Songs Titles containing the numbers 1 - 100

March 16, 2005 8:32 AM

Songs titles containing the numbers 1 to 100.
posted by kenaman (68 comments total)

98.6 - By Standard

By Keith, actually.

Rocket 88 - Aerosmith

Jackie Brenston.


God, if you're gonna put this stuff on the Web, do a little research.
posted by jonmc at 8:48 AM on March 16, 2005

I recently spoke to the writer/performer of 96 tears, ? (erroneously referred to on that list as "mark"). He's never gotten any royalties, and is trying to block a re-release of the song. He was very, um, animated.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:49 AM on March 16, 2005

I did "song titles containing the numbers between one and 10" as a pub quiz question once - some of the contestants were fairly sharp, and we let them have "2, 4, 6, 8 Motorway" for 2, 4, 6 and 8. Maybe we were a little generous.
posted by handee at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2005

I recently spoke to the writer/performer of 96 tears, ?

Dude! I hope you showed ? the repect he is due as garage rock royalty. Also, I knew a girl in high school who's dad was briefly a drummer in the Mysterians.
posted by jonmc at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2005

The accuracy of the list looks pretty sloppy - it looks like a work experience kid copied the list off a sheet of paper that was transcribed by Mr Burns' monkeys from four year olds' text message contributions.

Aargh! And it's 2+2=5 for Radiohead, not +5...
posted by jasminetea at 8:58 AM on March 16, 2005

God, if you're gonna put this stuff on the Web, do a little research.

So your saying "Hound Dog" wasn't written by Elvis Presley?
(insert winking emoticon here)
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:58 AM on March 16, 2005

Did anyone else go to this page expecting something a little more comprehensive? Such as, say, more than one song per numeral? It's a cute exercise, don't get me wrong, but it would be even cuter to see the distribution across all of these numbers.
posted by soyjoy at 9:00 AM on March 16, 2005

Charles and Eddie. Heh.
posted by nthdegx at 9:05 AM on March 16, 2005

God, if you're gonna put this stuff on the Web, do a little research.

I'd better come clean. I knew the list was had errors and posted it to give the sharpest amongst you the chance to achieve self-validation by minutiae.

There are 12 errors in all can you spot them?
posted by kenaman at 9:10 AM on March 16, 2005

God, if you're gonna put this stuff on the Web, do a little research.

That was directed at the site that published the list, not you, kenaman. The idea's a fun one, just poorly executed.
posted by jonmc at 9:16 AM on March 16, 2005

to give the sharpest amongst you the chance to achieve self-validation by minutiae.

Hah! Very good.

MetaFilter: Self-validation by minutiae
posted by 327.ca at 9:19 AM on March 16, 2005

I keep meaning to do a similar list with years mentioned in songs (not necessarily in the title):

Nineteen hundred eighty five, PM & wings
1979, smashing pumpkins
1974, ryan adams
1972 josh rouse
"Night Moves," bob seger (1962)

As soyjoy suggests, I thought it would be interesting to come up with the year most heralded in pop music lyrics.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:20 AM on March 16, 2005

Well, I think the title to #5 ought to be "2 + 2 = 5" not "2 + 2 + 5". Which may seem picky, but it sort of defeats the purpose because, if it really were the "2 + 2 + 5", is should probably be filed as a "9" not a "5".
posted by BigPicnic at 9:22 AM on March 16, 2005

johnmc - I understand. Sorry for the sarcasm. Honest.
posted by kenaman at 9:22 AM on March 16, 2005

As soyjoy suggests, I thought it would be interesting to come up with the year most heralded in pop music lyrics.

Or how about the largest number cited in pop music lyrics? (And I don't mean something like a telephone number.)
posted by 327.ca at 9:23 AM on March 16, 2005

A guy who posts to rec.music.progressive did a series of radio shows in which the songs all contained the number 1, then 2, and so on. Eventually he had to do more than one number per show, but he got pretty high without skipping any.
posted by kenko at 9:28 AM on March 16, 2005

ss4, You forgot

1984, david bowie
1983 (If A Merman I Shoul Turn To Be), jimi hendrix
The Battle Of New Orleans, Johnny Horton (In 1814, we took a little trip..)
Oh What A Night, frankie valli (1963)
Born To Lose, Social Distortion (1962)

Well, I think the title to #5 ought to be "2 + 2 = 5" not "2 + 2 + 5".

Why not simply use Bob Seger's "2+2=?" which is a great song and probably the first specifically anti-Vietnam (as opposed to generic anti-war) rock song, although "Cry For Freedom" by the Starfires and "Black Monk Time" by The Monks are the first to actually use the word "Vietnam" in the title. There were several R&B & country songs (both pro and anti-war) that mentioned the word, though.

How's that for self-validation by minutiae ;)
posted by jonmc at 9:28 AM on March 16, 2005

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

on preview: 327.ca, I start the bidding with Forty Thousand Headmen, by Traffic.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:31 AM on March 16, 2005

Error: #15 - The title of the song by Depeche Mode is simply "Little 15" not "Strange Little 15"
posted by boymilo at 9:32 AM on March 16, 2005

how about In The Year 2525

If we're just talking titles, it's got 2525

If we're talking about the lyrics too, it goes up to a billion
posted by poppo at 9:33 AM on March 16, 2005

(Warning: iTunes link) I guess these guys missed the list by a mere .75.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:34 AM on March 16, 2005

and for the other tt of years in titles, Summer of 69
posted by poppo at 9:37 AM on March 16, 2005

I start the bidding with Forty Thousand Headmen, by Traffic.

I'll raise you 100,000 Fireflies by the Magnetic Fields. Who's got a song with "million" in the title? Going once, going twice...
posted by scottq at 9:42 AM on March 16, 2005

"A Million Miles Away" Plimsouls.
posted by jonmc at 9:46 AM on March 16, 2005

327.ca - Stevie Wonder's "Heaven is ten zillion light years away."
posted by BigPicnic at 9:47 AM on March 16, 2005

Too bad they aren't posted with the mp3's attached..
posted by Balisong at 9:51 AM on March 16, 2005

One in A Million by GNR. Also contains a double shot of anti-immigrant and homophobic sentiment.

What about 2000 Light Years From Home by the Stones, which is a great song to boot.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:00 AM on March 16, 2005

"Lovedust" by Luna talks about "a million, a billion, a trillion stars."
posted by goatdog at 10:07 AM on March 16, 2005

As far as songs with years mentioned, there's always "3030" from the Deltron 3030 album.
posted by mindless progress at 10:10 AM on March 16, 2005

How come no Rush nerd has mentioned 2112 yet?
posted by jozxyqk at 10:14 AM on March 16, 2005

93. 93 Til Infinity - Zero 7

Whoa, whoa, whoa...who is this Zero 7 person? 93 Til Infinity is by the Souls!
posted by Succa at 10:15 AM on March 16, 2005

Oh crap, I guess Succa's comment also, by defintion, wins the "highest number" contest.

...and lowest, for that matter.
posted by BigPicnic at 10:23 AM on March 16, 2005

1000 Umbrellas is the only numbered XTC song I can think of today. Dylan liked numbers a lot. They got Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, but let's not forget 4th Time Around, and Obviously 5 believers & Bob Dylan's 115th Dream.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:25 AM on March 16, 2005

...it's 1969 ok...war across the USA....

...1977, and we are going mad ....

...no elvis, beatles or the rolling stones, in 1977...
posted by scratch at 10:27 AM on March 16, 2005

I swear I was in the middle of editing that, and it spontaneously submitted while I was deleting that second-to-last "and". WTF?
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:27 AM on March 16, 2005

SSF: also
1959 : Sisters of Mercy
Disco 2000 : Pulp
1984 : Eurythmics
1999 : Prince (Methinks you haven't been giving that much thought to this idea.)
1992 The Love Album : Carter USM (slightly cheating, but there is a track called 1993 on there).
1492 Counting Crows
posted by biffa at 10:30 AM on March 16, 2005

96 degrees (in the shade) - Steel Pulse
posted by ramix at 10:33 AM on March 16, 2005

Another list that goes beyond 1000
posted by kenaman at 10:41 AM on March 16, 2005

327.ca, Sunny Day Real Estate had a song called "One hundred million," and Xiu Xiu mentions "A million billion threats" on their most recent album, but I'm not sure that's a real number.
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 10:57 AM on March 16, 2005

Methinks you haven't been giving that much thought to this idea.

heh.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:00 AM on March 16, 2005

Billion Dollar Babies - Alice Cooper
posted by stifford at 11:12 AM on March 16, 2005

Isn't the Gorillaz song called "5/4", not "54"?
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:12 AM on March 16, 2005

Yes it is, Johnny Assay. And the slash is important — the song's in 5/4 time. Well spotted.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:19 AM on March 16, 2005

you can replace that Gorillaz song with "54-46, That's My Number" by Toots and the Maytals.
posted by stifford at 11:23 AM on March 16, 2005

So what's stopping songs from 100 - 200?

Oh yeah......that has to be worth a treatise, why do we only sing about numbers below 100?
posted by surfdad2 at 11:46 AM on March 16, 2005

Well, before I was so rudely interrupted (power outage), I was going to suggest "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans, which mentions 3535 in the fade. But, hell, a zillion beats that... ;-)
posted by 327.ca at 11:49 AM on March 16, 2005

I was going to suggest "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans, which mentions 3535 in the fade.

Whoops, they actually got up to 9595. Still not a zillion though.
posted by 327.ca at 11:50 AM on March 16, 2005

25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago
90125 by Yes

and ...

1974 by Amy Grant

Now that it has been mentioned, we need never speak of it again.
posted by grabbingsand at 12:00 PM on March 16, 2005

WikiPedia has a more comprehensive list of songs with numbers in the title.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:01 PM on March 16, 2005

more wikipedia fun:

List of bands with names consisting entirely of integers
List of theme songs which don't mention their show in the lyrics and List of theme songs which mention their show in the lyrics
List of song titles phrased as questions
posted by mcsweetie at 12:12 PM on March 16, 2005

SSF, I actually had that same idea, but I thought of 1999 as one of the songs! (*sticks tongue out childishly*)

No, really, the idea occurred to me because there's a song on the radio now by some teenybopper band about a girl embarrassed by her mom being into everything from 1985 (anybody? anybody?). It's basically a retread of XTC's "She's So Square," with the lines "Have you seen her hair? / It's a style from heaven / But she's nowhere / She thinks this is 1967!" (song came out in 1977). There's also Too Much Joy's "1964."

Hey, would "After the Gold Rush" count? ("Look at mother nature on the run in the 1970s")
posted by soyjoy at 12:25 PM on March 16, 2005

I'm just proud to have made the list.
posted by rocket88 at 12:29 PM on March 16, 2005

At least it included #41, probably the best 'number song'.
posted by mike3k at 12:58 PM on March 16, 2005

Four million, three thousand, two hundred
Twenty-one tear-ears from now-ow-ow-ow
posted by emf at 2:21 PM on March 16, 2005

I wish somebody' have a hit song about pi.
posted by alumshubby at 3:01 PM on March 16, 2005

onetwothree fooooour five, sixseveneight niiiiiine ten...

ELEVEN TWELVE!
posted by jozxyqk at 3:20 PM on March 16, 2005

More years, not necessarily in the title:

Dream Academy, "Life in a Northern Town" (1963)
Bryan Adams, "Summer of '69" (really, no one mentioned this yet??)
Everclear, "AM Radio" (1970, 1972, 1975, 1977)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:24 PM on March 16, 2005

alumshubby -
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
Your digits are unending,
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
No pattern are you sending.........
posted by kenaman at 4:08 PM on March 16, 2005

Square One (mathematics tv show from the 90s) had a sketch of someone singing something that went like "One night...two hearts were...three something something...one, two, three, forever...the mathematics of love." Even now I remember the tune, but when I was a child I didn't get how cliched the numerical phrases were.
posted by artifarce at 4:40 PM on March 16, 2005

Black Lab had a song: Ten Million Years.
posted by Eideteker at 5:05 PM on March 16, 2005

I was actually sad that the list didn't include The Nails' "88 Lines About 44 Women;" it seemed a perfect fit. Oh well.
posted by ibidem at 5:12 PM on March 16, 2005

Paging The Mathemeticians.

(No "25 or 6 to 4"?)
posted by hippugeek at 6:13 PM on March 16, 2005

Junk.
posted by ticopelp at 8:59 PM on March 16, 2005

R.E.M., "1,000,000"
Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had $1000000"
posted by kirkaracha at 6:21 AM on March 17, 2005

"Summer of '69" (really, no one mentioned this yet??)

Uh, no, not really.

Also, back on the non-year numbers, let's not forget XTC's "Millions."
posted by soyjoy at 7:16 AM on March 17, 2005

I wish somebody' have a hit song about pi.

One huge hit had the famous lyric “Bye, bye, Miss American Pi.”
posted by LeLiLo at 8:34 AM on March 17, 2005

artifarce, Here you go (warning: really low-res Real Audio Format). My favorite part is when the producer starts dancing at the end--it's practically the Carlton! I loved Square One TV, and I used to have a big ol' crush on Kate Monday!
posted by kimota at 2:02 PM on March 17, 2005

Dave Matthews Band's "Typical Situation" has lyrics that count down from ten, which is kinda fun.
posted by kindall at 3:45 PM on March 17, 2005