Entertainment, Music - Marine Corps Times

Bands embrace lengthy song titles

“We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.” “Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die. Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live.” “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”

Text culled from a fantasy novel? Nah. Secret spy codes? Ummm, no.

Musings of a war-torn nation? Uh-uh.

They’re CD titles, music lovers, from Modest Mouse, Explosions In The Sky and Of Montreal. It seems that lately, more and more CD and song names present philosophies, statements, pearls of wisdom and other edicts.

The verbose title fest is not limited to CDs. “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” is a single off Fall Out Boy’s latest CD, “Infinity On High.” Other tunes include “I’m Like a Lawyer With the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off,” “You’re Crashing, But You’re No Wave” and “I’ve Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers.”

“There is Nothing Wrong With Hating Rock Critics” comes from another Of Montreal CD, “Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children?” (This band has a thing for questions.) Try singing those in a chorus.

The law of attraction

In the old days, you heard a song on the radio you liked and it could be a week before you knew the title, let alone the name of the album it came from. The song title often referred to the crux of the chorus, says Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

“Now the way people troll for music is totally different,” he says.

With downloading, the title may be the first thing that catches the eye and ear.

“The song title is the first point of seduction to an audience,” Thompson says. “A provocative title dares you not to sample it. The fact that we’re having this conversation about lengthy titles suggests on a modest level it’s working.”

A lot of acts that fall into this category appeal to older teens and young adults, says Geoff Mayfield, director of charts-senior analyst for “Billboard” magazine. “The cheekiness fits the attitude of those who enjoy the bands and their messages and is compatible with what the musicians are putting out,” he says.

Mayfield suspects the artists don’t give a lot of thought to these titles. “It feeds off the same energy that leads to the songwriting process. It’s in the spirit of just plain fun.”

Once one or two titles of this ilk succeed in the pop culture marketplace others follow, Thompson says. “It takes on a certain viral quality.”

On the creative side

Such titles also speak to the fragmented musical environment, Thompson says. A generation ago, most kids in a classroom would listen to the same music, he says. “Today, in a class of 90, you cannot find a single song they share in common. So artists try to put an ad for the song into the title itself.”

Groups may be running out of things to name albums.

“If other bands used that same title, a group is forced to be more creative,” says Joey Odorisio, radio research specialist with Cherry Hill-based Friday Morning Quarterback.

Panic At The Disco has ridiculous song titles, Odorisio says.

How ridiculous? The band’s “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” includes such ditties as: “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage” and “There’s a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought of it Yet.”

As the titles indicate, word play from groups such as Panic At The Disco and Modest Mouse reveal a dark sense of humor, Odorisio says.

Nothing new

While the trend has gathered momentum among successful artists today, this is not an entirely new avenue, Mayfield says.

Sly & The Family Stone hit the singles chart in 1970 with the phonetic and funky “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”

Like all pop fashions, this one has its ebbs and flows.

“If 10 years from now all titles are like that, bands will go back to succinct titles,” Thompson says.

Long titles often grab eyes before ears:

• “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” by The Beatles

• “Take This Job and Shove It” by Johnny Paycheck

• “You Can Tune a Piano but You Can’t Tuna Fish” by REO Speedwagon

• “The Smoker You Drink the Player You Get” by Joe Walsh

• “As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls” by Pat Metheny

• “If I Could Do it All Over Again, I’d Do it All Over You” by Caravan

• “For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night” by Caravan