# What is the longest song title ever... maybe by Pink Floyd? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526 "2003-02-16T23:33:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/21 "2003-02-17T04:54:44Z")
Remember, it is a firm rule that nobody famous is ever the answer to any question about a superlative (except most sales, obviously). For books, movies, music, plays, anything you can think of, the longest, lengthiest, highest, lowest, shortest, crunchiest, brownest, or most Peruvian is by somebody you have never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/22 "2003-02-17T04:56:53Z")
**Exapno** : I don’t get what you mean by that. Are you saying that it doesn’t count if some people haven’t heard of it? I think **Robot Arm** settled it, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/23 "2003-02-17T05:32:35Z")
Primitive Radio Gods had a single “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand”, but that doesn’t even appear to be a starter in this race. OTOH, it charted well and got some radio play, unlike some others in this thread. Manic Street Preachers’ “If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next” is up there, as far as #1 charting singles (in the UK, at least) with long titles go. ---
**Author:** ![octothorpe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@octothorpe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octothorpe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/24 "2003-02-17T06:00:28Z")
**Harpo** : If memory serves, the longest sentence in a novel can be found in **Victor Hugo’s _Les Miserables_**. Couple that with **Hoagy Carmichael’s** song and it’s beginning to look like the rule of thumb is still being proved. Also, some gain fame simply by doing something superlative (would anybody remember Sir Edmond Hillary had he not climbed Everest?). **samarm** : My favorite Shawn Phillips song is _ **Bright White** _. # ---
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/25 "2003-02-17T06:47:01Z")
Sure it’s obscure, noisy breakbeat, and not half as long as some of the other entrants - but still… _A Penis is Just a Great Big Clitoris with a Piss Hole_ by Stunt Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/26 "2003-02-17T07:05:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by danceswithcats \* > \*\*I do not recall the artist, but there was a country/western song with the title of: “Why did you believe me when I told you that I loved you, cause you know I’ve been a liar all my life”. \*\* Not a country-western song. It was written by Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane for the Hollywood musical _Royal Wedding_ (1951), where it was sung by Fred Astaire and Jane Powell. The title of the song is actually “How could you believe me when I said I love you when you know I’ve been a liar all my life?” ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/27 "2003-02-17T11:35:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narrad \* > \*\*Manic Street Preachers’ “If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next” … \*\* If you are going to pick a Manics song, how about (from the Holy Bible album) **"Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit’sworldwouldfallapart"** ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/28 "2003-02-17T11:39:58Z")
“Joan Miro’s Procession Through The Insides Of A Purple Antelope Across A Sea Of Tuna Fish” by Adrian Belew? Also my favorite title. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/29 "2003-02-17T11:44:03Z")
Simon & Garfunkel managed **A simple desultory philippic (or how I was Robert McNamara’d into submission)**. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/30 "2003-02-17T14:51:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samarm \* > \*\*“She Was Waitin’ For Her Mother At The Station In Torino And You Know I Love You Baby But It’s Getting Too Heavy To Laugh” > > by Shawn Philips (bet none of you have heard of him!) \*\* My (much) older brother just saw him in concert last year. Still touring after all these years. I can’t name a song of his, but I do know the artist! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/31 "2003-02-17T18:08:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samarm \* > \*\ ***Exapno** : I don’t get what you mean by that. Are you saying that it doesn’t count if some people haven’t heard of it? \*\* Not at all. I’m just saying that there have been many threads of the type “Did [famous artist] do the [superlative]?” And someone always chimes in with the revelation that some obscure or experimental artist did it much more so. And that’s the point. Mainstream artists can get away with much less, because they have market pressures and commericial interests and company bosses. An experimental filmmaker can do a 24-hour-long film just to make a day-long film. Neither Cleopatra nor Napoleon nor any other film you have heard of in theaters can match this. Pink Floyd or Christine Lavin or Fiona Apple can do very long titles, but somewhere there is a garage band who self-published a CD with an even longer one, just because they thought it would be a laugh. Victor Hugo may have written the longest sentence in a major novel, but you will find if you search hard enough an entire novel that is a single sentence. Just to be the answer to a trivia question some day, as \*_octothorpe_ implies. Mainstream and experimental are two different worlds, with wildly different rules. But mostly I was just tickled by the answers because I had the same response to this thread as I do to all those threads whose title is “Why do they never…” and the answer always is “Yes, they do so too sometimes…” Life on the SDMB is always amusing. It’s a great place to pass the time. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/32 "2003-02-17T19:42:29Z")
Since everybody else seems to be throwing crap out that they know isnt the longest… **NOFX** - We Threw Gasoline on the Fire and Now We have Stumps for Arms and no Eyebrows ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/33 "2003-02-17T21:26:59Z")
Not the longest, but the one that came into my head: “Why I Picked a Lemon in the Garden of Love Where They Say Only Peaches Grow” ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/34 "2003-02-18T03:02:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > \*\*Not at all. I’m just saying that there have been many threads of the type “Did [famous artist] do the [superlative]?” And someone always chimes in with the revelation that some obscure or experimental artist did it much more so. > > And that’s the point. Mainstream artists can get away with much less, because they have market pressures and commericial interests and company bosses. An experimental filmmaker can do a 24-hour-long film just to make a day-long film. Neither Cleopatra nor Napoleon nor any other film you have heard of in theaters can match this.\*\* :dubious: What about a more simple explanation; [superlatives] in art are much more likely to achieved by obscure artists than famous artists for the simple fact that there are MANY MORE unknown artists than there are celebrities? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/35 "2003-02-18T03:54:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narrad \* > \*\*:dubious: > > What about a more simple explanation; [superlatives] in art are much more likely to achieved by obscure artists than famous artists for the simple fact that there are MANY MORE unknown artists than there are celebrities? \*\* Nope. If you are making a movie or an album or a book or a tv show or any form of creative activity for one of AOL Time Warner’s million subsidiaries, it doesn’t matter how obscure you are, you will never under any circumstances be allowed to get away with what an independent experimental artist can do. ---
**Author:** ![mdf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@mdf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mdf)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/36 "2003-02-18T04:22:22Z")
It’s already been beaten, but I’m going to throw it out there anyway just because I like it: Why Should I Lend You Mine (When You’ve Broken Yours Off Already)… Followed by: …Maybe I’ll Lend You Mine After All -Brand X, from Morroccan Roll -mdf ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526/37 "2003-02-18T04:55:51Z")
This thread is an excellent argument for limiting song titles to 20 words or less. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-song-title-ever-maybe-by-pink-floyd/155526.md?page=1)