This is the final group of farkakte title songs. The album name appears as a lyric, but it’s not the title song. There is no actual title song, but these can be farkakte title songs.
The Sphinx in the Face – Van der Graaf. Album: The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome. Lyrics: “I got a steady vocation for the Quiet Zone, I just can’t wait for the song to be sung, I’m still possessed by the promise of the Pleasure Dome.”
Could This Be Magic? – Van Halen. Album: Women and Children First. Lyrics: “Better save the women and children first”
Mean Street – Van Halen. Album: Fair Warning. Lyrics: Somebody said fair warning. Lord (This is Mean Street) Lord strike that poor boy down”
Bullethead – Van Halen. Album: A Different Kind of Truth. Lyrics: “B-b-b-b-b-b-bullethead. Got a different kind of true”
Say What! – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Album: Soul to Soul. Lyrics: “Say what! Soul to soul, soul to soul…”
Book of Dreams -Suzanne Vega. Album: Days Of Open Hand. Lyrics: “Pages made of days of open hand”
Falling Down – Vertical Horizon. Album: Running On Ice. Lyrics: “Spinning my wheels Standing still. It’s like running on ice”
I Believe In You AND Carrying On – Vertical Horizon. Album: Burning The Days. Lyrics: “Are you burning the days just to get through the nights?” ALSO “But I’ve been where you’re going And it’s not worth knowing Burning the days I’m just carrying on” respectively
Life’s A Beach – Kurt Vile. EP: So Outta Reach. Lyrics: “I’m out of reach. I’m so out of reach, yeah”
W
White Heat – John Waite. Album: Ignition. Lyrics: “White heat indiscrete ignition”
Downtown – John Waite. Album: Temple Bar. Lyrics: “You can find me in the usual place Inside the Temple Bar”
Masterpiece of Loneliness – John Waite. Album: Figure In A Landscape. Lyrics: “It’s a work of art, you’ll see. A figure in a landscape”
Let Me Live My Life Lovin’ You Babe – Barry White. Album: Just Another Way To Say I Love You. Spoken lyrics: “I guess you could even say it’s just another way, to say I love you. I need you. I want you.”
Denial – White Lies. Album: Five. Lyrics: “Four kids and a cat, might as well be called five”
Several songs -The Who. Album: Tommy. “And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is” (Christmas); “Tommy Can You Hear Me?
Can you feel me near you? Tommy, can you feel me? Can I help to cheer you? Tommy (Tommy Can You Hear Me); “She knew from the start Deep down in her heart That she and Tommy were worlds apart” (Sally Simpson); “I’m your Uncle Ernie And I’ll welcome you to Tommy’s Holiday Camp” (Tommy’s Holiday Camp)
Wi
Theologians – Wilco. Album: A Ghost is Born. Lyrics: “No one’s ever gonna take my life from me. I lay it down. A ghost is born”
Poor Places – Wilco. Album: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. “The album was named after a series of letters in the phonetic alphabet that [Jeff] Tweedy had heard on the Irdial box set The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations. A clip from this Numbers Station transmission” was used in the song.
Fit It – Kim Wilde. Album: Teases and Dares. Lyrics: “And now I’m all alone And the telephone teases and dares”
Ambitious – Wire. Album: The Ideal Copy. Lyrics: When it’s cold I feel cold. When it’s hot I feel ambitious”
Jammin’ – Stevie Wonder. Album: Hotter Than July. Lyrics: “Everyone’s feeling pretty. It’s hotter than July”
XYZ
Hey Hey, My My – Neil Young. Album: Rust Never Sleeps. Lyrics: “It’s better to burn out ’cause rust never sleeps. The king is gone but he’s not forgotten”
Hangin’ On A Limb – Neil Young. Album: Freedom. Lyrics: “There was something about freedom he thought he didn’t know”
Downtown – Neil Young. Album: Mirror Ball. Lyrics: “Jimi’s playin’ in the back room, Led Zeppelin on stage, There’s a mirror ball twirlin’ And a note from Page”
Willie The Pimp – Frank Zappa. Album: Hot Rats. Lyrics: “Hot meat. Hot rats. Hot zits. Hot wrists”
Epilogue
I’ve written ten of these posts this year, and I STILL don’t know what you call a song that serves as a title song but is not. I’ve been obsessed with the topic since I noticed this phenomenon decades ago.
I had taken a cursory look at the topic back in 2013. But I didn’t realize there were so many examples. And there may be more, but I couldn’t decipher cryptic citations online that lacked some important detail.
These are more phony title songs. The album name appears as a lyric, but it’s not the title song. There is no actual title song, but these can be phony artificial title songs.
These are more imitation title songs. The album name appears as a lyric, but it’s not the title song. There is no actual title song, but these can be imitation title songs.
Here is the fourth attempt to identify artificial title songs. The album name appears as a lyric, but it’s not the title song. There is no actual title song, but these can be artificial title songs.