Thnx For The Annoying Song title chat... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Ireneparalegal · 12-21-2007, 10:31 PM

I have always wondered why a song title sometimes have parentheses ( ) in them. I came across a song today that had ( ) in it and I wondered, "Why don't they just use the whole title rather than put part of it in ( ). For example, The Monkees have a song titled (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone. Why not just title it "I'm not your steppin' stone"?

Or what abt those crazy titles like Sly and The Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" ...Why not just make it "Thank you"?

While trying to research why this is done, I found this but it still doesn't answer my questions above:

On The Record: What's In A Name (Besides A Bunch of Extraneous Bullsh--)?

Not to get all William Safire on you, but aside from taking me exactly one hour and 32 minutes to type out, the full list of nominees for the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards (see "MTV VMA Race Is On: Justin Timberlake, Beyonce Lead Nominations") is remarkable primarily because it shatters all previous records for bizarre syntax, unnecessary punctuation and, well, general assaults on our nation's grammatical well-being.

Seriously, this thing makes less sense than Christopher Walken reading e.e. cummings.

It's a motley collection of song titles that either a) show a rather annoying predilection for the parenthetical (for no particular reason), like "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)," "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" and "Big Things Poppin' (Do It)"; or b) make absolutely no sense whatsoever, like "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs," "The Way I Are" or "Cupid's Chokehold/ Breakfast in America," and it's enough to make me say that the art of naming a tune is totally, completely dead (seriously).

It used to be that only seriously crazy dudes gave their songs certifiably bonkers names, like Sly Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" or Frank Zappa's "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny." Wayne Coyne did his best to carry that mantle for close to a decade, with gems like "Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon (F--- Led Zeppelin)" and "Pilot Can at the Queer of God." Then there were guys like Beck and Guided by Voices, who tried in vain to keep the crazy vibe alive with stuff like "Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997" and "Tractor Rape Chain," respectively.

But alas, it's all come to an end in recent years, buried beneath an avalanche of unnecessary grammar and/or abuse of all things parenthetical. Nowadays, anyone can come up with a batsh-- crazy name for a song, and they don't even have to be batsh-- crazy to do it.

And who's to blame for all this? Well, probably Fall Out Boy, who have taken the art of the nonsensical title to the heretofore unattainable heights and — perhaps unwittingly — subjected us all to a steady stream of awful puns, parentheses and general WTF?-ness as a result. At first, ain't-we-clever titles like "Grand Theft Autumn/ Where Is Your Boy" were amusing, only the joke didn't stop, and soon we were staring down the barrel of punnery like "Seven Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)," the VMA-nominated "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" — which parts with both vowels and all semblance of sense — and "I've Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers," which is, I guess, a joke, except it's not funny.

This was, of course, copied by pretty much every single one of FOB's associates, so now we're subjected to stuff like Panic! at the Disco's "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines" (which I'm told is taken from a Douglas Coupland book, but seemingly has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song), Cute Is What We Aim For's "I Put The 'Metro' In Metronome" (which makes me want to shoot myself), and Gym Class Heroes' VMA-nominated "Cupid's Chokehold/ Breakfast in America," which I'm guessing is the band's way of acknowledging the Supertramp song they rip — uh, "sampled."

You can't blame it all on Fall Out Boy and their disciples though ... I'm reasonably sure Fergie wasn't aware of them when she decided to stick the "(Personal)" onto the end of "Big Girls Don't Cry." Rather, she was probably trying to communicate just how, uh, personal the song is to her, and wanted to do so subtly (hence the parenthesis). Then again, this is also the same woman who misspelled the word "duchess" on her album cover, so I guess anything is possible.

The bottom line? We need to put a stop to this wanton titular abuse ... and we need to do it soon. Perhaps we put crazy guys like Coyne or Stone in charge of naming all songs (note: there is roughly a 70 percent chance Sly would accept this position, given the relative, uh, openness of his current schedule). Or maybe we just go the Godspeed You! Black Emperor or ¡Forward Russia! route and just group songs into "sides" or assign them random numbers instead of titles.

That way, the list of nominees for the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards will read like a word-of-the-day calendar or binary code, which would be both awesome and incredibly easy for me to type out. In the end, we'd eliminate the current glut of annoying and incomprehensible song titles, and make my job easier. Which means we'd all win. Or at least I would. (I'm lazy.)

Dean Winchester · 12-21-2007, 10:56 PM

lol, they had a thread about longest, obnoxious song titles over on UKMix, I'll copy some of the "classics"

Arctic Monkeys - You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me

Panic! At The Disco - There's A Good Reason These Tables are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet

Rednex - The Sad But True Story Of Ray Mingus, The Lumberjack Of Bulk Rock City, And His Never Slacking Stribe In Exploiting The So Far Undiscovered Areas Of The Intention To Bodily Intercourse From The Opposite Species Of His Kind, During Intake Of All The Mental Condition That Could Be Derived From Fermentation

Red Sparrows - Finally As That Blazing Sun Shone Down Upon Us Did We Know That True Enemy Was The Voice Of Blind Idolatry; And Only Then Did We Begin To Think For Ourselves

Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead

Ireneparalegal · 12-21-2007, 11:01 PM

OMG, I recognize two of those titles.

I have a thread on here called SONG TITLES YOU ARE SURE WON'T BE REPEATED AGAIN.

I should add those to that list.

Seriously though, do you know why song titles have parentheses in them? I mean, what purpose does it serve?

Dean Winchester · 12-21-2007, 11:22 PM

couldn't you see people at a Rednex considering yelling "PLAY The Sad But True Story Of Ray Mingus, The Lumberjack Of Bulk Rock City, And His Never Slacking Stribe In Exploiting The So Far Undiscovered Areas Of The Intention To Bodily Intercourse From The Opposite Species Of His Kind, During Intake Of All The Mental Condition That Could Be Derived From Fermentation!!!!!!!!" like it's Freebird or Hells Bells

Ireneparalegal · 12-21-2007, 11:38 PM

^^^^^^^^

Cactus Jack · 12-21-2007, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

couldn't you see people at a Rednex considering yelling "PLAY The Sad But True Story Of Ray Mingus, The Lumberjack Of Bulk Rock City, And His Never Slacking Stribe In Exploiting The So Far Undiscovered Areas Of The Intention To Bodily Intercourse From The Opposite Species Of His Kind, During Intake Of All The Mental Condition That Could Be Derived From Fermentation!!!!!!!!" like it's Freebird or Hells Bells

Mikado · 12-22-2007, 12:24 AM

Ummm unlike everyone else, I shant digress....the parts of the titles in the parentheses are unofficial while the rest is the official title of the song

Ireneparalegal · 12-22-2007, 02:46 PM

So what is the point of the parentheses in the title?

Dean Winchester · 12-22-2007, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

So what is the point of the parentheses in the title?

good question. I think parentheses in song titles where the words are used together, like "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" or "Ain't Nobody Loves You (Like I Do)" is pointless, but I can sorta see cases like "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", since even if the song is called Escape, everyone knows the Pina Colada part mostly, so it makes sense to give it that title.

Ireneparalegal · 12-22-2007, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

good question. I think parentheses in song titles where the words are used together, like "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" or "Ain't Nobody Loves You (Like I Do)" is pointless, but I can sorta see cases like "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", since even if the song is called Escape, everyone knows the Pina Colada part mostly, so it makes sense to give it that title.

I remember when I worked in a music store and someone would come in asking for a CD or single, if it wasn't on the floor and I needed to see if it was in stock, I would enter the title of the song into the computer, unless the title was EXACT it wouldn't come up with any information.

That was so annoying. I would use the artists name instead.

"Escape (The Pina Colada song)" is a great example because some people knew that song by either title. But like you said, it is pointless to have the parentheses there. My curiosity has really been piqued now, I got to know.

Mikado · 12-22-2007, 06:16 PM

Well, I think Dean has it figured out there....Take the song officially named "Sorry" by the Impalas , you might not remember it by name, but if you heard it on the radio, youd remember the First line "I ran all the way home, just to say i'm sorry" , and then you probably went to the record store and youd find it more easily because of the way it was named on the record: "Sorry (I ran all the way home)"< I think the words in parenthesis were to make it easier for the consumer to find the songs they were looking for (At least thats my theory)

12-21-2007, 10:31 PM	#1
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	Thnx For The Annoying Song title chat... I have always wondered why a song title sometimes have parentheses ( ) in them. I came across a song today that had ( ) in it and I wondered, "Why don't they just use the whole title rather than put part of it in ( ). For example, The Monkees have a song titled (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone. Why not just title it "I'm not your steppin' stone"? Or what abt those crazy titles like Sly and The Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" ...Why not just make it "Thank you"? While trying to research why this is done, I found this but it still doesn't answer my questions above: On The Record: What's In A Name (Besides A Bunch of Extraneous Bullsh--)? Not to get all William Safire on you, but aside from taking me exactly one hour and 32 minutes to type out, the full list of nominees for the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards (see "MTV VMA Race Is On: Justin Timberlake, Beyonce Lead Nominations") is remarkable primarily because it shatters all previous records for bizarre syntax, unnecessary punctuation and, well, general assaults on our nation's grammatical well-being. Seriously, this thing makes less sense than Christopher Walken reading e.e. cummings. It's a motley collection of song titles that either a) show a rather annoying predilection for the parenthetical (for no particular reason), like "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)," "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" and "Big Things Poppin' (Do It)"; or b) make absolutely no sense whatsoever, like "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs," "The Way I Are" or "Cupid's Chokehold/ Breakfast in America," and it's enough to make me say that the art of naming a tune is totally, completely dead (seriously). It used to be that only seriously crazy dudes gave their songs certifiably bonkers names, like Sly Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" or Frank Zappa's "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny." Wayne Coyne did his best to carry that mantle for close to a decade, with gems like "Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon (F--- Led Zeppelin)" and "Pilot Can at the Queer of God." Then there were guys like Beck and Guided by Voices, who tried in vain to keep the crazy vibe alive with stuff like "Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997" and "Tractor Rape Chain," respectively. But alas, it's all come to an end in recent years, buried beneath an avalanche of unnecessary grammar and/or abuse of all things parenthetical. Nowadays, anyone can come up with a batsh-- crazy name for a song, and they don't even have to be batsh-- crazy to do it. And who's to blame for all this? Well, probably Fall Out Boy, who have taken the art of the nonsensical title to the heretofore unattainable heights and — perhaps unwittingly — subjected us all to a steady stream of awful puns, parentheses and general WTF?-ness as a result. At first, ain't-we-clever titles like "Grand Theft Autumn/ Where Is Your Boy" were amusing, only the joke didn't stop, and soon we were staring down the barrel of punnery like "Seven Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)," the VMA-nominated "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" — which parts with both vowels and all semblance of sense — and "I've Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers," which is, I guess, a joke, except it's not funny. This was, of course, copied by pretty much every single one of FOB's associates, so now we're subjected to stuff like Panic! at the Disco's "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines" (which I'm told is taken from a Douglas Coupland book, but seemingly has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song), Cute Is What We Aim For's "I Put The 'Metro' In Metronome" (which makes me want to shoot myself), and Gym Class Heroes' VMA-nominated "Cupid's Chokehold/ Breakfast in America," which I'm guessing is the band's way of acknowledging the Supertramp song they rip — uh, "sampled." You can't blame it all on Fall Out Boy and their disciples though ... I'm reasonably sure Fergie wasn't aware of them when she decided to stick the "(Personal)" onto the end of "Big Girls Don't Cry." Rather, she was probably trying to communicate just how, uh, personal the song is to her, and wanted to do so subtly (hence the parenthesis). Then again, this is also the same woman who misspelled the word "duchess" on her album cover, so I guess anything is possible. The bottom line? We need to put a stop to this wanton titular abuse ... and we need to do it soon. Perhaps we put crazy guys like Coyne or Stone in charge of naming all songs (note: there is roughly a 70 percent chance Sly would accept this position, given the relative, uh, openness of his current schedule). Or maybe we just go the Godspeed You! Black Emperor or ¡Forward Russia! route and just group songs into "sides" or assign them random numbers instead of titles. That way, the list of nominees for the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards will read like a word-of-the-day calendar or binary code, which would be both awesome and incredibly easy for me to type out. In the end, we'd eliminate the current glut of annoying and incomprehensible song titles, and make my job easier. Which means we'd all win. Or at least I would. (I'm lazy.)
	__________________ DALLAS COWBOYS ARE HERE AT TRAINING CAMP!!!

12-21-2007, 10:56 PM	#2
Dean Winchester Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Sep 28, 2003 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 14,803	lol, they had a thread about longest, obnoxious song titles over on UKMix, I'll copy some of the "classics" Arctic Monkeys - You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me Panic! At The Disco - There's A Good Reason These Tables are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet Rednex - The Sad But True Story Of Ray Mingus, The Lumberjack Of Bulk Rock City, And His Never Slacking Stribe In Exploiting The So Far Undiscovered Areas Of The Intention To Bodily Intercourse From The Opposite Species Of His Kind, During Intake Of All The Mental Condition That Could Be Derived From Fermentation Red Sparrows - Finally As That Blazing Sun Shone Down Upon Us Did We Know That True Enemy Was The Voice Of Blind Idolatry; And Only Then Did We Begin To Think For Ourselves Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead

12-21-2007, 11:01 PM	#3
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	OMG, I recognize two of those titles. I have a thread on here called SONG TITLES YOU ARE SURE WON'T BE REPEATED AGAIN. I should add those to that list. Seriously though, do you know why song titles have parentheses in them? I mean, what purpose does it serve?

12-21-2007, 11:22 PM	#4
Dean Winchester Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Sep 28, 2003 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 14,803	couldn't you see people at a Rednex considering yelling "PLAY The Sad But True Story Of Ray Mingus, The Lumberjack Of Bulk Rock City, And His Never Slacking Stribe In Exploiting The So Far Undiscovered Areas Of The Intention To Bodily Intercourse From The Opposite Species Of His Kind, During Intake Of All The Mental Condition That Could Be Derived From Fermentation!!!!!!!!" like it's Freebird or Hells Bells

12-21-2007, 11:38 PM	#5
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	^^^^^^^^

12-22-2007, 12:24 AM	#7
Mikado Main st bridge Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 25,892	Ummm unlike everyone else, I shant digress....the parts of the titles in the parentheses are unofficial while the rest is the official title of the song

12-22-2007, 02:46 PM	#8
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	So what is the point of the parentheses in the title?

12-22-2007, 06:16 PM	#11
Mikado Main st bridge Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 25,892	Well, I think Dean has it figured out there....Take the song officially named "Sorry" by the Impalas , you might not remember it by name, but if you heard it on the radio, youd remember the First line "I ran all the way home, just to say i'm sorry" , and then you probably went to the record store and youd find it more easily because of the way it was named on the record: "Sorry (I ran all the way home)"< I think the words in parenthesis were to make it easier for the consumer to find the songs they were looking for (At least thats my theory)