Songs with finite lists

Cafe Society
1

I’m looking for songs that have complete lists as defined or suggested by the song itself. Example:

YES: “16 Reasons” (Connie Stevens), which itemizes all 16 reasons why she loves you, one by one.
NO: “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (Paul Simon), which lists a few ways, but definitely not 50.

YES: “Sunday” (written by Jule Styne), which works its way through the work week. No, it doesn’t include Saturday, but the day-by-day pattern of the song is still internally complete and consistent.
NO: “California Girls” (Beach Boys), which lists assorted geographic areas of girls he likes, but in way that’s both random and allows for obvious omissions.

Since it’s the season, an obvious candidate is “The 12 Days of Christmas”. Any others you can think of?

2

Kiss off by the Violent Femmes. Also 88 lines about 44 women.

3

A Beach Boys song that DOES count: Calendar Girl.

4

“God” by John Lennon.

(“Calendar Girl” was done by Neil Sedaka.)

5

Seven Deadly Sins from the Traveling Wilburys lists seven things, some of them sins.

Ten Commandments Of Love, covered by Ry Cooder, walks through ten things, most of them commandment-like.

M-O-T-H-E-R and L-O-V-E both have a line for each letter.

6

“People Who Died” by the Jim Carroll Band
“I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder
All of those “how many is this?” mini-songs from Sesame Street

7

[ul]
[li]Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” lists several dozen locations throughout the song.[/li][li]Huey Lewis’ “Heart of Rock n’ Roll” lists a handful of U.S. cities.[/li][li]Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” lists significant historical events (and is due for some updates as indicated in recent threads on this board regarding this song)[/li][/ul]

8

Really? Did the Beach Boys do a cover? Because I could swear I remember this being them…

9

The Elements, by Tom Lehrer.

10

I don’t think so. I have all of their albums and singles, and I’m not aware of it being on any of them.

11

Never mind. On Googling, it was apparently a Mike Love solo recording, which my brain was expanding to include the whole bunch of 'em.

12

Brian McKnight, Back At One.

13

None of these lists are finite, tho, as asked for by the OP.

I think Mustard Plug’s “Snaknin’ By Numbers” fits. Apparently, there’s 3 steps.

14

Oh, so I was only a bit wrong. I haven’t kept up with Mike’s solo career. I’ve had a look at some of his catalogue, and he recorded a lot of stuff that frankly, a lot of people have never heard. I would kind of expect his records to sound something like The Beach Boys, so it’s easy to see how you made the connection.

15

Which was done by The Nails. I don’t think they ever did anything else that wasn’t on Hotel For Women.

The Cure and The Easybeats both did songs detailing the days of the week.
Also The Beatles “Lady Madonna”, but they leave out one day (Wednesday?)

16

Of course, he forgot what 8 was for…so does that count? :slight_smile:

17

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

18

[Inigo Montoya] You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means[/Inigo Montoya]
Try coming up with a song with an infinite list.

It’d make 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall seem tolerable.

19

Police’s “Murder By Numbers”

Claims that it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 and then goes on to give the three steps (Harden your heart, poison someone, do a “twosome” or a “threesome” until your conscious is cold).

Granted, those are pretty shoddy instructions.

20

Does “Friday I’m in Love” by **The Cure ** count? I believe he lists each day of the week in it.

Oh, I’ll also list “Box Set” by Barenaked Ladies. In it, you get a breakdown of what each disc of the fictional band’s box set contains… “Disc one, it’s where we begun… it’s all our greatest hits. Disc two, it was all brand new…”