I have been listening to a couple of artists today who have not real common ground musically, lyrically, or any other way, but both of them do seem to specialise in song titles that are out of the ordinary in their own way.  The two artists are Morrissey and Nile.Nile are a run-of-the-mill death metal band.  I heard a track of theirs on the radio coming home from a day trip to Calais a few years ago and on the strength of that bought their album In Their Darkened Shrines.   I never really enjoyed listening to that album as much as I enjoyed hearing the one track on the radio, but they have cornered the market in Ancient Egyptian mythological song titles.  A few choice example:

• Serpent headed mask
• Ramses bringer of war
• Beneath eternal oceans of sand
• Invocation of the Gate of Aat-Ankh-es-en-Amenti
• Libation Unto the Shades Who Lurk in the Shadows of the Temple of Anhur
• Chapter for Transforming into a Snake
• I Whisper in the Ear of the Dead
• Dusk Falls Upon the Temple of the Serpent on the Mount of Sunrise
• Chapter of Obeisance Before Giving Breath to the Inert One in the Presence of the Crescent Shaped Horns
• Laying Fire Upon Apep

And the truly epic title (for a song that is less than three minutes long)

• Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks from He Who Is in the Water

Even Yes and Rush in their heydays would think twice about some of those song titles.

Morrissey, on the other hand, keeps his song titles a lot more grounded.  Some of them may seem more like paragraphs than snappy titles but they are simultaneously mundane and urbane.  (No I don’t know how that works either.  I just liked the sound of it.)   Most of these titles are taken from Swords, the recent compilation of Morrissey B-sides.

• Good looking man about town
• Don’t make fun of Daddy’s voice
• If you don’t like me, don’t look at me
• I knew I was next
• It’s hard to walk tall when you’re small
• My life is a succession of people saying goodbye
• The teachers are afraid of the pupils
• I know very well how I got my name
• Such a little thing makes such a big difference
• There’s a place in hell for me and my friends

Morrissey doesn’t stop at having quirky song titles; the lyrics themselves are a joy to behold.  Can anybody compete with Mozza for brilliant song titles?