Songs with a brand name in the title

I heard Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome” this morning. It led me to think about how silly it was that the Kinks had to change “Coca-Cola” to “cherry cola” in “Lola,” and yet here’s a song all about a brand-name product, with that brand name as the song’s title, no less.

Then I got to wondering what other songs have a brand name in the title. Not just in the lyrics – there must be thousands – but in the song title. The only one I could think of was “Wells Fargo Wagon” from the musical Oklahoma! Surely there are many more than that. Right?

As an aside, does the British law that forced the Kinks to change that line still apply? If so, does that mean “Kodachrome” has never been played on British airwaves? Seems unlikely to me.

The wonderful, yet almost criminally “unknown” Texas angel Nanci Griffith has a lovely song called “Ford Econoline”

Weird Al-
eBay
Craigslist
It’s All About The Pentiums
Spam
TMZ

An then of course there’s the much less wonderful “Chevy Van” from the not-criminally unknown Sammy Johns.

Here’s one I just heard a couple of weeks ago:
Jenny Lewis - Red Bull & Hennessy

“Western Union” by The Five Americans. The Five Americans - Western Union - YouTube

Harry Chapin had “Greyhound” and “Northwest 222”

Nitpick: “Wells Fargo Wagon” is from The Music Man.

And the more recent Chuck Prophet song of the same name. As far as I can tell, Chuck Prophet is also criminally unknown.

There’s probably a lot of car songs that qualify, such as “Mercury Blues” and “Pink Cadillac”, in addition to those already named.

Hot Rod Lincoln-Commander Cody
Little Honda-Beach Boys
Pink Cadillac-Bruce Springsteen

1/3 ninja’d!

D’oh! Of course you’re right. I must have seen the Surrey With the Fringe on Top coming down the road and mistook it for something else.

Jeez, car songs could take up a whole other thread. I didn’t think of that.

“Little Red Corvette” is another.

It’s not a law, it’s one of the regulations of the BBC - they’re not allowed to do any advertising of any kind. So they wouldn’t have been able to play the song, and they own four of the biggest radio stations plus had by far the biggest music TV show, Top of the Pops. I’m not sure if the rule’s applied consistently though - I’m sure some songs get away with it, maybe if it’s more subtle. Like my example, Smells Like Teen Spirit, definitely got away with it, perhaps because Teen Spirit, the deodorant the song title came from, wasn’t on sale in the UK at the time.

With a name like that, you should have!!

:smiley:

And today I learned that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was inspired by deodorant.

Rum and Coca-Cola, here by the Andrews Sisters

Does Koka Kola count? (The Clash)

Brand New Cadillac (the Clash)
Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner (Warren Zevon)
Night Train (Guns n Roses)
From a Buick 6 (Bob Dylan)
Give Me Novacaine (Green Day) – dodgy. The brand is spelled Novocain, but it’s the spelling for the same product in a dozen songs
Heinz Baked Beans & Medac & Odorono (The Who) :smiley:
Marvel (Radkey)
Victrola (Veruca Salt)
Warrior in Woolworth (X-Ray Spex)

Coca-Cola Cowboy (Mel Tillis)

Air Force Ones (Nelly)

Vasoline (Stone Temple Pilots)

They Might Be Giants have a song that was originally titled “NyQuil Driver” but had to be changed so that it wouldn’t have a registered trademark in the title.

Red Solo Cup Toby Keith

“Little GTO”