i hate songs where the opening line is the name of the song

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blur - mr. robinson's quango (well it may as well be)
belle and sebastian - dear catastrophe waitress (not a bad song but it shoudl have had a different title)

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

best thread ever.

― EARLY-90S MAN (Enrique), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

good innit?

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

yeah not a bad one

i assume you mean when kicking off a song with the name of the song is an obvious compensation for a lack of lyrical stimulus.

for instance, the cult do this on surely most of the tracks on 'ceremony'. funnily enough, the album is atrocious lyrically.

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

Are we listing songs that fit this criteria, or songs we hate because of them? I don't hate the songs but coming to mind are

Pulp - MisShapes
Beatles - I've Got A Feeling

I do think it's rather lazy/disappointing. I prefer my titles to be cleverly hidden nuggets!

― his sister pam (hissisterpam), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

'misshapes' is not a line.

FUCKING HELL END THIS SHIT NOW.

― EARLY-90S MAN (Enrique), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

There are several instances where it works quite well:

I can't get no satisfaction
Time is on my side
Mr. Tambourine Man

Bob did it quite a bit on the John Wesley Harding record:

John Wesley Harding (was a friend to the poor)
As I Went Out One Morning (To breathe the air around Tom Paine's)
Dear Landlord (please don't put a price on my soul)
I Am A Lonesome Hobo (without family or friends)
I Pity The Poor Immigrant (can't remember what comes next but it's pitiful to be sure)
The Wicked Messenger (From Eli he did come)
Down Along the Cove (Bob's doing something there, can't quite recall)

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing'

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

'Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft'?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sorry that Pulp's titles aren't wordier! How about Manon, Dogs are everywhere, ummm… The Mark of the Devil?

― his sister pam (hissisterpam), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

tori amos - blood roses ("blood roses, blood roses, back on the street now")

(i don't hate that song or this technique at all)

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

Prince - "When U Were Mine"

That's a good one!

Also, that John Wesley Harding list is priceless...

― Dave Depper (Dave Depper), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

Too many good Smiths songs fit this description to hate the category.

― The Bearnaise-Stain Bears (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

'blood roses' is one of my preferred amos tracks.

it's just sometimes she pronounces words in very strange way. "he likes killing you after your daaaaid"

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

Peter Murphy - "A Strange Kind Of Love" (great song though)

― LeRooLeRoo (Seb), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

I like that tactic, actually; makes me think of operettas.

― Bumblepuppy (Horbgorbling Slubberdegullion), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

Dandy Warhols - I Love You

― SAS (sschwartzberg), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.zapatosrojos.com.ar/Traducciones/Imagenes%20Traducciones/Emily%20Dickinson.jpg

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

U2 "Zooropa" (I like the song though)

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

I like this technique, actually. It eliminates portentious readings of the title line.

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

I like it when the title of a song is a seemingly throwaway phrase buried in the middle of a verse.

― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

I like it when the title of a song is a seemingly throwaway phrase buried in the middle of a verse.

I remember first noticing this on Phil Collins's "Something Happened to the Way to Heaven" -- that line appears in like the second or third verse.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

xpost original, I guess you don't like hymns much.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

the beatles - yesterday

― Udbhav Gupta (udbhav gupta), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

Sunday Morning by Velvet Underground. I don't have a problem with it though.

― Wax Cat (Wax Cat), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

Rather usual with the AABA form that was the most usual one before the mid 60s.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

London Calling. Nuff said.

I like it when the album title is a seemingly throwaway phrase buried in the middle of one of it's songs:

eg: "Curfew" from The Stranglers Black And White album: "It becomes Black and White, is it true what they say?"

"Night Music" from Simple Minds Good News From The Next World album: "Good news from the next world
Tear yourself apart"

― musicjohn73 (musicjohn73), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

Half Man Half Biscuit to thread!

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

i guess it works worse if it's kind of an interesting/mysterious song title and the singer uses it up right at the beginning of the song. Especially if the singing begins at the start of the track with little or no intro.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 09:21 (nineteen years ago)

iggy pop to thread

― dave q (listerine), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

tell me what's wrong with "Hello It's Me"...or "Boat On The Charles"...or "One More Day"...or "A Long Time, A Long Way To Go"...or "You Cried Wolf"...see?...you can't...you're trying, but you can't...

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

jim morrison to thread

― dave q (listerine), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

But this is the centuries-old standard for western vocal music: you might as well retitle the thread "I hate hymns."

Though conventions have obviously changed, and of the examples given I kinda tend to like the ones where the opening title-line actually fits the rhetorical structure of the thing. I mean, a song called "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" really does need to start with "Dear Catastrophe Waitress," and a song built around refrains about how you've got a feeling has every right to start with "I've got a feeling." (There's really nothing else to call that song, and nothing else it could start with.) Also lovely for direct address of strange things: I don't want to hear a song called "I Dig a Pony" that spends forever digging through metaphors; I want it to start off "I dig a pony" and then explain why and how and whatnot.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, dude digs a pony, let's not beat around the bush on this one.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

Cheap Trick do that more often than not, I think. Not the whole line, usually, but the first two or three words become the title of the song.

― slugbuggy (slugbuggy), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

anal cunt to thread

― autovac (autovac), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

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