The Age Old Question: A Podcast for Music Fans · Rich Price and Clint Bierman

What Is The Greatest Instruction Song?

August 20, 2023·50 min·3 clips

Ralph Murphy's rule was blunt: "don't preach at your audience."

1. The Age Old Question: A Podcast for Music Fans asks "What Is The Greatest Instruction Song?" with Rich Price and Clint Beerman. 2. Rich Price is the host and singer-songwriter, and Clint Beerman is the co-host who answers with song references and examples. 3. The episode asks which songs are best at telling listeners what to do, from advice songs to dance instructions. 4. A listener request drives the topic, and the hosts immediately cite "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "The Gambler." 5. Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" is tied to Steve Gadd's drum groove and to Simon's 1975 Rolling Stone quote. 6. The hosts note that Simon said, "The problem is all inside your head," and that the opening words "just popped into my head." 7. They also mention the Carl Nielsen melody source, "Titter jeg glad," translated as "often I am happy." 8. Don Schlitz's "The Gambler" comes with Kenny Rogers' 1978 number one hit and Schlitz's claim that something more than him wrote it. 9. The lyric advice "know when to hold them" and "never count your money when you're sitting at the table" is treated as practical and memorable. 10. The hosts then move to dance songs and say their angle is "dance songs with instructional dance lyrics in the song." 11. "Cha-Cha Slide" is described as a step-aerobics routine for DJ Casper's nephew before it became a song. 12. They say the track reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2000 and features a Casio-like drum sound. 13. "Harlem Shuffle" is traced from Bob and Earl in 1963 back to the 1950s doo-wop world of Bobby Day and Earl Nelson. 14. Keith Richards is credited with pushing Mick Jagger to put "Harlem Shuffle" on Dirty Work, and Richards said it took five years and two takes to get Jagger to sing it. 15. "Do the Bartman" is linked to Michael Jackson, who produced the track and sang backup vocals. 16. The hosts say Jackson reached out because he was a huge Simpsons fan, and they mention the song's nine-week run at number one in Ireland. 17. The style is conversational, fast-moving, and full of back-and-forth overlap, with many examples delivered from memory. 18. The episode mixes music history with personal stories, including a Roller Dome crush and a call to Peter Day about Ralph Murphy. 19. Listeners who like songwriting craft, chart trivia, and novelty songs will enjoy this. 20. Listeners who want a single deep-dive on one artist may prefer another episode.

As heard by us

A loose, good-natured search for the best instructional song, with a few sharp detours.

The episode takes up a simple question and keeps it moving: what counts as the best instructional song of all time. Rich Price and Clint Beerman bounce from Chubby Checker to a Stones track Keith Richards pushed for years, then land on Do the Bartman, with the detail about…

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Why you'd press play

A breezy debate about the best instructional song of all time.

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