Almanac Music: Songs with One Word Titles (No Personal Names or Places)
Illustration of Humpty Dumpty from Through the Looking Glass, by John Tenniel, 1871. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Songs with One Word Titles (No Personal Names or Places)
Often, I find, a one word song title can be very effective.
This week’s theme is songs with one word titles – but in the section for your comments, readers, no songs with names of people or places, please. Songs relevant to these topics have been covered to some extent in other Footy Almanac articles I’ve done.
In keeping with the theme, I’ll restrict what I have to say about each of my song choices to one word. (The year of each song below is the year of the release of the version concerned.)
‘Help!’, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles (1965)
Inspired.
‘Days’, written by Ray Davies, performed by The Kinks (1968)
Mellow.
‘Bitch’, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard, performed by The Rolling Stones (1971)
Edgy.
‘Crazy’, written by Willie Nelson, performed by Linda Ronstadt (1976)
Beautiful.
‘Wow’, written and performed by Kate Bush (1978)
Theatrical.
‘Jump’, written by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony, performed by Van Halen (1983)
Showy.
‘Rumbleseat’, written and performed by John Cougar Mellecamp (1985)
Rockabilly.
‘Dreamworld’, written by James Moginie, Robert Hirst and Peter Garrett, performed by Midnight Oil (1987)
Committed.
‘Blue’, written by Bill Mack, performed by LeAnn Rimes (1996)
Precocious.
‘Shine’, written by Matthew Gerrard and Andy Stochansky, performed by Shannon Noll (2005)
Rockin’.
…………………………………………………………………..
So, readers – over to you! Your responses to this topic are warmly encouraged. Please add your own choice of a song (or songs) concerning the ‘Songs with One Word Titles’ topic in the comments section, along with anything else you want to say. Remember, the one word titles should not be personal or place names, which have already been covered to some extent in other Almanac articles I’ve written.
[Note: Wikipedia has been a good general reference for this piece, particularly when it comes to checking dates and other details.]
For more from Kevin, click HERE.
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Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
These came to mind KD.
‘Dandelion’ – Rolling Stones
‘Holiday’ – Bee Gees
‘Shangri-La’ – Kinks (as long as it’s not counted as a place name)
Great, Col.
Thanks for opening the batting in connection with this week’s theme.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Preposterous.
I am going with maybe an obvious one.
One – U2 & John Farnham
Hi Mickey. Thanks for the Iron Butterfly song ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’.
Are you saying that the title ‘In-A-Gadda-Da Vita’ is preposterous – or also putting forward a song called ‘Preposterous’ (for there is one)?
Hi Rodney.
Thanks for your two different songs called ‘One’.
Horses, Darryl Braithwaite.
Glen!
Hurt – Nine Inch Nails/Johnny Cash
KD- although Spotify tells me there’s numerous songs named Preposterous, that was my one-word editorial on Iron Butterfly’s offering!
Classic, Swish (both versions). Thank you.
Thanks, Mickey re ‘Preposterous’.
Hi Glen! Thanks for ‘Horses’ – an Oz pop classic (as in performer, not writer, anyway) is always most welcome.
Bandit – Neil Young
Sheep – Pink Floyd
Dogs – Pink Floyd
Sarah – Bob Dylan
Glycerine – Bush
Thanks for this Kev
Neil Young (several songs from After the Goldrush/Harvest/Rust Never Sleeps)
Birds
Alabama
Harvest
Powderfinger
Pocohontas
Thrasher
She – Gram Parsons
Hurricane – Bob Dylan
Jokerman
Crying – Roy Orbison
Juke – Little Walter
Spoonful – Willie Dixon et al
Crossroads – Cream
Badge
Same title – different song
Sway – Bobby Rydell/Gene McDaniels
Sway – Rolling Stones
Thanks, Dips.
The succinct, mpactful nature of a one word title is certainly an interesting phenomenon, and so often creates an effective pathway into the song.
From Bruce Springsteen:
Rosalita
Night
Backstreets
Jungleland
Badlands
Factory
Ramrod
Nebraska
Fire
Seeds
War (a cover)
Happy
Youngstown
Thundercrack
Rendezvous
Iceman
Roulette
Dollhouse
Paradise
Reno (maybe his worst song, no wait, that’s Gloria’s Eyes)
Shenandoah (cover)
Magic
Breakaway
Whitetown
Dedication
Sundown
Stones
Rainmaker
Ghosts
Stay (cover)
Nightshift (cover)
This could go on forever KD – it’s a bit harder if you leave out compound words. Here’s a taste from the top of my musical rolodex.
Affection – Jonathan Richman
Air – Talking Heads
Airport – Motors
Alimony – Hummingbirds
Anthrax – Gang of Four
Antmusic – Adam and the Ants
Apeman – Kinks
Ask – Smiths
Autonomy – Buzzcocks
Boredom – Buzzcocks
Brick – Ben Folds Five
Build – Housemartins
Careless – Paul Kelly
Ceremony – Joy Division
Wipeout – Surfaris
Telstar – Models et al
Changes – Bowie
Cheat – Clash
Confetti -Lemonheads
Days – Kinks
Debaser – Pixies
Dirt – Stooges
Hi Peter.
You’ve done some fine work compiling your list. It includes favourites of mine such as ‘Hurricane’, and ‘Crying’. Cheers!
Hi Rick.
Your Springsteen list -brilliant!
The Bruiser seems to have a penchant for one word titles.
Hi Swish. Love your extensive list.
And you might be right – we could be in danger of ‘breaking the Almanac’!
Glad I specified no personal or place names – which, to a large degree, have been covered in previous pieces.
I left out a few Springsteen one word title songs that were just female’s names. :)
Finding country songs with one-word titles will be a challenge and definitely can’t include Jimmy Buffett’s, “My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink and I don’t love Jesus” because that’s 11 freakin words. However, Margaritaville is only one word, so, phew.
Swish, shame on you, where’s The Clash’s Bankrobber and Clampdown!
Cheers
Gold – Spandau Ballet (1983)
True – Spandau Ballet (1983)
Love ’em both. What a voice!
RDL
When – Kalin Twins
Fever – Peggy Lee
Tequila – the Champs
Arrival – Abba
Thanks again, Rick
And thank you, RDL. Good to hear from you. Really like your song choices.
Cheers, Fisho – an interesting foursome.
Runaway – Del Shannon. Fancy me forgetting that one.
Yesterday – the Beatles
Thanks again, Fisho. Two more excellent songs.
You’ve reminded me of another, the Beatles’ instrumental, ‘Flying’.
Fallin’ – Connie Francis
Rockabilly – Guy Mitchell
Crazy – Patsy Kline
Tiger – Abba
Hair – The Cowsills
Aquarius – The Cowsills
That last comment is really from Fisho’
Silhouettes – The Rays.
Cry – Johnny Ray.
Wanted – Perry Como
Don’t- Elvis.
Sincerely -The McGuire Sisters.
Interloper – The Mark of Cain
Battlesick – The Mark of Cain
Have just grabbed my tickets for their Ill at Ease Live ’23 tour so they are front of mind.
One – Metallica
Different again to the other two songs with that name.
Read the fine print Rick – I was trying to avoid compound words.
Thanks once again, Fisho – you’re really coming up with the goods! Regarding the Willie Nelson song ‘Crazy’ – of course, many artists have recorded versions of it. I used Linda Ronstadt’s rendition as one of my ten initial choices for this week’s theme. That said, there are numerous other good ones I could have put in its place.
Thanks Greg, for your full-on song contributions. Just had a listen to both the Mark of Cain songs – they certainly add something powerful to the overall list being developed here. In a comparable vein, thanks for putting forward Metallica’s ‘One’, too.
Misery, Bob Willis and his Texas Playboys, Asleep at the Wheel, Merle Haggard and Bodeans (but their Misery is a different song)
Huntsville, Merle Haggard (and one of my faves)
Driftwood
Footlights (one of Hag’s best)
Leonard (another of Hag’s finest)
Souvenirs (Tom T Hall and John Prine and different songs)
Homecoming (Tom T, at his best)
Crystelle, Mud, Magdalene, all by Guy Clark
Nothing, by Dwight Yoakam and it is a ripper
Truckin, the Grateful Dead and Dwight covers it.
That’s all for now, I got a fire to get going.
Oh, Swish, you’re too rules orientated which is why yer not a bankrobber’s assistant, like Mick Jones dad. Onya!
Greenfields – The Brothers four
Multiplication – Bobby Darin
Shout – the Isley Brothers or Johnny O’Keefe
Personality – Lloyd Price
And a heap of Abba songs – Eagle
Disillusion
Waterloo
Dance
Lovers
Sos
Cheers Kevin, I try to bring something from the noisier end of the spectrum wherever I can.
On that note I can add:
Paranoid – Black Sabbath
Heroin – Velvet Underground/Lou Reed
Turnover – Fugazi
Superunknown – Soundgarden
Lithium – Nirvana
Most songs on the early Pearl Jam albums!
Thanks, Rick for a range of country songs.
Re fires – you’ve certainly ‘lit a fire’ with regard to this current theme, helping us see the way!
Another lot of fine additions – thank you, Fisho. ABBA appear to have had a goodly proportion of songs with one word titles.
Thanks, Greg A, for some more ‘from the noisier end of the spectrum’!
On the first Rose Tattoo Album the final track on side 1 is Remedy. It’s a song about ‘good old fashioned, good time rock’n’roll’.
Glen!
Electric Light Orchestra:
Alright
Blue
Bluebird
Confusion
Daybreaker
Jungle
Momma
Nightrider
Poker
Rockaria
Shangri-la
Showdown
Songbird
Starlight
Stranger
Surrender
Tightrope
Twilight
Waterfall
Wishing
Australian Crawl:
Downhearted
Indisposed
Lakeside
Waiting
Reckless
Simon and Garfunkel:
Blessed
Bookends
Cloudy
Overs
Patterns
Sparrow
The Who:
Bargain
Christmas
Dogs
Melancholia
Overture
Postcard
Relax
Relay
Sensation
Sparks
Substitute
Sunrise
Tattoo
Underture
Ben Folds:
Army
Boxing
Brick
Narcolepsy
Philosophy
Mondo Rock:
Chemistry
Trash
Moves
The Move:
Brontosaurus
Omnibus
Something
Tonight
Weekend
What?
Carly Simon:
Alone
Anticipation
Slave
Waterfall
James Reyne:
Hammerhead
Rumour
Slave
Others:
Howzat (Sherbet)
Cars (Gary Numan)
Tonight (Supergrass)
Voices (Split Enz)
Why (The Byrds)
Roundabout (Yes)
Survival (Yes)
Money (Pink Floyd)
Forever (Roy Wood)
Endless (Toto)
Fleming and John:
Comfortable
Radiate
Sssh!
Thanks, Glen. I just had a listen to ‘Remedy’ – fine, rockin’ stuff! I’ve always liked Rose Tattoo.
Thanks so much, Liam, for both sets of contributions – fabulous stuff, and excellent research!
And just a few more from me: ‘Cry’ by Godley and Creme, ‘Heartbreaker’ by Mariah Carey and the utterly beautiful ‘Hush’, by American opera singer Kathleen Battle.
If we’re talking hard rocking Australian bands let’s look at Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls.
They had a track called ‘Flash’ from circa 1973. Lobby also performed a track called God. I will qualify the latter tune, as it’s also known as G.O.D. for Guitar Overdrive. Anyhow on the records you’ll find it it’s generally listed as God.
Rock on.
Glen!
Thanks again, Glen!
Interestingly, Loyde briefly played bass guitar in Rose Tattoo (1979-80).
Keep on rockin’, yourself!
KD
I have just read that sadly, Ron Peno has passed away. One of the Aussie great frontmen and band, as Ian Wilson noted in an essay on FA.
I single out Sweetheat, Satisfied and Godbless from Died Pretty’s great album Doughboy Hollow. RIP Ron xx
Well while I’m reminiscing about Australian hard rock from the 70’s I’ll look at Buffalo.
On their second album ‘Volcanic Rock’, there were the following songs: ‘Sunrise’, ‘Shylock’, & Freedom.
I’ll keep looking, you never know what you may see/hear.
Glen!
Now – Lena Horne.
Milord – Edith Piaf
Apache – The Shadows.
Arizona – Mark Lindsay.
Jackson – Johnny Cash or Lee Hazelwood.
Zorro – The Chordettes.
Jambalaya – Brenda Lee or the Carpenters..
Whoops, a seniors moment. Of the three Buffalo songs I just realised that Shylock was a name.
Sorry, let’s just include Sunshine & Freedom.
Glen!
Rick – thanks for letting the Almanac reading community know about Ron Peno. Condolences are certainly in order, as is taking a little time to stop and remember.
Thanks yet again, Fisho.
(Small note: ‘Arizona and ‘Jackson’ are place names, of course, and can be personal names, too – I know, I’ve let the odd one through in these categories, already, and it’s no big deal.)
Thanks, Glen. The more heavy Oz rock the better! (If I’m not mistaken, Buffalo have songs called ‘Suzie Sunshine’ and ‘Sunrise’.)
“Black” by Pearl Jam.
Achingly beautiful.
Beatles: “Taxman”
Sex Pistols: “Liar”, “Seventeen”, “Problems”, “Submission”, “Bodies” all from the seminal Never Mind The Bollocks.
The Clash: “Bankrobber”, “Hateful”, “Clampdown”,
Thanks, Smokie, for these songs from iconic bands.
To single out just one of them – yes, ‘Black’ – lost love can certainly be a real bitch!
Yes Kevin, there’s a residual interest in Australian hard rock of the 70’s in my old mind. Rose Tattoo, Coloured Balls, Aztecs, Buster Brown, Buffalo all great performers in a long gone era. Anyhow I’ll briefly return to Buffalo.
Another Buffalo song re the Sun was ‘Sunrise come my way’. On a more relevant note, one word song titles. on the last Buffalo album, ‘Average Rock ‘n’ Roller there’s ‘Rollin’, also ‘Sailor’.
Now back to one word song titles.
On Chain’s first album in 1971 there’s Boogie. The Skyhooks 1978 album ‘Guilty until proven insane’ had ‘Bbbbooogie’.
Glen!
Thanks for this material, Glen – I like it when a given theme branches out into all sorts of (often unpredictable) areas.
There’s some great stories associated with the Oz heavy rock era, too (as I’m sure you’re aware), like when Billy Thorpe played at the Bondi Lifesaver and was so loud that the volume of the music killed the collection of expensive tropical fish held there.in an aquarium!
Downtown – Petula Clark.
In memory of Robbie Robertson and from his 6 solo recordings, I offer
Testimony (off Robbie Robertson)
Resurrection (off Storyville)
Skinwalker (off Music For The Native Americans)
Unbound (off Contact From The Underwolrd Of Redboy)
Axeman (off How To Be Clairvoyant)
Hardwired (off Sinematic)
Hi Karl.
Many thanks for this Robbie Robertson material – fine additions.
And thanks for latest choice, Fisho.
Volare – Dean Martin
Things – Bobby Darin or Dean Martin
Rawhide – Frankie Laine
Thanks for some more songs, Fisho.
Good stuff!
Did Dean Martin do a version of ‘Things’ with Nancy Sinatra?
Joy Division – ‘Disorder’.
Yes Kevin, Dean and Nancy did do a version of Things which was written by Bobby Darin.
A few more
Wimoweh -Pete Seeger
Skokiaan – The Four Lads
Ricochet -Teresa Brewer
Thanks, Fisho, for your answer to my question, and for a few more ‘songs with one word titles’. (and Teresa Brewer brings to mind ‘The Hula Hoop Song”.)
In tribute to the Matildas here’s a few more.
From Soccer Mommy: Cool, Flaw, Skin, Wildflowers, Bloodstream, Shotgun and Bones
From The Housemartins: Anxious, Sheep and Build
Billy Bragg: Ideology, Sexuality, Trust
Simply Red: Heaven (actually cover of Talking Heads song), Jericho, Shine, Suffer
Great stuff, Rick! I love your themed approach to the theme at hand – it works excellently, and possesses a touch of spohistication..