10 Awesome Songs about Cheese
Cheese has been a critical part of the human experience since prehistoric times. It helped that it was tasty. However, much of cheese’s popularity came from it being an excellent way for people to make more food available when needed. Not every place is suitable for agriculture. Luckily, cattle and other livestock can graze on marginal land. Milk spoils in a matter of days. For comparison, cheese can last for months with proper storage and preparation. Thanks to this, cheese has spread throughout the world. Unsurprisingly, more than one artist has recorded and released songs about the foodstuff.
Here are ten of the best songs about cheese ever released:
10. “Cheese” – Tim Minchin
“Cheese” is a funny reminder that people aren’t necessarily good at digesting cheese. Milk contains lactose. Unsurprisingly, cheese contains lactose, though some have more while others have less. People need lactase to digest lactose. The issue is that mammals tend to lose the ability to make lactase once they’re weaned. This is true for humans. Interestingly, some populations have been eating milk and cheese as adults for so long that they’ve developed a mutation that lets them continue producing lactase as adults. Chances are good that interested individuals can guess that people of European descent are one of these populations.
9. “Macaroni and Cheese” – Bill Harley
This is an amusing song about a kid who refuses to eat anything other than macaroni and cheese. The narrator anticipated that some listeners would guess that it was him. As a result, he preempted those guesses by saying that he ate everything put before him as a kid. There’s more than one song with the same name. This one is more memorable than most.
8. “Blue Cheese” – Roddy Ricch
Exclusivity makes blue cheese more expensive than most. Here, it’s used to excellent effect as an unusual but surprisingly effective and innovative boast.
7. “Cheese and Crackers” – Rosco Gordon
Rosco Gordon was a blues singer-songwriter. He’s one of those artists so influential that they have a style named for them. However, it should be pointed out that this refers to a way of playing the piano because he was an exceptional pianist. Regardless, this is a song in which the singer expresses his dislike for the titular food in a simple twist on the standard expectation that can bring a smile to the face.
6. “Cheese and Onions” – The Rutles
The Rutles started as a fictional band. Specifically, they were a parody of the Beatles used in a comedy sketch. Later, there was enough interest that they became real. Indeed, they were interesting enough that they managed not one but two hits in the United Kingdom. “Cheese and Onions” is one of their better-known songs, if only because the name suggests an extraordinarily potent combination.
5. “Mice Eat Cheese” – Modest Mouse
“Mice Eat Cheese” has some of the hardest-to-decipher lyrics on this list. One popular theory is that the titular animals are a metaphor for timid individuals who want to do what makes them comfortable without being concerned about the outside world. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible because the picture includes a cat. It isn’t clear what the latter represents. One possibility is a person, while another would be something less straightforward. Curiously, it’s widely said that mice aren’t that fond of cheese. They’ll eat it, but other foods are more pleasing to their preferences. It’s possible that mice became associated with cheese because they found it easier to access foodstuffs in long-term storage. Something that then became embedded in the popular consciousness because of repeated storytelling.
4. “Get It Together” – Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys released their fourth album, Ill Communication, in 1994. “Get It Together” was its second single. It did alright. For example, the song fell one spot short of making the Billboard Hot 100. Similarly, it was a number 19 song in the United Kingdom. “Get It Together” is connected to cheese because it uses macaroni and cheese as a rhetorical device. Besides that, it’s a well-liked song from a well-liked group.
3. “Green & Yellow” – Lil Wayne
This is a Green Bay Packers theme. As the story goes, Lil Wayne’s father went to Super Bowl XXXI, which saw the Green Bay Packers beating the New England Patriots. His father brought a lot of memorabilia home, so he became a fan because he used those items daily. Fans of the Green Bay Packers are famously called Cheeseheads. The latter started as a derogatory term for Wisconsinites but winded up being embraced by Wisconsinites out of spite. As for how it came into existence, Wisconsin has a long history of producing an enormous amount of dairy products. It speaks volumes that it’s only beaten by California in the United States.
2. “Cheeseburger in Paradise” – Jimmy Buffett
There is no mystery what this song is about. It seems safe to say there was a point when Jimmy Buffett went without cheeseburgers for a while. Something that increased his craving for them. Suffice it to say that the song’s lyrics can only come from someone who cares about the fine details of their cheeseburgers.
1. “Big Cheese” – Nirvana
Food idioms are popular. However, they can come into existence through unusual paths. For instance, “big cheese” apparently started seeing use because of the British colonization of India. In short, the British used “the real thing” as a positive term in the early 19th century. In Urdu, “thing” is “chiz.” Due to this, British people returning from India turned “the real thing” into “the real chiz.” Subsequently, this became “the big cheese.” As such, the Nirvana song isn’t about the literal foodstuff. Instead, it’s about the pressures exerted by management in the music industry based on the band’s experiences.
You can also read:
- The 10 Best Beastie Boys Songs of All-Time
- The 10 Best Modest Mouse Songs of All-Time
- The 10 Best Jimmy Buffett Songs of All-Time
- The 10 Best Nirvana Songs of All-Time
- The 10 Best Carly Simon Songs of All-Time
