Beans N’ Beats: Part 2 - Rock
The lead singer of ACDC, Brian Johnson, once said “For those about to Rock, we salute you”. In the second installment of Beans N Beats, we look at three amazing rock songs that are about coffee. So brew yourself some Singh Beans, get your favourite mug, and buckle up. So for those about to brew, we salute you!
ONE MORE CUP OF COFFEE by The White Stripes (Bob Dylan Cover)
Originally a Bob Dylan song, Jack and Meg covered “One More Cup of Coffee” on their self titled album in 1999. I came across this song when Icky Thump was released and I went back to review the White Stripes discography. What I found was a duo that had a diverse discography that ranged from blues to indie rock. I was hooked.
This song really stood out on The White Stripes album. Jack’s voice echoes loneliness and you can hear the emotion in his guitar playing. The chorus suggests that the songwriter is looking for another cup of coffee before they leave:
One more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go
to the valley below
Although quite melancholy, the chorus shows the temporary relationship between two people over a cup of coffee. Once the temporary relationship is over, he is off to the abyss of the valley below.
BLACK COFFEE by Black Flag
I came to listen to Black Flag through my girlfriend and her love of Henry Rollins. I found their demo tape at Amoeba Records in Los Angles and it helped me understand why Black Flag was such an influential band.
These guys are one of the first credited hardcore punk bands ever. Full stop. From 1981 to 1985 they dropped six albums, three of which were in 1984 (recorded in between 178 live performances. Talk about needing coffee). Slip it In, their third album in 1984, had eight songs on it of varied genres, tempos, and of varied material.
Have you ever wondered what caffeination sounds like? This is the song. The simple but aggressive chorus is repeated with a high energy that you come to expect from Henry Rollins. The simplicity of the chorus makes it difficult to appreciate in written form so please take a listen to the link below.
Drinking black coffee, black coffee, drinking black coffee staring at the wall
Black coffee, black coffee, black coffee staring at the wall
Henry Rollins perfectly shows us what agitation from caffeine sounds like. The anger and aggression echo the power chords and snappy drum pattern. I mean it is Black Flag, do you expect anything less?
COFFEE GIRL by The Tragically Hip
No list of Rock and Roll music is complete without mentioning the Ontario natives, The Tragically Hip. I think it is pretty much required by law to ensure that every Canadian mentions The Tragically Hip at least once a year.
The Tragically Hip have been dropping gems since 1984. The consistency of their music allowed the band to have music on the charts up until the death of the lead guitarist in 2017. In their eleventh studio album, We Are the Same, was released in 2009 and went platinum in Canada.
Lead Guitarist and Singer, Gord Downie, has a very breathy vocal performance which flows perfectly with the bouncy drum. The chorus is where we find about coffee:
Hey there Coffee Girl
Beautiful and disaffected
It was perfect till
He came along and wrecked it
The up-tempo song talks about a girl in a coffee shop who gets to experience some of the simple things in life and how it is easy to be adventurous when you are riding solo. The song has pretty blunt lyrics about how a relationship would complicate the Coffee Girls life.
