This week we present a list of songs we love that happen to have really long titles.
Melissa
“I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You” by Black Kids
The epitome of a fun, feel good, mid-2000s dance song. I also appreciate the specificity of the title, as in the song this boyfriend is only referred to as “him.”
“Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games” by of Montreal
If you ever had an Uglydoll as a child, this song feels like what it felt like to play with those.
“Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh” by Say Hi
For when one “oh” just isn’t enough.
Corinne
“I Feel Like The Mother Of The World” by Smog
Maybe folk, sometimes country, Bill Callahan’s album A River Ain’t Too Much to Love is perhaps too genre bending to achieve the widespread success it deserves. “I Feel Like The Mother Of The World” showcases vulnerable lyrics set alongside a sardonic tone. I started listening to Smog before midterms, and Bill knows how to calm you when you’re crashing out.
“RIP to the Empire State Flea Market” by Frog
STEREOGUM has called Frog “Remarkable.” Certainly, Frog is remarkably strange. A gem from New Rochelle, the duo scatters innuendos across their discography, towing the line between comedy and sincerity. Their recent album THE COUNT showcases their irreverent charm at its finest. Give them a listen, you won’t regret it.
Dani
“You Might Think He Loves You for Your Money but I Know What He Really Loves You for It’s Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat” by Death Grips
MC Ride opened with this song when I saw him live and everytime it plays I get war flashbacks…
“I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)” by Nina Simone
I actually brought this song up in my college essay! It makes me bawl my eyes out good luck
“I Wonder Why My Favorite Boy Leaves Me in the Rain” by The Marshmallow Kisses
Cutest song ever and I’ll forever be sad they didn’t release more music
Isaac
“Och of wij Uw geboon’ volbrachten” by John Propitius
This is an organ psalm improvisation that I listen to when I can’t fall asleep.
“Come Andy Play in The Milky Night” by Stereolab
This is my favorite song by Stereolab. The first time I heard it was on the radio, it was playing while I was interviewing for a job. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find it afterwards, so I took out my phone and shazam’d it during the interview. I’m glad I did.
Avery
“Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool for You Baby)” by Aretha Franklin
Aretha’s voice is of course standalone grand, but this song’s chorus has a soulful, full sound that opens her Young, Gifted and Black with a bang.
“Borderline (An Ode to Self-Care)(feat. Q-tip)” by Solange, Q-tip
A yummy beat, a long title, and two really great musician-producers.
“Eachhoureachsecondeachminuteeachday: Of My Life” by Maxwell
A song about a love that is all-consuming. So all consuming that even the spaces between the words in its title–not just time–are gone, too.
Maddy
“My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars” by Mitski
It’s less than two minutes long, but in my opinion, there’s something about this song that accesses the highs and lows of the human experience. It’s like stepping from somewhere warm and contained into the cold night air, except the sensation is either utterly overwhelming or entirely freeing. Unless both are possible at the same time? Mitski can do it. I like to listen to this song when I need to remember that nothing really matters – I’m just made of crushed little stars.
“I Felt Like Smashing My Face in a Clear Glass Window” by Yoko Ono
Unlike pretty much anything by Yoko Ono, this song is something you could snap to. It’s a romp across town, and everything about it assumes a jaunty air, even with the dark, ironic lyrics, and the dark, direct title.
“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” by Paul Simon
It’s impossible to have walking blues while listening to this song. Aside from the brilliant lyricism, it’s pure warmth in a bottle. I may not be walking on diamonds, but with this song in my ear, anything’s possible.
Oona
“born again freestyle(shed a tear).mp3” by Samba Jean-Baptiste
I tend to think naming songs and instagram handles anything ending in .pdf or .mp3 and other things of that nature is pretty corny but lately I’ve been appreciating the ways art and culture reference the digital world and I really like this song.
“I Don’t Want to Be Hurt Anymore” by James Carr
A good classic soul/blues song. I love those “please baby baby please” type of songs a lot; I am deeply attached to the idea of pleading in love; I like how you can picture James singing his heart out, the feeling of deep emotion in this song, the vocals, the bluesy instrumentals, and the bassline. The 60s!
“No Soy De Aqui… Ni Soy de Allá” by Jorge Cafrune
This song has a nice sweet haunting feeling. Its about transience, missing, grieving, moving.
Zephyr
“Angel Carver Blues/Mellow Jazz Docent” by Pavement
This song appears on Westing (By Musket and Sextant), a compilation of early Pavement EPs released the year after Slanted and Enchanted earned the band their first crop of quasi-religious devotees from the indie scene and the year before Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain brought them the mainstream success they’d pretend to begrudgingly tolerate for the ensuing decades. Does Westing’s unique place in Pavement’s history make it the singular perfect expression of the band’s real sound? Do I believe that to be true only because I first encountered the record at the peak of my adolescent Malkmus man-crush? Everybody wants the questions to be asked/The questions are the answers/To the questions in themselves.
“That Night in Hawaii When I Turned into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Sh¥t Was Wild” by Andre 3000
This song is ten and a half minutes of experimental ambient flute music. Of all the tracks on Andre 3000’s Grammy-nominated debut solo album, New Blue Sun, TNiHWITiaPaSMTLRPTTICC…SWW may not be the most accessible, or the most exciting, or the most interesting. There’s no ‘but’ coming. I’m just warning you. Try listening to this the next time you’re doing homework. It’s like if “10 Hour Lo-Fi Beats to Study To” made you feel like a jaguar in the Amazon.
“I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar” by Jonathan Richman
A strange and wonderful song by a strange and wonderful man. My Russian literature professor once said that he feels like Jonathan Richman is his close personal friend. Give this track a listen and I guarantee you’ll know what he means.
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