How do you apologize to your friend after you’ve vomited on their grandmother because she, unexpectedly, smelled terribly and was ugly?
Just press play.
Thanks to Matt Farley’s 26,000-song music catalogue, there’s a song for just about everything – even that awkward moment when “I’m sorry I threw up all over your grandmother, but you should have warned me about how terrible she smells.”
“I was obsessed with songwriting from the moment I knew it was a thing,” Farley, 48, told The Independent. “I just decided to just keep making music until no one could ignore me.”
For more than two decades, Farley has written and released as many songs as possible, resulting in millions of streams and a livable salary. Now, he’s opening up about his process, imperfections and all.
‘No one could ignore more’
If forced perception was Farley’s goal in writing and releasing music, he’s succeeded.
Under various stage names, Farley has released tens of thousands of hours of music covering virtually any topic.
The Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns has written 48 albums, each one dedicated to a certain U.S. state, that contain dozens of one-to two-minute songs about a city or town. Popular renditions include “Fresno, California,” from his album “California Is a Big State: Oh Yeah, CA.”
“Fresno, Fresno, it is a very good place to go. Fresno, Fresno, it’s the raisin capital of the world,” Farley croons.
Under another name, The Passionate and Objective Jokerfan, Farley has written songs such as “I’m (Very Sexy; in Fact) Too Sexy.”
The oeuvre of The Sorry Apology Song Person has a plethora of hyperspecific scenarios for musical apologies: punching your cat in the face, being so awkward and having no social skills, farting in the elevator but blaming it on you and, of course, throwing up on your grandmother.
But the big hits – the songs with more than one million streams on Spotify – are bowel-centered songs by The Toilet Bowl Cleaners. For those who may be recovering from a case of the parasite stomach bug, cyclosporiasis, may we recommend “The Diarrhea Bounce Back.”
Farley’s various iterations of his biggest hit, “The Poop Song,” have earned him TikTok fame, too.
Over the last few years, people have discovered Farley has a whole discography of songs combining people’s names and the word “poop.”
“It’s just funny to do ridiculous stuff,” Farley says.
Farley, who grew up playing music in Massachusetts, said he was inspired to release music on streaming services in the early 2000s after discovering anyone could upload music to iTunes and, more importantly, be paid for it.
“Songs with very specific titles were selling on iTunes,” Farley recalls. “A song called ‘I love Hugh Grant,’ which was just a song about the actor Hugh Grant, that one was doing ok on iTunes.”
Thus, Papa Razzi and the Photogs, Farley’s first alternate ego who sings about celebrities, was born.
From there, his songs and personas have expanded to nearly every topic: food, sports, films, mystical creatures, jobs, holidays, dead animals.
It seems as though there’s nothing really off-limits for Farley, and that’s because his philosophy is to pursue every creative thought, no matter how silly.
‘Embrace the imperfection’
Like all writers, Farley knows what it’s like to sit down at a desk and have nothing to show for the spinning wheels in his head.
“I learned quickly, if there was a day I really wanted to get a song ‘right’ and ‘perfect,’ it would all crumble. The search for perfection always resulted in failure and unfinished projects,” Farley says.
Rather than ruminate on potential ideas, Farley has “learned to embrace imperfection” through his throw-everything-at-the-wall approach.
“If you just keep forcing yourself to create stuff, you’ll accidentally create some great stuff,” Farley says.
“If you’re loose and free – like it’s just a song, I’m going to do another one in 20 minutes, that’s when you accidentally write a masterpiece like ‘Best Song About Philadelphia.’”
It is the imperfections in Farley’s music that make it so memorable. His album covers are unrefined – typically selfies that he’s taken just moments after he finished a song.
On some tracks, Farley is audibly laughing at his own absurdity.
The payoff
Ultimately, Farley’s philosophy has paid off. In 2025, he’s made an estimated $160,000 from royalty streams on his songs alone. He said in previous years he’s made more, sometimes over $200k.
“It could all come crashing down at any moment,” Farley admits. “I’m reliant upon the goodwill of the music streaming services – who probably have had meetings, at times, to be like ‘What do we do about this guy?’”
On top of royalty streams, Farley makes a small percentage of his income through personalized songs, which people can request through his website. One popular personalization option is to request your name with the word “poop,” à la his poop-name songs. Or, for a classier alternative, Farley also does plenty of custom wedding songs.
If that’s not personal enough for Farley’s fans – who he jokingly refers to as “people with good taste” – they can also straight-up call him. Farley often leaves his real phone number in songs.
“I’m very open to people,” he says.
Farley’s dedication to his craft has given him the freedom to pursue creativity full-time. When he’s not making music, he’s playing music. Occasionally, Farley tours around the U.S., playing shows in major cities such as Boston, Philadelphia or New York City.
When he’s not playing music, he’s making movies. Right now, Farley says he’s taking a break from music to work on a movie called “Evil Spot,” a limited-release film “about a guy who finds an evil spot in his town and tries to warn people about it.”
His current break from music is likely to be temporary, though. Even after writing and releasing 26,000 songs, it’s still not enough for Farley.
“You know, 26,000 songs I could have done double if I wasn’t so lazy,” Farley says. “I’m not even joking.”