Editing Proverb (section)

===In music===

Proverbs are often poetic in and of themselves, making them ideally suited for adapting into songs. Proverbs have been used in music from opera to country to hip-hop. Proverbs have also been used in music in many languages, such as the [[Akan language]]<ref>p. 95 ff. Kwesi Yankah. 1989. ''The Proverb in the Context of Akan Rhetoric.'' Bern: Peter Lang.</ref> the [[Igede language]],<ref>Ode S. Ogede. 1993. Proverb usage in the praise songs of Igede: ''Adiyah'' poet Micah Ichegbeh. ''Proverbium'' 10:237–256.</ref> Spanish,<ref>Raúl Eduardo GONZÁLEZ HERNÁNDEZ. Refranes en las canciones de [[Chava Flores]]. ''Paremia'' 20: 2011, pp. 139–148. [http://www.paremia.org/wp-content/uploads/13.GONZALEZ.pdf Electronic access] {{Webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140502033056/http://www.paremia.org/wp-content/uploads/13.GONZALEZ.pdf |date=2014-05-02}}</ref> and Igbo.<ref>{{cite book |pages=115–117 |first1=G. M. T. |last1=Emezue |first2=Nefertiti N. |last2=Emezue |contribution=An Encounter with a Proverb-Hunter and the Beingness of Igbo Proverbs |title=Being and Becoming African as a Permanent Work in Progress: Inspiration from Chinua Achebe's Proverbs |date=2021 |editor1-first=Francis B. |editor1-last=Nyamnjoh |editor2-first=Patrick |editor2-last=Nwosu |editor3-first=Hassan M. |editor3-last=Yosimbom |location=Bamenda, Cameroon |publisher=Langaa Research and Publishing Common Initiative Group |isbn=9789956551477}}</ref>

[[File:Gnomovtt-The-Mighty-Diamonds.jpg|thumb|The Mighty Diamonds, singers of "Proverbs"]]
In English the proverb (or rather the beginning of the proverb), [[If the shoe fits (disambiguation)|If the shoe fits]] has been used as a title for three albums and five songs. Other English examples of using proverbs in music<ref>Bryan, Geoerge. 2001. An unfinished List of Anglo-American Proverb Songs. ''Proverbium'' 18:15–56.</ref> include [[Elvis Presley]]'s ''Easy come, easy go'', Harold Robe's ''Never swap horses when you're crossing a stream'', Arthur Gillespie's ''Absence makes the heart grow fonder'', [[Bob Dylan]]'s ''Like a rolling stone'', [[Cher]]'s ''Apples don't fall far from the tree''. [[Lynn Anderson]] made famous a song full of proverbs, ''[[Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson song)|I never promised you a rose garden]]'' (written by [[Joe South]]). In choral music, we find [[Michael Torke]]'s ''Proverbs'' for female voice and ensemble. A number of [[Blues]] musicians have also used proverbs extensively.<ref>Taft, Michael. 1994. Proverbs in the Blues. ''Proverbium'' 12: 227–258.</ref><ref>Prahlad, Sw. Anand. 1996. ''African-American Proverbs in Context''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. See pp. 77ff.</ref> The frequent use of proverbs in Country music has led to published studies of proverbs in this genre.<ref>Steven Folsom. 1993. ''A discography of American Country music hits employing proverb: Covering the years 1986–1992. Proceedings for the 1993.'' Conference of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association, ed. by Sue Poor, pp. 31–42. Stillwater, Oklahoma: The Association.</ref><ref>Florian Gutman. 2007. "Because you're mine, I walk the line" Sprichwörliches in auswegewählten Liedern von Johnny Cash." ''Sprichwörter sind Goldes Wert'', ed. by Wolfgang Mieder, pp. 177–194. (Supplement series of ''Proverbium'' 25). Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.</ref> The [[Reggae]] artist Jahdan Blakkamoore has recorded a piece titled ''Proverbs Remix''. The opera ''Maldobrìe'' contains careful use of proverbs.<ref>V. Dezeljin. 1997. Funzioni testuali dei proverbi nel testo di ''Maldobrìe''. Linguistica (Ljubljana) 37: 89–97.</ref> An extreme example of many proverbs used in composing songs is a song consisting almost entirely of proverbs performed by [[Bruce Springsteen]], "My best was never good enough".<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqJeHXifgLk |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211111/TqJeHXifgLk |archive-date=2021-11-11 |url-status=live|title=Bruce Springsteen – My Best Was Never Good Enough – Live 2005 (opening night) video |date= 20 January 2010 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2012-09-20}}{{cbignore}}</ref> [[The Mighty Diamonds]] recorded a song called simply "Proverbs".<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyO2Chjy4LM |title=Mighty Diamonds doing "Proverbs" |website=[[YouTube]]|date=20 March 2017 }}</ref>

The band [[Fleet Foxes]] used the proverb painting [[Netherlandish Proverbs]] for the cover of their album [[Fleet Foxes (album)|Fleet Foxes.]]<ref>Jones, Jonathan. "Why I judge albums by their covers." Wednesday 25 February 2009. ''The Guardian''.</ref>

In addition to proverbs being used in songs themselves, some rock bands have used parts of proverbs as their names, such as the [[Rolling Stones]], [[Bad Company]], [[The Mothers of Invention]], Feast or Famine, and [[Of Mice and Men (band)|Of Mice and Men]]. There have been at least two groups that called themselves "The Proverbs", and there is a hip-hop performer in South Africa known as "Proverb". In addition, many albums have been named with allusions to proverbs, such as ''Spilt milk'' (a title used by [[Jellyfish (band)|Jellyfish]] and also [[Kristina Train]]), ''The more things change'' by [[Machine Head (band)|Machine Head]], ''Silk purse'' by [[Linda Ronstadt]], ''Another day, another dollar'' by DJ Scream Roccett, ''[[The blind leading the naked]]'' by [[Violent Femmes]], ''What's good for the goose is good for the gander'' by [[Bobby Rush (musician)|Bobby Rush]], ''Resistance is Futile'' by [[Steve Coleman]], ''Murder will out'' by [[Fan the Fury]]. The proverb ''Feast or famine'' has been used as an album title by [[Feast or Famine (Chuck Ragan album)|Chuck Ragan]], [[Feast or Famine (Reef the Lost Cauze album)|Reef the Lost Cauze]], Indiginus, and DaVinci. [[Whitehorse (band)|Whitehorse]] mixed two proverbs for the name of their album ''Leave no bridge unburned''. The band Splinter Group released an album titled ''When in Rome, Eat Lions,'' referring to the proverb "[[When in Rome, do as the Romans do]]". The band Downcount used a proverb for the name of their tour, ''[[Come and take it]]''.<ref>p. 10. Singh, Anup K. 2017. ''Dictionary of Proverbs''. Neelkanth Prakashan Publishers.</ref>