Song Titles that don't Appear in the Lyrics

Cafe Society
1

Have you ever heard a song many times and had no idea what the actual title of the song was because the title appeared nowhere in the lyrics to the song? Of course you have. Here are some titles of songs that fit this description. Feel free to add as many other examples as you can.

  1. For What its Worth by Buffalo Springfield (“Stop, hey, what’s that sound…”)

  2. Superstar by The Carpenters (“Don’t you remember you told me you loved me baby…”)

  3. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana (“With the lights out, its less dangerous…”)

  4. My Back Pages by The Byrds (“I was so much older then…”)

  5. Texarkana by REM (“20,000 miles to an oasis…”)

  6. The Analog Kid by Rush (“You move me, you move me…”)

  7. The Dead Heart by Midnight Oil (“We carry in our hearts the true country…”)

  8. Life During Wartime by Talking Heads (“This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco…”)

  9. A Soapbox Opera by Supertramp

  10. A Sort of Homecoming by U2 (“And your heart beats so low…”)

  11. Celebrity Skin by Hole

  12. Dialogue Parts 1 &2 by Chicago (“Are you optimistic 'bout the way that things are going…”)

  1. Incident on 57th Street by Bruce Springsteen

  2. Legend of a Cowgirl by Imani Coppola (“Pack my bags and mount my horse…”)

  3. Master Blaster by Stevie Wonder (“We’ll be jamming until the break of dawn…”)

  4. New York City Serenade by Bruce Springsteen

  5. Open All Night by Bruce Springsteen

  6. Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan (“Johnny’s in the basement, mixing up the medicine…”)

  7. Vincent by Don McLean (“Starry, starry night…”)

  8. Crique Alley by The Mommas and the Papas

That’s all I have for now. Other examples?

2

I never knew that “How Soon Is Now” by the Smiths was called that (the song that croons: I am huuuuman and I neeeeed to be loooved…)

3

Tubthumping by Chumbawamba

4

This was the first one to come to my mind. It’s actually a Bob Dylan song that was covered by The Byrds.

Not true.

*You took your life as lovers often do;
But I could have told you Vincent
this world was never meant for one
as beautiful as you. *

I’ll add Franklin’s Tower by The Grateful Dead.

5

Oops.

Roll away the dew

6

Lots of peak-period Dylan songs qualify, but probably the most notable is “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35,” which is the real title of the song casual listeners assume is called “Everybody Must Get Stoned.”

For that matter, when I was first getting into Dylan, I looked through all his LPs in the store trying to find the one with “Mr. Jones” on it. I finally gave up and bought Highway 61 Revisited because it had “Like a Rolling Stone,” and found to my delight that “Ballad of a Thin Man” was the song I had been looking for in the first place.

7

“Baba O’Riley” by The Who

8

“59th Street Bridge Song” by Simon and Garfunkel (“Feelin’ groovy…”)

9

The entire back catalogue of New Order fits this, but for starters, there’s Blue Monday (“How does it feel/To treat me like you do…”), Bizarre Love Triangle (“Every time I see you falling/I get down on my knees and pray…”), and True Faith (“I used to think that the day would never come…”).

10

Tequila and Wipeout are the opposite extreme, natch.

11

I’m being a little facetious of course. There are some New Order songs with the title in the song (Regret, The Perfect Kiss, etc.).

12

Not quite, haj:
I’ll tell you where the four winds dwell
In Franklin’s Tower there hangs a bell

For the Dead, you could go with Wharf Rat, Estimated Prophet, Loser, Bird Song, Weather Report Suite, Dupree’s Diamond Blues, or The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion).

Bob Dylan has a lot of them as well: Motorpsycho Nightmare, Bob Dyaln’s Dream, Spanish Harlem Incident, Percy’s Song, 4th Time Around, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry…

The Weight by The Band (Take a load off fanny, Take a load for free…)

13

The first song that came to mind for me was Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money In My Hand” (“I’ve been downhearted, baby, ever since the day we met…”)

14

“Smell of Petroleum” by the Pogues.

15

And “Fairytale of New York”, also by the Pogues. Can’t believe I forgot that one.

16

Also by the Pogues, “Fairytale of New York.” (“And the boys of the NYPD choir were singing, Galway Bay…”)

17

“Bullet with Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins
“Song for the Dumped” by Ben Folds Five
“The Last Polka” by Ben Folds Five
“Where’s Summer B?” by Ben Folds Five
“Prison Food” by Ben Folds
“Einstein on the Beach (for an Eggman)” by Counting Crows
“A Murder of One” by Counting Crows
“Another Horsedreamer’s Blues” by Counting Crows
“Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby” by Counting Crows
“Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood)” by Counting Crows
“Suffocate” by Counting Crows
“Pieholden Suite” by Wilco
“Summerteeth” by Wilco
“Candyfloss” by Wilco

18

“Corduroy” by Pearl Jam

“Locked in the Trunk of a Car” by The Tragically Hip

19

“The dead heart lives here” is the song’s last line.

20

Ah, yes. But there is “Love Vigilantes” which does have lyrics, the song title not among them.