Songs that mention doctors comprise a peculiar sub-genre of popular music. It's a trend that's definitely on the wane, a fact that makes sense when you consider that most people see their doctor once a year and only after making an appointment three months in advance. But back when the family physician was a more familiar figure, who even made house calls, doctors figured prominently in the public imagination. In blues songs, the doctor is often a killjoy warning people to quit their various vices, as in Memphis Minnie's "Doctor, Doctor." "Oh, doctor, doctor, you know I got a lot of faith in you/I'd trust you everywhere/ But it hurt me so bad/when you say if I took another drink/nothing you could do" And of course, in many songs the doctor is the supplier of various pain killers, sedatives, and other (often less-than-legal) medications. Dr. Feelgood's praises have been sung throughout the 20th Century. Whether actually named "Dr. Feelgood" (Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, Prince, Roxtette, Motley Crue) or called something else ("Dr. Robert" by The Beatles, "Doctor Wu" by Steely Dan), the drug-dispensing doctor has long been familiar to musicians, both in song and in real life. But songs about doctors being the dispensers of romantic advice are surprisingly common, even though, for the life of us, we can't imagine ever turning to a doctor for advice about love. There appear to be three main types of songs about doctors and love: The "mend my broken heart" type, the "tell me what I'm feeling" type, and the "doctor is the cure" type. Here are some examples, along with a few miscellaneous examples that don't fit into these three main categories. "MEND MY BROKEN HEART" SONGS: "Good Lovin'" by The Young Rascals"I was feelin' so bad/asked my family doctor just what I had..." "Dear Doctor" by The Rolling Stones"Oh help me, please doctor, I'm damaged/There's a pain where there once was a heart..." "Doctor Doctor" by UFO "Doctor doctor, please/Oh, the mess I'm in/She walked up to me and really stole my heart…" "Call The Doctor" by J.J. Cale "Call the doctor, I think I'm sick/A shady lady took all my bread/ravished my body, lord, and messed with my head…" "Hard To Explain" by Cowboy Junkies "I went to see my doctor/cause I thought I had a hole in my heart…" "TELL ME WHAT I'M FEELING" SONGS: "Doctor Doctor" by Thompson Twins "Doctor, doctor, can't you see, I'm burning, burning/Oh, doctor, doctor, is this love I'm feeling?" "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor Doctor)" by Robert Palmer "Doctor, doctor, give me the news/I've got a bad case of lovin' you..." "THE DOCTOR IS THE CURE" SONGS: "Doctor Love" by First Choice"Just one kiss from his lips/is like taking Vitamin C/Oh you can't imagine what/a doctor does to me…" "Calling Doctor Love" by KISS"They call me Dr. Love/I am your doctor of love/I've got the cure you're thinking of…" "Doctor Detroit" by Devo"No need to look/he's not in the book/the doctor's not an MD/what he does this time/he does for free…" BONUS MISCELLANEOUS SONGS: "I Don't Need No Doctor" by Ray CharlesThis is an anti-doctor song, in which Ray eschews the doctor, realizing that his lover is the only antidote for the pain he's feeling. "I don't need no doctor/I tell ya now/for my prescription to be filled/Only my baby's arms/could ever take away this chill…" "Witch Doctor" by David SevilleThis is a "make this person love me" song in which an unwilling would-be-lover is drugged into submission. ("Love Potion #9" is in this vein as well, but doesn't mention a doctor, only a vague figure who is some sort of spiritualist.) "My friend the witch doctor, he taught me what to do/I know that you'll be mine when I say this to you…" "Go See The Doctor" by Kool Moe DeeIn this song the doctor is visited after several love affairs in order to cure a "burning" that isn't desire, but rather the nasty after-affect of a misguided conquest. "If I see another girl and I know I can rock her/Before I push up I'll make her go see the doctor…" "I Need a Doctor" by EminemIn this song, the doctor is none other than Dr. Dre, Eminem's friend and mentor. It's a love song to a trusted friend, with only a vague homo-erotic subtext that neither person would ever dare acknowledge. "I'm about to lose my mind/You've been gone for so long/I'm running out of time/I need a doctor/Call me a doctor/I need a doctor, doctor/to bring me back to life…" Source
