Song · Cake
“The Guitar Man” by Cake
From the album Pressure Chief (2004)
“The Guitar Man” by Cake appears on 9 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2005 and 2014. It was first released in 2004 on the album Pressure Chief. Its best result is #67 on the CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2005. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #377 alternative song of 2005 and #2,721 alternative song of all time.
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"The Guitar Man" is a David Gates song, first cut by Bread on their 1972 album Guitar Man, and on Pressure Chief in 2004 Cake gave it the full Cake treatment. The band arranged and produced it themselves, sharing engineering and mixing duties with Craig Long, Mark Needham, Patrick Olguin and Kirt Shearer, and brought in guests Matt McCord on drums and Tyler Pope on keyboards, guitar and percussion.
What they do with it is strip out the soft-rock gloss and play it straight-faced: a lean, unhurried groove, a vocal delivered with a shrug, and just enough space for the melody to shine through. It's the kind of cover that sounds affectionate and sly at the same time.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 67 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2005 | 101 |
| 2005 | 258 | ModernRock.com Online | ModernRock.com Top 400 Songs of 2005 | 400 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 941 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1171 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 1182 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1217 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 1270 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2013 | 1320 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) | 2012 |
| 2014 | 1367 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) | 2013 |
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