Mount Rushmore - Song title is absent from lyrics

[QuikSand]

I have my working list in hand... but will toss this topic out for discussion instead.

Submit your four, then participate in the conversation.

[cartman]

The Who - Baba O'Reilly
No, the name of the song isn't "Teenage Wasteland"

New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
The song is definitely about the title, but the words aren't in the lyrics

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Go ahead, sing along in your head. The title isn't in the lyrics

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Maybe Ozzie worked the word paranoid in there, but damned if I can hear it.

[nol]

Baba O'Riley - the Who and Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin are two that come to mind. We'll definitely find a strong relationship between drugs and getting a bit more esoteric with your song titles.

Also won't find as many recent songs because in the era of purchasing singles you need to give people a way to look up the song, whereas in the 70s you could get by with identifying Baba O'Riley as "that teenage wasteland song by the Who" because people would have bought the entire album regardless.

[Scarecrow]

I cheated and googled a list...

"A Day in the Life" by The Beatles
"Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin (actually, there are 18 songs by Zeppelin that fit this category)
"Enter Sandman" by Metallica
"Space Oddity" by David Bowie

[Blackadar]

Not because it's the best song, but because of the title this is what came to mind:

Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods

As for the true Rushmore

Baba O'Reilly
Bohemian Rhapsody
Immigrant Song
Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers

[QuikSand]

Mine, but I'm not deeply committed...

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Baba O'Riley
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Space Oddity

[Radii]

Baba O'Reilly - The Who
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones

[digamma]

Smells Like Teen Spirit
Bohemian Rhapsody
Baba O'Reilly
Laid

[chadritt]

Elderly woman behind the counter in a small town - Pearl Jam

[timmae]

Originally Posted by chadritt

Elderly woman behind the counter in a small town - Pearl Jam

Maybe Yellow Bedletter..

[stevew]

D'yer M'aker-Zepellin
Plush-STP
Cherub Rock-Smashing Pumpkins
Public Service Announcement-Jay Z
(Yes I know it's mentioned in the prelude to the song but nowhere in the actual song)

Pretty sure Laid is a lyric in Laid(great song tho)

[Radii]

Originally Posted by timmae

Maybe Yellow Bedletter..

Both great songs and they're my favorite band but I don't think either come close in a Mount Rushmore scenario.

One song from that era that's a little closer that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Basket Case by Green Day, but it was clearly a few spots away for me too.

[sabotai]

Several have already said some of the bigger ones, so I'll go with some I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Tool - Aenima
Alice in Chains - Nutshell
Nirvana - Aneurysm
Metallica - One

[QuikSand]

Only one I had highly placed that hasn't been raised yet is Dylan's Rainy Day Women #12 and #35, as his penchant for silly titles made me drop it out of my top four. But it's a pretty big song.

[nol]

Subterranean Homesick Blues is another.

[QuikSand]

He's got a lot of off titles, obviously deliberate. The New Order suggestion early in the thread suffers similarly, I think, though I'm not suggesting they are breathing the same air in any grander way.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Metallica - One

now the world is gone i'm just one

[korme]

For the indie rock crowd-

Brand New - Sic Transit Gloria
Manchester Orchestra - Top Notch (or "Deer", though he says "Dear" a couple times)
Against Me! - Thrash Unreal
Bastille - Pompeii (too recent, just couldn't think of any others off the top)

[cartman]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

He's got a lot of off titles, obviously deliberate. The New Order suggestion early in the thread suffers similarly, I think, though I'm not suggesting they are breathing the same air in any grander way.

Yeah, to me for a song title to qualify, it just can't be some intentionally obtuse title with no link back to the song or lyrics as Dylan (as well as New Order) often did.

[stevew]

I like either Sliver or Lithium better for Nirvana tracks

[Draft Dodger]

I have had a "no kidding?" reaction to a number of these

[cuervo72]

Is it any common words or the title as a phrase? I would think both Rapper's Delight and How Soon is Now?, while maybe not cracking the top four, would both qualify for discussion if the latter.

[Alf]

Muse - Hysteria
Modern classic rock

Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit
didn't look up other people's posts but happy to find it named twice already

Pink Floyd - The great gig in the sky
I had to have a Pink Floyd song here

Blur - Song 2
Power rock song !

[britrock88]

Quite a large category, actually.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Radii

now the world is gone i'm just one

Son of a diddly....

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Alf

Pink Floyd - The great gig in the sky
I had to have a Pink Floyd song here

I would've used Brain Damage

[corbes]

If we are being really honest with each other I have heard Baba O'Riley on the radio approximately 2,000 times in my life and until this thread either (a) wasn't clear on the song's title or (b) thought it was called teenage wasteland.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Is it any common words or the title as a phrase? I would think both Rapper's Delight and How Soon is Now?, while maybe not cracking the top four, would both qualify for discussion if the latter.

There was a question about that in my use of Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones, phrase never used, but the word sympathy is. Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan was my next choice if the Stones song was found to break the rules.

[Buccaneer]

Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict - Pink Floyd (but the wind did cry Mary)

[Fonzie]

My Top Four were all listed above:

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
The Who - Baba O'Riley
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil

-----------

Some honorable mentions I'm quite fond of and haven't seen listed yet:

Led Zeppelin - The Rain Song (they actually had a metric buttload of songs that fall into this category)
Rush - The Spirit of Radio (ditto for them)
Loggins and Messina - Danny's Song
Faith No More - Epic
Supertramp - The Logical Song
The Police - Synchronicity II

[wahoomac]

Epic - Faith No More
The Trooper - Iron Maiden
Basket Case - Green Day
Possum Kingdom - The Toadies

[Karlifornia]

Led zeppelin- Stairway To Heaven
Pink Floyd- Time
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Give It Away
Aqua- Barbie Girl

[nol]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Led zeppelin- Stairway To Heaven
Pink Floyd- Time
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Give It Away
Aqua- Barbie Girl

Any list without Eiffel 65's Blue (Da Ba Dee) is an outrage!

side note: without exaggeration, the music video for this song could very well be the worst music video of all time.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Led zeppelin- Stairway To Heaven
Pink Floyd- Time
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Give It Away
Aqua- Barbie Girl

Draft Punk- One More Time.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Led zeppelin- Stairway To Heaven

??

There's a lady who's sure/all that glitters is gold/and she's buying a stairway to heaven

My list:
The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon

[revrew]

Seems to me like despite personal preferences and trying to push songs that may be deserving but don't have the same legendary status (I mean, you might be able to make a case that, say, James Monroe belongs on Rushmore over Teddy or even Jefferson, but really? Not gonna happen), the consensus Rushmore in this category is:

The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit

The last is a little iffy, but I think the first three are - pun intended - set in stone.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Led zeppelin- Stairway To Heaven
Pink Floyd- Time
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Give It Away
Aqua- Barbie Girl

lol, nice

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Led zeppelin- Stairway To Heaven
Pink Floyd- Time
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Give It Away
Aqua- Barbie Girl

SI

[timmae]

Not Mount worthy but another one I heard this morning...

Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand by Primitive Radio Gods

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by revrew

the consensus Rushmore in this category is:

The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit

The last is a little iffy, but I think the first three are - pun intended - set in stone.

Agreed.

On #4, I'd also be OK with Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang--especially if one wanted to diversify the list with a rap/hip-hop entry.

But, for my personal list, I would go with the four you noted.

[AENeuman]

1. U2: Bad
2. Smiths: How Soon Is Now
3. Joy Division: Atmosphere
4. Cure: Plainsong

Honorable mention: Radiohead: Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box

Guess it's easy to tell the genre I like...

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by revrew

the consensus Rushmore in this category is:

The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit

To me, what I don't like about Bohemian Rhapshody here is that it clearly isn't a title that you would expect to appear in the song. It just sounds like a slapped on title for a complicated song that was hard to title... which is exactly what it is. Sort of like some of the Dylan titles in the thread elsewhere. Could make the same argument against Unchained Melody I guess.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by revrew

Seems to me like despite personal preferences and trying to push songs that may be deserving but don't have the same legendary status (I mean, you might be able to make a case that, say, James Monroe belongs on Rushmore over Teddy or even Jefferson, but really? Not gonna happen), the consensus Rushmore in this category is:

The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit

The last is a little iffy, but I think the first three are - pun intended - set in stone.

Of course the first 3 I agree with since I named those above.

As for #4, the Immigrant Song > Smells Like Teen Spirit. Or at least for the sake of good music everywhere I hope so.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

To me, what I don't like about Bohemian Rhapshody here is that it clearly isn't a title that you would expect to appear in the song. It just sounds like a slapped on title for a complicated song that was hard to title... which is exactly what it is. Sort of like some of the Dylan titles in the thread elsewhere. Could make the same argument against Unchained Melody I guess.

Have to disagree with you a bit on this one. There are some elements to the lyrics that reference being bohemian, in the context of a bohemian being a wanderer or someone with no permanent ties.

Examples:
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.

or

Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters,
Nothing really matters to me.

[Bobble]

I'm going to have to take issue with Smells Like Teen Spirit. There's no way to tell whether the song title is in there or not with the way he mumbles the lyrics.

[Kevin]

A nomination from the elderly folk fans:

Spanish Pipedream - John Prine

[cuervo72]

Not on Mount Rushmore, but the subject of songs where the title is absent from the lyrics was mentioned on the Cousin Brucie show today. He played this example:

Bee Gees - New York Mining Disaster 1941 (1967)

ETA: not an unnoteworthy song though, at least not by the length of its Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yor..._Disaster_1941 And the note at the bottom confirmed my "hey, this kinda reminds me of..."

[NobodyHere]

Pink Floyd - Brain Damage
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Rush - Spirit of Radio

[cuervo72]

Heard Corduroy by Pearl Jam, didn't hear the title anywhere (seems a pattern for them).

Also, Land of 1000 Dances.

[cuervo72]

Hmm, wonder if the parenthetical subtitle disqualifies Inner City Blues.