“Secret” Songs, Vol. 1

I can't believe I've never dedicated a post entirely to Songs About Secrets! But having double-checked, I found that fact to be true. That being said, let's double up and make this a two-parter. Here's the first set, chock full of tunes you're sure to enjoy. The second half of these will come later. Ready, set, listen...  ~  JH

1)  The Pierces  ~  “Secret”

2)  OneRepublic  ~  “Secrets”

3)  Mary Lambert  ~  “Secrets”

4)  The Weeknd  ~  “Secrets”

5)  Heart  ~  “Secret”

6)  Leonard Cohen  ~  “In My Secret Life”

7)  Madonna  ~  “Secret”

8)  Tiësto & KSHMR ft. Vassy  ~  “Secrets”

9)  Little Mix ft. Jason Derulo  ~  “Secret Love Song”

10)  Chelsea Lankes  ~  “Secret”

11)  The All-American Rejects  ~  “Dirty Little Secret”

12)  Xscape  ~  “My Little Secret”

13)  Semisonic  ~  “Secret Smile”

14)  Faith Hill  ~  “The Secret Of Life”

15)  IAMX ft. Imogen Heap  ~  “My Secret Friend”

16)  Seal  ~  “Secret”

17)  T’Pau  ~  “Secret Garden”

18)  Luther Vandross  ~  “Your Secret Love”

19)  Anna Ternheim  ~  “My Secret”

20)  Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark  ~  “Secret”

21)  Atlantic Starr  ~  “Secret Lovers”

22)  We The Kings  ~  “Secret Valentine”

23)  Mike Mago & Dragonette  ~  “Secret Stash”

24)  New Edition  ~  “My Secret (Didja Gitit Yet?)”

25)  Stevie Nicks  ~  “Secret Love”

Songs With Abbreviations In The Title, Vol. 2

Since the first installment of this "series" went over so well, I figured I'd add a Vol. 2. (Actually, that was the plan all along, but it sounds much more impressive if I make it seem like popular demand drives everything I post. Which it most certainly does not.) Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  AC/DC  ~  “T.N.T.”  (“Trinitrotoluene.” But you already knew that, right?)

2)  Jordin Sparks  ~  “S.O.S. (Let The Music Play)”  (It’s Morse code, yo! Google that junk!)

3)  Flo Rida ft. Sage The Gemini & Lookas  ~  “G.D.F.R.”  (“Going Down For Real”)

4)  Sinéad O’Connor  ~  “V.I.P.”  (Usually means “Very Important Person.” But with Sinéad, you never know…)

5)  Yeasayer  ~  “O.N.E.”  (“One’s Not Enough.” Apparently, it's about addiction, which makes sense.)

6)  Rihanna  ~  “SOS”  (See #2 above.)

7)  Village People  ~  “Y.M.C.A.”  (“Young Men’s Christian Association”)

8)  Ashlee Simpson  ~  “L.O.V.E.”  (This one's not technically an abbreviation, either. C’mon, people!)

9)  The Lonely Island ft. Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar  ~  “YOLO”  (“You Only Live Once”…or, “You Oughta Look Out,” depending on which verse you’re listening to.)

10)  Daphne & Celeste  ~  “U.G.L.Y.”  (Now that’s just mean-spirited! Also…not an actual abbreviation.)

11)  Naughty By Nature  ~  “O.P.P.”  (“Other People’s Property.” Basically…)

12)  ABBA  ~  “SOS”  (See #6 above.)

13)  Blur  ~  “M.O.R.”  (“Middle Of The Road”)

14)  Broods  ~  “L.A.F.”  (This one’s a bit of a mystery. Neither these initials nor a phrase that they might stand for are present in the lyrics.)

15)  OutKast  ~  “B.O.B”  (“Bombs Over Baghdad”)

16)  Katy Perry  ~  “E.T.”  (“Extra Terrestrial.” Duh!)

17)  Lee Greenwood  ~  “I.O.U.”  (This one seems self-explanatory, but…“I Owe You.”)

18)  Rita Ora ft. Tinie Tempah  ~  “R.I.P.”  (“Rest In Peace”)

19)  Pearl Jam  ~  “W.M.A.”  (“White Male American”)

20)  OneRepublic  ~  “A.I.”  (“Artificial Intelligence”)

Songs With Abbreviations In The Title, Vol. 1

Of all the things I've blogged about before, this is not one of them. Until now... Enjoy this first set of songs (of two) featuring some kind of abbreviation, initials, or acronym in the title.  ~  JH

1)  Tori Kelly  ~  “P.Y.T.”  (“Pretty Young Thing.” Nice cover of a Michael Jackson hit.)

2)  Foo Fighters  ~  “D.O.A.”  (“Dead On Arrival”)

3)  Bea Miller  ~  “S.L.U.T.”  (It’s not what it looks like. This is shorthand for “Sweet Little Unforgettable Thing.”)

4)  Guns N’ Roses  ~  “I.R.S.”  (No double meaning here. It really does stand for “Internal Revenue Service.”)

5)  Mariah Carey  ~  “H.A.T.E.U.”  (“H.A.T.E.U.” actually means “hate you.” So…it’s not really an abbreviation for anything. You tricky trickster, Mariah!) 

6)  Kasabian  ~  “L.S.F.”  (“Lost Souls Forever”)

7)  Melanie Fiona  ~  “L.O.V.E.”  (Also not technically an abbreviation.)

8)  Black Sabbath  ~  “N.I.B.”  (Apparently, “Nib” was the nickname of a band member’s beard. Ozzy put the punctuation marks in there to confuse people. Mission accomplished!)

9)  Tegan and Sara  ~  “BWU”  (“Be With U”)

10)  Noah And The Whale  ~  “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.”  (It means what it looks like it means. N.O.T. A.N. A.B.B.R.E.V.I.A.T.I.O.N. *sigh*)

11)  Dua Lipa ft. Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, MØ, & Alma  ~  “IDGAF”  (I’ll let you Google this abbreviation. Although, seeing as this is the sanitized version of the song, the title should have been shortened further to “IDGA.”)

12)  Live  ~  “T.B.D.”  (“Tibetan Book of the Dead”)

13)  Janelle Monáe ft. Erykah Badu  ~  “Q.U.E.E.N.”  (Also not an abbreviation. I’m spotting a pattern here.)

14)  Cream  ~  “N.S.U.”  (Oddly enough, this stands for “Non-Specific Urethritis.”)

15)  Jessie J  ~  “L.O.V.E.”  (Equally not an actual abbreviation. This may be less the fault of the artists and more the fault of yours truly, the blogger. Sorry…)

16)  Rythm Syndicate  ~  “P.A.S.S.I.O.N.”  (The singer spells out several words in this one. But none of them are abbreviations. He just likes spelling, I guess. Except in the case of his band’s name, which is – apparently – misspelled intentionally. Go figure!)

17)  John Mellencamp  ~  “R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.”  (The “R.O.C.K.” part doesn’t mean anything other than “Rock.” If you don’t know what the “U.S.A.” part means, you’re either not from around here or you’ve been living under a rock. Either way…find out for yourself.)

18)  Le Tigre  ~  “TKO”  ("Technical Knockout")

19)  Harry Chapin  ~  “W.O.L.D.”  (These are the call letters of a fictional radio station at which the song’s narrator is an aging deejay. Thus a double meaning with the letters “O.L.D.”)

20)  Florida Georgia Line  ~  “H.O.L.Y.”  ("High On Loving You")

Songs About Excuses

People are constantly making excuses for something, aren't we? Yes, I said "we." Because I'm guilty, too. In honor of that fact, or rather, despite it, here's a bunch of Songs About Excuses to which I'm sure we can all relate. Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  Meghan Trainor  ~  “No Excuses”

2)  Chris Brown  ~  “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)”

3)  Alanis Morissette  ~  “Excuses”

4)  The fin.  ~  “Without Excuse”

5)  No Doubt  ~  “Excuse Me Mr.”

6)  Alice In Chains  ~  “No Excuses”

7)  Shirley Bassey  ~  “Excuse Me”

8)  Atlum Schema  ~  “My Own Excuses”

9)  Bonnie Owens  ~  “Excuse Me For Living”

10)  Needtobreathe  ~  “No Excuses”

11)  Jessie J ft. Becky G  ~  “Excuse My Rude”

12)  Broken Back  ~  “Excuses”

13)  Jack Greene & Jeannie Seely  ~  “Love Is No Excuse”

14)  Rixton  ~  “Beautiful Excuses”

15)  Hamster ft. X. Ari  ~  “Excuse Me”

16)  John Butler Trio  ~  “Good Excuse”

17)  Caro Emerald  ~  “Excuse My French"

18)  Ben Harper  ~  “Excuse Me Mister”

19)  Funky Step & The Sey Sisters  ~  “No Excuses”

20)  Sting & Edin Karamazov  ~  “Can She Excuse My Wrongs?”

21)  Sky Paradox  ~  “No Excuses”

22)  Milow  ~  “Excuse To Try”

23)  AOA  ~  “Excuse Me”

24)  Nothing But Thieves  ~  “Excuse Me”

25)  Daydream Vacation  ~  “Clever’s Not My Best Excuse”

26)  BESTie  ~  “Excuse Me”

Popular Songs Of 1968, Vol. 4

Fourth and final in this miniseries of posts featuring Popular Songs of 1968. Once more, I hope you will...enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Simon & Garfunkel  ~  “Mrs. Robinson”

2)  Steppenwolf  ~  “Magic Carpet Ride”

3)  Tammy Wynette  ~  “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”

4)  The Rascals  ~  “People Got To Be Free”

5)  Aretha Franklin  ~  “Think”

6)  The Troggs  ~  “Love Is All Around”

7)  Johnny Nash  ~  “Hold Me Tight”

8)  Mason Williams  ~  “Classical Gas”

9)  The Dells  ~  “Stay In My Corner”

10)  Donovan  ~  “Hurdy Gurdy Man”

11)  Dolly Parton  ~  “Just Because I’m A Woman”

12)  Percy Sledge  ~  “Take Time To Know Her”

13)  Henson Cargill  ~  “Skip A Rope”

14)  Otis Redding  ~  “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay”

15)  Glen Campbell  ~  “Wichita Lineman”

16)  Johnnie Taylor  ~  “Who’s Making Love”

17)  The Beatles  ~  “Revolution”

18)  Marvin Gaye  ~  “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”

19)  Gary Puckett & The Union Gap  ~  “Lady Willpower”

20)  Dionne Warwick  ~  “Do You Know The Way To San Jose?”

21)  Cream  ~  “White Room”

22)  James Brown  ~  “I Got The Feelin’”

23)  The 5th Dimension  ~  “Stoned Soul Picnic”

24)  Manfred Mann  ~  “Mighty Quinn”

25)  Diana Ross & The Supremes  ~  “Love Child”