Several months ago, I wrote a post which identified a few songs with a female names in the title by letter of the alphabet. Thinking it would be harder (and it was), here is the same rendering with male names.
A – Abraham, Martin & John, You can call me Al
B – Me and Bobby McGee, Ode to Billy the Kid
C – Charlie Brown, Chuck E’s in Love
D – Daniel, Danny’s Song
E – Eli’s Coming
F – Fernando
G – Gabriel and me, Gabriel’s Message
H – I’m Henry the Eighth
I – Ivan meets GI Joe, Igor’s Theme
J – Hey Jude, Johnny B. Goode, Hey Joe
K – Keith don’t go, Kevin
L – Levon, Bad Bad Leroy Brown
M – Mack the knife, Matthew & son
N – Ned Kelly
O – Oliver’s Army
P – Pancho and Lefty
Q – Quinn the Eskimo
R – Richard Cory, Rapid Roy
S – Boy named Sue
T – Tom Sawyer, Ghost of Tom Joad
U – Uncle Albert, Uncle John’s Band
V – Vincent
W – Little Willie, Willie the pimp
X – X-Men Apocalypse
Y – Flight of Yuri Gagarin
Z – Zack and Codeine
In preparing this list, I did more Googling than with female names in song titles. There are several songs on the list with which I am not familiar. Also, there are more single word female titles, with more of the men name’s accompanied by an action or noun.
Nonetheless, there are a number of very good songs from Dion’s “Abraham, Martin and John” to The Beatles “Hey Jude” to Don McLean’s “Vincent” to Loggins and Messina “Danny’s song” to Jim Croce’s “Bad, bad Leroy Brown” to Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army,” et al.
Please offer your thoughts. I did take liberty with the word “Uncle,” but since it enabled me mention Paul McCartney and Grateful Dead songs, I feel better about it.
I have another one for J: Julian by Mandy Winter.
Erika, I will need to Google that one. Thanks for sharing. Keith
Erika, it is a nice song. Thanks for the introduction. Keith
It is an 80s’ song and it was quite a hit, at least over here. Let me know if you like it.
Erika, it is good. Is she German singing in English? I saw the Youtube from a German show. Keith
Good question… lol! I just checked. Yes, she is German and that explains why you might not have heard of her before.
Erika, thanks for clearing that up. That is likely why I had not heard of her. Keith
Note to Readers: I noticed a few artists had more than one song on the list – Elton John, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, and Jim Croce. Of course, Bernie Taupin should get credit with Elton for the lyrics and title.
A couple of final thoughts. Don McLean did many great songs beyond “American Pie.” One of those is “Vincent,” which many people call by its start, “Starry, starry night…”
The other thought is about Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.” The many great songs of Rush are replete with clever lyrics and references, “Tom Sawyer” being a good example.
PS – I should add Johnny Cash appears on the list twice. I am also delighted to include Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife.” It is an underappreciated classic.
It was fun to see the old British ‘knees up’ song ‘Henry the Eight ‘(which should always be sung with the best ‘London’ accent you can manage…..avoiding Dick van Dyke in ‘Mary Poppins’).
Roger, I always marveled that Peter Noone (sic), lead singer for Herman’s Hermits, could sing while broadly smiling. Keith
It was a skill.
And the time of the British Bands…
Roger, the Brits introduced many white Americans to American Blues. The invasion bands grew up on Howlin’ Wolf, BB King, Muddy Waters, Etta James, while many white Americans were forced to listen to Johnny Rivers’ knock offs. Keith
Very true…When Howlin’ Wolf toured the UK back in 1965 I think, it was The Yardbirds who were his backing band
Roger, it is amazing to me The Yardbirds had three of the greatest guitarists as their lead – Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. I read Clapton’s autobiography and he said he left The Yardbirds since they betrayed their Blues’ roots and wenf mainstrean. Keith