# Song titles (Parenthetical) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2012, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515 "2012-02-21T11:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/21 "2012-02-22T17:55:46Z")
Dr. Feelgood (Love Is a Serious Business) King Harvest (Has Surely Come) You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) Don’t Touch Me (I’m Electric) Darkness (l’Immoraliste) The Clouds Are Full of Wine (Not Whiskey or Rye) Up in Heaven (Not Only Here) Edie (Ciao Baby) My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks) Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open) My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’) Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over) (What’s So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea New Song (For the Morning) Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey) The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) The Checquered Flag (Dead or Alive) Pibroch (Cap in Hand) 4WD (Low Ratio) Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) (I Love It When You) Call Me Names Pick Me Up (Big Chicken) Eleanor’s Cake (Which Ate Her) Nuages (That Which Passes, Passes Like Clouds) Everybody’s a Star (Starmaker) Too Tender (To Touch) It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz) Mau Mau (Amerikon) Bop Gun (Endangered Species) Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk (Pay Attention - B3M) (Gloryhallastoopid) Pin the Tail on the Funky (You’re a Fish and I’m a) Water Sign Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop) Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) Fires (Which Burnt Brightly) (In the Wee Small Hours of) Sixpence Cerdes (Outside the Gates of) Salad Days (Are Here Again) Skip Softly (My Moonbeams) Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis) Sing This All Together (See What Happens) Soho (Needless to Say) Hey! (Rise of the Robots) Sweden (All Quiet on the Eastern Front) Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired My Room (Waiting for Wonderland) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/22 "2012-02-22T19:19:55Z")
Roy (Back From The Offworld) ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/23 "2012-02-23T00:21:14Z")
Jump (for My Love) Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/24 "2012-02-23T00:41:29Z")
[7/4 (Shoreline)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uev2J_cBHjQ) [All-Right (Oh, Yeah)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxTRDJjfqdE) [God We Look Good (Going Down in Flames)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L_ERdLl8uY) [Episodes (Diphenhydramine)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg6uyHmUJzU) [Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ4XVaOQxtE) [C C (You Set The Fire In Me)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD1uJtTdpik) [Change (In The House Of Flies)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPpDyIJdasg) Dear Jenny (Fuck You) [Don’t Know Why (You Stay)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL0QW07st8A) [Don’t Let Go (Love)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6pnzyfFi9w) and [also](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_2ilGe9vSE) [Doubter Out of Jesus (All Over You)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7uqDK4SaAE) [End of the World News (Dose Me Up)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcqm8_hImJ8) [Evening On the Ground (Lilith’s Song)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ3Y2tt3kGA) [Feathers (Don’t Change on Me)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llBuYVGAleM) [Fiction (Dreaming In Digital)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVsI1aGmwpU) [For Nancy(Cos it Already Is)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zginCd6D0as) [Fuck You (An Ode To No One)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ME5ZWzKY-I&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL034E5BD7ED5AF53B) [Got To Get (Your Eyes)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YY0IyIYE3A) [Got You (Where I Want You)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9NX3UcyAFU) [Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFoLHl4Pcv8) eh, there’s more, but I’m bored. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/25 "2012-02-23T00:48:32Z")
Every track on The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking is parenthetically titled, [as you can see](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pros_and_Cons_of_Hitch_Hiking#Track_listing). ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/26 "2012-02-23T01:50:55Z")
(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone Rocket Man (It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time) (Everybody’s Waiting for) The Man With the Bag Christmas Baby (Please Come Home) Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) My Kind of Town (Chicago Is) (You’re the) Devil in Disguise On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever) Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares) Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) Ain’t Going Down (Til the Sun Comes Up) Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/27 "2012-02-23T02:13:36Z")
(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection (Over My Head) Cable Car ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/28 "2012-02-23T11:19:53Z")
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) ---
**Author:** ![ruh-roh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ruh-roh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruh-roh)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/29 "2012-02-23T14:20:22Z")
okay (but why do they do this)? Sometimes the (parenthetical) part is additional information, but a lot of times it would read just fine (without the parentheses). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/30 "2012-02-23T14:49:35Z")
A few more: Def Leppard - High ‘N’ Dry (Saturday Night) Styx - Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) Sammy Hagar - Trans Am (Highway Wonderland) Sammy Hagar - This Planet’s on Fire (Burn in Hell) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/31 "2012-02-23T15:13:40Z")
Wilco - One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend) I Got You (At the End of the Century) Leave Me (Like You Found Me) Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (Again) Outta Mind (Outta Sight) Outta Sight (Outta Mind) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/32 "2012-02-23T15:18:08Z")
Beck loves to make song titles like this: Pay No Mind (Snoozer) Asskizz Powergrudge (Payback!) Fucking With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock) Supergolden (Sunchild) Feel Like a Piece of Shit (Mind Control) Crystal Clear (Beer) She Is All (Gimme Something To Eat) Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) Feel Like a Piece of Shit (Crossover Potential) Total Soul Future (Eat It) Mango (Vader Rocks!) Feel Like a Piece of Shit (Cheetoes Time) High 5 (Rock the Catskills) Styrofoam Chicken (Quality Time) ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/33 "2012-02-23T15:30:34Z")
Other than The 59th Street Bridge Song, the one I know of where the parenthesized title is almost always the one used is: Exhale (Shoop Shoop) I assume it wasn’t called “Shoop Shoop” from the beginning because there already is a song called “The Shoop Shoop Song”. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/34 "2012-02-23T18:38:47Z")
Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone) ---
**Author:** ![Jerusalem\_Slim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Jerusalem\_Slim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerusalem_Slim)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/35 "2012-02-24T04:22:02Z")
Always intrigued by song titles with parentheticals on _both_ ends … : (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) - Stranglers : (The Strange Circumstances Which Lead To) Vladimir and Olga (‘Requesting’ Rehabilitation In A Siberian Health Resort As A Result Of Stress In Furthering The People’s Policies) - Stranglers … or where a parenthetical aside unexpectedly pops up in the middle: : Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine - James Brown : The Things (That) You Do - Stevie Ray Vaughn Let’s see, what else? Another album where every song title features a parenthetical is Ian Dury’s Lord Upminster, where the tracks are: Funky Disco (Pops) Red (Letter) Girls (Watching) Wait (For Me) The (Body Song) Lonely (Town) Trust (Is A Must) Spasticus (Autisticus) No, that’s not a typo: track 5 really is “The (Body Song)”. Also, let’s not forget the Faces’ 1974 UK top 20 hit “You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/36 "2012-02-24T15:30:17Z")
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) – Journey Rock It (Prime Jive) – Queen Machines (Back to Humans) – Queen Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) – Queen The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) – Yes Mission (A World Record) – Electric Light Orchestra Poor Boy (The Greenwood) – Electric Light Orchestra I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock of Seagulls Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) – A Flock of Seagulls ---
**Author:** ![wanderer2575](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@wanderer2575](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wanderer2575)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/37 "2012-02-25T19:25:14Z")
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) (The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether – Alan Parsons Project And a few barbershopper tunes: (When It’s) Darkness on the Delta If the Lord Be Willin’ (and the Creek Don’t Rise) From the First Hello (To the Last Goodbye) Sweet and Lovely (That’s What You Are To Me) The Story of the Rose (Heart of My Heart) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/38 "2012-02-25T20:21:43Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Beaten to it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515/39 "2012-02-25T22:10:54Z")
[You’d a’ Thought (Leonard Cohen Must Die)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbBITtmFN34), James McMurtry (Awesome song!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-titles-parenthetical/613515.md?page=1)