Brackets in Song Titles

The biggest crisis facing humanity today is not Covid or even global warming, but brackets in song titles. This struck me when I watched one of those nostalgic music programmes and discovered that Peter Sarstedt’s biggie is called ‘Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?’ Either the song is called ‘Where Do You Go To?’ or ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely?’ Both are perfectly good song titles, but make up your mind, Peter. Don’t use brackets to fudge the issue and try to have it both ways.

 Even the world’s greatest artists fall prey to this. The last single John Lennon released before he died was called, ‘(Just Like) Starting Over.’ No one has ever said, “I don’t know John Lennon’s ‘Starting Over,’ oh, you mean, ‘(Just Like) Starting Over,’ I love that song.” But if the (Just Like) were crucial for identifying the song, it should simply have been called ‘Just Like Starting Over.’

You might say there are times when words in brackets are informative. If you don’t know Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘59th Street Bridge Song,’ you’ll probably recognise it once you see ‘(Feelin’ Groovy)’ after it. You could even argue that sometimes words in brackets should be added. ‘(Everybody Must Get Stoned)’ after the title ‘Rainy Day Women #12 & 35’ would help the casual Bob Dylan fan to know which song this is. To this, I say no, absolutely not. If a title does not adequately identify the song, it is not doing its job and should be changed. Just call the songs ‘Feelin’ Groovy’ and ‘Everybody Must Get Stoned’ and stop trying to be clever.

What can we do about this? Make your voice heard. Write to your MP. Let the people in power know that this is something we’re no longer prepared to tolerate.

Alternatively, you might know of a good reason for putting brackets in song titles. In which case, leave a comment below.