These songs aren’t all about the act of allowing food or drink to pass down one’s throat. Some of them are about the metaphorical swallowing of intangible things, like pride and such. Still others are about swift-flying, migratory songbirds. Just call it Triple-Meaning Friday. Which isn’t a catchy phrase at all, actually. Enjoy? ~ JH
1) Bush ~ “Swallowed”
2) Rhys ~ “Swallow Your Pride”
3) NewSong ~ “Swallow The Ocean (Coming Alive)”
4) The Hearing ~ “Swallow”
5) Bombay Bicycle Club ~ “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep?”
6) Jewel ~ “Jupiter (Swallow The Moon)”
7) The National ~ “Don’t Swallow The Cap”
8) Yo-Yo Ma & Wu Tong ~ “Yanzi (Swallow Song)”
9) Wailin’ Jennys ~ “Swallow”
10) Coldplay ~ “Swallowed In The Sea”
11) Crystal Fighters ~ “Swallow”
12) Toni Gibson ~ “She’s Like The Swallow”
13) Pearl Jam ~ “Swallowed Whole”
14) Judy Collins & The Muppets ~ “Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”
15) morgxn ~ “Hard Pill To Swallow”
16) Wolf Alice ~ “Swallowtail”
17) Ramones ~ “Swallow My Pride”
18) brokeMC ~ “Swallow You Whole”
19) The Lennon Sisters ~ “When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano”
20) The Autumn Defense ~ “The Swallows Of London”
21) Souleen ~ “Swallow”
22) Hank Williams, Jr. ~ “Pride’s Not Hard To Swallow”
23) Teach Me Equals ~ “Swallow The Smoke”
24) Eve 6 ~ “Inside Out” (Nope, the word “swallow” doesn’t appear in the title of this song. But it’s all over the place in the chorus, which is repeated multiple times, of course. So here it is…)
25) Della Lupa ~ “Storm Of Swallows”
26) Brandon Flowers ~ “Swallow It”
27) Lorena B ~ “Swallow My Gum”
28) Lorena B ~ “Swallow My Gum 2” (Rarely if ever have I posted a “sequel” to a song, especially within the same post. But frankly, they’re fairly unusual, so I suppose it’s no real wonder after all.)
29) Billy Bragg ~ “Swallow My Pride”
30) Hilary Grist ~ “Swallow Me Up”
31) Ólafur Arnalds ~ “Gleypa Okkur (Swallow Us)”
32) Shreddy Krueger ~ “The Sky Will Swallow Us Whole” (I don’t usually go for songs in the “screamo” genre – or whatever they’re calling it these days – but this was really well-done. Nice mix of “clean” and “unclean” vocals.)
33) Laura Gibson ~ “Crow/Swallow”
34) Teenage Wrist ~ “Swallow”
35) Katie Melua & Gori Women’s Choir ~ “The Little Swallow” (You may hear the tune of this song and correctly recognize it as identical to the “Carol of the Bells.” However, this Ukrainian-language version came first. An American songwriter penned English lyrics to the tune sometime later.)
36) Postcards From Mars ~ “Swallow”
