(Songs where most of the title is in) parenthesis. (How many can you name/Search & Destroy)

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Tentative proposal for number

91. She's A Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked) -Carl Carlton

Surely I didn't imagine these parentheses. Or maybe the Bad Mama Jama is so built and so stacked that mere parentheses could not contain her and she has long since busted loose.

Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 15 November 2004 05:42 (nineteen years ago) link

#61

Perhaps THIS will explain things.

This in one of Dylan's favorite songtitling tics, like calling songs things like Incrementally Subtitled Josephine, Half Ghislaine Wholeheartedly and Annabel Explicated Summarily so I can't escape the nagging feeling that there are more. I want to say Rainy Day Women #12 and #35 (everybody must get stoned), but BE CAREFUL! What is in the brackets is not an actual part of the title, but merely a helpful extract from the lyrics that some gentle soul might THINK is the title.

Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 15 November 2004 06:33 (nineteen years ago) link

yes, this is to help out djs taking requests or record shop workers/browsers in a lot of cases.

teeny (teeny), Monday, 15 November 2004 07:26 (nineteen years ago) link

92. (Are you) The one that I've been waiting for - Nick Cave and the Bad seeds
93. (Tell me) Have you ever seen me - The Small Faces
94. (I'm) misunderstood - The Saints

prov, Monday, 15 November 2004 07:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Deep Freeze Mice rules this thread with "A (dog found a stick in the park with such magical powers that a bark caused a marvelous pie to drop out of the sky and the doggy would grin like a shark)"

OleM (OleM), Monday, 15 November 2004 07:57 (nineteen years ago) link

That was 95. Also:

96. The Chrysanthemums: "(They Must Have Made It With Their) Hats"

OleM (OleM), Monday, 15 November 2004 07:58 (nineteen years ago) link

97. The Stone Roses - (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister

Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 15 November 2004 16:20 (nineteen years ago) link

98. The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) - Betty Everett

Henry A Blacktune, Monday, 15 November 2004 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link

99. Six Finger Satellite - Rabies (Baby's Got The)

NickB (NickB), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:13 (nineteen years ago) link

100. Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes

Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Pleasant, that's a good one, but it's already up there at 66. So

100. (You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care -Elvis

Henry A Blacktune, Monday, 15 November 2004 18:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Teaches me to skim through lists like these.

How about

101. Amseterdam (Gonna Write You A Letter) - Guster
102. Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
103. Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
104. Deja Vu (All Over Again) - John Fogarty
105. Dude (Looks Like A Lady) - Aerosmith

Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:44 (nineteen years ago) link

106. get up (i feel like being a) sex machine - james brown

fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:49 (nineteen years ago) link

107. (It's Not the Express) It's JB's Monaurail

108. (Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty

and my new least favorite

109. Leave (Get Out)

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link

(Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The) Memphis Blues Again
and the LP center label had
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The (Memphis Blues Again)

if i'm not mistaken, green day's...

110. good riddance (time of your life)

became...

110.5 time of your life (good riddance)

when released as a single.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:53 (nineteen years ago) link

and yet another certified j.b. classic:

111. part two (let a man come in and do the popcorn)"

fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link

112. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics

Was it just me, or shouldn't that song have been called "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)"?

Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:00 (nineteen years ago) link

113 What Made Milwaukee Famous (Made A Loser Out of Me) -Various
pending 114. Funky Watergate (People It's Bad)
yet another JB classic but I can't verify that the bracketed part is indeed part of the title

Henry A Blacktune, Monday, 15 November 2004 19:03 (nineteen years ago) link

115. i got my mojo working (and i thought you'd like to know) - young fresh fellows

fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:06 (nineteen years ago) link

116. He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss) -The Crystals

Henry A Blacktune, Monday, 15 November 2004 19:10 (nineteen years ago) link

And I'll also throw this in your face

117. 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) - Hendrix

Henry A Blacktune, Monday, 15 November 2004 19:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Massive Attack - (Exchange)

This is the Exchange reprise at the end of Mezzanine. I've seen it listed with parentheses, but both amazon and allmusic omit them. I haven't got the packaging handy to check.

sleep (sleep), Monday, 15 November 2004 20:19 (nineteen years ago) link

118. Simon & Garfunkel, "A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or, How I Was Robert McNamara'ed Into Submission)"

As an aside: three years ago, my friend Sarah-poo had made for our friend Alli-poo a shirt that said, "My friend was Robert McNamara'ed into submission and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." Alli-poo wore it to a Paul Simon show soon afterwards, I never found out if he saw it ...

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 15 November 2004 22:00 (nineteen years ago) link

119. Norweigian Wood (This Bird has Flown) - Beatles

darin (darin), Monday, 15 November 2004 22:30 (nineteen years ago) link

120. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day) - Klaatu

Fucking great song, and probably one of the longest songtitles ever. :-)

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 15 November 2004 22:37 (nineteen years ago) link

James Brown - I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)

LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Monday, 15 November 2004 22:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Most of the tracks on Sigurd Ros' "( )" album were called "( )", no?

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 15 November 2004 22:48 (nineteen years ago) link

doesn't barry white have a few songs with titles like

(Baby, I need your love) Because Your Love Is So Wonderful (Baby)

?

m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 04:41 (nineteen years ago) link

123. The Cure - (I don't know what's going) On

Melson (ArchCarrier), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 07:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Song I wish had parentheses so it could be on the list:
She's Acting Single, I'm Drinking Double - Gary Stewart

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 17:40 (nineteen years ago) link

124. Tunic (Song for Karen)

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 23:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Song I wish had parentheses so it could be on the list:
She's Acting Single, I'm Drinking Double - Gary Stewart

a good title indeed, but it would be a lot better if george jones hadn't already done (the equally unparenthesized) "feeling single, seeing double" a decade earlier. i'm all for borrowing and stealing in music, but stealing someone else's joke is a bit unseemly. (yeah yeah, i know comedians do it all the time, and it's standard operating procedure, and all that. but something just seems weird about a songwriter grabbing another songwriter's pun like that.)

(neither gary nor george wrote either song, they just sang 'em, for whatever that's worth. and it seemed important to add this so, even if i wasn't discussing a song title in parentheses, at least my answer would be mostly in parentheses.)

fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 23:50 (nineteen years ago) link

fcc,
are you in fact by profession a fact checker or copy editor ?

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 23:55 (nineteen years ago) link

not specifically, but i've been a writer, reporter, researcher and editor, so it's kind of in my blood. i can't help it sometimes, though i wish i could.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Two more IWTHP (I Wish They Had Parentheses)

I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone - Elvis
I Was Checking Out, She Was Checking In - Don Covay

Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:08 (nineteen years ago) link

The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun) - Allan Holdsworth

Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Alice Cooper "Clones (We're All)"
Alice Cooper "Inmates (We're All Crazy)"

donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:11 (nineteen years ago) link

First time I became aware of the phenomenon:

128. Samantha Fox - "Touch Me (I Want Yoyur Body)"

I think Smash Hits wrote something along the lines of "(Don't you just hate it when) artists put parentheses in song titles?"

JoB (JoB), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:41 (nineteen years ago) link

The only song I can think of that actually mentions parentheses in its lyrics is Dan Baird's great "I Love You Period".

JoB (JoB), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:44 (nineteen years ago) link

A personal favorite: "In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)"

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 03:19 (nineteen years ago) link

the deftones actually have a number of these kinda songs ...

"my own summer (shove it)"
"be quiet and drive (far away)"

Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 06:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Azita-You're Not Very (Honest is that the way they drifted on to get to Rome?)

robots in love (robotsinlove), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 10:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Bogdan Raczynski - "There Are Many Things I Don't Understand But I Knew That I Loved You (But It's Too Late, You've Taken Me For Granted)" and "That First Time I Met Her and She Hugged Me (And Then Laughed at Me Heartlessly When I Said I Wanted to Know What It Meant to Love Her)"


Good...gravy...no, I did not type those out, either.

Ian Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:35 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm sorry. I really am. But...

I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) - Meat Loaf

Klamm (VampireSubmarine), Monday, 22 November 2004 03:01 (nineteen years ago) link

(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear - Blondie

brian patrick (brian patrick), Monday, 22 November 2004 03:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Bunnybrains win thread prizes with:

"(What Kind Of)SHAPE(Are You In?)"

"(How Many Times) Are We Gonna Let Aretha (Franklin) Get [Away](With This) (Lame Shit)"

"(The Gibbons) Aren't The Only Monkees (On The Planet)"

"Don't Give Up (Yer Day Job)(In Parentheses)"

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 November 2004 03:17 (nineteen years ago) link

actually my fave bunnybrains title might be:

"(Another Glass Of) Milk"


("Stratagien Gegen Nik Kershaw" is good too. But no parentheses."Seat Me In The (Vivisection)" and "Kill Yer-(S)elf" have nice ones though.)

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 November 2004 03:21 (nineteen years ago) link

New Slang (When you notice the Stripes) - The Shins

papa november (papa november), Monday, 22 November 2004 03:22 (nineteen years ago) link

I just read Jonathan Lethem's "The Fortress of Solitude," in which one of the major characters, the former leader of a Motown group, records a song under the pseudonym Doofus Funkstrong, titled "(Did You Press Your) Bump Suit"

Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 22 November 2004 07:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I just went to look something up in my ancient copy of Joel Whitburn's Top 40 book, and this hit me in the face, which amazingly enough is not on the list already.

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) -The First Edition

I feel like I caught the Loch Ness Monster.

Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 22 November 2004 15:02 (nineteen years ago) link

Every track on Ian Dury's Lord Upminster:

1. Funky Disco (Pops)
2. Red (Letter)
3. Girls (Watching)
4. Wait (For Me)
5. The (Body Song)
6. Lonely (Town)
7. Trust (Is a Must)
8. Spasticus (Autisticus)

Hakuna Mutato (Dan Peterson), Monday, 31 December 2018 15:01 (five years ago) link

(you drive me) crazy - Britney

kinder, Monday, 31 December 2018 23:52 (five years ago) link

Half Man Half Biscuit: Styx Gig (Seen By My Mates Coming Out Of A)

does it look like i'm here (jon123), Tuesday, 8 January 2019 15:07 (five years ago) link

Electric Six - (It Gets) (A Little) Jumpy

frogbs, Tuesday, 8 January 2019 15:19 (five years ago) link

two years pass...

Tony Christie?- “Is This the Way to) Amarillo”

The Ballad of Mel Cooley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 February 2021 21:48 (three years ago) link

two years pass...

Chic - Will You Cry (When You Hear this Song)

visiting, Monday, 14 August 2023 00:16 (eight months ago) link


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