Good title for a Mountain Goats-esque song
February 2, 2019 8:34 AM Subscribe
I have written most of a song that ended up sounding like the Mountain Goats, a band I’m not as familiar with as I should be. I’ve decided to lean into that and give it a tMG-esque title. What’s a good title for a Mountain Goats-esque original song? (FWIW the song is about being a late bloomer.)
Best answer: Going to [State/Country] is the canonical example. Obscure cultural/literary/biblical references are another. Or references to alpha.
In your specific case, those songs often have titles that are almost short stories - The Best Ever Death Band Out Of Denton, Fall Of The High School Running Back, Stabbed To Death Outside San Juan.
posted by Candleman at 8:55 AM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
In your specific case, those songs often have titles that are almost short stories - The Best Ever Death Band Out Of Denton, Fall Of The High School Running Back, Stabbed To Death Outside San Juan.
posted by Candleman at 8:55 AM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
references to alpha
These are a specific series telling a story about specific characters, though, so using it for songs that don't fit that narrative might be weird.
Going to [State/Country] is the canonical example
These kiiiind of have a theme too — not as much as the alpha titles, but a lot of them are about escapes: either getting away from a bad situation, or thinking you've gotten away but landing back where you were, or sometimes genuinely arriving at something good. Not sure if that fits what you're looking for or not.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:44 AM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
These are a specific series telling a story about specific characters, though, so using it for songs that don't fit that narrative might be weird.
Going to [State/Country] is the canonical example
These kiiiind of have a theme too — not as much as the alpha titles, but a lot of them are about escapes: either getting away from a bad situation, or thinking you've gotten away but landing back where you were, or sometimes genuinely arriving at something good. Not sure if that fits what you're looking for or not.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:44 AM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Agree with nebulawindphone that Alpha is a very specific series and wouldn't work here.
A few thoughts:
tMG use a lot of animal imagery
A lot of the songs have titles that don't come from the lyrics, but obliquely reinforce them (say Old College Try about desperate attempts to repair a relationship)
They also use pop cultural references (HP Lovecraft, Mario Bros, the metal band Marduk, Linda Blair, Charles Bronson, Micheal Myers from Halloween, Liza Minalli, Jimi Hendrix, reggae singer Dennis Brown, Andrew Eldritch of Sisters of Mercy, a bunch of wrestlers, etc etc).
Oh and the construction 'Song For....' is very widely used in their titles.
(setlist.fm)
posted by Pink Frost at 1:31 PM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
A few thoughts:
tMG use a lot of animal imagery
A lot of the songs have titles that don't come from the lyrics, but obliquely reinforce them (say Old College Try about desperate attempts to repair a relationship)
They also use pop cultural references (HP Lovecraft, Mario Bros, the metal band Marduk, Linda Blair, Charles Bronson, Micheal Myers from Halloween, Liza Minalli, Jimi Hendrix, reggae singer Dennis Brown, Andrew Eldritch of Sisters of Mercy, a bunch of wrestlers, etc etc).
Oh and the construction 'Song For....' is very widely used in their titles.
(setlist.fm)
posted by Pink Frost at 1:31 PM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Baslically you're looking for some combination of: long phrases, despair or dark humor, and references to either a failed relationship or a niche nerd interest like history, horror films, wrestling, biblical literature, or D&D.
I would avoid the "Going to" or "alpha" patterns unless you're deliberately trying to evoke something specific from the Mountain Goats' body of work.
If it helps, here's The Toast's parodic take on Mountain Goats song titles. Some of them are direct references to existing song titles (and the last two are actual Mountain Goats song titles), but many aren't. It nails the overall sense very well.
You can also find the song titles from their first several albums here, but in reality the title styles are pretty varied. The parodies wll give you a better sense of what would be instantly recognizable of a Mountain Goats-esque song title.
posted by rhiannonstone at 8:19 PM on February 2, 2019
I would avoid the "Going to" or "alpha" patterns unless you're deliberately trying to evoke something specific from the Mountain Goats' body of work.
If it helps, here's The Toast's parodic take on Mountain Goats song titles. Some of them are direct references to existing song titles (and the last two are actual Mountain Goats song titles), but many aren't. It nails the overall sense very well.
You can also find the song titles from their first several albums here, but in reality the title styles are pretty varied. The parodies wll give you a better sense of what would be instantly recognizable of a Mountain Goats-esque song title.
posted by rhiannonstone at 8:19 PM on February 2, 2019
There was also a post on the blue about that Toast article, which included a lot of comments with people making up their own song titles/lyrics.
posted by litera scripta manet at 11:34 AM on February 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by litera scripta manet at 11:34 AM on February 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
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Examples: “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton”, “Going to Queens”, “Going to Georgia”, Tallahassee”, “New Britain” (also a reference to the tune name to Amazing Grace), “Minnesota”, “Ontario”, etc.
posted by cnidaria at 8:52 AM on February 2, 2019 [2 favorites]