Yesterday I picked up an $8 copy of the last Pretty Things album — well, the last one before their modern attempt at a comeback/reunion. The bass player in my band suggested I check out their 1970s stuff, so I did. I always trust his advice and 1974’s Silk Torpedo is excellent glam fun, for the most part. Not only is the title reminiscent of Spinal Tap, but it even has a “rather lurid” cover.
Right after a lovely chill song called Atlanta there’s a track called L.A.N.T.A which is more of a coda than an entirely different song. As the title suggests, the melody features a spelled-out word:
L-A-N-T-A Atlanta
Living in Atlanta
Pretty simple stuff. But, it made me wonder how many songs I could name off the top of my head which feature a spelled-out chorus. For whatever reason, probably my age, the first one which came to mind was Method Of Modern Love by Hall & Oates:
M-E-T-H-O-D-O-F-L-O-V-E
it’s a method of modern love
I also thought of Lola by The Kinks, which not only spells out the title in the first chorus, but also C-O-L-A in the first verse — but only once. Not over and over again like so many others.
There’s a few I thought of which don’t count — ABC by The Jackson 5, because ABC isn’t a word. Do-Re-Mi from The Sound Of Music doesn’t use single letters, and it doesn’t spell out a word. It’s a mne·mon·ic device, like Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge by Mudhoney. Another I thought of was Respect by Aretha Franklin, which does the spell-out in the break before the outro, and rhymes it with TCB.
These are examples of spell-out songs I like. There’s one I really, really don’t which also sprung to mind: R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To 60’s Rock) by John Mellencamp. Maybe it’s the USA reference that turns me off, because I also don’t care for American Woman by The Guess Who. The oft-edited-out bluesy intro has a spelled-out bit:
American woman, I’m gonna mess your mind
Say A, say M, say E
Say R, say I, C
Say A, N
Quite likely Burton Cummings drew inspiration from Muddy Waters’ classic Mannish Boy, which may have the coolest spell-out ever:
I’m a man
I spell M
A, child
N
That represent man
No B
O, child
Y
That spell mannish boy
I’m a man
I really prefer this style to the straight s-p-e-l-l-i-t-o-u-t approach, another of which came to mind, sadly… Saturday Night by The Bay City Rollers:
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!
The handclaps are fun, though. And the outfits.
The first time I heard Gloria, it wasn’t the original by Van Morrison’s Them — it was the Jimi Hendrix Experience cover which came on a 7″ record included with The Essential Jimi Hendrix Vol. II. It’s a good one:
And she spell her name G-L-O-R-IIIIII-A
G-L-O-R-I-A
Gloria!
Like the Mellencamp song, others have the spell-out right in the song’s title, like D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Tammy Wynette. It’s pretty clever, actually. There’s a bunch of spelled-out words in it because it’s about telling a child about a divorce:
And he thinks C-U-S-T-O-D-Y spells fun or play
I spell out all the hurtin’ words
And turn my head when I speak
‘Cause I can’t spell away this hurt
That’s drippin’ down my cheek
There’s four others I can think of with spell-outs in the title: L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole, G.U.Y. by Lady Gaga, F.I.N.E. by Aerosmith (which is stupid) and R.A.M.O.N.E.S. by Motörhead (which is awesome). Perhaps inspired by Wynette, Andy Patridge’s divorce song also has a spell-out. Your Dictionary is a bit surprising from XTC, if you ask me:
S-L-A-P
Is that how you spell kiss in your dictionary
C-O-L-D
Pronounced as care
S-H-I-T
Is that how you spelled me in your dictionary
Four-eyed fool
You led ’round everywhere
Dinosaur by Kesha tries to do something different, split the spelling-out between two words:
D-I-N-O-S-A
U-R a dinosaur
Gwen Stefani also uses a spell-out in an attack song, an incredible one: Hollaback Girl:
Let me hear you say, this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
Fergalicious by Fergie is an ode to herself, or a proclamation of sorts.
I’m the F to the E-R-G, the I, the E, and
Can’t no other lady put it down like me
I’m Fergalicious (so delicious)
Whatever. Just don’t let her sing the national anthem again. Love you, Fergie.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
