17 Songs With Names In The Title
Some musicians use names as the title of their songs for a variety of reasons such as they may want to sing about someone important in their lives, use the title of a famous person or just create fictional characters. Below is a list of songs with names in the title.
1. Taylor Swift – Marjorie
The track is off Taylor Swift’s ninth album evermore. It is a tribute to her late grandmother Marjorie Finlay who passed in 2003. She was an opera singer and a big inspiration to Taylor Swift to pursue music. Taylor had this to say about her late grandmother:
I’d open up my grandmother’s closet and she had beautiful dresses from the 60s, I wish I’d asked her where she wore every single one of them, things like that. She was a singer and my mom would look at me so many times a year and say, ‘God, you’re just like her,’ when I’ll do some manners that I don’t recognize as being anyone other than mine. She died when I was 13, and she died, I think, when I was on a trip to Nashville to try and make it, to try to hand out my demos and CDs to record labels and things like that, so there were pretty insane coincidences like that, and I’ve always felt that thing like she was seeing this, because we have sort of to do that. One of the things on this song that still rips me apart when I listen to it is that she’s singing with me on this song. My mum found a bunch of her old records, a bunch of old vinyls of her singing opera, and I sent them to Aaron and he added them to the song. It says ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were singing to me now’, and then you actually hear Marjorie, my grandmother, actually sing.
2. Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
The song tells the tale of a young girl who claims to be the mother of Michael Jackson’s alleged son. In Michael’s autobiography, he stated that there was never a real Billie Jean but the girl in the song is a composite of people his brothers have been plagued with over the years. His original inspiration was just wanting to write a song with a great bass hook.
The track peaked at the number 1 spot in several countries including the US.
3. Charlie Puth – Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye has been used as a euphemism for sex in the track. Charlie stated that ‘Sexual Healing’ was his all time favorite Marvin Gaye song. He also listens to a lot of his records hence his name was buried in his subconscious.
4. Lady Gaga – Judas
The song talks about the struggle between light and dark, good and bad guys and purity and sin. In an interview with Christian Post, Lady Gaga stated this when asked what she was singing about: I sing about what a holy fool I am, and that although moments in my life are so cruel and relationships can be so cruel I’m still in love with Judas. I still go back again to those evil things.
5. Ray Charles – Hit The Road Jack
The track is part of the 1960 album The Genius Hits The Road and it was able to top the US charts for two weeks in 1961. Lyrically it is a verbal duel of a couple who have an unresolved conflict. He is a dreamer and she is more practical. The chorus of the track gives the vision of a tired woman kicking her ‘good for nothing’ man out so he can hit the road.
6. Arizona Zervas – Roxanne
The song describes a girl called Roxanne who apparently likes to party and spend her dad’s money. It also describes Arizona’s relationship with her and how she acts. Arizona had this to say about the song: “Roxanne” is a song about a girl I wanted but didn’t need.
The track gain traction on TikTok in late 2019 and was the artist’s most popular song yet.
7. Jennifer Lopez – Jenny From The Block
This is the lead single from the album This Is Me..Then. Jennifer Lopez pays tribute to her childhood and growing up in the Bronx. Despite her success and extreme wealth, she insists that she hasn’t changed and is the same girl she was before the fame.
8. Iggy Azalea – Sally Walker
This is the first single off of Iggy’s sophomore studio album In My Defense and marked her first independent release through her personal label Bad Dreams. The chorus has been derived from the modern-day version of a nursery rhyme “Little Sally Walker” but in contrast, the track isn’t a children’s song but rather a twerk anthem with more adult themes.
Sally Walker has been insinuated to be a stripper or exotic dancer who dances for money.
9. Pharrell Williams – Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was a Hollywood actress in films from the 1950s and 1960s. Most men desired her and all the ladies wanted to be her. She died at the age of 36 after a drug overdose. Pharell is comparing the woman she is singing about to her. He is imagining what his life would be like if he could have her in her life.
10. Taylor Swift – Betty
The song touches on the aftermath of the track ‘august’ which describes a summer love that was doomed from the start. The song portrays the narrator as a person named James who can’t own up to his mistakes all while Betty flourishes on her own. While the summer affair was going on, James was still dating his classmate Betty.
“Betty: is the third part of Folklore’s teenage love triangle told from the point of view of James. The storyline is preceded by “cardigan” and “august”.
11. The Beatles – Hey Jude
The track was originally titled “Hey Jules” named after John Lennon’s son. Paul McCartney wrote it to comfort him during his divorce from Cynthia. John and Cynthia were touched by the act and Cynthia said she would always remember his gesture of care and concern in coming to see them.
Despite its seven-minute runtime, it became the longest single to top the British music charts in its day. In the US, it spent nine weeks at #1 making it the best-performing Beatles single.
12. Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood
This is the debut single from the band. The title is a reference to the actor Clint Eastwood who has portrayed icons of rugged manliness.
13. Fountains of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom
The track is the band’s most popular song and was one of the first songs to reach the #1 spot on the “Most Downloaded Songs” list of the iTunes Music Store. The narrator of the song is a teenage boy undergoing puberty. He is more interested in his female friend’s mom than the friend herself. Adam Schlesinger stated that it was inspired by a real-life event:
one of my best friends told me that he thought my grandmother was really hot, that added a little bit to the song. That’s a true story. And my grandmother was pretty hot.
14. Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana
This is the 5th single from Michael’s 1987 album Bad. In the song, he tackles the issue of groupies in a more aggressive way than he did on Billie Jean. In an interview he had this to say about the track: “I love Dirty Diana, it’s one of my favorites. It’s a life story of a groupie – I hate to say the word groupie, but that’s what it is – and it’s something that I’ve experienced and a lot of people that grow up on the road”.
15. Blink 182 – Adam’s Song
The track describes a young boy’s suicide note. Adam has been used as a metaphor for Mark’s depression that he experienced while on tour with Blink-182.
Adam’s Song is also attributed to the urban myth of Adam Krieger who is a fictional character whose suicide letter is falsely portrayed as being the original letter the band received before writing the song.
16. Miley Cyrus – Jolene
The song was originally written and performed by Dolly Parton. It is ranked #219 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. ‘Jolene’ is about a woman confronting another lady by the name Jolene who is trying to steal her man.
17. Taylor Swift – Dorothea
Dorothea seems to be told from the point of view of an old hometown lover.. She attended the same school as other characters in the album James, Betty and Inez.