyrics are slightly different than last time.''
--> ''We're killing time, until we're at chorus, agaiiiiiiiiiiin.''
-->
--> ''And here we are back at the chorus.''
--> ''Don't you remember the one that is so freakin' catchy it's stuck
--> ''in your head, for the rest of your life.''

--> I... just wasted... ten seconds of your life.

* A recurring trope in Mike Batt's songs for The Wombles - most notably, "Tobermory's Music Machine" which describes various ways in which the titular machine goes wrong, and illustrates them at the same time.

* ''Music/DieArzte'' "Die Instrumente des Orchesters". Especially when the singer complains that noone understands the text anymore as soon as the guitar WEEEEIIIIAOOOOOORRRR!
** Less so but still legit, "Die Summe der einzelnen Teile" by Kante (likewise German).
* "Please Play This Song On The Radio" by {{Music/NOFX}}:
--> We wrote this song
--> It's not too short it's not too long
--> It's got back-up vocals ''(in just the right places)''
--> It's got a few oohs and aahs ''(oooh aaah)''
--> And it takes a little pause
--> Just before I sing the F-word
--> [...]
--> Almost every... line... is sung on time
--> Almost every verse ends in a ''rim''
--> The only problem we had was writing enough words...
--> ... ''(oooh aaah)''
--> But that's okay, because the chorus is coming up again now

--> [[TheFourChordsOfPop The chords are 1-4-6-4]]
--> Now I’m talkin' familiar
--> Harmony in thirds, not fourths
--> Will take you into the pre-chorus...

[[AC:Theater]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

* [[{{Creator/Tobuscus}} Tobuscus']] ''Dramatic Song'' is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an emotional-sounding song]]... as long as you don't speak English. The lyrics simply explain the fact that he's not singing about anything serious or dramatic but it just sounds like that, all whilst lampshading the music, vocals and how foreign people who don't speak English might find this song intense. See it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WteF0j5gYGk#! here]].

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* In the Barbie ''Princess and the Pauper'' movie, the pauper-turned-princess and her etiquette master have a song detailing what a princess must do. One of the pieces of advice is "always harmonize in thirds". Guess what they do on that line.

* The first verse of LeonardCohen's "Hallelujah" is about its own chord sequence.

* Subverted or Averted (Depending on your opinion) in the song ''The Sultans of Swing'' by DireStraits. Many genres of music are listed in the Sultans' repertoire, and the song itself does not belong to any of them.

* ''#1 Radio Single'' by ''{{Psychostick}}'' guides you through the entire song.

* Played with in "Only A Northern Song" by Music/TheBeatles; it was written by GeorgeHarrison as a bitter take that to the Northern Songs publishing company owned by JohnLennon and PaulMcCartney and the way he was treated by it.

* "25 or 6 to 4" - Chicago's breakout song, one of the founders of 70's rock and considered to this day to be one of the greatest songs ever written is about... Not having anything to write about. No, seriously, that's it. People have been trying to find a deeper meaning in it for decades (ranging from drugs to sex to The Vietnam War), but just give up people, it's really about nothing.

* "Superpowers" by FiveIronFrenzy:
-->Sometimes we have a deadline, for writing our songs.
-->Five minutes left to write this one... la, la la, la la, la la la.
* "Headphones" by JarsOfClay. The lyrics are about [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation isolating yourself from other people's problems]] by listening to pop music. The music is exactly the sort of pleasant pop sound that the narrator would listen to.

* BowlingForSoup's "A Really Cool Dance Song," which is a techo dance song in which the singer explains that in order to make money, they're doing a techno dance song.