Q Are there many songs that don't have the title in the lyrics

A. Loads! In fact, when you investigate, you'll be surprised just how many there are.

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Q. What are the most obvious ones

A. The ones everyone knows are songs�such as Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35 by Bob Dylan, but some are a little more obscure.

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Q. So what are some of the obscure ones then

A. A good one to start with is Venus In Furs by The Velvet Underground, you'll know it�when you hear it, the song was used in a tyre advert on television a few years ago. Another is What Ever Happened To You by Highly Likely, which is the theme song to What Ever Happened To The Likely Lads, and you probably think that the words are in the song, but just sing it over to yourself, and you'll see�- the lyrics goes 'Oh, what happened to you, what ever happened to me ' so it qualifies for our list.

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Q. What about big hits that don't feature the title in the song words

A. Again, there are hits that you may think are in the lyric, but when you check, there's a subtle change there somewhere that isn't immediately obvious. For example, December '63 by The Four Seasons, which does refer to a night, 'Late December back in '63' so again we can add it into our list. Remember Maggie May by Rod Stewart Again if you sing it through, you find he only ever refers to her as 'Maggie' and never actually as Maggie May.

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Q. So it's just pop song writers that play this trick on people

A.� No, some comedy songwriters have done the same thing. A radio presenter called Tony Capstick wrote a little monologue called Capstick Comes Home, which was a satire on the brown bread adverts that featured an old man recalling his days as a delivery boy. Mr Capstick recited his story over the famous music, but again, he didn't use the words 'Capstick Comes Home,' so he makes it into our chosen songs. A British reggae singer who rejoiced in the name of Judge Dread, although his real name was Alex Hughes�managed to get three singles in a row banned from radio broadcast. His crime Putting only slightly dodgy stories to a sing along reggae beat, and calling his songs Big Six, Big Seven and Big Eight and causing the sort of furore that implied he was a threat to national security, but again, no mention of the titles in the words, so the Judge takes his place in our list.

Q. What about that Monkees song that had its title changed

A. Mickey Dolenz's wry tale of life as a Monkee did indeed have its title changed, and in fact, both titles bring him into our survey. Having visited London for a hectic promotional tour, Mickey wrote a song about being loved, and hated, as a pop star, and because he'd enjoyed watching Til Death Do Us Part, he innocently used a phrase he'd heard as the title of his song, and called it Randy Scouse Git, being blissfully unaware of the meaning of any of the words. Having been advised by his British record company that they couldn't release the song, he'd have to find an alternate title, Mickey advised them to go ahead and�change it�- the song was called Alternate Title and the Monkees had a hit with it�- and it doesn't mention the original or changed title anywhere in the song.

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Q. Are there any more

A. Loads of them, Desiderata by Les Crane, the spoken poem that was a poster in many bedsist in the seventies, The Show Must Go On by Leo Sayer, After The Goldrush by Neil Young, in fact every type and style of music in the last 40 years has got one or more of these songs in the list.

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By Andy Hughes

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