Singer Namedrop

Singer Namedrop is when an artist or a band interweaves their name into the lyrics of one of their songs. Dropping one's name is a way to make listeners remember who sang the song. This can take a form of either simply saying the name (regardless of context), indicating that the song is about him or her, or introducing him or herself, usually in the hook.

Compare Creator Cameo and Title Drop. Related to "Special subcategory of bands named after one of their own songs" in Good Name for A Rock Band. Virtually present in a Boastful Rap. Sometimes evokes Third Person Person.

Music
"Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ah!/Roma-roma-mamaa!
 * Green Day had a song called "Green Day" on their debut album.
 * Lady Gaga uses the word "gaga" often in her songs, like "Just Dance", "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)", "Bad Romance", "Monster", and "Judas". An example from "Bad Romance":

'Ga-ga''-ooh-la-la!

Want your bad romance."

"Gaga, ga oh-ah
 * In the song "Government Hooker:

Gaga, ga oh-oh-oh

Io ritorne, io ritorne.

Io ritorne, io ritorne."

"Jay, Rain Man is back with little Ms. Sunshine
 * In Rihanna's "Umbrella" featuring Jay Z:

Rihanna where you at?"

"We'll never stop
 * Roxette does this in "Dance Away" and "Joyride".
 * The mention of "Denny Mclaren" in Don Mclean's cover version of "The Mountains of Mourne" is this, with a bit of stretching to fit the song's metre; in the original lyrics, it's "Peter O'Loughlin".
 * Metallica and Megadeth each have one. Metallica's in 'Whiplash'

We'll never quit

Cos we're Metallica"

"Big black boots
 * Megadeth's is in 'Rattlehead': "Thrashing to Megadeth".
 * The Low Millions take this up a notch with their song "Low Millions".
 * Freddie Mercury does it in Queen song Crazy Little Thing Called Love and in his solo song Mr. Bad Guy. All four Queen members are mentioned in Invisible Man.
 * Chaka Khan's hit "I Feel for You" included a backup rapper who repeated her name dozens of times.
 * Jet - "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" inserted the band's name as a word in a sentence, emphasizing it while singing:

long brown hair

She's so sweet with her

Jet black stare!"

"Well, I dreamt I saw you walking
 * Counting Crows do this in A Murder of One:

Up a hillside in the snow

Casting shadows on the winter sky

As you stood there, counting crows."

"He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me."
 * In "Piano Man" by Billy Joel:

As his smile ran away from his face..."

"Paul: "Michael, we're not going to fight about this"
 * In "The Girl is Mine" duet with Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, spoken lines include:

Michael: "Paul, I think I told you. I'm a lover not a fighter.""

"This is Dan, and that's Dan
 * A few They Might Be Giants examples: "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love," "Welcome To The Jungle" (Names the Same as the Guns N' Roses song, but completely different otherwise), and "They Got Lost" all namedrop members of the band. The band in its entirety is name dropped in "They Got Lost" and, naturally, "They Might Be Giants."
 * From "When Will You Die":

And there's Marty on the drums

To complete the band"

"And I'm John, and he is also John

And all of us are wondering

When you're gonna die"

"P.I.N.K. P.I.M.P.
 * "Mr. Xcitement" starts with John Flansburgh listing the band name and guest appearances on the song to some canned applause: "Let it be known... They Might Be Giants. Doughty. The Elegant Two. Mr. Xcitement". In turn, Mike Doughty mentions "Flansy" (a Fan Nickname for Flansburgh) in one of the verses of the same song.
 * When they released "Can't Keep Johnny Down" Linnell and Flansburgh made a point in interviews of distancing themselves from the song's Jerkass Unreliable Narrator.
 * Jessie J drops her name in the hook of "Do It Like A Dude", in the second verse of "Nobody's Perfect", and uses her first name in "Who's Laughing's Now".
 * Britney Spears :The opening of Gimme More features: "It's Britney, bitch!"
 * The rapper's repeated "Shakira, Shakira" in Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie". In fact, it's rare to find a song with Wyclef Jean in which he doesn't namedrop everyone involved.
 * In "Hey Paula" by Paul and Paula, the singers address each other by name.
 * Pink does this, in "Cuz I Can"

I'm back again

I know y'all missed me"

"Your record collection don't exist
 * Liz Phair, "Rock Me":

You don't even know who Liz Phair is."

"Move over Rover
 * MTRKRFT's "Bounce" uses the group's name twice in the beginning.
 * At the top of Ma Rainey's "Black Bottom," an announcer-type says, "You've heard the rest, now I'm gonna show you the best. Ma Rainey's gonna show you her Black Bottom." Also, during the song itself Ma references herself by name a time or two.
 * Jimi Hendrix, "Fire"

And let Jimi take over"

"In Liverpool, she even dared
 * Tony Sheridan with backup by The Beatles in his cover version of "Sweet Georgia Brown."

To criticise the Beatles' hair

With their whole fan club standing there"

"We are the Bears Shufflin' Crew
 * Coheed and Cambira's "Elf Tower New Mexico" has the line "See, there's Coheed, and then Cambria...", and their old name "Shabutie" is said in the beginning of "Devil in Jersey City".
 * Doctor Steel drops his name into his songs "Dr. Steel" and "The Dr. Steel Show".
 * In Band Aid's "Do they Know It's Christmas?" Sting gets a line about "the bitter sting of tears."
 * Wolfgang Gartners Get 'em ft Eve contains both "Wolfgang" and "E-v-e" (spelt out).
 * One of Fall Out Boy's songs is called "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me". The title is never actually sung though.
 * Kant Kino 's song "We Are Kant Kino".
 * "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. Almost every verse ends with the rapper calling upon the next one by name to do his verse.
 * The Chicago Bears "Superbowl Shuffle:"

Shufflin' on down, doin' it for you"


 * And each verse's first line is "My name is X" or "They call me Y" or similar as the individual players do their part.

"I've heard my name a few times in your phone book
 * The chord sequence in ACDC's "High Voltage" is A, C, D, C.
 * Steely Dan's "Show Biz Kids" includes the line "They got the Steely Dan t-shirts".
 * David Allan Coe's "You Never Even Called My By My Name:"

And I've seen it on signs where I play

But the only time I know I'll hear "David Allan Coe"

Is when Jesus has his final Judgment Day"

"I hope no one ever pointed and said,
 * Danni Leigh's "Somebody Oughta Do Something About That Girl"'s final verse ends with,

'Danni Leigh's the one wrecking his world,'

Sayin', 'Somebody oughta do something about that girl.'"

"My name is Eric, some folk call me Eck,
 * MIDI Mafia decided to do a Producer Name Drop when they produced a Justin Bieber song, leading many to wonder why one of his songs started with a creepy voice whispering mafia...
 * In a somewhat similar vein, Ark Music Factory does a Studio Name Drop at the beginning of "Friday" by Rebecca Black.
 * Folk singer Eric Bogle introduces himself in song at the start of his concerts. One version goes:

Call me Ricky and I'll break your neck,

If you're feeling formal, Mr Bogle will do,

But to my friends it's Eric, and I hope that means you."

"Your mom busted in and said, "What's that noise?"
 * Jason. Derulo. Every song starts with his name, regardless of what the rest of the song is about.
 * Escape Club's Wild Wild West has a line in which they say their name.
 * Beastie Boys, "Fight For Your Right":

Aw, mom you're just jealous, it's the Beastie Boys"

"I did your partner cause she's hot as a baker
 * Naughty By Nature, "Hip Hop Hooray":

Cause I'm Naughty By Nature, not cause I hate cha"

"I'm a crazy son of a ]
 * Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody": "You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy"
 * Big & Rich:
 * "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" features the line "havin' ourselves a big and rich time."
 * "Filthy Rich" changes from a normal Title Drop to "everybody's trying to get big and rich..." for the final lines.
 * "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)" has an interlude by Cowboy Troy that ends by declaring that he's "rolling with the brothers Big & Rich!" Also, this:

But I know I'm going to make it big and rich..."

"Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike
 * To quote the New Edition song "Cool It Now":

If I love the girl, who cares who you like?"


 * "I am Nicki Minaj, I mack them dudes up..."
 * Drake does this pretty often, but he usually calls himself "Drizzy". One example is in "Successful" with the line 'Drizzy, oh yeah Trey I fucking feel you"
 * Sort of done in Julia Nunes' "Fair Weather" (with an Album Title Drop in the same line): "Julia, just settle down". In context, the lyric is supposed to be someone else addressing her though.
 * Tag Team's "Whoomp! There It Is" has some instances - the intro names the group and lists their members, and then there's "Tag Team, back again". The bowdlerized version adds one more by changing "make this motherfucking party hype" to "make this Tag Team party hype".
 * Barenaked Ladies slip the word "barenaked" into "Be My Yoko Ono".

Web Original
"Tenerance Love : My name is Tenerance Love, plus my name is Tenerance Love, minus my name is Tenerance Love equals my name is Tenerance Looove, remainder threeee!"
 * Parodied in Homestar Runner with the song Rap Song.

Western Animation
"We're Party Posse, we rule the earth
 * On The Simpsons when Bart joins a Boy Band named Party Posse, their first song goes:

The Greatest band since music's birth"

"Our name's We Stink
 * Arthur, "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll." After Francine starts a rock band called U Stink, Arthur, George, and Buster start a band called "We Stink". The only verse of their only song that we hear is:

We like to play Rock and Roll"