Songs where the title is only sung once, as the last line of the song

This is my dissertation topic, so please take this seriously. The title has to be the last line of the song and only said once. We need to find 100 examples.

1. Just Like Heaven - The Cure

2. viginia plain - roxy music

3. up the junction - squeeze

4. Private Investigations - Dire Straits

Awesome!

5. Speakin' Out - Neil Young

6. Gerard Way - How It's Going to Be

7. Animal Collective - College

8. Can - Pinch

9. The Who - Heinz Baked Beans

10. The Who - Odorono

11. The Who - We Close Tonight

12. Dire Straits - News

13. Tuff Titty (rap) - Ciccone Youth

14. Megadeth - Dawn Patrol

15. George Michael - "Kissing A Fool"
16. George Michael - "One More Try"

17. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Calloused Fingers Won't Make You Strong, Edith Wong

18. TV on the Radio - Halfway Home

19. No Age – My Life's Alright Without You

20. roxy music - just like you.

21. Lilys - Precollection

22. Fairport Convention - Fotheringay

23. Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

24. The Nails - 88 Lines about 44 Women

25. Love - Signed D.C

26. Hüsker Dü - Punch Drunk

27. The Monks - Blast Off

28. 12XU - Wire

29. Loss of Innocence - The Residents (prob. plenty more on The Commercial Album too)

Does Nine Inch Nails' "The Day The World Went Away" count?

"the day the whole world went away"

I've always considered the count off of 12XU to be part of the song, but it meets the criteria if you don't hear it that way.

12XU is a gray area, which means more work for me and my dissertation but so be it.

Another gray area song:

30. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker - Prince

It's not ad the end, but

31. Smashing Pumpkins - 1979

Ah -- I misread the instructions to be "as in" not "as" so, that doesn't count

31. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd

this is really hard

32. You Suffer... But Why - Napalm Death. If a song with only 4 words, over in 3 seconds counts.

33. Confessions - Violent Femmes

Bette Midler, "The Rose"

35. The Overload - Talking Heads

Great thread. Can't think of any that haven't been posted already though. Maybe if I sleep on it.

i love threads like this. truly useful.

felt have a few of these:
stained glass windows in the sky.
there's no such thing as victory.
the final resting of the ark.

36. Minutemen - Maybe Partying Will Help

Does it count if the title is repeated at the end?

37. Circle Jerks, "Live Fast Die Young"

Sorry friend, but D. Boon says Maybe Partying Will Help multiple times.

Songs where the title is only sung once, as the last line of the song

38. Public Enemy- Meet the G that Killed Me

the "said only once" bit makes this a challenge !

Indeed. It is hard to retrieve such songs from brain even if one had once upon a time already remarked that they had this property, especially if that happened before this thread or even ILX existed. For example, in theory I could have gone to sleep, woken up and my subconscious would have supplied #38, but I highly doubt it.

39. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode

(unnerstan' that there's a weird Pink Floyd-like constipated robot voice saying something right towards the end)

arrgh, I forgot that they start the song with 12XU as well as finish it with 12XU!!! I'd say don't count it then.

36. Minutemen - Maybe Partying Will Help

Sorry friend, but D. Boon says Maybe Partying Will Help multiple times.

Sub in "Fanatics," then.

40. Fugazi - Back To Base

41. Blackwater Park - Opeth

Very Funny - Magnetic Fields

43. Alanis Morissette - Perfect

44. Sinead O'Connor - The Emperor's New Clothes

Everclear - heartspark dollar sign

Sinead O'Connor - The Emperor's New Clothes

nah, she repeats the last line 4 or 5 times

44. Shudder to Think - Sweet Year Old

45. superchunk, 'here's where the strings come in'

46. mbv, 'to here knows when'

47. Down Through - Red House Painters

48. "Life and How to Live It" - REM

49. Elizabeth My Dear - Stone Roses

50. Slayer - "Live Undead"

51. Serenade - Roxy Music

52. The Wedding Present - "Give My Love to Kevin"

53. I'm Still Here - Tom Waits

54. Alice - Peter Hammill

though the title is actually Alice (letting go), so i don't know if you want to count it...

55. Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky

Free Bird?

56. Emmy the Great - First Love

the "said only once" bit makes this a challenge !

Yeah. I was gonna say Neil Young "For The Turnstiles" but he says it three times at the end.

57. The Byrds - Wasn't Born To Follow

58. Guided by Voices - Man Called Aerodynamics

59. McCarthy - Bad Dreams

The War on Drugs - An Ocean In Between The Waves

60.

61. Beastie Boys - Instant Death

^good one!

62. Pearl Jam - Tremor Christ

63. Pearl Jam - Last Exit

48. "Life and How to Live It" - REM

― about a dozen duck supporters (carl agatha), Thursday, 5 February 2015 04:52 (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sung twice I'm afraid. Once in the middle, once at the end.

64. The Beatles - Here, There and Everywhere

65. Stone Roses - Made of Stone

66. Sonic Youth - Free City Rhymes

67. Ben Folds Five - Cigarette

68. Sonic Youth - Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style

69. Pink Floyd – Pigs on the Wing (if you count it as two separate songs, you can have either part 1 or part 2)

70. Tricky/Chill Rob G - "Bad Dreams"

Technically, they say "bad dream". Singular. Don't know if that counts.

71. The Blue Aeroplanes - Spitting Out Miracles

was totally gonna jump in with Memories Can't Wait by Talking Heads. then i remembered he says it like 10 times.

72. Van der Graaf – The Habit of the Broken Heart

73. Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand - Cursive.

74. Van der Graaf Generator – Still Life
75. Peter Hammill – The Second Hand

"Here, there, and everywhere" is repeated once. Oops!

No it isn't!

good catch.

Oh damn, I'm wrong you're right, it's "I will be there and everywhere/here, there, and everywhere" -- which totally counts. Carry on.

sad to discover than "Unforgiven Two" doesn't qualify, says it in the middle as well :(

76. Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Still Raining, Still Dreaming"

77. Minutemen - Fascist

78. Motorhead - Die You Bastard

79. david sylvian - laughter and forgetting
80. david sylvian - gone to earth

81. the delgados - aye today

ooh, ooh !

82. Paranoid - The Dickies

Big Star - Holocaust

84. "Chump" - Green Day

85. nico - the fairest of the seasons

86) "Questions 67 and 68" - Chicago

87) "Funky Drummer" - James Brown

88. Strokes, "Hard To Explain"

89. Sonic Youth - Disappearer

"Hard to Explain" has the title in the middle as well as at the end.

^rekt

James Brown says Funky Drummer multiple times

15. George Michael - "Kissing A Fool"

He says it twice at the end though. "Guess you were kissing a fool. You must have been kissing a fool."

90. 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds - Jefferson Airplane

Last exit! Good one

91. Deceives The Eye - Madness

92. Spacemen 3 - Revolution

93. Creedence - Fortunate Son

And another Cure song:

95. let's go to bed

94 not 95

But here's 95

95. Hendrix - little wing

95. let's go to bed

^ pretty sure this is repeated 2 or 3 times at the end tbh

96. A-ha - Manhattan Skyline

no on "Little Wing", he says it twice in the song

97 Birdland - Patti Smith

not Fortunate Son either

98 The Wonder Stuff - A Wish Away

http://www.muzu.tv/the-wonder-stuff/wish-away-music-video/235038/

Fortunate Son says 'fortunate one' several times but only says fortunate son once at the end.

Little wing is also said once at the end, no?

Maybe little wing gets repeated? i don't remember

http://songmeanings.com/m/songs/view/18476/

And fortunate son

http://songmeanings.com/m/songs/view/17155/

Need to relisten to them but I'm 80% certain they don't repeat the last line. Lets go to bed may, though.

Ok don't have my itunes close but checked on youtube:

Lets go to bed does say it at the end but it's repeated 3 times.

Fortunate Son definitely only says the title once at the end and here's the lyrics video for proof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40JmEj0_aVM

The version of 'little wing' in youtube is live and only says it once before doing a two minute solo and fading. Don't remember if the record version says it more than once.

There's also another Hendrix song that springs to mind: the wind cries mary. In the middle he says 'the wind IT cries mary' and at the end 'the wind cries mary' it partly counts as a technicism.

Hey found the album version of little wing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZsN6RMmdls

I'm only hearing it once at 1:45 and close the end at 2:20 or so it appears he mumbles it but come on! How does this not count? i'm not even sure he says little wing when he mumbles i'm hearing a yeah yeah yeah mmmm

Or where else in the song do you think he says it? I submit my case with the video above for you all to listen.

God that song is so majestic for being so short.

98. New Order - The Perfect Kiss

Noooh!

"The perfect kiss is the kiss of death"

and into the chorus one more time.

On Little Wing on Axis Bold As Love, Jimi sings 'fly on little wing' at 1:45, and then mumbles something like 'yeah yeah yeah little wing' at 2:15 during the outro

But at 2:15 how are you certain it's 'little wing' what's hes mumbling seems to me like he's away from the mic when it happens. He could be saying 'need some weed' as far as we know. Or it could be just a wordless soul thing.

He definitely sings something though, so I guess the previous 'little wing' isn't the last line of the song

I did start listening to the Sting version to see if that was different, but I just couldn't make it to the end ;_;

Didn't even make a start on the Corrs one

Then just take whatever version of the song you want, the mumbling is there on the studio version and was played by jimi live only 8 times and they don't have the mumbling going on. Stevie Ray's version?

I think the Corrs version does say it several times but that's because the guitar guy can't solo like Jimi or Stevie and the girls can't keep their mouth shut.

Also if we're being strict many of the songs mentioned so far could get disqualified. Fortunate son only says the title once at the end but there's a 'no' after it. (I ain't no fortunate son, no) but a yeah yeah yeah mmmumbling wont appear in any lyrics site or booklet.

I thought of Children of the Grave but Ozzy shouts 'yeah!' for no reason after it

But that's my point are those sort of 'yeah's or 'mmmm's or whatever approving sound an integral part of the lyrics or an afterthought because the singer was 'feeling' it. In a song like 'she loves you yeah yeah yeah' they are written beforehand but a yeah inside a solo or at the end is made in the moment and you can listen to live versions of songs where these sort of 'yeahs' are displaced or not even there meaning they are not really part of the intended song.

In the "so close yet so far" category, there's Drifter's Escape by Bob Dylan.

"And while everybody knelt to pray, the drifter did escape."

I'm taking the question as the real 'last line' in the lyrics of a song, if the singer mumbles or says 'is it still recording' or whatever I'd say it doesn't count but I'm not OP.

Don't know what number we're up to but:

John Cale, "Antarctica Starts Here"

I think "Yeah" can be discounted: "Yeah yeah yeah yeah" maybe not.

Which means "Children of the grave" is in.

It's my dissertation topic, and I would say that grunts, yeahs, oohs and other exclaimations would not disqualify a song from the list.

I would even count Prince's Ballad Of Dorothy Parker, even though there are lots of background "Dorothy Parker" chants after that line. It's borderline but I think I can defend it in my oral argument.

Can think of more where the title is only sung once as the first line of the song.

very good call on Pearl Jam's "Last Exit" because as far as i can tell he's singing the whole song with marbles in his mouth

"18 Wheels of Love" - Drive-By Truckers

100. Mecca Normal - Paris in April

Oh now I remember the one I was graspingfor:

101. Twat - John Cooper Clarke

102. Silvio Rodriguez - Por Quien Merece Amor

103. guided by voices - yours to keep

104. Mogwai - "Helps Both Ways"

sad to discover than "Unforgiven Two" doesn't qualify, says it in the middle as well :(

― da croupier, Thursday, 5 February 2015 15:15 (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well and also to be pedantic, the lyric is "unforgiven, too"....though it would be totally like Hetfield to bark "UNFORGIVEN TWOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOOH----WAHHH!" like he was adding ending credits to his song

105. I Died Today - Rodd Keith

"It Sure Can Get Cold in Des Moines"

107. Peter Gabriel - Lead a Normal Life

108. Green Day - Geek Stink Breath

Didn't see this on here yet...

109. Lifetime - (The Gym Is) Neutral Territory

110 did I mention Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" but only the version by The Dickies? Does it count?

111. "I Figured You Out" - Elliott Smith

112. Neil Young - Speakin' Out

113. Love - "Signed D.C."

(In at number 25)

114. Depeche Mode, "It Doesn't Matter Two"

The last line in the song is "it doesn't matter" and the "two" is only in the title because they had an earlier song that was also called "It Doesn't Matter", so for me this counts.

115. Radiohead - You never wash up after yourself

116. Marvin Gaye – When Did You Stop Loving Me

117. Youthmovies - Last Night Of The Proms

Billy Bragg (and as covered by Dubstar) - St. Swithin's Day

118. Marduk - Fistfucking God's Planet

More billy bragg:
119. Billy Bragg - Greetings to the New Brunette
120. Billy Bragg - Tank Park Salute

121. The Crash - Still Alive

122. "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" - Los Campesinos!

123. "This Is Hardcore" - Pulp

124. "Sleep the Clock Around" - Belle & Sebastian

125. "Last Place You Look" - The Get Up Kids

"this is hardcore" is sung more than once.

ah, you're right. damn.

126. Dion - Abraham, Martin & John

Not including it but would count technically: Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman

He says 'pretty woman' several times but he only adds the 'oh' in the last line of the song.

127. Beastie Boys - Instant Death

Okkervil River - It Ends With A Fall almost qualifies.

128. "Tikwid" - Animal Collective

129. "I'm Doing OK, Pretty Good" - Elliott Smith

123. Oh, Pretty Woman

It so does count.

124. "Sunbathing Animal" - Parquet Courts

fuck nevermind

he sings it like, ten times in a row

sorry

130. Fiona Apple - Oh Well

(this one just came on my iTunes. Forgot how great it is)

131. Surfaris - Wipeout

Lyrics:

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-a
Wipeout!

(I don't know why I love this thread so much)

...and Sufjan Stevens - Futile Devices

132. Alice Cooper - Black Juju

133. Half Man Half Biscuit - Epiphany

134. rodd keith - the ballad of juan rio

''Wipeout'' is a great pick, bravo. My brain keeps reaching for things in the line of ''Last Exit'' and ''Life and How to Live It'' (notwithstanding the latter's disqualification) - songs that pound breathlessly forward, gasping out the title only as they run out of breath and the band packs it in. Feel like I've known and loved many songs like this but it's really hard to think of 'em!

There are a few 'Wipeout's though

119. Billy Bragg - Greetings to the New Brunette

He sings that several times at the end

Emmy the Great - "We Almost Had a Baby" as my daughter pointed out to me today.

Quasi - our happiness is guaranteed

Sublime - Same in the End

138. Coldplay - Square One

I wonder if kornrulez6969 ever wrote that dissertation.

we found >100 examples, we held up our end of the bargain

I did write it. It's called "The Overload--Exploring Songs Where the Title Is Sung Once, As The Last Line of the Song"

The Professor gave me a C, he said it was a flawed concept. Oh well.

fuck that

it's a great concept

Nothing Indeed - The Minutemen

73. Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand - Cursive.

― charlie h, Thursday, February 5, 2015 9:35 AM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

goddammit i came here to post this

i love this thread

i find it fascinating and a good challenge as a songwriter

139. Dismemberment Plan, "The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich"

140. Courtney Barnett, "Nameless, Faceless"

141. Waxahatchee - "Never Been Wrong"

"you walk around like it's your god-given right/and you love being right, you've never been wrong"

142. U2 - Running to Stand Still

love this thread

143. Tenderness - Parquet Courts

144. "Number Three," They Might Be Giants

145. Big Thief – Pretty Things

146. the clash - stay free

Wow, believe I have been trying to get that one to surface for years, thanks

Does it count if the song title is sung exactly once and is the only line in the song? If so, then “Topsy Part 1” and “Topsy Part 2” by Cozy Cole

147. Frank Zappa - "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance"

148. The Only Ones - "It's the Truth"

And, almost, "Instrumental" by the same band, but he sings it twice.

149. Bob Dylan - "Boots of Spanish Leather"

film version of this: the man who shot liberty valance.

also (“visually,” if you’ll permit it) – The Dark Knight Rises

An example from the stage may be The Playboy of the Western World – though I don’t recall if the title phrase is used elsewhere in the play, besides the closing line (“I’ve lost the only Playboy of the Western World.” CURTAIN.”)

(Ok, never mind – just skimmed thru it, and it
does appear earlier.)

150. 'Kommando Untergang' by Anna Depenbusch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_VN7n-lr68

151. Nico/Jackson Browne “The Fairest of the Seasons”

152. Robert Pollard - "I've Owned You for Centuries"

153. Southern Cross - Crosby Stills & Nash

153. Southern Cross - Crosby Stills & Nash

154. "Dr. Phil" by Lil B

155. "Lose My Breath" by My Bloody Valentine

xp the last line is "in the southern cross". also, "southern cross" appears earlier in the song.

"but i was born to lose my breath"

Well I suck at life.

lil b is a good one!

156. The The - Angels Of Deception

I really want to add Lee Hazlewood's "I'm Glad I Never" but he takes a couple of lines to spit out what he's glad about, including three syllables after the titular phrase.

157

Mgła - Exercises in Futility VI

well he doesn't say "six"

maybe that doesn't count

last line is "another chapter in the handbook for exercises in futility"

Thought for a moment that the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald would be one of these, but that line somehow comes in at the centre of the song instead.

Against All Odds is a near miss, but he sings a few more words afterward

Can't believe no one has posted: HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE - The Beatles

A couple of others:
LATE FOR THE SKY - Jackson Browne
BIG CITY CAT - Steve Forbert

Can't believe nobody has posted ...(actually I can, I only noticed last week!)

Sex Pistols "I wanna be me"

er, “Here, There and Everywhere” is sung twice at the end

It isn't - "here" is missed the "first" time.

huh, thanks crap memory!

161. Nick Drake - "Harvest Breed"

162. Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place

xp last line is "And you're ready now for the harvest breed"

"Jigsaw falling into place" is also sung earlier in the song.

but the title is only sung once and it's the last words of the song, so it counts

"Jigsaw falling into place" is also sung earlier in the song.

― visiting

Crap it’s true.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "The One Who Got Us Out"

I swear this one has been on the tip of my tongue since the thread started, and I'm only just managing to spit it out

Sebadoh - The Freed Pig.

He actually mutters it sotto voce-like more than sings it though.

164. Patsy Cline - "A Church, a Courtroom and Then Goodbye"

Aha - Train of Thought is soo close but it has a softer repetition and then some other indistinct words

Weezer - Perfect Situation (the rubbish single version with the title shoehorned in at the end)

The Cure "A Man Inside My Mouth" sounds like it fits to me.

The "internet" says there's one more lyric during the outro ("This won't hurt at all") but I just hear a bunch of screaming.

168(?) Brandy Clark - Buried

"But I'll love you till I'm buried" is the last line.

I wonder how many songs fit the "My Name Is Jonas" pattern of having the title sung exactly twice, as the first and last lines of the song.

Simple Minds - Premonition

170(?) The Clientele: "Claire's Not Real"

I wonder how many songs fit the "My Name Is Jonas" pattern of having the title sung exactly twice, as the first and last lines of the song

"I Got Life" from the original cast album of Hair does essentially this.

Nina Simone's Hair medley, "Ain't Got No, I Got Life," strikes "I Got Life" from the beginning but leaves the one at the end, so it is sort of an example of the original format.

Which is kind of interesting bc we've already established itt that Hair already has a song that does title once at the end only, namely "Frank Mills."

Wait, brain lapse. "Frank Mills" is a different thing, it's a song with no repeating lines at all.

Oh right!