Song of Song Titles

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A song whose lyrics contain Shout Outs to multiple other song titles.

Examples of Song of Song Titles include:


  • The My Chemical Romance song "Welcome to the Black Parade" includes the line "So paint it black and take it back", in reference to the Rolling Stones song "Paint It Black".
  • The verses of the Gershwin song "Bidin' My Time" list the titles of 1920s popular songs. "Singin' in the Rain" (yes, that song) is referenced in George Gershwin's music as well as in Ira Gershwin's lyrics.
  • "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee" has allusions to many other song titles, including "Look for the Silver Lining" and (again) "Singin' in the Rain."
  • Cole Porter's "From This Moment On" references the titles of "Begin the Beguine," "Tea for Two," "Hoop-Dee-Doo," and "Ridin' High."
  • Jimmy Eat World's song "A Praise Chorus" has a final, pre-chorus verse composed of nothing but lines (almost all of them titles) from other songs. They are: "Crismon and Clover" by Tommy James and The Shondells, "Our House" by Madness, "Why Did We Ever Meet?" by The Promise Ring (Davey van Bohlen of The Promise Ring actually appears on the song), "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" by Bad Company, "Don't Let's Start" by They Might Be Giants, "All of My Everything" by The Promise Ring (again) and "Kickstart My Heart" by Motley Crue.
  • Spoon's "The Way We Get By" mentions "Some Weird Sin" by Iggy Pop, as well as "Down on the Street" and "Shake Appeal" by his band The Stooges (without mentioning either artist by name).
  • Okkervil River's song "Plus Ones" from their album The Stage Names references at least nine other song titles, all of which contain numbers. In the lyrics, one is added to the number in each referenced song title (for example, "the 100th Luftballoon" and "eight Chinese brothers")
    • As well as at least two non-numerical song titles: "And what's new pussycat/Is you were once a lioness".
  • The Beatles' "Glass Onion" references five other Beatles song titles.
    • "All You Need Is Love" also has John suddenly burst into "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!" during its closing.
    • Here's a map.
  • Way too many Oasis songs to list here have featured obvious references to a Beatles song.
  • "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Again)" by Sly and the Family Stone has many references to their past songs.
  • The Moody Blues, "Titles" (would you believe) references numerous song titles by The Beatles.
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" contains a reference to Neil Young's "Southern Man" as a Take That, dismissing Young's criticism of racism in the American south without actually posing a counterargument.
  • Barenaked Ladies' album Gordon contains several songs referential to the music industry and specific artists and songs.
  • Metal Machine by Sabaton.
    • Metal ripper quotes famous lines from other metal songs and Metal crüe is made out of bandnames.
  • "Victory" by Megadeth is a song almost entirely consisting of references to their own song titles.
  • The verses of Built To Spill's "You Were Right" are based around famous classic rock lyrics, the general thread being that they're all pretty pessimistic sentiments (or at least sound pessimistic taken out of context):

You were right when you said
All that glitters isn't gold
You were right when you said
All we are is dust in the wind
You were right when you said
We're all just bricks in the wall
And when you said manic depression's a frustrating mess...

  • Large parts of the discography of the rap group Non Phixion, and the solo careers of its members includes allusions to various heavy metal songs and albums, but also references to each other. Closely affiliated act Jedi Mind Tricks also uses them.
  • They Might Be Giants, "Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal"
    • "Why Must I Be Sad?" has Alice Cooper song titles
  • "Songs About Rain" by Gary Allan and "The Hits" by Perfect Stranger both name-drop several country songs. Both songs have a similar theme about a man being saddened by the sad songs playing on the radio.
  • "My Kind of Music" by Ray Scott also gives several title-drops. The song tells a story of a man and woman who can't get along because she doesn't like his (country) music.
  • Amy Grant's "Simple Things" refers to "Unchained Melody."
  • Trisha Yearwood's "When a Love Song Sings the Blues" refers to the songs "Faded Love" and "Born to Lose."
  • Pavement's "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence" is an ode to REM's first few albums and several of their songs are mentioned in the lyrics:

Finster's art... Titles to match "So. Central Rain"
"(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", "Harborcoat", "Pretty Persuasion", You're born to be a "Camera".
"Time After Time"'s my least favorite song.
"Time After Time" was my least favorite song!!

  • Barclay James Harvest, in the aptly-named Titles:

Lady Madonna, let it be
Something in the way you moved me yesterday
All you need is love to succeed

Last night a DJ saved my life,
Singing "Ah-ah-ah-ah, Stayin' Alive",
'cause You make me feel,
like That's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it
Voglia di dance all night.

  • The lyrics to Datarock's "True Stories" are entirely made up of Talking Heads song names. Also the song name itself is a reference to one of their albums.
  • Queen's "More of that Jazz" references most, if not all of the songs on the album which the song was on (Jazz), and includes samples of each song.
  • A section of Octavarium, from Dream Theater's album of the same name, consists of numerous references to other Progressive Rock songs. Specifically:
    • The Wall (Pink Floyd), Queen, A Change of Seasons, Day Tripper (Beatles), Morrissey, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Owen Wilson, Wilson Phillips, Genesis, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Beatles), David Lee Roth, Cheech and Chong, Mighty Mouse, Spock's Beard, Nightmare Cinema, Genesis, Styx, Get Back (Beatles), Time (Pink Floyd), Peter Blegvad, King Strut, Travelling Wilburys, Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Pink Floyd), The Gong Show, Yes, The Doors, The Ramones, Neil Young, The Who, and Time (Pink Floyd) again.
  • Steve Miller's "The Joker" references "Space Cowboy", "Gangster of Love" and "Enter Maurice" in the first verse.
  • Regina Spektor's "On The Radio" mentions Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" playing. And complains the solo is enormous.
  • Beatallica title drops various Metallica songs in their Beatles/Metallica mash-ups ("Hey, dude-it'z true not sad (...) Hey, dude, begin, don't wait for the Eye of the Beholder, you'll never know when bellz toll for you...")
  • Harry Nilsson's version of "You Can't Do That" has backup vocals singing the titles of various other Beatles songs during the verses.
  • Johnny Foreigner's album Grace and the Bigger Picture is practically an album of song titles. Pretty much every song title on the album gets a mention in another song - plus several b-sides, EPs and even songs from before they were signed ("Amateur! Historian!").
  • "Stronger" by Britney Spears includes the line "The loneliness ain't killing me no more," a clever reference to her debut "Baby One More Time."
  • "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey mentions songs by Bobby Womack and Babyface.
  • Weezer's "Heart Songs" is little more than a list of songs and artists important to Rivers Cuomo. Nice tune though.
  • "Inane" from Xtort by KMFDM features the titles of a lot of their songs as the lyrics.
    • If songs full of lyrical references count, "Don't Blow Your Top" is almost entirely quotes from Frank Zappa songs.
  • The choruses Zebrahead's "We're not a Cover Band, We're a Tribute Band" are just random sentences that cram as many Guitar Hero III song titles in as possible.

Hey, ho, Welcome To The Jungle! Oh no, where is Mr. Bungle?! Holiday In Cambodia, help me Knights Of Cydonia! The Bulls Are On Parade, there's Anarchy In The U.K! Cities, All On Flame, with Rock And Roll Tonite!!

Hey, ho, hi My Name Is Jonas! Oh no, Parents Might Disown Us! Rockin' Like A Hurricane, there's Cherub Rocks in LA Grange! The Mississippi Queen, she just Won't Talk Dirty To Me! The Story Of My Life, is just Rock 'N Roll, All Nite!

Hey, ho, Hit Me with Your Best Shot! Oh no, Sabotaging Can't Stop! Devil Went Down To Georgia! Pride and joy With A Barracuda! It's Raining Blood on me, the Cult Of Personality! The Number Of The Beast is One!

  • Suede's "These Are The Sad Songs".x
  • Jorn's "Song for Ronnie James" off of the album "Dio" is composed largely of the titles (and sometimes lyrics snippets) of songs that Ronnie James Dio wrote at various points in his career. To someone not familiar with the works in question, parts of the song may begin to sound like Word Salad Lyrics.
  • REM references several of their song titles in "Sing for the Submarine".
  • Dawn of Winter's song "Titus Vanis" is composed almost entirely of Saint Vitus song titles.
  • "Twenty-First Century Digital Boy" by Bad Religion mentions other Bad Religion songs "No Control" and "Suffer".
  • The chorus of Travis' "Slideshow" includes references to songs by Oasis, the Manic Street Preachers and Beck, of all people.
  • Fall Out Boy has "What A Catch, Donnie" which references lyrics to several of their previous hits including: "Grand Theft Autumn," "Sugar, We're Going Down," "Dance, Dance," "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race," "Thanks Fr Th Mmrs," and "Growing Up." Other lyrics (and the song title) refer to the songwriter/singer duo Donnie Hathaway and Roberta Flack.
    • And, of course, a song title made out of two titles: Fall Out Boy's "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me," referencing "Sixteen Candles" and "Touch Me."
  • Sublime has at least two, "Greatest Hits' mentions their "sister band" The Ziggens, "KRS-One" is about KRS-One,
  • Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer" includes the lyric "So far has not been fun // I should just stay home // If One Thing really means one", referencing their earlier Black Sheep Hit.
  • Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" with the line "My generation is zero / I never made it as a Working Class Hero". Also note that they covered the song themselves.
    • Said line might also be a reference to "My Generation", which they had covered earlier in their career.
  • Bon Jovi deserves a mention: in "It's My Life", the lyrics clearly reference "Livin' On A Prayer", arguably their best known song, by mentioning "Tommy and Gina, who never backed down".
    • The Bowling For Soup song "Punk Rock 101" also includes the line "Like Tommy and Gina, they're living on a prayer."
  • Def Leppard's "Rocket" is full of this.

Jack Flash, Rocket Man/ Sergeant Pepper and the band/
Ziggy, Benny and the Jets...

  • The eurobeat song "Cantare Ballare"(Happy Eurobeat) drops the titles of various Eurobeat hits:

Suck A Bazooka, No One Sleeps in Tokyo
Din Don Dan, Money Go
Night of Fire, Bandolero Comanchero
Boom Boom Girl, Virtual Love
Go Go Dance, Technotronic Flight
Shadows in the Night, Telephone
Try Me, Ike Ike
Dancing in the Jungle, Dancing in Maharaja Night

  • Brad Paisley's "This Is Country Music" name-checks a laundry list of country classics, including "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "Amarillo by Mornin'," "Stand By Your Man" and "I Walk The Line."
  • NOFX are fond of these, "13 Stitches" manages to reference The Descendents, The Alley Cats, DOA, Millions Of Dead Cops, Ill Repute and Suicidal Tendencies in about 4 minutes.
  • In a variation, the lyrics to "In My Backyard" by Dead Celebrity Status consists nearly entirely of the names of other bands and musicians, with multiple song and album titles thrown in for good measure.
  • Pillar's song Turn It Up was written to promote Christian rock music, and lists song titles from thirty or so bands and a variety of musical styles.
  • The very title of Metric's "Gimme Sympathy", as well as its lyrics, invoke "Gimme Shelter" and "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones, and the lyrics reference "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles.
  • The song 'Musigg I Dä Schwiiz' (Music in Switzerland) by Bligg is one gigantic list of well-known swiss musicians and songs. And there's jodling in it.
  • Emily Osment, "1-800 Clap Your Hands (The Water Is Rising)" has "It's gonna take more than your seven-nation army, I'll fight 'cause I know I'm right."
  • Max Martin's "The Lady Is A Vamp" (sung by The Spice Girls) references many iconic songs this way.
  • Chris De Burgh's first album Far beyond these castle walls contains a filler song, Goodnight, that references every other song on the album.
  • Not exactly the same, but Clint Black's "Tuckered Out" is jam-packed with the names of country singers.
  • The chorus of Plushgun's song "Just Impolite" references to the A Day in the Life, Walk the Line, Stuck On You and many others.
  • Tori Amos' "Wednesday" mentions Prince's "When Doves Cry."
  • The Garth Brooks song "The Old Stuff" references his earlier hit "The Thunder Rolls", and even includes its distinctive riff.
  • The lyrics of Norther's eponymous song from Till Death Unites Us are almost entirely composed of the titles of previous Norther songs.
  • "Cherry Cherry Christmas" by Neil Diamond drops the names of a few of his biggest hits.
  • Gaslight Anthem does this a lot, often to Bruce Springsteen (a major influence of theirs); for instance "Meet Me By the River's Edge" references "No Surrender" ("no surrender my Bobby Jean") among others; "Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?" has a shoutout to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" ("it's a broken hallelujah and a pain in my fist").
  • The bridge of Saint Etienne's "Popular" is a list of UK Number One singles (the song itself is about a blog which reviews every Number One single in order).
  • Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash" references "Lollipop", "Peggy Sue" and "Good Golly Miss Molly", between others.
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