--- title: "Top Ten Whistle-y Songs | TopTenFast" meta: author: TopTenFast description: "One way to humanize a song is to whistle. After all, people only whistle when they're happy or trying to make themselves happy (which is why you might hea" "og:description": "One way to humanize a song is to whistle. After all, people only whistle when they're happy or trying to make themselves happy (which is why you might hea" "og:title": "Top Ten Whistle-y Songs | TopTenFast" "twitter:description": "One way to humanize a song is to whistle. After all, people only whistle when they're happy or trying to make themselves happy (which is why you might hea" "twitter:title": "Top Ten Whistle-y Songs | TopTenFast" --- ![TopTenFast - Create \& Vote on Top Ten Lists](https://toptenfast.com/og-image-v2.jpg) [![TopTenFast logo](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/favicon.png)TopTenFast](/) Log In All Lists [Music](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/category/music) -2 # Top Ten Whistle-y Songs [![cf61061f](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=cf61061f-4d9e-4d53-a839-7886a074cddc&size=20)cf61061f](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/cf61061f)·14y· 7·Share One way to humanize a song is to whistle. After all, people only whistle when they're happy or trying to make themselves happy (which is why you might hear someone whistle upon relieving themselves in front of a urinal, or why people might be so inclined to "whistle while they work"), so of course the only possible reaction to the sonic embodiment of unabashed carefreeness can be a positive one. Folk music has for a long time incorporated whistling as a sort of additional, reassuring dimension to a man-made mentality. And to prove that whistling is utterly irrestible, here are ten songs that include that distinctly man-made sound, from artists who couldn't contain themselves. Post comment Recent Guest13y0 Bloom - The Paper Kites Reply 1. 16 [The Black Keys' "Tighten Up" [![Anonymous](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=0c2e2687-3780-5ba5-9d54-cf43da624e29&size=16)Anonymous](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/Anonymous)10y The name of this song is apt, as it is one song untrue to the band's tradition of playing self-indulgent blues riffs and noodling solos. This song, from the Black Keys' Attack and Release, is "tightened up," as it were, to be catchy and even radio-friendly. The whistle which officially puts the song into motion, is incredibly essential as a defining hook. More than any of the lyrics (dressed in Dan Auerbach's one-size-fits-all classic-rock vocals) the whistle is likely the first thing you hear in your head when you start thinking of this song, a sort of hybrid between the Harlem Globetrotters theme and some classic 60s R\&B music.… More](/list/top-ten-whistle-y-songs/the-black-keys-tighten-up)Post comment 2. 20 [Peter Gabriel's "Games without Frontiers" [![cf61061f](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=cf61061f-4d9e-4d53-a839-7886a074cddc&size=16)cf61061f](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/cf61061f)14y This song has a special place in its heart for some whistling; after sonic moments that resemble something David Bowie or Robert Smith of the Cure might pen, on comes something very unlike that which either would likely reach for: a wall of whistle followed by the lyrics "whistling tunes we hid in the dunes by the seaside/whistling tunes we're kissings baboons in the jungle." In the business of being unique, Gabriel is very much his own brand of unique, even while the sounds of an era are reflected by some of his conventions.… More](/list/top-ten-whistle-y-songs/peter-gabriel-s-games-without-frontiers)Post comment 3. 30 [Andrew Bird's "Plasticities" [![cf61061f](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=cf61061f-4d9e-4d53-a839-7886a074cddc&size=16)cf61061f](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/cf61061f)14y Andrew Bird is a master of all that he puts his hands on. Or lips for that matter. While making for a one-man-entertainment-machine-of-sorts, Bird plays guitar, violin, and sings (even simultaneously during live performances, with the help of a looping machine). He also whistles, and how: while transitioning from an elaborately plucked and bowed violin intro, he might whistle a fantastic little melody as he reaches around his back for his guitar. And with his powerful range and command (and impressive vibrato), it is nothing short of its own instrument, which means Bird can produce four different timbres--five if you count his plucking the violin as seperate from his bowing it--in any given song by himself (Meanwhile any given pop star on stage can't even be troubled to hold a microphone on stage, opting for one of those telemarketer headsets.). Listen to "Plasticities" from his album Armchair Apocrypha, and see the man in top demonstrative form.… More](/list/top-ten-whistle-y-songs/andrew-bird-s-plasticities)Post comment 4. 40 [Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Home" [![cf61061f](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=cf61061f-4d9e-4d53-a839-7886a074cddc&size=16)cf61061f](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/cf61061f)14y This band, particularly chief songwriter Alex Ebert ("Edward"), has a thorough understanding of its traditional folk origins, and hence why the choir of whistles that leads into "Home," from their immensely well-received (and frustratingly yet to be followed up) Up from Below, is placed thoughtfully. Whistling, after all, has a great tradition in folk music, as a sort of humble musical element (the same goes for heavy use of tamborine). The sound of a whistle paired with more "serious" instruments comes off very salt-of-the-earth, and so--according to how affably soulful it sounds anyway--is this song.… More](/list/top-ten-whistle-y-songs/edward-sharpe-and-the-magnetic-zeros-home)Post comment 5. 50 [The Drums' "Let's Go Surfing" [![cf61061f](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=cf61061f-4d9e-4d53-a839-7886a074cddc&size=16)cf61061f](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/cf61061f)14y Every vocal emmission in this song completely defies the cold, haunting spirit that is so prominent in the instumentals and auxiliary atmospherics. The minimal bass and guitar and heavy doses of reverb shout Joy Division and despair, while Beach Boys-esque lyrics about surfing, unseemly vocal optimism, and prominently-placed whistles suggest a cheeky, chipper mood that really doesn't belong here. This paradox of dark and light suggests a meeting of inevitable opposites that most are just not ready for. The sound, however, is incredibly hard to get out of your head, like a persistant whistle you keep blowing even while it annoys you tremendously to do so.… More](/list/top-ten-whistle-y-songs/the-drums-let-s-go-surfing)Post comment 6. 60 [Cold War Kids' "Pregnant" [![cf61061f](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=cf61061f-4d9e-4d53-a839-7886a074cddc&size=16)cf61061f](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/cf61061f)14y This band revels in the depression-era. Soulful-crooning vocals, lo-fi guitar squals, lyrical narratives about hard-times and making ends meet, and a jazzy-bluesy-R\&B vibe that's been filtered through something contemporary yet very educated in the sounds of the past. This song takes a heaping dose of that heartfelt indy minimalism, some light-tapping drums and effervescent acoustic guitar strumming (along with some indecipherable background chatter, which kind of mimics the sound of a PA system as heard from the waiting room of a hospital), which says something like "we'd use more instruments, but this is all we could afford." The whistling in the intro contrubutes to the effect of passing the time 'til things start looking up.… More](/list/top-ten-whistle-y-songs/cold-war-kids-pregnant)Post comment 7. 70 [Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks" [![Anonymous](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=0c2e2687-3780-5ba5-9d54-cf43da624e29&size=16)Anonymous](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/Anonymous)11y This band blew up fast, and catchiness plays no small part in that fact; songwriter Mark Foster, after which the band is named, used to be a jingle writer, so getting stuck in your head literally is what he is best at. Leaving aside an album's worth of radio-friendly nuggets, "Pumped Up Kicks" is their flagship, the single they built an album around only out of obligation. And while every part of the track lends itself to a catchy product, the whistled hook is just one more drillbit attached to the side of an effective, skull-displacing brain-drill.… More](/list/top-ten-whistle-y-songs/foster-the-people-s-pumped-up-kicks)Post comment 8. 80 [The Beach Boys' "Whistle In" [![af57179c](https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/identicon/svg?seed=af57179c-d2fc-5fa0-8455-d3c73bd85427&size=16)af57179c](https://toptenfast.lovable.app/af57179c)2y It's easy to see why this song is called "Whistle In" upon hearing that intro harmony; Brian Wilson and co. literally "whistle in" to this song, the lyrics of which are heavily concerned with the act of blowing air through pursed lips. Appearing on the more experimental, and incredible weird (e.g. there is a song called/about "Vegetables"), album Smiley Smile, this one-minute track appears to be just another exercise and trying out different sonic combination; the result is more amusing and oddly interesting than beautiful.\