One scoop, two scoops? Vanilla flavor, chocolate, coffee, cherry? We all love ice cream, especially on a hot day.
Sicilian chef Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli invented ice cream (or ‘gelato’) back in 1659. It started out life as a dessert for royalty (like most things) before it became everyone’s favorite bit of sugar sweetness.
We not only have ice cream to thank for the calories, but there’s also plenty of popular songs about ice creams.
So, here’s the best ice cream songs. Once you’re done, you’ll be heading for your nearest ice cream shop.
Contents
- ‘Ice Cream Man’ by Van Halen
- ‘Ice Cream Van’ by Glasvegas
- ‘Ice Cream Girl’ by Lloyd Cole
- ‘Ice Cream Man’ by Tom Waits
- ‘Ice Cream’ by New Young Pony Club
- ‘Ice Cream Man’ by Blur
- ‘Banana Split For My Baby’ by Louis Prima
- ‘Ice Cream Party’ by Modest Mouse
- ‘Ice Cream’ by The Wombats
- ‘La Dolly Vita’ by Smashing Pumpkins
- ‘Ice Cream’ by Sarah McLachlan
- ‘Ice Cream Cakes’ by Jeff Beck Group
‘Ice Cream Man’ by Van Halen
Written by the Chicago blues musician John Brim at Chess Records in 1953. With a healthy dose of double entendres (typical of many American blues songs), this was one of two covers from Halen’s first album (the other was a cover of The Kinks’ ‘You Really Got Me’).
‘Ice Cream Van’ by Glasvegas
Scottish indie rock band Glasvegas released this on their debut album in 2008.
The lyrics are foreboding, warning of “a storm on the horizon”. We’re all blind to this peril, he says. We just keep waiting on the pavement “For the ice-cream van to come”.
Also, check out our list of storm songs for more meteorically inspired tunes.
‘Ice Cream Girl’ by Lloyd Cole
Appearing on Cole’s first solo album (known as the ‘X’ album because of the cross on the album sleeve), ‘Ice Cream Girl’ was co-written by organist Blair Cowan.
‘Ice Cream Man’ by Tom Waits
Appearing on our list of songs about food, ‘Ice Cream Man’ is a Waits song from his Closing Time album. I love the idea of Tom Waits in an ice cream truck.
“I’ll be clickin’ by your house about two forty-five / Sidewalk sundae strawberry surprise”
‘Ice Cream’ by New Young Pony Club
London dance-rock group New Young Pony Club (now known simply as changed their name to ‘NYPC’) released ‘Ice Cream’ in February 2005. The limited-edition pressing of a thousand copies sold out in three days, making it one of the most popular ice cream songs ever!
The little-known NYPC nailed this one, with its cool bass line and risque lyrics.
‘Ice Cream Man’ by Blur
From their 2015 offering The Magic Whip (with its ice cream cone cover), this song is a little deceptive.
According to guitarist Coxon, it “sounds jolly enough on the outside, but there are some dark undertones there.”
“I was only twenty-one / When I watched it on TV” alludes to when Damon Albarn watched the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 on TV.
‘Banana Split For My Baby’ by Louis Prima
In this brilliant ice cream song, Prima is intent on his girl stuffing her face with ice cream while he sticks with a glass of water (cos he “ain’t got no money”).
Gotta love the song lyrics on this track!
“Stack her up with crazy goo / That’s the stuff she likes to wade right through / Banana split for my baby / A glass of plain water for me”
‘Ice Cream Party’ by Modest Mouse
The indie-rock group from Issaquah, Washington, this song by Modest Mouse has a darker side to it than the name suggests. The lyrics tell a story about troubled family life and a dispute with his father.
“There’s an ice cream party in my house, an ice cream party in my house, please come over”
‘Ice Cream’ by The Wombats
From The Wombats’ fourth studio album, ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’.
The song tells the story of someone you want so badly that you feel like ice cream melting in the sun.
“Melting like an ice cream in the sun / He’s low and she’s high, but I take it offline / Is there really such a thing as too much fun?”
‘La Dolly Vita’ by Smashing Pumpkins
‘La Dolly Vita’ is a play on ‘La Dolce Vita’, meaning ‘the sweet life’ in Italian (and the title of a famous Federico Fellini movie in the ’60s).
The song is about having a good life with the girl of your dreams: “La dolly vita / Cool as ice cream”.
‘Ice Cream’ by Sarah McLachlan
A love song that compares her love with ice cream: “Your love Is better than ice cream / Better than anything else that I’ve tried”.
However, she’s mindful that it could all go wrong: “It’s a long way / Down to the place where we started from”.
‘Ice Cream Cakes’ by Jeff Beck Group
From Beck’s superb 1972 album Jeff Beck Group (known as the ‘Orange Album’), the groovy ‘Ice Cream Cakes’ is one of the best songs about gelato with some amazing guitar work from the brilliant Jeff Beck.
“It’s so nice to be loved by somebody / Somebody like you”.
