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Stand alone song titles - an art form

Sven Garlic's picture

Most song titles are fairly unremarkable in themselves as they merely repeat a line from the song or have no great value without the song they belong to, but certain, less common song titles can be admired in their own right. They can be a minimalist, miniature form of poetry, or they are able to convey a significant meaning despite their concise, reduced nature, or they are just a pleasing and interesting, and, in some cases, humourous, use of language that can stand alone.

In a recent podcast Mark Ellen acknowledged Morrissey's gift for this art, examples of this are Girlfriend In A Coma (so good it was also the title of a novel), We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful, Shoplifters Of The World Unite and Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me.

Get Off Of My Cloud by The Rolling Stones was acclaimed by Nik Cohn for sloganising the sixties - it's all there in the title. Julian Cope's World Shut Your Mouth conveys admirably the frustration of the fight to be an individual. Then there's Captain Beefheart and his surreal Neon Meate Dream Of An Octafish.

So it's not good song titles I am after, it's titles that could stand alone as special and meaningful in themselves, which are rarer. Any more?

0

Surely the works of Half Man Half Biscuit...

must feature. I'll leave it to someone else to provide examples; I don't have any of their records.

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Patrick Crowther | 11 January 2009 - 8:57pm

You may well be right

I know little of their music also but am aware of a certain talent with titles which they have.

I am currently enjoying making use of bold in posting, having just worked out how to do it.

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Sven Garlic | 11 January 2009 - 9:05pm

Hooray!

Let's all be bold!

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Patrick Crowther | 11 January 2009 - 9:09pm

HMHB Should be disqualified from this debate

Their song titles are so good, it's almost cheating to include them.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel (is the Light of an Oncoming Train)
27 Yards of Dental Floss
Split Single With Happy Lounge Labelmates
Four Skinny Indie Kids
Time Flies By (When You're The Driver Of A Train)
Yipps (My Baby Got The)
Visitor For Mr. Edmonds
Used To Be In Evil Gazebo
13 Eurogoths floating in the Dead Sea
Tonight Matthew I'm Going to Be with Jesus

You could go on all day.

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itf | 12 January 2009 - 1:07pm

Whoever came up with those

is some kind of genius. And I have no idea how the songs go.

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Sven Garlic | 12 January 2009 - 1:13pm

Well...

Visitor for Mr Edmonds is just the sound of someone turning off a life support machine. Really.

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itf | 12 January 2009 - 1:21pm

Is that right?

That's brilliant.

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Sven Garlic | 12 January 2009 - 1:24pm
itf | 12 January 2009 - 1:26pm

I do not doubt you for a moment

Was rhetorical question but will have a listen at home. Thanks for the link.

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Sven Garlic | 12 January 2009 - 1:52pm

Those HMHB song titles

See them in all their glory here:

http://cobweb.businesscollaborator.com/hmhb/records/index.htm

You can also download a host of their Peel Session tracks for free on the same site, if the titles intrigue you that much. Have a look here:

http://cobweb.businesscollaborator.com/hmhb/audio/index.htm

Cheers.

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Red Umpire | 13 January 2009 - 1:28pm

...and the (not quite yet complete) lyrics...

...are at The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project, where you'll also find the more recent:

* Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled)
* Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess
* Took Problem Chimp To Ideal Home Show
* Give Us Bubblewrap
* National Shite Day

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CherryHintonBlue | 14 January 2009 - 2:36pm

Larks' Tongues

in Aspic

my work here is done

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James Blast | 11 January 2009 - 9:07pm

The Ballad Of David Icke

great Acapella track fom Clem Snide.
Live, they then go into War Pigs by Black Sabbath.
HMHB do rule when it comes to song titles I agree

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Sour Crout | 11 January 2009 - 9:15pm

Blame It On The Night...

...always seemed a good one from Kevin Coyne

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Tony Donaghey | 11 January 2009 - 9:25pm

Pet Shop Boys

- You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk

- What Have I Done To Deserve This?

- I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing.

And how about the wonderful A Lady Of A Certain Age, by The Divine Comedy? It's like a film script in miniature.

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Johan | 11 January 2009 - 9:31pm

Ooh Crikey Missus, It's Lawnmower Deth.

(OK so it's an album title)

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stimpy | 11 January 2009 - 10:57pm

I don't recall it having a "missus" in

but they did give us:

Cobwoman of Deth meets Mr Smellymop
Thermonuclear War is Good fro Your Complexion
Sumo Rabbit and his Inescapable trap of Doom
Spook Perv Happenings in the Snooker Hall
The Seventh Church of the Apocalyptic Lawnmower

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spt | 19 January 2009 - 3:09pm

Oh and Nottingham has a new champion of the daft title...

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Hellset Orchestra
Complete track listing of their first CD

"Come into my lab" He said
It Takes Twice as Long (when you're half as big)
I'm Trying to Make a Monstrous Bird
Thnak God It's Judas
To Outsurvive a Vulture
Orpheus' Incredible Eyepop

and they've also given us

I Have Escaped Grimmer Dungeons Than This
Glamazon Rides Compsognathus
Whores and Vipers Ride the Welcome Wagon
Monstro says "Sound the Horn"

I love the Hellset Orchestra.

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spt | 19 January 2009 - 4:20pm

Pet Shop Boys' finest title is surely

I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore

I'll also add:

How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? and
This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave

A few others that spring to mind:

Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children - Manic Street Preachers
One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces - Ben Folds Five
(What I Like Most About You Is Your) Girlfriend - The Specials
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - Spiritualized
I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart - Eels
(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country? - Sparks
Broken Household Appliance, National Forest - Grandaddy
Fitter, Happier - Radiohead
Wherever I Lay My Phone, That's My Home - Super Furry Anumals

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Cadabra | 11 January 2009 - 11:13pm

Sparks have em by the binful

I Can't Believe That You Would Fall For All the Crap In This Song
I Thought I Told You To Wait In The Car
What are all These Bands So Angry About?
(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing
Throw Her Away And Get A New One

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DogFacedBoy | 12 January 2009 - 1:28am

Or, aptly,

Lighten Up, Morrisey

There are lots of great suggestions emerging. Generally better than mine I must admit.

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Sven Garlic | 12 January 2009 - 12:59pm

Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins

by Sparks is one of my favourites.

edit: sorry, that's an album title, does it count?

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Retro Man | 15 January 2009 - 2:50pm

Talking Heads did a song for a Best Of called

Sax and Violins.

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LOUDspeaker | 15 January 2009 - 3:19pm

She Doesn't Laugh at My Jokes

from Jonathan Richman

Even Now We Are Preparing to Love You - Puny Human from the fabulously named album It's Not the Heat, It's the Humanity.

Some Things I Just Don't Want to Know
I Really Should've Gone Out Last Night - Dirty Three, although the album name is better still - Whatever You Love, You Are.

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inky miss | 11 January 2009 - 11:33pm

The Strange Case Of Frank Cash And The Morning Paper

You know you want to learn more and I guarantee it rewards curiosity.

Fraid I can't find any audio/video links but here's the album.

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Stan Halen | 12 January 2009 - 2:10am

Fatima Mansions

Look What I Stole for Us, Darling
Viva Dead Ponies
More Smack Vicar?
Go Home, Bible Mike
Valhalla Avenue
Only Losers Take the Bus
In the Valley of the Dead Cars

awesome stuff - buy, borrow, steal

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badartdog | 12 January 2009 - 8:09am

From Keltik Elektrik

(£1 in the record library sale...)
Get offa, McLeod. Yes, its a trad arr synthesiser and bagpipes LP.
Also quite keen on Jimi MaCraes "Electric Lassieland". Yes it's a trance bagpipe LP.

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Retropath2 | 12 January 2009 - 8:25am

The Marvelettes

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game.

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Inky Fingers | 12 January 2009 - 8:31am

On an Antipodean Theme

Go Betweens - Draining the pool for you
The Chills - Male monster from the Id
Crowded House - Four seasons in one day
And Finally the wonderous...
The Triffids - Too hot to move too hot to think

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Mint | 12 January 2009 - 9:29am

Unbeatable

On a similar thread I mentioned my favourite recent band name. Another poster let me know that they had taken it from the title of an XTC song:
Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her

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Gatz | 12 January 2009 - 9:38am

sufjan stevens

Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run

or

To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament

or

Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)

and, yes i realise it's an album title but the Kasai Allstars debut last year is brilliant,

In the 7th moon, the chief turned into a swimming fish and ate the head of his enemy by magic.

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Niks | 12 January 2009 - 9:50am

I Was In The House When The House Burned Down

by Warren Zevon.

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LOUDspeaker | 12 January 2009 - 10:18am

Smokey


I know it's supposed to be a stand-alone title thread, but the whole is so gorgeous I couldn't resist.

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nigelthebald | 12 January 2009 - 10:39am

Felt were good at this

Their high point must surely be:
All the people I like are those that are dead.
Honourable mentions for:
Hours of Darkness have changed my mind
Primitive Painters
The Final resting of the Ark

And many, many more.

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Madrid | 12 January 2009 - 11:10am

.

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LOUDspeaker | 12 January 2009 - 2:10pm

"The Dark Tea Time Of The Soul"

Brilliant title from a Douglas Adams novel.

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LOUDspeaker | 12 January 2009 - 11:16am

Wasn't it...

The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul?

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stimpy | 12 January 2009 - 11:54am

Beautiful South

Deserve some credit for slightly skew-wiff but poignant song titles, my favourite being "Ol' Red Eyes is Back" another upbeat ditty about alcoholism from them there about an old sot whose eyes will never be blue. I remember Spike Milligan making a joke using that very phrase (about Frank Sinatra's drinking) back in the mid-70s on one of his Q shows.

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Austin | 12 January 2009 - 11:43am

I seem to remember...

...a b-side called I Love You (But You're Boring)

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AgentGraves | 12 January 2009 - 2:25pm

they also had a song called

I Hate You (But You're Interesting)

all a bit "hey hey my my", innit!

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ivan | 12 January 2009 - 2:31pm

Also

I Hate You (But You're Interesting)

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itf | 12 January 2009 - 2:32pm

When the hangover strikes.....

An excellent title for one of Difford/Tillbrook's lesser and less good titles, tho', to be fair, it was designed and performed in the style of(and written for?) Ol' Blue Eyes, as above.

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Retropath2 | 12 January 2009 - 11:48am

You can't put your arms around a memory

Johnny Thunders

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Nick White | 12 January 2009 - 12:38pm

My favourites

Cheer Up (You Miserable Fuck) - David Ford
I Hate You (But You're Interesting) - Beautiful South
It Takes Blood And Guts To Be This Cool But I'm Still Just A Cliche - Skunk Anansie
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (Is That They Die) - Pony Up
I Like A Boy In Uniform (School Uniform) - The Pipettes

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itf | 12 January 2009 - 12:57pm

Surely Hank Williams was The King

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
I Just Don't Like This Kind Of Living
My Son Calls Another Man Daddy
There's A Tear In My Beer
etc.

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Simon Ford | 12 January 2009 - 1:04pm

The Lucksmiths'

Morrissey related 'There Is A Boy That Never Goes Out'

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Steven C | 12 January 2009 - 1:10pm

Songdog

Are good at this, titles include:
"The day god begs my forgiveness"
"The sky was so blue it was scary"
"My space-rock tape"
"The girl on the escalator at HMV"
"She played summertime(on the brothel piano)"
.....They are also a very underrated outfit.

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Doug B | 12 January 2009 - 1:32pm

If You Leave Me, Can I come too?

By Australian band Mental as Anything - always makes me smile. It's just perfect somehow.

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Steerpike | 12 January 2009 - 2:28pm

Warren Zevon could turn a phrase

Lawyers, Guns and Money

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner

Poor Pitiful Me

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Theo Zoffrok | 12 January 2009 - 3:38pm

Flaming Lips are worth a mention here

Guy Who Got a Headache and Accidentally Saves the World

from Clouds taste metallic

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Mat Riches | 12 January 2009 - 3:46pm

and of course

Thankyou Jack White, (for the Fibre Optic Jesus that you gave me)...

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newpathstohelicon | 12 January 2009 - 5:18pm

Careful With That Axe Eugene...

...Pink Floyd

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Carl | 12 January 2009 - 4:37pm

The Television Personalities

I reckon Dan Treacy could give Moz a run for his money when it comes to maudlin, neurotic self-pity (with a dash of wit).

All The Young Children On Crack
Are We Nearly There Yet?
Christ Knows, I Have Tried
Do You Know What They’re Saying About Me Now?
Do You Think If You Were Beautiful You’d Be Happy?
Don’t Cry Baby, It’s Only A Movie
Evan Doesn’t Ring Me Anymore
Give Me The Gun
God’s Got A Grudge On Me
Hard Luck Story No. 39
How I Learnt To Love The Bomb
I Get Scared When I Don’t Know Where You Are
I Know Where Syd Barret Lives
I Suppose You Think It’s Funny
I Was A Mod Before You Was A Mod
I Wish You Could Love Me For What I Am
I’m Not Like Everybody Else
I’ve Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me
Me And My Big Ideas
Meanwhile In A Luxury Docklands Home
My Very First Nervous Breakdown
No More I Hate you’s
None Of This Will Matter When You’re Dead
Not For The Likes Of Us
Now That I’m A Junkie
Now You’re Just Being Ridiculous
Salvador Dali’s Garden Party
She Loves It When He Sings Like Elvis
She’s Never Read My Poems
Sometimes I Think You Know Me Better Than I Know Myself
Sorry To Embarrass You
Things Have Changed Since I Was A Girl
Time Goes Slowly When You’re Drowning
We Will Be Your Gurus
What If It’s Raining?
Where Bill Grundy Now?
You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are
You, Me & Lou Reed
You’ll Have To Scream Louder

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Richard Lowe | 12 January 2009 - 6:59pm

Stand-alone

There are some great stand-alone song titles here:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/wet-tip-hen-ax-good-song-titles
I was going to type in some song titles by The Happy Flowers, and then remembered that I'd already done it. Sample: "If This Gun Were Real (I Could Shoot You And Sleep In The Big Bed With Mummy)"

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Nick White | 12 January 2009 - 9:39pm

Yes

I knew we'd done best song titles, I was trying to move toward a more specific kind of title that is more than just a good one. A distinction too fine perhaps. I think it's gone well though. Bit of a different set of results. That's a cracker you came up with there. More interesting I feel when there's a meaning behind it, like a twisted story, a glimpse into another world, or a comment on life - rather than just weirdness or odd juxtaposition.

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Sven Garlic | 12 January 2009 - 9:53pm

Don't worry, Sven -

I wasn't harrumphing that we'd done all this before, because we haven't - I like your angle. I was just being lazy and avoiding typing in stuff I'd typed in before, and then noticed that there were several good examples in the previous thread of what you're looking for. This is a top thread though.

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Nick White | 12 January 2009 - 10:13pm

It's OK Nick

I didn't feel you were harrumphing. I am sorry if I made it seem like I thought you were guilty of any harrumphment. Funny business this blogging isn't it?

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Sven Garlic | 12 January 2009 - 10:28pm

And talking of Yes

Owner of a Lonely Heart
Siberian Khatru
Heart of the Sunrise
And You and I

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Mark JF | 12 January 2009 - 10:13pm

I came up with the following

and offered them to someone in a band. He didn't use them.

"Let's Build A Bomb (A Bigger One)"
"The Sound Of A God Giving Birth To Itself"
"Shoot Me With Your Bullets Of Love"

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LOUDspeaker | 13 January 2009 - 9:58am

Smart Brown Handbag...

...are not only the best American band you've never heard of, they are also responsible for such great song titles as;

Medicate To Stabilize
Cleo In Her Sputnik
Sleepless 4 Days
This Little Waste Of Time

If he was English, David Steinhart (singer, guitarist, songwriter)would have statues built in his honour, but he's from LA and exhbits the kind of intelligence that city frowns on so, despite nearly a dozen albums of solid magnificence, languishes in obscurity.

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zorilla | 13 January 2009 - 10:36am

Who sang...

" It Ain´t Love but It Ain´t Bad "

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On The Fence | 13 January 2009 - 10:37am

Slade

(But don't tell anyone I told you)

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Retropath2 | 13 January 2009 - 10:58am

Well how about...

I forgot to remember to forget her
or
You're right, I'm left she's gone

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Richard Raftery | 13 January 2009 - 8:50pm

"Meat" "Loaf"/Jim Steinman

Surely the kings:

Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back
A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)
etc

and more PSB:
Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend
It Couldn't Happen Here
You Know Where You Went Wrong
We All Feel Better In The Dark

some Pulp:
Do You Remember The First Time?
Sorted For Es and Whizz

and some Cake:
Friend Is A Four Letter Word

I could go on. But it's bed time.

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Montecore | 14 January 2009 - 12:39am
Blue Sky | 14 January 2009 - 5:19am

Cowboys

Mama, Don´t Let Your Children Grow Up To Be Cowboys- good advice on so many levels.

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On The Fence | 14 January 2009 - 10:18am
Steerpike | 14 January 2009 - 5:14pm

I'm sorry, but...

Surely, Parliament and Bootsy Collins have got to feature in this?

Aqua Boogie (A psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadolooop)
Bootzilla.

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TheYoungOne | 14 January 2009 - 6:10pm

Stand alone

What about My dwarf is getting tired from Ry Cooder's I, Flathead

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tinkerbell | 14 January 2009 - 8:09pm

Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf

and its meaty accompanying video

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Montecore | 14 January 2009 - 11:29pm

Michael Marra

The genius that is Michael Marra is mentioned on the randomiser post. He has a way with song titles

Frida Kahlo's vist to the Taybridge Bar
Bob Dylan's visit to Embra
Schenectady Calling Peerie Willie Johnson
Mac Rebennack's Visit To Blairgowrie
Beefhearts And Bones
The Angus Man's Welcome To Mary Stewart
King George III's Return To Sanity
General Grant's Visit To Dundee

A lot of songs about visits !!!

Take me out drinking tonight - not a brilliant title but includes the immortal line (from those of us from north of the border)
Mr. MacEwan, you will be my ruin

And,as mentioned over there, a wonderful live act.

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tropdevin | 15 January 2009 - 5:09pm

Luke Haines

Luke Haines, surely our most undervalued songwriter?

How to Hate the Working Classes
Unsolved Child Murder
The Death of Sarah Lucas
Kenneth Anger's Bad Dream
Light Aircraft On Fire
What Happens When We Die

The 'Bad Vibes' book is brilliant too.

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Wyatt | 15 January 2009 - 7:51pm

another album title but...

it always made me grin was Spooky Tooth's
"You Broke My Heart, So I Busted Your Jaw"

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plumb1909 | 15 January 2009 - 9:39pm

Pigface excel

in album titles, go Google you Fuckin' Redneck Mexican Assholes

and I mean that in a nice way

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James Blast | 15 January 2009 - 9:50pm

Brackets Rock

John Otway: Beware Of The Flowers ('Cos I'm Sure They're Gonna Get You, Yeah)
AC/DC: It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)
Electric Prunes: I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night

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David Perry | 15 January 2009 - 10:28pm

A sense of history please

"I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream" seems to me to put a cherry and topping on this lot....

Or perhaps "What's the Use of Getting Sober (If You Going to get Drunk Again?)

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brutus_odowd | 16 January 2009 - 1:28am

No Tom Waits?

How About

Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis
Whistlin' Past The Graveyard
Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson)

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Humphrey Plugg | 16 January 2009 - 10:46am

And a few others

The Divine Comedy:
Death of A Supernaturalist
Count Grassi's Passage over Piedmont
The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count

The Monochrome Set:
The Lighter Side of Dating
The Puerto Rican Fence Climber

The Fall:
The War Against Intelligence
Mere Pseud Mag Editor's Father

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Humphrey Plugg | 16 January 2009 - 11:02am

"Love Theme from Yeats: the Movie" by Toasted Heretic

also by the Toasties
"LSD (Isn't What it Used to Be)"
"The Best Things in Life are Mine"

and their album "Songs for Swinging Celibates"

"They Didn't Teach Music in My School" was on one of their EPs which also had an instrumental track called "They Did in Mine"

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Gramsci | 16 January 2009 - 3:17pm

just got back

from the Duke Special gig:

Last night i nearly died (but i woke up just in time)

genius.

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Linus | 17 January 2009 - 12:02am

More Zevon

You're A Whole Different Person When You're Scared
Even A Dog Can Shake Hands

And let's hear it for Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown:

Going To Put A Bar In The Back Of My Car (And Drive Myself To Drink).

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James EB | 17 January 2009 - 10:03am

McLusky, anyone?

Bipolar Bears Take Seattle
Reformed Arsonist Seeks Child Bride
Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues
Without MSG, I Am Nothing
Random Celebrity Insult Generator
Be Average to Each Other
Dave, Stop Killing Prostitutes

And, yes, it's an album title, but: My Pain and Sadness is More Sad and Painful Than Yours.

Also, Mogwai:
Yes! I am a long way from home.
Mogwai Fear Satan
I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School

And Superchunk, with Never Too Young to Smoke.

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JoelTurner | 17 January 2009 - 12:26pm

ah, Mclusky

and you might have mentioned

Forget About Him, I'm Mint
She will only bring you happiness
You should be ashamed Seamus
KKKitchens, what were you thinking?
Whiteliberalonwhiteliberalaction

and Future of the Left

The Lord Hates a Coward

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spt | 19 January 2009 - 4:12pm

Lambchop

Soaky in the Pooper
A Day Without Glasses
Cigaretiquette
National Talk Like A Pirate Day
Your Sucking Funny Day

My favourite Morrissey one is still

You're the One For Me, Fatty

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Neil Dyson | 17 January 2009 - 4:41pm
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