The six best songs inspired by Charles Bukowski
No matter how you cut it, Charles Bukowski is one writer who has a habit of dividing opinions. His visceral and uncompromising view of the world enthralled and enraged audiences in equal measure before his passing. Even now, as new generations find the poems and literature accredited to weird and wonderful Buk, the audience is split. There’s no doubt that Bukowski is a problematic character to align with here in 2022. Still, there’s equally no doubt that he influenced a myriad of singers, songwriters and musicians in their pursuit of artistic gravity.
Below, we’ve decided to pick out some of our favourite songs from those artists as we pay tribute to one of the most powerful poets of his generation. Charles Bukowski’s values should be questioned at every turn, but his pop culture influence can never be underestimated.
Now, it must be said, we’ve not always picked out the best songs that reference Bukowski the most obviously. In fact, many of the entries merely reference the icon as a figure of interest or a touchstone of culture. However, in our mind, that makes his impact all the more noteworthy. Like McDonald’s, Jameson and Playboy, Bukowski has become a symbol for so much more.
With that in mind, we have missed some of the lesser tunes that reference the poet. There is no room on the list for Kasabian’s ‘You’re In Love With A Psycho’, and The Boo Radleys’ own ‘Charles Bukowski is Dead’ is also left off. The Good Life’s ‘Album of the Year’, Moose blood’s ‘Bukowski’ and even The Dogs D’Amour have all been kept away from our list.
Instead, we’ve kept it short and sweet, just like Buk would’ve wanted. Below, you can find the six best songs inspired by Charles Bukowski.
The six best songs inspired by Charles Bukowski:
‘Bukowski’ – Modest Mouse
What better place to start than perhaps the most obviously Bukowski-referenced song? Using the poet as the titular figure for this song is a thinly-veiled attempt for Modest Mouse lead singer Isaac Brock to showcase his disdain for God. A track filled with theological rage is the perfect vehicle for Buk’s name.
Those of you who think the song might be a celebration of the poet are sorely mistaken as Brock asks, “Who would wanna be such an arsehole?” However, the effort is undoubtedly coded in a similar fashion to Bukowski’s vitriolic diatribes about the unjust behaviour of a perceived God.
‘Mellowship Slinky in B Major’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
When the Red Hot Chili Peppers hit the rock scene, they tore it up. The band’s funk stylings were so innovative that they operated outside the mainstream of rock and soon became a go-to band for the alternative thinkers of the world. On their mammoth 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magick, they made sure everyone knew that the group were far more than another rock band.
On the song Mellowship Slinky in B Major’ — which is actually in D-Minor, those crazy cats —the band reference as many notable authors as possible in an attempt to gather some intellectual clout. Within those mentions is Bukowski, which Keidis delivers with natural impetuous to sound like “Boo-Kow-Ski!”
‘Dirty Day’ – U2
Never one to miss an opportunity to showcase his intellectual side, Bono took the chance to pay homage to Charles Bukowski with ‘Dirty Day’ a song taken from U2’s album Zooropa from 1993. Not quite in the classic league of some U2 numbers, the track takes lessons from two influential figure sin Bono’s life.
His father, Bob Hewson, can be cited as the source for the title, often referring to bad moments or ugly weather as a “dirty day”, and their rocky relationship can be heard within the tempestuous lyrics. Within the words in the song, there is also a reference to another father figure of sorts; Charles Bukowski. When Bono sings, “The days, days, days run away like horses over the hill,” he is referencing Bukowski’s 1969 collection of poetry, The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills.
‘Green Corn’ – NOFX
NOFX are a cult band that few who love them will ever renounce. Despite their position as snotty members of the pop-punk explosion, NOFX always maintained a sense of intellectualism within their music, whether that was through poetic nuance or political protest. With this track, they manage to attain both.
Lyrically, the song leaps out from the page like a Bukowski verse, but it is in the title, a less-than-subtle reference to Barfly, that we can attribute the song to our list. If you were hoping for anything other than two minutes of synoptic referencing of the film, then you’ll be sorely disappointed.
‘Frank’s Wild Years’ – Tom Waits
Tom Waits and Bukowski seem as though they’re a match made in heaven. The two artists are cut from the same cloth. The Californian creatives are keen on a few home truths, authenticity, artistry and enjoying themselves. The pair is a perfect fit; it is why listening to Waits read the work of his idol feels entirely natural, and so, when the singer picked up the reading of two poems, it landed with aplomb. Perhaps, the best vision of Waits’ love of Bukowski and how the poet informed the musician’s work is the song ‘Frank’s Wild Years’.
A song delivered with a gravelled-vocal spoken-word performance is a great place to start when tracking Charles Bukowski’s influence on the pop world. Waits’ song ‘Frank’s Wild Years’ does exactly that as Waits’ spoken-word lyrics land heavily amid a musical backdrop of serene and sensational sounds. It is, undoubtedly, one of Waits’ most beloved songs.
‘She Looks Fun’ – Arctic Monkeys
With 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Arctic Monkeys made a statement that they weren’t going to follow in the footsteps of countless other rock bands; they were going to change it up. the album is essential lounge music and ranks as one of the better efforts of that year.
Within the track is a run of seemingly unconnected words interspersed with the refrain “she looks fun,” with the whiskey gargling poet being referenced. Speaking with Pitchfork, Alex Turner explained the sequence: “It’s about the characters that people create in that virtual world. As far as the ‘cheeseburger’ line, I was actually watching an episode of the show High Maintenance, and there’s a part where the person’s taking their picture with a cheeseburger and posting it and all this. That part in the song also reminds me of when you’re reading a book and trying to get into it, but you can’t stop from looking at your phone. I might have been doing a bit of that when I was writing the song.”
