Songs and the City

Medical jams: From plastic surgery to cancer to sex changes, it's been rockedabout

Plastic surgery can be an obsession in music too.
Courtesy photo
The band's called Morphine. They have a song titled "Cure For Pain." Yes, theyknow a particular brand of medicine.
Billy Bragg sings about a nurse's hard life.
Hopefully, M.D. Anderson can make Joe Jackson's lament about cancer a thing ofthe past.
It's a Songs And The City. Of course, there's a Token Dylan Track.

Music and medicine seemingly make odd bedfellows, but when you think about how many songwriters moan about illness of the heart and mind it makes more sense. On top of that, narcotics (both of the legal and illicit variety) is another prevalent subject matter. So, now that we've established the connection, here's a playlist featuring music about medicine.

"Heart Doctor" by Lee "Scratch" Perry

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This late period track by the legendary (and legendarily kooky) Lee "Scratch" Perry finds the reggae/dub artist and producer doling out "advice" to his patients. Based on the uncontrolled giggling that starts off the track and the litany of narcotics reeled off during the verses, I would venture to say that this is one type of heart doctor you won't find making rounds at St. Luke's.

"A Nurse's Life is Full of Woe" by Billy Bragg

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An unreleased track taken from the sessions of Talking With the Taxman About Poetry, "A Nurse's Life is Full of Woe" finds Bragg taking on the plight of the working class, a cause he's been singing about for over two decades now. A fiery protest singer who is equally adept at churning out a sublime love song (see "Must I Paint You a Picture" or "A New England" for proof), the Bard of Barking is one of the modern era's unheralded lyricists.

"Plastic Surgery" by Maps of Africa

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You can't have a medical themed songlist without a nod to the vain, and there's no better ode to plastic surgery than this psychedelic thumper by Maps of Africa. Granted, it seems as if things have gone horribly wrong for this patient: "I used to be a person/but I've turned into a version/of my plastic surgery."

"Still Ill" by The Smiths

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If you know anything about Morrissey you know that the illness in question is undoubtedly an ailment of the heart. And by heart, I don't mean clogged arteries. As is true with almost any song by The Smiths, there are multiple interpretations of "Still Ill."

Clearly the Moz is lamenting a fading relationship ("Under the iron bridge we kissed/and although I ended up with sore lips/it just wasn't like the old days anymore."), but he also appears to be making a political dig at the rampant individualism of the Thatcher years ("I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving/England is mine and it owes me a living."). But what to make of the repeated lines, "does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?"

Depression? Knowing Morrissey I would say that's a safe bet.

"Call the Doctor" by J.J. Cale

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Such a smooth groove, this track from J.J. Cale's 1971 debut finds the laid back bluesman ravaged after a particularly rough night of loving: "A shady lady took all my bread/Ravished my body, lord, and messed with my head/I don't know but I've had my fill/Call the doctor and tell him I'm ill/"

"I Tried to Stay Healthy For You" by Palace Brothers

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Like the rest of the Palace Brother's mysterious debut, "I Tried to Stay Healthy For You" sounds like it was recorded in Appalachia during the early part of the 20th century. Will Oldham's quivering wimper and the slow, waltzing plucked banjo and strummed guitars behind him come across like a long lost Louvin Brother's classic or an unearthed gem from the Harry Smith folk collections.

The lyrics, seemingly written from the point of view of an aging coalminer are equally ancient and haunting, "Sing to them all and I'll stand by/Though jealousy it threatens/Smoke's around my blackened lungs/It is my only weapon."

"Cure for Pain" by Morphine

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Morphine is the band's name!

"Sick Bed Blues" by Skip James

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There's nothing worse than lying in bed stewing with sickness. Skip James's haunting blues bristles with despair, his falsetto moan all high and lonesome. Although the protagonist isn't doing too well physically, it sounds like there's more to the story: "Oh Lordy, Lord, Lord, Lord/I been so badly misused/An treated just like a dog."

"Cancer" by Joe Jackson

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Jackson laments that everything give you cancer and that's no cure and there's no answer. Hopefully M.D. Anderson, the nation's top-ranked cancer hospital, will have something to say about that real soon.

"Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" by The Kinks

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Nobody captures insulated suburban paranoia quite like Ray Davies. Although written in 1971, this ode to the product of fear-mongering is as timely as ever. "They're watching my house and they're tapping my telephone/I don't trust nobody, but I'm much too scared to be on my own/And the income tax collector's got his beady eye on me/No there ain't no cure for acute schizophrenia disease."

"Hospital" by The Lemonheads

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Although he's best known as an early '90's alternative rock "hunk" who temporarily went bonkers and snorted mounds of blow with Oasis brothers Gallagher, there's no denying that Evan Dando knows his way around a catchy melody. But while his hooks are as sweet as the band's namesake candy, Dando's cheeky lyrics can often be shallow and inane as this medical-related track shows: "There's a disease going 'round the hospital/Green green leaves falling from the trees." Hmmm.

"Lady Godiva's Operation" by The Velvet Underground

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"Lady Godiva's Operation" is a terrifying account of a sex-change operation ("... sees the growth as just so much cabbage that now must be cut away") that goes horribly wrong. The menacing cacophony of the droning viola alongside the pulsing drums and jagged guitars provides the perfect backdrop to the harrowing lyrics. Never has the miracle of modern medicine been described in such gruesome terms. Somebody call a lawyer, I think we have a malpractice suit on our hands.

T.D.K. (Token Dylan Track)

"Love Sick" by Bob Dylan

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The most common ailment that has afflicted musicians, poets and artists for centuries (and which has led to some of man's most breathtaking works of art) can be traced back to the germs spread by love. Dylan's bitter rumination on heartbreak ranks among his finest songs of the past thirty years.

Awards Season

CultureMap critic's guide to the 2026 Oscar Best Picture nominees

Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in Sinners

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Sinners leads all films at the 2026 Academy Awards with a stunning 16 nominations.

The nominations for the 2026 Academy Awards have been announced, with 10 films vying for Best Picture. Leading the way is Sinners with an astonishing 16 nominations, the most in Oscars history.

The other top films include One Battle After Another, which earned 13 nominations, and Marty Supreme, Frankenstein, and Sentimental Value, which each got 9 nominations.

As a refresher, below are links to the full reviews for each of the nominees covered by CultureMap in the past year, as well as brief thoughts on the films and their various nominations.

Movie fans will have plenty of time to catch up with each of the nominees, as this year's Oscars ceremony will not take place until Sunday, March 15.

Here's the list of Best Picture nominees, in alphabetical order:

Bugonia
Yet another off-the-wall film from director Yorgos Lanthimos features two great performances by Emma Stone (nominated for Best Actress) and Jesse Plemons at its center. Written by Will Tracy (nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay), the conspiracy theory film is alternately brutal and funny as the characters played by Stone and Plemons use their form of power to try to manipulate the other. With a fair amount of intrigue and two great actors going head-to-head for much of its running time, it gives even more Oscar pedigree to its filmmakers and stars.

F1
The biggest surprise among the Best Picture nominees has to be the racing movie F1. It was a technical marvel, to be sure, as its nominations in Film Editing, Sound, and Visual Affects attest. But the fact that it has no other nominations in any of the above the fold categories indicates that its other qualities are lacking. As a showcase (aka advertisement) for the sport it depicts, the film works relatively well. As a complete movie, though, there’s not much to recommend, to the point that it almost negates any of the positives that come from the racing scenes.

Frankenstein (not reviewed)
Writer/director Guillermo del Toro (nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay) loves himself a monster movie, and he takes on one of the classics with his new version of Frankenstein (now streaming on Netflix). Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, who brings to life The Creature, played by Jacob Elordi (nominated for Best Supporting Actor). With a slew of nominations in technical categories, there's a chance this film goes home with a lot of awards at this year's ceremony.

Hamnet (not reviewed)
Writer/director Chloé Zhao (nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay alongside co-writer Maggie O'Farrell) gets back to her Oscar-worthy skills for the first time since 2020's Nomadland (after the unfortunate detour into the MCU with Eternals). A story about love, loss, and grief involving William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, the film is most notable for the performances of its two leads, Jessie Buckley (nominated for Best Actress) and Paul Mescal.

Marty Supreme
There was no other movie this year, or maybe even this century, like Marty Supreme. Directed and co-written by Josh Safdie (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay alongside co-writer Ronald Bronstein), the film is an almost continuous blast of pure energy for 2 ½ hours. So many different things happen over the course of the film that the story defies conventional narratives. At its center is the fast-talking, powerhouse performance by star Timothée Chalamet (nominated for Best Actor), who cements his status as his generation’s movie star one year after playing the polar opposite role of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Look for the film to be a strong contender in the inaugural Best Casting category, as Safdie fills the film with non-actors who are crucial to the film's success.

One Battle After Another
Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson (nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) has an acclaimed career going back 30 years, but has yet to actually win an Oscar. That will change this year, as One Battle After Another is one of the favorites to win Best Picture thanks to Anderson's stellar filmmaking, as well as multiple great performances that earned the film four acting nominations (Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor, Teyana Taylor for Best Supporting Actress, and Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn for Best Supporting Actor). Add in a story with a very timely political critique (that's getting more relevant by the day) and you have the recipe for a big winner on Oscar night.

The Secret Agent (not reviewed)
No foreign country has quite the influence on the Oscars as Brazil, which for the second straight year has gotten one of its films nominated for both Best International Feature Film and Best Picture. Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the film is anchored by the performance of Wagner Moura (nominated for Best Actor) as a technology expert in the late 1970s who flees from a mysterious past to try to find peace in his hometown.

Sentimental Value (not reviewed)
For the third year in a row, two international films made the cut in the Best Picture race (but whither It Was Just an Accident?). Directed and co-written by Joachim Trier (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay alongside co-writer Eskil Vogt), the film is tied for the most acting nominations this year, earning nods for Renate Reinsve for Best Actress, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Best Supporting Actress, and Stellan Skarsgård for Best Supporting Actor.

Sinners
It takes a special kind of filmmaker to make movies that are both popular and Oscar-worthy, and writer/director Ryan Coogler (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay) has done it again, seven years after helming the Oscar-winning Black Panther. Both a tribute to Black music history and a gnarly vampire movie, the film is led by Michael B. Jordan (nominated for Best Actor) in dual roles as twins Smoke and Stack. With a story infused with all manner of subtext and a bunch of great supporting performances, including Best Supporting Actress nominee Wunmi Mosaku, the film demonstrates Coogler's great filmmaking abilities that should keep him in demand for years to come. Amazingly, there was only one category for which it was eligible in which it did not receive a nomination.

Train Dreams (not reviewed)
The second Netflix movie this year to be nominated, Train Dreams is a contemplative film about a logger (played by Joel Edgerton) in early 20th century America who tries to adapt to a rapidly-changing world. Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for the script by director Clint Bentley and co-writer Greg Kwedar, the film is most notable for the work done by Adolpho Veloso (nominated for Best Cinematography), who showcases the Pacific Northwest in all its glory.

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