M-Space: The Blog

Song Titles Game

As I blogged recently(*), I've been listening to a lot of music on my computer (either playing stuff from my own collection or using Spotify) over the past year, which has given me the opportunity to have some fun arranging playlists.

I came up with an amusing, although almost certainly not particularly original, little game, whereby I arrange my playlists so that the titles of consecutive songs make a complete sentence. Usually when I play the game (which is by no means all the time that I listen to music on the computer) I add the further constraint that all the songs should be by the same artist. Punctuation can be tweaked to clarify the sense of the phrase, but the word order should be preserved. As a minimum, of course, you need at least 2 titles, although 3 is better; there is no upper limit. A few examples will help to illustrate the idea.

I'm not sure when I first came up with the idea, but the first lists I made a note of were from songs by Bix Beiderbecke. These included:

• Cryin' all day | Since my best girl turned me down | For no reason at all (-> "Cryin' all day since my best girl turned me down for no reason at all")
• Sorry | Clorinda | No one can take your place | At the jazz band ball (-> "Sorry, Clorinda, no one can take your place at the jazz band ball")

Billy Bragg's album Mermaid Avenue yielded the list:

• Ingrid Bergman | She Came Along to Me | At My Window Sad and Lonely (-> "Ingrid Bergman, she came along to me at my window, sad and lonely")

From Beth Orton's album Trailer Park I got:

• Touch me with your love | Whenever | She cries your name (-> "Touch me with your love whenever she cries your name")

A small collection of Beatles songs gave me two sentences:

• Hey Jude | All you need is love | Because | I am the walrus (-> "Hey Jude, all you need is love because I am the walrus")
• Lady Madonna | I want to hold your hand | While my guitar gently weeps (-> "Lady Madonna, I want to hold your hand while my guitar gently weeps")

The longest and, arguably, most impressive one I've come up with so far is based on a bunch of pieces by John Renbourn. Unlike most of the others I've listed, this one definitely benefits from some clarification of the punctuation:

So there you have it - a way to listen to your favourite music in a different order and have some fun with wordplay at the same time.

* Recent is, of course, a relative term :-)

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