Hi all. I'm looking for songs that fit certain themes, specifically:

1) songs that deal with revolution, such as the Beatles' "Revoltion," and the Who's "We Don't Get Fooled Again," etc

2) songs that are about cities, or songs where cities figure prominantly in. The cities should be non-fictional, real-world cities. Some examples: Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind"; Aliotta, Haynes & Jeremiah's' "Lake Shore Drive" (about Chicago); Journey's "Lights"; etc. Preferably, these songs should do more than just mention a city in passing, but name whatever you've got.

song about revolution ...
Through Being Cool – Devo

We're through being cool,
We're through being cool,
Eliminate the ninnies and the twits.

I Love L.A. - Randy Newman
I Left My Heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett
New York, New York - Frank Sinatra
The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace

"Shadow of California" - Blue Oyster Cult
"Please Come to Boston" - David Loggins
"Southern California" - Albert Hammond
"Arizona" - Mark Lyndsay
"Dixie Flyer" - Randy Newman
"New Orleans Wins the War" - Randy Newman
"Dayton, Ohio 1903" - Randy Newman
"Going Down to Liverpool" - Katrina and the Waves
"Mexico" - Katrina and the Waves
"Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)" - Concrete Blonde
"Still In Hollywood" - Concrete Blonde
"Gone Hollywood" - Supertramp
"So L.A." - The Motels
"L.A. Woman" - The Doors
"Voices of Babylon" - The Outfields
"The Rivers of Babylon" - Boney M
"Walking to New Orleans" - Fats Domino
"Memphis" - Chuck Berry
"Of I Ever Get to Saginaw Again" - The Monkees
"Last Train to Clarksville" - The Monkees
"London Bridge" - Big Audio Dynamite
"London Calling" - The Clash
"London Town" - Wings
"Penny Lane" - The Beatles
"Strawberry Fields Forever" - The Beatles
The New York album by Lou Reed
The Berlin album by Lou Reed
"Large Time" - Atlanta Rhythm Section
"Seminole Wind" - John Anderson
"Jackson" - Johnny Cash
"Folsom Prison Blues" - Johnny Cash
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" - Glenn Campbell
"Galveston" - Glenn Campbell
"Egypt (The Chains Are On)" - Dio
"Okie From Muskogee" - Merle Haggard
"Dallas Alley" - Buckwheat Zydeco
"Oak Cliff Bra" - Edie Brickell and New Bohemians
"Texas Flood" - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
"Alabama" - Neil Young
"Sweet Home Alabama" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Sweet Home Chicago" - Robert Johnson
"Weekend In New England" - Barry Manilow
"Mull of Kintyre" - Wings
"Detroit Rock City" - KISS
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot
"Last Train to London" - Electric Light Orchestra
"Nebraska" - Bruce Springsteen
"Atlantic City" - Bruce Springsteen
"On and On" - Stephen Bishop

Whew! That's all I'll name for now. I haven't even scratched the surface of my music collection

Some revolution songs:

"Something In the Air" Thunderclap Newman
"Fernando" - ABBA (maybe)
"Talking About a Revolution" - Tracy Chapman
"For What It's Worth" - Buffalo Springfield
"Ohio" - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
"Tangled Up in Blue" - Bob Dylan (There's a line about "Revolution in the air".)
"Revolution At 33 1/3" - Public Enemy
"Fight the Power" - Public Enemy

One more "place song" - "Georgia On My Mind" - Ray Charles

What's that OLD sixties song about San Francisco?

If you're gooooiiing ... to San ... Fran ... cisco,
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

Here's a couple about both, albeit by the same artist:

"Nicaragua" and "Santiago Dawn", both by Bruce Cockburn

This sounds like fun, I'll try to compile a better list on my next lunch break...

Oh, forgot one ....

Is Anybody Going to San Antone? - Charlie Pride

I know this doesn't name a CITY in the title ... but Benn will bear me out on this one. It causes us Texas folk to CRING every time we hear it ...

The Night They Drove 'Ole Dixie Down

I weep for Virgil Cain ... (sniff)

Alright ... CRINGE! (picky-picky)

Steven K, eh?

Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco (Wear Flowers In your Hair)" is the first song Derf was talking about.

Uh, Derf, I actually like "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down". "Indian Outlaw" by Tim McGraw, now that, because I'm part Cherokee, makes me cringe.

And Derf, how we two Texans forget? - "La Grange" by ZZ Top?

"God Bless America" - Kate Smith
"This Is Not America" - David Bowie
"Which Way to America?" - Living Colour
"America" - Prince and the Revolution
"America" - Spinal Tap
"America" - Lou Reed
"America" - Heart
"In America" - The Charlie Daniels Band
"I Love America" - Alice Cooper
"Living In America" - James Brown
"Living In the U.S.A." - Linda Rondstadt
"Born In the U.S.A." - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
"R.O.C.K. In the U.S.A." - John Cougar Mellencamp
"America the Ugly" - Tom T. Hall
"America the Beautiful" - various artists

A correction; it isn't "Of I Get to Saginaw Again" by The Monkees. It's "If I Ever..."

I hate it when someone asks for a list like this. My mind goes into overtime thinking of what should be on it. Here's a few more:

"Creque Alley" - The Mamas and the Papas
"California Dreamin'" - The Mamas and the Papas
"California Nights" - Lesley Gore
"Life Is a Minestrone" - 10cc
"The Wall Street Shuffle" 10cc
"Walking Down Madison" - (the late) Kirtsy MacColl
"Angel of Harlem" - U2
"Victoria" - The DiVinyls
"Take It Easy' - The Eagles
"Muswell Hillbillies" - The Kinks
"Walking In Memphis" - Marc Cohn
"Diva Fever" - Spinal Tap
"Allentown" - Billy Joel
"Holiday Inn" - Elton John
"Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" - Elton John
"Philadelphia Freedom" - Elton John
"Kentucky Rain" _ Elvis Presley

Now will someone else add to this? I'm gonna go do laundry.

"Barrytown" - Steely Dan

"The night that the lights went out in Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence.

What city is "Life is a Minestrone" about?

Who could forget "Devil Went Down to Georgia," by the Charlie Daniels Band?

"Life Is A Minestrone" mentions several landmarks:

"I'm leaning on the Tower of Pisa
Had an eyeful of the Tower in France
I'm hanging around the Gardens of Madison.

"I'm sitting on the White House lawn
Sipping tea by the Taj Mahal
I'm hanging 'round the Gardens of Babylon."

"Rainy Nights In Georgia" - Brook Benton
"On Broadway" - George Benson
"Nights On Broadway" - The Bee Gees
"Rio" - Michael Nesmith (It ain't the Duran Duran song!)
Also by Charlie Daniels, "Still In Saigon".

Oh right. Geez, I haven't heard that song in a while.

"Goodnight, Saigon" by Billy Joel

Which song? "Life Is a Minestrone"? Or "Still In Saigon"?

CSNY's "Ohio" hits both categories, being both a revolution song and a place song!

"Mendocino"-Sir Douglas Quintet
"Michuacan"-Sir Douglas Quintet
>>>enough of that, it can go on all night<<<
"San Diego Serenade"-Tom Waits
"Heart Attack and Vine"-Tom Waits
>>>Hey, no cheating, that's not a real place<<<
"Paradise"-John Prine
"Nevada"-Pere Ubu
"Crooksferry Queen"-Richard Thompson
"Transylvania Concubine"-Rasputina
"Cuyahoga"-REM
"First We Take Manhattan"-Leonard Cohen

"Kentucky Rain" has been mentioned so that brings "In the Ghetto" to mind.

And, not to be overly provocative or start a flame war or anything, but isn't The Beatles' "Revolution" more of an admonition against revolution? Just asking...

ok, I just went to the top and it was phrased as songs dealing with revolution, so I take that last part back but I'll leave it in for the sake of discussion.

"Radio Free Europe" - R.E.M.
"Sausalito Summernite" - Diesel
"Burn Hollywood, Burn" - Public Enemy
"Like a Sunday In Salem (The Amos 'n' Andy Song)" - Gene Cotton
"Constantinople" (sp?) - They Might Be Giants
"Route 66" (I can't remember who does it)
"Texarkana" - R.E.M.
"Spirits of Ancient Egypt" - Wings

Locales:

Hollywood Nights - Bob Seger

Revolution

My Generation - The Who

I would like to name some drug songs:
"That Smell"-Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Casey Jones"-Grateful Dead
"Cocaine"-Eric Clapton

I would like to name some drug songs

Because your mind just happened to be there...? (All in good fun: i'm just wondering how the drugs suddenly got here.)

Benn, I meant "Life is a Minestrone." I haven't heard in a long time, though I used to be quite the 10cc fan. Hey, how about "Dreadlock Holiday" and "From Rochdale to Ocho Rios" for place songs?

As for the Beatles' "Revolution" being against revolutions, Lennon was intentionally ambiguous on that. On the officially released fast version, he does say, "you can count me out," but on the slow version and the great video version (a mixture of the two versions), he adds, "(or) in."

Places: "Me and a Gun" by Tori Amos (Barbados)
And more from Billy Joel: "Stop in Nevada," "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," "Los Angelnos," "Say Goodbye to Hollywood," "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights go out on Broadway), and "Vienna."

Queen: "Brighton Rock"
Jim Croce: "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" (Chicago)
Three Dog Night: "Never Been to Spain" (not sure if it mentions any CITIES, but it sure does mention a lot of places and has great lyrics too.)

How about "Jamaica Farewell"? Those words have ALWAYS been about the place ... the line about "I had to leave a little girl in Kingston Town" is just an afterthought.

Goog, I see you know a little about the Beatles to be mentioning the "count me out (in)" line. Cool.

I used to have the album with "Dreadlock Holiday" on it, but didn't think much of it. But that was years ago. I do like the song though. "Rubber Bullets" is hilarious!

And now some more places:
"Kansas City" - Wilbert Harrison
"Africa" - Toto
"New Orleans Ladies" - Louisiana's LeRoux (an all time favorite)
"China Grove" - The Doobie Brothers
"Black Water" - The Doobie Brothers ("Well, I built me a raft/I feel she's ready for floatin'/Ol' Mississippi, she's callin' my name.")
"Political Science" - Randy Newman (could double as a protest song)

I can think of one fairly obvious one I'm waiting to see if anyone names. If not, I'll have to do it, I guess. It's one of those "Duh!" ones.

Here's the "obvious" one you are looking for, Benn ...

I'm going to ... Kansas City,
Kansas City here I come.

DERN!!! I just saw that one in your post ... (gloom)

Benn, you mean the ones I mentioned earlier weren't obvious ones?

OK, I'll play your little game....

"Revolution Rock"- The Clash

The one I'm thinking of was a top five hit in the 60's and was covered very successfully by the lead singer of a heavy metal band in the Eighties. Ironically, both the original and its cover version went to number 3 on the charts.

Anyway, here's a couple more:
"Panama" - Van Halen (well, maybe not)
"California Sun" - The Ramones, Dick Dale, many others
"Kokomo" - The Beach Boys
"The Little Old Lady From Pasadena" - Jan and Dean
"Woodstock" - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (that's another pretty obvious one.)
"Los Angeles" - X
"Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" - Dionne Warwick
"Y.M.C.A." - The Village People (I hate myself for thinking of this one)
"D/FW" - The Vaughan Brothers
"Sun City" - Artists United Against Apartheid
"Nut Bush City Limits" - Tina Turner

Well, if you're gonna give hints and spoil all the fun:

"California Girls"

Hmmm. A little too much hint there. Still, as many times as I've listed California, I thought somebody's memory would've already been jogged by now.

"Stairway to Cleveland" - Jefferson Starship

(You know, I have yet to start really digging through my CDs looking for songs. 99 percent of this has been off the top of my head.)

"Hotel California," though not about a city
Chicago, by Frank Sinatra
"Autumn in New York" and "April in Paris" by Lady Day, among others.

I think Coleman Hawkins has also done "April in Paris". There is the Pangaea album by Miles Davis. What else is there by Miles? "Dear Old Stockholm", "New York Girl", "Red China Blues" and, "Filles De Kilimanjaro".

The Fixx had a song called "Cameras In Paris", come to think of it.

Would "The Metro" by Berlin count?

How about ANYTHING by Berlin, Chicago or Boston? :-)
Okay. Sidebar: are there any more GROUPS named after cities?
Broadening that a little more: there's also Alabama, Kansas and America.

Anyway, now that we've opened this up to jazz..."Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?" "St. Louis Blues," "I Love Paris," "A Night in Tunisia".....this list could go on and on and on...

"Last Time I saw Paris".... And I'm not naming obscure songs.

Yet. :-)

Miles: Isreal (again, not a city), The maids of Cadiz, There's a Boat that's leaving Soon for New York.

Springsville is fictional, isn't it?

Not sure about the French soundtrack since I've never studied French.

>Broadening that a little more: there's also Alabama, Kansas, and America.

Not to mention Asia and U.K.

I've always had the impression that the "Little River Band" was named after a city or town ... (but then, I'm always the one to show-off my ignorance, just to get a confab going)

I wasn't sure if "Israel" was somebody's name or not, so I didn't suggest it. Yeah, I wonder if "Springville" is fictional, too. Wasn't sure about "Cadiz", either.

I think LRB's name is taken from a river in Australia. I have read something to that effect, but it's been aeons since I've read it.

If you want to use an LRB song, there is one called "Statue Of Liberty" from their first album.

DERF! We've overlooked a MAJOR Texas song:

"Maybe it's time we got back
To the basics of love.
Let's go to Luchenback, Texas
With Waylon, Willie and the boys."

I used to hate that song, but now I actually like it.

Other Texas songs: "El Paso" - Marty Robbins and "The Ghost of a Texas Ladies' Man" - Concrete Blonde. "Possum Kingdom" by the Toadies.

Concrete Blonde has another song called "Walking In London".

Yeah ... I've always sang along with it and inserted "Maybe it's time we got back to the bay-sex of love". (I'm always twisting song lyrics)

How about Sylvia's Mother by Dr. Hook who sings about a girl that's getting married to a man "down Galveston way"?

OR ... Mac Davis - I thought happiness was Lubbock, Texas in my rear view mirror

I suppose The Star Spangled Banner is a song about revolution ...

I don't know who did it, but there was one called "All My Exes Live in Texas". Tanya Tucker's "San Anotnio Rose".

"Armenia City In The Sky" by The Who
*sees everyone stareing at him*
What? Isn't it a city?

U.K. had a song called "Alaska". Now there's a song with a place name by a band with a place name.

"A Little Past Little Rock" by LeeAnn Womack.

(I listen to SOME country, but I can't stand most of the old-style stuff, other than Hank Williams and Johnny Cash!)

In "The Heart of Rock and Roll" by Huey Lewis The News, he mentions various cities, rattles off a list of city names near the end

As a corollary to BF's statement, James Brown's tune Living in America rattles off several city names during the lyrics ...

Smooth Operator by Sade mentions L.A., Chicago, and Key Largo.

"Dance With Me Tonight" by The Wonders mentions Philidelphia

Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen

>>Uh, Derf, I actually like "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down".<<

Alright, I'll clarify ... the high school I graduated from's football team was called the Rebels, and our fight song was Dixie. Consequently, whenever we lost a game, the opposing team's band would INVARIABLY play "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down". That's the reason I cringe. I apologize for imposing my psychological problem on all Texans.

Dinah Washington recorded a song called "New York, Chicago & Los Angelos." It's on volume one of her complete works.

Where is Los Angelos? It's not anywhere near Los Angeles.

I just got Stevie Nicks' new album. I haven't finished listening to it yet, but it does have a song it called "Too Far From Texas". Which reminds of "T For Texas (T For Tennessee)". I think Jimmie Rodgers did the original version. I've got in my collection Lynyrd Skynyrd doing it. But that song reminded me of "Tennessee" by Arrested Development. That reminded me of "The Tennessee Waltz" by Patsy Cline, is it? Which in turn brought to mind Blanchard and Morgan's "Tennessee Birdwalk". (Chirp Chirp) Free association. A psychiatrist would love me.

"Something In the Air" Thunderclap Newman
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers did a rendition of this one ...

song about a city? ...
North to Alaska - Ferlin Husky

"Santa Monica" - Everclear
"This Land Is Your Land" - Woody Guthrie

"Albuquerque" - Weird Al Yankovic

I knew I shoulda taken a left toin at Albecoiky.

Can anyone think of songs that have the same title as the artist? As an added bonus, the song should be from an album by the same name.

Two examples:
"Bad Company", by Bad Company, from the album Bad Company.
"Iron Maiden", by Iron Maiden, from the album Iron Maiden.

"Blue Oyster Cult" from B.O.C's Imaginos album. "Who Are You", the Who. (Okay, so that one's a cheat.)

Aha! I get my bonus points! I almost forgot - "Icehouse" by Icehouse from the album Icehouse.

Would "KISS Theme" by KISS from the album KISS also count?

So we're cheating already now, Benn...hmmm...

Some more (potential) cheats:
"We Are the Clash"- The Clash
"We Are the League"- Anti Nowhere League (now we're really cheating)
"Give It To the Soft Boys"- Soft Boys

OK, OK, some real ones:
"Minor Threat"
"World Party"
and a brand new one- "Action Figure Party"!!!

I forgot about World Party!

Hey, at least I admit I'm cheating. Some years back, I put together a tape I called Narcissism Made Easy. Its theme was songs in which the name of the recording artist appears in the song. I chose not to use songs by rap or blues artists since songs with their names in them are a dime a dozen. May have to create a new version of that tape later.

By the way, the name of the KISS song is "Love Theme From KISS".

How about "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" by the Backstreet Boys

Excuse me, I have to go shower now. I feel dirty just posting that one.

I feel dirty from having read it.

Yeah...where are this board's censors when you need them? Makes me wonder what tidbits of information I'll have access to when my son's a little older...

Some years back, I put together a tape I called Narcissism Made Easy. Its theme was songs in which the name of the recording artist appears in the song
Thanks Benn, I'm always looking for themes to use. Mind if I borrow the concept? When I first got my Phillips CD Recorder I made a series of discs based on the seven dwarves- "Grumpy" was the easiest, but "Sleepy" is the one I'm most proud of. Now who could accompany Narcissus?

Didn't the Rolling Stones do a cover of "I'm a Man" or "Mannish Boy" which contains the line "I'm a rolling stone..."?

I'm surprised nobody thought up "Hey Hey We're the Monkees" yet.

Another one: "They Might Be Giants". The self-titled song finally made an appearance on their third release Flood.

I was leaving the honor of naming "(Theme From) The Monkees" (from the album, The Monkees) for Blitz. Now you've gone and took it away.

Somehow or another, "I'm a Man" and "Mannish Boy" are two separate songs. The only difference I can see is that Bo Diddley recorded "I'm a Man" and Muddy Waters recorded "Mannish Boy." Bo is the composer of "I'm a Man" and a co-author of "Mannish Boy". But if there's any real difference between the two, I'm hopelessly unaware of it.

Go ahead and borrow the theme. Let me know what you use. If I ever get around to recreating my version, I'll let you know what I use.

The companion piece was Name Droppers (not a very inspired title, I admit). It was comprised of songs that either mentioned, or were about famous people. Y'know, like Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama", The Who's "The Seeker", R.E.M.'s "It's The End of the World As We Know (And I Feel Fine)", etc. I'll have to remake that one, too.

The one I'm in the process of finishing is The Numbers Racket. It's 26 songs with numbers in their titles. Only one number per title, so Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" and Hendrix's "If 6 Were 9" are disqualified. I'm also trying to avoid repeating artists. Here's the set list:

"Zero" - Smashing Pumpkins
"One" - U2
"Combination of the Two" - Janis Joplin
"Gimme Three Steps" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"The Four Horsemen" - Metallica
"Five Years" - David Bowie
"Six Feet Deep" - Manhole
"7" - Prince and New Power Generation
"And On the Eighth Day" - KISS
"#9 Dream" - John Lennon
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" - Bruce Springsteen
"Rotary Eleven" - R.E.M.
"The Clock Strikes Twelve" - Bo Diddley
"Thirteen" - Johnny Cash
"14 Years" - Guns N' Roses
"New Model no. 15" - Marylin Manson
"Sweet Sixteen" - B. B. King
"Edge of Seventeen (live)" - Stevie Nicks
"Eighteen" - Alice Cooper
"19th Nervous Breakdown" - The Rolling Stones (may change it to "Nineteen Forever" by Joe Jackson)
"20th Century Man (live)" - Sammy Hagar
"21st Century Digital Boy" - Bad Religion
"22 Acacia Avenue" - Iron Maiden
"Strawberry Letter #23" - The Brothers Johnson (may substitute Shuggie Otis' original version of the song)
"24 Hours" - Muddy Waters and
"25th Floor/High On Rebellion" - The Patti Smith Group.

The hard part would be to bring the total up to 50. Any suggestions?

Yowza! Mighty impressive there Benn. I suspect that the next 25 may give even you fits. Off of the top of my head I tried to think of one for every number and only came up with a few:

29- "29" by Gin Blossoms
30- "30 Days" by Chuck Berry
36- "36 Inches High" by Nick Lowe
44- "Forty Four Blues" by Little Feat
49- "'49 Mercury" by The Forbidden Pigs

If you had to you could stretch it a bit for "Forty Thousand Headmen" by Traffic.

Toss in "One is the Loneliest Number" by Three Dog Night ... (hey! ... only one number in the BAND name too!)

(I wonder if "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" qualifies ... hhmmm)

I did consider Three Dog Night's "One". Also thought of "One" by Metallica. Could put together a tape and calling it Number One Hits. Nothing but hit songs with "One" in the title.

If I could get this up to 100, 99 would of course, be "99" by Toto. One hundred would be Sonic Youth's "100%."

Thought of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days." But yeah, filling in the gap for the next 25 would be the proverbal pain in the ***. May try anyway.

Queen's "39" would work. That's five. Only 45 more to go to fif... Oh, of course. Paul Simon. "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". Forty-four more to go.

Getting back to the original topic, Marylin Manson's "Disposable Teens" has the line, "You say you want a revolution/And I say you're full of sh*t". Then there's Union Underground's "Revolution Man". However, that song is clearly about John Lennon.

Getting back to Cazbob's topic, there's a band called Apartment 26 who have a song called "Apt. 26". Hey, that'll work for my Numbers Racket tape, too.

I can also use Bruce Springsteen's "American Skin (41 Shots)."

So now I've got 42 more to go. Wait a minute. I am tired. That's 16 more I need to get to 50. I'm gonna finish recording tape one, then go to bed.

Not to mention '8 Days a Week' or 'Revolution 9' by The Beatles.

Then, of course, there's "1999" by Prince.

21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson
Three of a Perfect Pair - King Crimson
Fourteen Days - Steve Goodman (not exactly his best song)
99 Luftballons - Nena?
Poem 58 - Chicago Transit Authority
1984 - David Bowie
ME 262 - Blue Oyster Cult
7 Screaming Diz Busters - Blue Oyster Cult
2112 - Rush
Cygnus X-1 - Rush
1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson
Five Feet High and Rising - Johnny Cash
25 Minutes To Go - Johnny Cash
A Pirate Looks at 40 - Jimmy Buffett
Door Number Three - Jimmy Buffett

Of course I knew the B.O.C. songs. I'm not sure why I chose to use "7" by Prince and not "7 Screaming Diz Busters" on my The Numbers Racket tape. There's also "7 Chinese Brothers" by R.E.M.

B.O.C. also has "R.U. Ready 2 Rock" (looks like a Prince title), "You're Not the One (I Was Looking For)" and "I Am the One You Warned Me Of".

Let's see to get the next tape up to fifty, I've so far have

"Apt. 26" by Apartment 26
"29" - Gin Blossoms
"30 Days" - Chuck Berry
"36 Inches High" - Nick Lowe
"39" - Queen
"40" - U2 or "A Pirate Looks at 40" - Jimmy Buffet
"American Skin (41 Shots)" - Bruce Springsteen
"Forty Four Blues" - Little Feat (Is this a Lowell George era song?)
"'49 Mercury" - The Forbidden Pigs (the who!?)
"50 Ways to leave Your Lover" - Paul Simon
Fifteen more to go.

I'll take any number though. I may go higher than 50. I may revise The Numbers Racket if something better comes up.

By the way, Cazbob, Nena is correct. The Americanized title of the song is "99 Red Balloons", of course. Funny thing is that's about the only version of the song I heard where I was living at the time.

Add to the list ...
Apartment 21 by Bobbie Gentry (if you want this one, I can supply the recording)
Colonel Bogey March (stands for "One Over Par" ... don't it?)
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen this tune has the string "10, 20 , 30, 40, 50 or more/The Bloody Red Baron is rollin' up the score/80 men died tryin' to end that spree/Of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany"

Red Baron doesn't count.

1) It's not in the title.
2) Benn said only one number per title (specifically giving verboten examples, e.g. 25 or 6 to 4)

Right, otherwise how do you know which number it represents?

The Who have "I'm One (At Least)" and "5:15". Buck Dharma has "Five Thirty Five". Blondie has "11:59".

Oh god, speaking of the "Colonel Bogie March"... Me and some friends went to Six Flags Over Texas, a week ago Sunday. I counted it. I heard the "Colonel Bogie March" six times that day.

Over at the Austin City Limits Stage they had a really bad cover band. They didn't even perform any tune in its entirety. It was one medley after another. I think the theme was supposed to be Texas acts: Don Henley, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Janis Joplin, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Buddy Holley, Roy Orbison. But they blew the theme by including Jimmy Buffet, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Bonnie Raitt. They just massacred every song they did. It took awhile before I realized they were doing Henley's "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" at one point. I wanted to pull the plug on them so badly.

With any luck, they won't be there when I go back next month. Of course, they weren't as bad as the kids who, along with Bugs, Daffy, Foghorn Leghorn and Sylvester destroyed such songs as "We Will Rock You" and "Philadelphia Freedom." Made me wanna grab a bottle of Jagermeister.

>Buck Dharma has "Five thirty Five"

Ah, Flat Out! I really like that album.

"Forty Four Blues" - Little Feat (Is this a Lowell George era song?)
"'49 Mercury" - The Forbidden Pigs (the who!?)

Not The Who, The Forbidden Pigs! As a Texan I thought you'd know this one Benn . Obscure perhaps, but they were a jump blues trio a'la The Paladins who caused quite a stir in the indie world with the song "Una Mas Cerveza". Discovered by Mojo Nixon. The Little Feat song was from the first album and is the bluesiest thing they ever recorded.

Got another one for you: "33rd Of August" by David Allan Coe.

Also- the numbers 55, 61, and 66 would be sooo easy if you were to go that high.

The first one that came to mind for 99 was Social Distortion's "99 To Life". Immediately following was Hot Tuna's "99 Year Blues", both revolve around the same theme. I guess 99 is among the easiest numbers.

I have more for 25 if that's not off limits yet.

Yeah, Todd, and I managed to get it on disc. ;p Got it as an import. I have no idea whether it's still available or not. At one point, around `96, Buck was talking about reissuing the album himself. He was even selling T-shirts of the back cover (the flat tire). Come to think of it, he may have more on sale at his website, www.buckdharma.com. At any rate, you may wanna drool over the Buck Archive he has on sale. I'm getting ready to subscribe to it myself.

Miko, I'll take any number. Let's see how high we can count using song titles.

The Forbidden Pigs have managed to pass me by. Are any of their albums available?

Feat's first album. Yeah, that's definitely Lowell George era.

By the way, if I use Sonic Youth's "100%" for one hundred, the logical 99, is Soul Asylum's "99%".

Derf, I may want to do another version of the first tape using different songs, so I'd at any rate be interested in at least hearing the Bobbi Gentry song. "Ode to Billy Joe" is the only song I can recall hearing by her.

Would "Little Deuce Coupe" count for the number 2?

Hm. Maybe. That would give way to including "Deuce" by KISS and "Deuce" by Chuck Berry. Of course, Chuck's song is about marijuana....

If I go strictly by what's in my dictionary, it wouldn't though.

Hey Benn, I just took a look at Amazon Re: Forbidden Pigs and they have more selections available than I knew existed. It may be worth checking out the page for Una Mas Cerveza just to see the extraneous and seemingly bizarre comments made by some fans.

Some more suggestions (in order):

"Soliloquy For 2"- Hot Tuna
"Two Little Hitlers"- Elvis Costello
"Three Time Loser"- Dave Edmunds
"4th Of July"- Soungarden...different from
"4th Of July"- X
"Funky #7"- Hot Tuna
"9th and Hennepin"- Tom Waits
"10 Percenter"- Frank Black
"Almost Eighteen"- Roy Orbison
"25 O'Clock"- Dukes of Stratosphear (XTC)
"Ol' 55"- Tom Waits (covered numerous times)
"Highway 61 Revisited"- Bob Dylan
"Highway 61"- The Blasters
"Route 66"- pick your favorite

Just for your cogitation ...
Only Sixteen - Dr. Hook

A few off the top of my head

"Cool Zero" - Pat Benatar
"Saved By Zero" - The Fixx
"Too Low For Zero" - Elton John
"Number One" - The Rutles
"One Way Or Another" - Blondie
"One For the Road" - Little River Band
"One Summer Dream" - Electric Light Orchestra
"Two of Hearts" - Stacy Q (anyone remember that song?)
"Eat for Two" - 10,000 Maniacs
"We Two" - Little River Band
"Three Lock Box" - Sammy Hagar
"Four Eyes" - Randy Newman
"Cinco De Mayo" - Liz Phair
"Sweet Little Sixteen" - Chuck Berry
"You're Sixteen" - Ringo Starr
"At Seventeen" - Janis Ian
"Hold On to 18" - Black 'N Blue
"18 and Life" - Skid Row (I think. After awhile, all those hair metal of the Eighties start to look and Sound alike.)
"905" - The Who
"The Year 2525" - Zager and Evans
"Dreaming of 4000" - Electric Light Orchestra
"10538 Overture" - Electric Light Orchestra

Miko I went to CDWorld today. They have a "Texas" section. I looked for Forbidden Pigs, but didn't see anything. I'll check Amazon. Saturday I'm gonna order a Divinyls album or two.

Miko I went to CDWorld today. They have a "Texas" section. I looked for Forbidden Pigs, but didn't see anything
According to AMG (I just looked it up) they're a west coast outfit, not from Texas- my bad- but it's pretty convincing roadhouse Tex-Mex. They also described Una Mas Cerveza as a "must have"(true, but I think The Paladins' Let's Buzz is better). I hope you enjoy it if you can get it.

You mean I don't have to feel bad about not knowing of them now?

Soon as I can, I'll check 'em out Miko. By the by, is that pronounced My-ko or Me-ko? Do you get "Iko, Iko" sung to you alot? (I know I can't have been the first to have thought of that. No way.)

That's exactly where it came from, Benn. Actually it originally was Mike-O but then I had a New Orleans themed party and in a haze of hurricanes and pounding R&B I looked up at the dartboard and there it was: somebody had written "Miko Iko" for me. It stuck and has been with me for about 14 years now. Of course one is always complicit in one's own nickname to a certain extent.

Now that we're listing all numbers:
"Six Sixty Six" by Frank Black and the Catholics.

More to follow...

Here’s another topic for Benn … you could call Death By Singing (or something like that)
Songs in which the topic is a killing/jealous killing … here are a few

1. Tom Dooley – The Kingston Trio
2. Delilah – Tom Jones
3. Mack The Knife – Bobby Darin
4. I Shot The Sheriff – Eric Clapton

Yet another topic to explore ... The Original/The Remake
conditions: the artist(s) that sang these songs must have made it onto the top 40 each ... (in other words, it got radio air time)
some examples ...
1. Can't Get No Satisfaction
original - The Rolling Stones
remake - Devo
2. She's Not There
original - The Zombies
remake - Santana

Derf, go to the Cover Songs topic.

Thanks, ScottN ... but I wouldn't have guessed it from the thread title. It should have been ... "Album Cover Songs That Were Remakes of a Popular Original Tune" ... but, I suppose "Cover Songs" is a good abreviation.

Some more numbers:

"Xero Tolerance" - Type O Negative
"Black no. 1 (Little Miss Scare All)" - Type O Negative (my favorite Type O song. )
"You Just May Be the One" - The Monkees
"I Ain't the One" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Four In the Morning" - Night Ranger
"Four Walls of Raiford" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"99 1/2" - Wild Cherry

Derf, there only about two or three songs that I can think of that deal with jealousy/murder. These may be inaccurate, too.

"Delia's Gone' - Johnny Cash
"Stagger Lee" a.k.a. "Stack O' Lee" - Lloyd Price, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry and a lot of other folks.
And maybe "Stan" by Eminem. Maybe.

Ah man! A real obvious murder/jealousy song:

"Hey Joe" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience!

"Six O'Clock" by Ringo. (Now we've got two "six" songs by Ringo.)

To be honest, I think "one" songs should be disqualifed since they're so plentiful...or at least let's not count songs where the "one" is pronomial.

Actually, we have "Sixteen" and "Six" from Ringo.

I kinda agree with you about disqualifying songs where "One" is pronomial. I'd been debating that point as a matter of fact. But personally, I don't mind the massive amounts of songs with "One" in their title though. This is for a tape project.

Here's a song Derf should've mentioned: "Weird Song #1" by Chase.

Then there's "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins, as well as "33" by them.

"One Toke Over the Line" by Shipley and Brewer.

I got a bit busy when the numbers thing started up, so here are a few I can think of that haven't been mentioned yet.

The Beatles, "The One after 909" (pronomial "one" but also a legit number), "Two of Us"

"Four minutes thirty-thre seconds" by John Cage (though if you know what it's about, I doubt you'll want it on your tape)

One of the pre-retirement double live albums by Miles Davis that I've never gotten around to replacing on CD had all four tracks named with their timing (so one was called "20:33" or something similar). Not sure if the CD would retain that name though.

Queen, "One Year of Love," "One vision," "Seven Seas of Rhye," "In Only Seven Days"

Stevie Wonder, "Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away"

Yes, "Five per cent for Nothing"

Jimi, "Fifty-first Anniversary," "Third Stone from the Sun," "1983...(A Mercain I should Turn to be)

Billy Joel, "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights go out on Broadway)"

Another Ringo tune: "Early 1970"

The Police (or was it Sting?), "One World"

Simon & Garfunkel, "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"

The Cars, "I'm not the One" (pronomial, I know)

Cheap Trick, "Clock Strikes Ten"

John & Yoko, "Unfinished Music No. 1" (and of course, number 2)

Brian May, "Just One Life"

Dylan, "From a Buick 6," "Highway 61 Revisited"

Eagles, "One of these Nights" (I know)

Godley & Cream, "10,000 Angels," "Airforce One," "Don't Set Fire to the One I Love"

Foreigner, "Feels like the First Time" (I know that sounds like a bit of a stretch at first, but it's no different than "Third Stone..." or "59th Street Bridge Song," "Tenth Avenue," "Eighth Day", etc.)

You could do a whole tape of songs with years in the title I think.

Re: the jealousy/murder thing-

the first thing that came to mind was Nick Cave's Murder Ballads, which just happens to include a nifty ultraviolent interpretation/cover of "Stagger Lee". The rest is just as cool...but you have to be in the mood...

I've thought of that. Or even the time of day.

By the way, goog, I'm looking for one number per title, so The Beatles' "One After 909" has to be disqualified.

What I'm looking to do is to see how I can count using numbers in the titles of songs. I've got a definite count of 26. Twenty-seven if you take into consideration that I've started with zero.

Still, keep 'em coming!

Well if we could just get you over that hurdle, there's "Twenty-eight Days" by Bobby Rush.
I don't suppose you'd want to fill the gap with Catfish's "Twenty-something" now, would ya?

(AMG search. I don't know either of these tunes.)

Another one to throw in the pot ...
Seven Bridges Road - The Eagles

>>Pinhead Gunpowder (On the "Shoot the Moon" album.) - There's a song called "27".<<

I lifted this excerpt from this website -
The 27 Conspiracy

What did you do, Derf? Go see The Eagles, Saturday? I've got a friend who was wanting to go. If you went, how's the American Airlines Center?

Hmm. Upon reflection, I do recall you telling me that you don't go to concerts. Must be because The Eagles' show was so hyped around here.

>>What did you do, Derf? Go see The Eagles, Saturday?<<

No, but I do own their "Greatest Hits Vols I & II", and it may be argued that the hype got me to listening to them recently.

Ah ha. I used to own Greatest Hits Vol. 1. Been thinking about getting it again. As it is, I have Hotel California and The Long Run.

BTW Benn ... did that "tidbit" of info above about a song titled "27" properly spark your interest? (I've heard you got problems finding a song with that number in the title)

Pinhead Gunpowder according to the above mentioned website has a member of Green Day performing in it.

Yeah, but I keep thinking about all these albums I'll have to get by acts I've never even heard of before. I have no idea how good they'll be. Ah, if only Metallica hadn't help shut down Napster. Curse you, Lars Ulrich!

Aright'en ... how BAD do you want to produce The Numbers Racket, then? ... hhmmm?

You've already got AT least the cost of the CD's investment with interested souls on this site to fund this venture. (maybe)

Meaning?

... that if you actually MADE a Numbers Racket CD for yourself ... (hint-hint) others at Nitcentral would have a monetary interest in your accomplishment. (at least ME ... I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity that may give me MILLIONS in an original compilation for a recording of OLD songs abut numbers)

Oh. Right now it exists on tape. I gotta rework part of side 2 of the first tape. Then I gotta get a burner... Actually, considering that the tape is either a 110 or 120 minute tape, we're probably talking two discs.

If you're implying that I sell copies if and when the discs are made...

I hear Lars Ulrich is beating a path to your door right now to confiscate the original tape

Great. It's not enough I have to worry about Mark Morgan and Machiko Jenkins from the Religious Musings board, but now Lars? Geez! And over The Numbers Racket? I'd've thought he'd've been pissed because all but three of my Metallica discs were bought used.

Another song for the Death By Singing topic ... (murder/jealousy)

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts - Bob Dylan

I just recently read the original words to the folk ballad, "Frankie and Johnny". It fits. Only this time, it's the girl, Frankie, who does the killing.

Going back to this thread's original topic, here's one that mentions "revolution": "Hold On" by Ian Gomm.

And 3 months later, some "city" songs:
MANHATTAN
MAKE MINE MANHATTAN
T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)
CHICAGO BREAKDOWN
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS (TO MISS NEW ORLEANS)?
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
BALTIMORE ORIOLE (an old Hoagy Carmichael tune; the best recording may be by Der Bingle)
MOON OVER MIAMI
CAMELOT (does a mythical city count?)
AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM
SUSIE CINCINNATI
GARY, INDIANA (from "The Music Man")
ST. LOUIS BLUES
MEMPHIS BLUES
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS

By all rights, I should post this somewhere else, but I thought it would be more fun here.

I noticed the other day how several movies have the word "Seven" title. (Seven, The Seventh Seal, Seven YEars in Tibet, etc.)

So I was wondering if we could extend the the numbers racket game to movies. Of course, movies with numbers that mark it as a sequal don't count. (Star Trek II, Naked Gun 33 1/3, etc.)

1) One A.M.
2) ?3) THree Amigos
etc.

12 Monkeys
13 Days

The One and One-Eyed Jacks

2 Days In the Valley

4 Rooms

5 Card Stud and Slaughterhouse Five

Six Degrees of Separation and The 6th Day

The Seven Samauri and The Magnificent Seven and Se7en

8mm

K-9 and Plan 9 From Outer Space

9½ Weeks

10

Ocean's 11

Thir13en Ghosts

48 Hours

The 39 Steps

2001: A Space Odyssey

And just to get a number three in there: Three Men and a Baby.

Three Fugitives
Eight Men Out
Six Days, Seven Nights
The Longest Yard (if you include numbers that are measurements)
The Green Mile (same as above)
Fantasia 2000 (would that count?)
Solo (probably doesn't count, but might-maybe be construed as a number)
X-Men (if you include algebraic symbols)

Oh, just remembered ...
The John Belushi flick, 1941

Boy, Derf, you're really doing some stretching there!

Those awful Friday the 13th movies.

What was that movie called? Six Days, Seven Nights....Seven Days, Eight Nights...something like that.

Forgot one of my favorites...Not One Less. Since I already included The Seventh Seal, the movies don't have to be American.

I guess this board will have to do.

I'm trying to expand the horizons of my musical experience, and so I'd like to ask anyone out there if they can recommend any good 70's car-chase-style "wok-a-chik-a, wok-a-chik-a, wok-a-chik-a" songs. If there are any, of course...

Duke,

This is a written medium so this is a $tupid question, can you hum a few bars? (I told you it was $tupid.) Seriously, can be more specific? "Wok-a-chik-a" just doesn't ring any bells. Can you name a specific movie the car chase was in? (Duel and Smokey and the Bandit will be very different.)

Benn,

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do...

I think the title is One. By Three Dog Night

Berry,

I guess I'd better clarify. I'm not looking for the title of a specific song I heard during the car chase scene of some movie. If that were the case, I'd definitely have to write something a little more substantial than "wok-a-chik-a".

What I'm asking is if anyone can name any good 70's songs, the type of song you might hear in a good car chase scene. That's all I'm after, the names of songs with that kind of style to them.

As for the "wok-a-chik-a" stuff, I hope that it didn't sound like I was quoting lyrics. It was more a reference to the rythm of a song. Is it a song where you would be able to start saying "wok-a-chik-a, wok-a-chik-a, wok-a-chik-a, wok-a-chik-a, wok-a-chik-a, wok-a-chik-a" and be in rythm? (Like they've done on MST 3000 before, I think.)
So, would that work with the Smokey and the Bandit car chase song? The Duel song? Some other car-chase-style (but not necessarily car chase)song?

Duke, how recent was the movie? Can you describe the movie better?

Duke,
Perhaps the theme from "Run For Your Life"?
By the way, those wok-a-chik-a's and vermiscious kinits are pesky little things, aren't they?

Duke, how recent was the movie? Can you describe the movie better? Benn

That's just it, there wasn't any specific movie I saw. I'd just like the name of any song out there that would compliment a car chase scene really well. It doesn't even have to be a song that was actually used in a movie for that purpose, just one that sounds like it could be.

"Run For Your Life", eh, Derf? Maybe I'll look into that one.

Thanks to everyone who's taken a little time out of their lives to respond to my silly question, too.

Benn,

Please read my posts sometimes. $tupid referred to the question I was asking. ("Can you hum a few bars?" is a $tupid question in a WRITTEN forum.)

I did not come here to be attacked. Reread your post while you are at it, Benn. What the HECK am I doing responding to your post? Since you obviously didn't read it I was responding to your list of songs with numbers in the title. I didn't know you did "One" already. I couldn't remember the title. If there is a way to misinterpret something and take offense you find it.

Do you think maybe you showed a bit of, shall we say, "attitude". It's a large board and I missed the ONLY (your word) time you posted it on July 13, 2001. I'm sorry I missed a quick reference to it A YEAR AND A HALF AGO. I promise I'll never try to help you again.

Apologize for claiming I called Duke's question $tupid. You started this, end it. End it the way you started it -- publicly.

Then you may try actually reading posts before you comment on them.

(No "".)

You're right. I did misread your post to Duke. I apologize.

Duke,

The ultimate car chase tune would have to be "Highway Star" by Deep Purple. It's on the Machine Head album.

NNACCT (Not Necessarily A Car Chase Tune):

C.W. McCall's "Convoy"

"Looks like we got us a convoy!"

Ah, yess ... the "wok-a-chik-a" thread! (golden stuff!!)

How about songs about space and sci-fi? Such as "Spacer", by Sheila and B. Devotion.

We've already have that topic. It's in the Music Catch-Basin under the title "Science Fiction Rock". (And given that we're up to Part 6 on these "Name some songs about...", shouldn't this thread be closed?)

"Music is a world within itself and a language we all understand."