CHALLENGE:Titles not from lyrics (final results)
kevin
that don’t come from their lyrics. The people in our newsgroup really
came through. Below is a (final?) updated list compiled from all the
posts and emails. We found a total of only 458, with almost half of
them coming from just 14 groups (those marked with asterisks). Even if
we assumed that for EVERY song on our list there are two or three more
that were overlooked, that would still add up to less than 2000 titles.
Compare that number with the millions of recorded songs known today.
It’s never too late to post additions or corrections but I don’t expect
to post a further revised list, at least not for a long time. If
anyone else wants to step in and keep it fresh, be my guest. My
original “Challenge” post appears at the end of the list, along with a
more recent comment. It explains the reason for excluding self-
identifying titles such as "the ____song", "so-and-so's blues, or
anything that refers to its musical form (ballad, suite, concerto,
rhapsody, etc.) in the title. They’re not so unique and too numerous to
list.
Aerosmith - Adam's Apple
Allman Bros - Revival
Tori Amos - The Pool
- Professional Widow
Band - The Weight
Syd Barrett - Dark Globe
- Terrapin
Beatles - A Day in the Life
- Tomorrow Never Knows
Beck - Jack-ass
Bee Gees - New York Mining Disaster 1941
Bellatrix - Great Expectations
Belly - King
- L'il Ennio
- Puberty
- Untitled and
Better Than Ezra - In the Blood
Big Brother & Holding Company (Janis Joplin) - Combination of the Two
Bjork - Bachelorette
- Joga
- Pluto
- You've Been Flirting Again
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Blink 182 – Aliens Exist
- Dumpweed
- Dysentery Gary
- Going Away To College
- Mutt
- Wendy Clear
Bloodrock - DOA
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Jackson Browne - The Load Out
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Buffalo Springfield - For What It’s Worth
Kate Bush - Experiment IV
Butthole Surfers - Pepper
Byrds - My Back Pages (Dylan)
Call - Communication
Carpenters - Superstar
Chicago - Alma Mater
- Critic's Choice
- Dialogue
- Long Time No See
- Poem 58
- Road
- South California Purples
Clash – Death is a star
- Sean Flynn
- Train in Vain
Leonard Cohen – One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
Collective Soul - Heavy
Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting
Elvis Costello - Couldn't Call it Unexpected No. 4
John Cougar - Cheap Shot
- To MG
Creed - Torn
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Porterville
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Deja Vu
Cream - Badge
- SWLABR
*Cure - The 13th
- 39
- Adonais
- Bare
- Cut
- Disintegration
- The Exploding Boy
- The Figurehead
- Halo
- Home
- M
- Mint Car
- Ocean
- Open
- A Pink Dream
- Pornography
- Primary
- Return
- Splintered In Her Head
- Trap
- Treasure
- Untitled
- Waiting
- Wendy Time
Dead Can Dance - The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove
Delerium - Enchanted
- Duende
- Wisdom
Depeche Mode - Blue Dress
Ani Difranco – Letter to a John
Donald Fagen - I.G.Y.
Donovan – Celeste
- Entertaining Of A Shy Girl
- Epistle To Dippy
- Fat Angel
- Legend Of A Girl Child Linda
- Widow With Shawl (A Portrait)
Dream Academy - The Party
Bob Dylan - Fourth time Around
- Positively Fourth Street
- Rainy Day Women #s 12 & 35
- Temporary Like Achilles
Eagles - King of Hollywood
- Last resort
ELO - Illusions in G Major
Emerson Lake & Palmer – Endless Enigma
- Karn Evil 9
- Trilogy
Enya - Exile
Erasure – Joan
Eurythmics - Aqua
Donald Fagen – I.G.Y.
Faith No More – Epic
5th Dimension - Preamble
Five For Fighting - Superman
Five Man Electrical Band – Werewolf
Fleetwood Mac – The City
- The Ledge
- Oh Well (album ver.)
Fuel - Sunburn
- Hemmorhage
Garbage - #1 Crush
- I think I'm Paranoid
- Push It
- Supervixen
- Vow
*Genesis - Afterglow
- Aisle of Plenty
- Behind the Lines
- Can-Utility and the Coastliners
- Dance on a Volcano
- Deep in the Motherlode
- Down and Out
- Driving the Last Spike
- Duchess
- Duke’s Travels
- Dusk
- Firth of Fifth
- Heathhaze
- In the Beginning
- In the Wilderness
- Knife
- Lady Lies
- Musical Box
- Squonk
- Stagnation
- Window
David Gilmour - Murder
Glider – Off Your Face
Gary Glitter - Rock and Roll, Part 2
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - The Barafundle Bumbler
Grateful Dead - Estimated Prophet
- Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion)
- Rosemary
- The Eleven
Guns n' Roses – Estranged
Steve Hackett - Icarus Ascending
- Narnia
Happy Mondays - Bob's Yer Uncle
- Dennis and Lois
- Donovan
- Kinky Afro
Hawkwind - The Watcher
Kristin Hersh – Letter
- Teeth
- Tuesday night
Lauryn Hill - Ex-Factor
Hole - I Think That I Would Die
- Rock star
- Softer, Softest
Honey Is Cool - Buildings
- Drums and Boys
- On the beach
Hot Tuna – In the Kingdom
House of Love - Hedonist
James Gang - Funk 49
Jethro Tull - For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me
Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon
- Summer Highland Falls
Elton John – All the Nasties
- Curtains
Kansas - Portrait
Nik Kershaw – The Riddle
Jorma Kaukonen – Genesis
Klaatu - Tokeymor Field
Chantal Kreviazuk - M
*Led Zeppelin - Battle Of Evermore,
- Black Dog
- Bron-y-aur stomp
- Carouselambra
- Crunge
- D'yer mak'er
- Four sticks
- Hats off to Roy Harper
- Hot Dog
- Over the Hills And Far Away
- South Bound Saurez
Tom Lehrer – Elements
Julian Lennon - Valotte
Levellers – Elation
Lhooq – BEM
- Missile
Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
- Affair on Eighth Avenue
Limp Bizkit - Don't Go Off Wandering
- Take A Look Around
Live - Brothers Unaware
- Selling The Drama
- TBD
- Top
- Waitress
Loveless - Loomer
- Only Shallow
- Sometimes
Madonna – White Heat
Mamas & Papas – Creeque Alley
Dayna Manning - Coincidence?
Marillion - Emerald Lies
- Incubus
- Web
Max Webster - Battle scar
- Charmonium
- Rascal Houdi
Natalie Merchant/Karen Peris - Frozen Charlotte
- My Skin
Joni Mitchell – Hejira
- Twisted
Moby - Porcelain
*Monkess - Admiral Mike
- Auntie’s Municipal Court
- Carlisle Wheeling
- For Pete’s Sake
- Good Clean Fun
- Michigan Blackhawk
- Nine Times Blue
- Rany Scouse Git
- Tapioca Tundra
- Writing Wrongs
Moody Blues – In the Beginning
- Legend of a Mind
- Morning: Another Morning
- Tortoise and Hare
Alannis Morisette - Unsent
*Morrissey - Alsatian Cousin
- Ambitious Outsiders
- At Amber
- Glamorous Glue
- I'd Love To
- Jack The Ripper
- King Leer
- Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning
- Seasick, Yet Still Docked
- Striptease With A Difference
- Suedehead
- Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
- Will Never Marry
Nails - 88 Lines about 44 Women
Nazareth - Hair of the Dog
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
- Blue Monday
- Love Vigilantes
- Round and Round-94
- World
Nightwish - Dead Boy's Poem
- Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean
- FantasMic
- Gethsemane
- Kinslayer
- Passion & the Opera
- Pharao Sails to Orion
- Sacrament of Wildnerness
- Swanheart
NIN - Downward spiral
- Heresy
Nirvana - About a Girl
- Lithium
- Smells Like Teen Spirit
Papa Roach - Between Angels And Insects
Pearl Jam - Corduroy
- Elderly Woman Behind A Counter In A Small Town
- Yellow Ledbetter
Phish – Sparkle
- Julius
*Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine
- Brain Damage
- Dogs
- Flaming
- Free Four
- In the Flesh
- Sheep
- Take Up Thy Stethescope And Walk
- Young Lust
Planxty - As I Roved Out (Irish traditional)
Police - Syncronicity II
Queen – Tenement Funster
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
- Talk Show Host
Gerry Rafferty - Night Owl
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Emis Remmus
*REM - Be Mine
- Country Feedback
- Drive
- Fretless
- Little America
- Good Advices
- South Central Rain
- Texarkana
- Undertow
- Wrong Child
Robert Plant - Big Log
Roches - Troubles
Leon Rosselsson - The World Turned Upside Down
Roxy Music - Triptych
*Rush – 2112
- A Farewell to Kings
- Afterimage
- Anagram (for Mongo)
- Analog Kid
- Body Electric
- Bravado
- Camera Eye
- Chain Lightning
- Distant early warning
- Double Agent
- Dreamline
- Emotion Detector
- Entre Nous
- Heresy
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Lessons
- Losing It
- Mandrigal
- Manhattan Project
- Marathon
- Natural Science
- Pass
- Presto
- Prime Mover
- Red Sector A
- Rivendell
- Tai Shan
- Vital Signs
- Witch Hunt
Sarah McLaughlin – Possession
Neil Sedaka - Immigrant
Simon & Garfunkel - A Simple Desultory Philippic
- El Condor Pasa
- For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her
- Punky’s Dilemma
*Smashing Pumpkins – Age of Innocence
- Appels and Oranges
- Bullet with Butterfly Wings
- Crestfallen
- Daphne Descends
- Eye
- For Martha
- Galapagos
- Here is No Why
- Luna
- Mayonaise
- Muzzle
- Pissant
- Plume
- Pug
- Rhinoceros
- Rocket
- Siva
- Soma
- Soothe
- Spaced
- Tales of a Scorched Earth
- The Crying Tree of Mercury
- The Imploding Voice
- The Sacred and Profane
- Thirty-three
- Thru the Eyes of a Ruby
- To Forgive
- Where Boys Fear to Tread
- X.Y.U.
*Smiths - Barbarism Begins At Home
- Death At One's Elbow
- Half A Person
- Headmaster Ritual
- London
- Nowhere Fast
- Paint A Vulgar Picture
- Rusholme Ruffians
- Shakespeare's Sister
- Suffer Little Children
Smitty Williams – The Cure
Squeeze - Vicky Verky
Mazzy Star – Halah
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
Cat Stevens – Father and Son
Sugarcubes – Pump
- Walkabout
Sundays – Homeward
Suzanne Vega – Pilgrimage
- Predictions
Talking Heads - Swamp
Tea Party - A Certain Slant of Light
- Aftermath
- Army Ants
- Correspondences
- Dreams of Reason
- Psychopomp
- Sun Going Down
Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike
*10,000 Maniacs - Among the Americans
- Arbor day
- Cherry tree
- Daktari
- Grey victory
- Groove dub
- Lily Dale
- National education week
- Orange
- Poor de Chirico
- Scorpio rising
- Stockton Gala Days
Throwing Muses - Graffiti
Emiliana Torrini - Merman
*Tragically Hip - The Bear
- Butts Wigglin
-Daredevil
- Locked in the Trunk of a Car
- Nautical Disaster
- Springtime in Vienna
- Toronto #4
- Wild Mountain Honey
Tremolo – Honey Power
*U2 – 40
- Bad
- Drowning man
- Elvis Presley and America
- Exit
- God Part II
- MLK
- Mothers of the disappeared
- Promenade
- Unforgettable fire
- Wire
UB 40 - Food for thought
Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs
Watchmen - 34 Dead Street
- Incarnate
- Vovo diva
- Zoom
Whale - Crying at Airports
- Puma Gym
Who - Baba O'Reilly
- Cooks County
X - Beyond and Back
- The Have Nots
- The Unheard Music
- Under the Big Black Sun
Neil Young - After the Goldrush
I’ll sign off on this project with a comment I made in a recent thread:
>> Compiling the list was not so hard given the reliable info offered
by people in the newsgroup. The only problems were in maintaining
alphabetical order through each revision and keeping the list readable
as it passed from one text-editor format to another. There was no
vital need to compile a list of course. However, some scholar of
popular music may eventually want the research if interested in
exploring why the overwhelming majority of titles are derived directly
from their lyrics. The results show that just a few very poetically-
inclined artists are responsible for most of those rare titles that
reach outward to "concepts", rather than inward to quotes, most
notably: The Cure, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Morrissey, Monkees (Nesmith),
Nightwish, Pink Floyd, REM, Rush, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Smiths, 10,000
Maniacs, and Tragically Hip.
I was personally drawn to the topic after long noticing the incredible
imagination behind the names that many groups give to themselves. It
seemed strange then that they rarely use such imagination when naming
the songs they work so hard to create. I wondered just how rare such
titles really are and wanted to share my amazement with others. In the
end, it's only a matter of curiosity and doesn’t detract from the
greatness of any songwriter. Whatever the title, "the Song Remains the
Same". >>
(Here’s the Original Post from 10/4/2000:)
Hello fellow lyrics readers,
Here's a REAL challenge for a change: I'm compiling a list of those
suprisingly rare songs whose titles have nothing in common with the
words of the songs themselves. That means if the title of a song
contains even ONE word found in its own lyrics it shouldn't go on the
list (except when the title uses it in a truly unrelated context or the
word is not significant, like "the", "a", or "an").
Some examples are:
"Badge" by Cream
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "About a Girl" by Nirvana
"Creeque Alley" by the Mamas and the Papas
"For What it's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield
"IGY" by Donald Fagen
plus four(!) Bob Dylan songs (I'll let you figure out which).
For obvious reasons, instrumentals are disqualified, and so should be
the thousands of "borrowed" titles like "Theme from blah-blah-blah" or
any song that CALLS itself a song-type (like "Danny's Song", "Bohemian
Rhapsody", "Unchained Melody" or "Blues Part II"). Yet we SHOULD
include titles that relate to the lyrics only through synonyms: An
example would be "The Weight" by the Band, which says "the load"
repeatedly in the refrain yet the word "weight" is nowhere to be
found. In other words (no pun intended), the thought behind the title
doesn't have to be totally unrelated. That's TOO rare and would depend
on interpretation anyway; Just the words have to be completely
different.
Please contribute any that you know of by posting replies to this
thread. Try to include the lyrics if you have them, but if not, at
least give the title AND artist so that someone else can find the full
lyrics and post them. If the song is not well-known try to be extra
specific; and if you happen to know the secret origin of any
unexplainable title on the list, include that too.
Try finding even ONE example. It's not as easy as you might think. No
search engine can find these--only human "databases" (brains) can!
Kevin
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
I_need_Urge_lyrics
Artist: Tool
Song: Stinkfist
Album: Ænima
Something has to change.
Un-deniable dilemma.
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear.
Constant over stimu-lation numbs me
and I wouldn't have
It any other way.
It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To feel, to breathe, to know I'm alive.
Finger deep within the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Relax, turn around and take my hand.
I can help you change
Tired moments into pleasure.
Say the word and we'll be
Well upon our way.
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.
It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To feel, to breathe, to know I'm alive.
Knuckle deep inside the borderline.
This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to.
Relax. Slip away.
Something kinda sad about
the way that things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything.
What became of subtlety?
How can it mean anything to me
If I really don't feel anything at all?
I'll keep digging till
I feel something.
Elbow deep inside the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Shoulder deep within the borderline.
Relax. Turn around and take my hand.
------------------------------------------------------
Artist: Tool
Song: Hooker With a Penis
Album: Ænima
I met a boy wearing Vans, 501s, and a
Dope Beastie t, nipple rings, and
New tattoos that claimed that he
Was OGT,
From '92,
The first EP.
And in between
Sips of Coke
He told me that
He thought
We were sellin' out,
Layin' down,
Suckin' up
To the man.
Well now I've got some
A-dvice for you, little buddy.
Before you point the finger
You should know that
I'm the man,
And if I'm the man,
Then you're the man, and
He's the man as well so you can
Point that fuckin' finger up your ass.
All you know about me is what I've sold you,
Dumb fuck.
I sold out long before you ever heard my name.
I sold my soul to make a record,
Dip shit,
And you bought one.
So I've got some
Advice for you, little buddy.
Before you point your finger
You should know that
I'm the man,
If I'm the fuckin' man
Then you're the fuckin' man as well
So you can
Point that fuckin' finger up your ass.
All you know about me is what I've sold you,
Dumb fuck.
I sold out long before you ever heard my name.
I sold my soul to make a record,
Dip shit,
And you bought one.
All you read and
Wear or see and
Hear on TV
Is a product
Begging for your
Fatass dirty
Dollar
So...Shut up and
Buy my new record
Send more money
Fuck you, buddy.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Artist: Soundgarden
Song: Mailman
Album: Superunknown
Hello don't you know me
I'm the dirt beneath your feet
The most important fool you forgot to see
I've seen how you give it
Now I want you to receive
I know that you
Would do the same for me
I know I'm headed for the bottom(X3)
But I'm riding you all the way
For all of your kisses turned
to spit in my face
For all that reminds me
which is my place
For all of the times when
you made me disappear
This time I'm sure you will
know that I'm here
I know I'm headed for the bottom(X3)
But I"m riding you all the way
My place was beneath you
But now I'm above
And no wI send you a message of love
A simple reminder of what
you won't see
A future so holy without me
I know I'm headed for the bottom(X3)
But I'm riding you all the way
-------------------------------------------
Artist: Soundgarden
Song: Fresh Tendrils
Album: Superunknown
Long time coming
'It seemed to take me through
Long time coming
Many served the few
And long to taste the shame
That bows down before you
Long time coming
It seemed to get me by
Long time coming
It seemed to satisfy
You longed to taste the shame
That everybody tries
Shame Shame
Throw yourself away
Give me little bits of
More than I can take
If it sits upon your tongue
Or naked in your eyes
Give me little bits of
More than I can try
Long time coming
It seemed to take me through
Long time coming
Many served the few
And long to taste the shame
That bows down before you
Shame shame
Throw yourself away
Give me little bits of
More than I can take
If it sits upon your tongue
Or naked in your eyes
Give me little bits of
More than I can try
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Artist: Live
Album: Secret Samadhi
Song: Lakini's Juice
It was an evening I shared with the sun
to find out where we belong
from the earliest days
we were dancing in the shadows
more wine
cuz I got to have it
more skin
cuz I got to eat it
Inside the outside
by the river
used to be so calm
used to be so sane
I rushed the lady's room
took the water from the toilet
Washerd her feet and blessed her name
More peace
is such a dirty habit
Slow down, we're too afraid
Let me ride
et me ride
Burn my eyes
Let me ride
------------------------------------
Artist: Live
Album: Secret Samadhi
Song: Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe
My brother kicked his feet to sleep(3X)
and I sang the dirge song
My brother never missed a beat
my brother kicked his feet to sleep, sweet feet
my brother kicked his feet to sleep
and I sang the dirge song
Angel don't you have some bagels in my oven?
Lady, don't you know a man when you see one?
Crazy lady with the shiny shoes, where are you?
Kick your feet and calm the space that makes you hollow
little swami's got his bowl to eat
little swami's always walks his beat, sweet feet
little swami's got his bowl to eat
and I sing the dirge song
it's amazing how they come to see
the little swami with his bowl to eat, sweet feet
the little swami only wears a sheet
and won't sing the dirge song
anal, tight-assed soldier with that dogged heart
put down your gun
we are ready to explode, we gotta take it smart
and take it slow
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Down on the Upside
Song: Ty Cobb
I'm sittin' in a magic hat
With smoke and morrors
And tire rubber fires
Watch me disappear
What made it slow you down
Sucking on a ball and chain
Another motherfucker goes down on the drain
Hard headed fuck you all
Just add it up to the hot rod death toll
Sick in the head sick in the mouth
And I can't hear a word you say
Not a bit, and I gon't give a shit
I got the glass, I got the steel
I got the love to hate
All I need is you head on a stake
Hard headed fuck you all
Just add it on the hot rod death toll