Far Out 40: May Mania
The month of May doesn’t always get the most attention. Sitting right at the tail end of spring, May might be the month that flowers, but plenty of people seem eager to rain all over the entire month. Not transformative enough to be considered the start of a season or warm enough to remind you of summer, May is just… there. Other than a timeless shoutout from The Temptations, pop culture doesn’t have a lot to say about May.
As it turns out, the lack of love for May extends into the world of music. Sandwiched between a whole month of April Fool’s Day songs and the real start of summer in June, not many songs pay tribute to the transitional month of May. So, in order to extend our list as far and wide as possible, we’ve included just about every song that at least includes a reference to the word “May”, whether it’s actually referring to the month or not.
That opened the floodgates for a ton of classic songs, from Paul McCartney’s ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ to Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her’. Old-school greats like Randy Newman and Julie Andrews found their way here, as did Blue Öyster Cult, Pink Floyd, Billy Joel, and a whole heap of folk songs. Hell, we even found room for one of the most underrated Smashing Pumpkins songs, ‘Mayonasie’.
To celebrate the month of May, here are 40 songs that (at least partially) mention the month.
Far Out 40: May Mania
- ‘First of May’ – Bee Gees
- ‘Stormy May Day’ – AC/DC
- ‘Third of May / Ōdaigahara’ – Fleet Foxes
- ‘Month of May’ – Arcade Fire
- ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ – Stereophonics
- ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ – Paul McCartney
- ‘You May Be Right’ – Billy Joel
- ‘For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her’ – Simon and Garfunkel
- ‘Long May You Run’ – Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
- ‘Mayonaise’ – The Smashing Pumpkins
- ‘May Song’ – Waterson:Carthy
- ‘May Queen’ – Liz Phair
- ‘The May Queen’ – Robert Plant
- ‘Early Morning May’ – Ronald Jenkees
- ‘May 16’ – Lagwagon
- ‘Maybe I’m Doing It Wrong’ – Randy Newman
- ‘Hail! Hail! The First of May’ – Jackie Oates
- ‘My Girl’ – The Tempations
- ‘Then Came The Last Day of May’ – Blue Öyster Cult
- ‘End of May’ – Michael Bublé
- ‘The Lusty Month of May’ – Julie Andrews
- ‘May Day’ – Sheffy Oren Bach
- ‘Mayday’ – The Libertines
- ‘Come What May’ – Air Supply
- ‘See Emily Play’ – Pink Floyd
- ‘May It Be’ – Enya
- ‘May 24’ – Trophy Eyes
- ‘May 1st’ – Beach Fossils
- ‘May 2’ – The Time Keepers
- ‘May 3’ – CHLLNGR
- ‘May 4th’ – The Barr Brothers
- ‘Fifth of May’ – Zach Bryan
- ‘Cinco De Mayo’ – War
- ‘Cinco De Mayo Shit Show’ – Marietta
- ‘Cinco De Mayo’ – Pitbull, Lil Jon, Chesca
- ‘May You Never’ – Eric Clapton
- ‘May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door’ – Mogwai
- ‘Maybe We Could’ – Kllo
- ‘Maybe We Crazy’ – 50 Cent, DJ Whoo Kid
- ‘Who May’ – Tropea
