Somehow this phenomenon was limited to the second half of the Sixties (and the first half of the Seventies). Suddenly it seemed everyone was doing it (then pretty soon it got old). If done now, it would look kind of retro.
There were two types:
Parentheses in front
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” - the earliest parentheseed song title I can think of–was it the inspiration for the others?
“(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman”
or parentheses in back
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
“The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)”
The convention predates the stones by quite a bit. “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in his Kiss)” was originally released by Betty Everett in 1964 – “Satisfaction” came out in 1965. Bob Dylan did “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” live in '64, too, and it was on record before the Stones.
From 1958, there was Domenico Modugno’s #1 hit "“Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu),” though everyone just referred to it at “Volare.”
From Kiss Me Kate in 1948, there was “Always True to You (In My Fashion).”
Bing Crosby did “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That’s an Irish Lullaby)”
From the Harry Warren website, I could at least 20 by the time I get to the letter “F” in his alphabetical listing. The dates on these go back to 1924.
He wasn’t the first – lots of sheet music from the turn of the century had subtitles in parentheses. The Library of Congress lists the song “Clare de Kitchen [or, De Kentucky Screamer]” from 1835.
This may be a legend, but I was told that the original title for that one was Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu - the publishers added the Volare when they realized that’s what every DJ and his mom was calling the song anyway.
I’ve seen some interviews with different people who claim similar stories: the part in parenthesis is what they had called the song, the part outside is what everybody they’d run it through was calling it.
Jim Steinman may be the king of this, since he is the king of long operatic titles:
You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)
Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire)
Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)
I’d Lie for You (And That’s the Truth)
Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)
Original Sin (The Natives Are Restless Tonight)
Total Eclipse of the Heart (Radio Version) j/k
I have a song that has not one, but two sets of parenthetical phrases, called (Come And) Worship Satan (With Me), kind of a twisted Up With People thing. If could ever be arsed to record, maybe I can be in the record books for that. :o
I’ve got these on my computer, and I don’t think any of them are from the 60s:
Anna Nalick - Breathe (2 AM)
Brendan Benson - Cold Hands (Warm Heart)
Bush - The People That We Love (Speed Kills)
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Butch Walker - Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty)
Calexico - Quattro (World Drifts In)
Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
En Vogue - Don’t Let Go (love)
Evans Blue - Cold (But I’m Still Here)
Fuel - Hemorrhage (In My Hands)
Heidi - People (we hate)
Idlewild - (I Am) What I Am Not
Jonathon Edward - Sunshine (Go Away Today)
Kidney Thieves - S+M(a Love Song)
My Chemical Romance - Im Not Ok(I Promise)
Nine Days - Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)
Omnisoul - Waiting (Save Your Life)
Orgy - Fiction (Dreaming In Digital)
POD - Rock the Party (Off The Hook)
Possum Dixon - Holding (Lenny’s Song)
Radford - Therapy (I Don’t Need You)
Scream OST - Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)
Silverchair - Ana’s Song (Open Fire)
Texas - Like Lovers (Holding On)
The Mars Volta - The Widow (Never Sleep Alone)
The Offspring - (Can’t Get My) Head Around You
The Used - I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes)
Tori Amos - Black Dove (January)
j/k