This is, I know, a very, very minor thing. Please do not think this bothers me more than, say, a hangnail, or someone at a traffic light who, despite dozens of cars behind them, thinks their phone call is more important than actually moving when the light turns green. But.
One thing that bothers me, but only a little, is how people treat parentheses in songs.
You see, the parentheses are thought to be optional. So people should call the song "(I'm) Stranded" by the Saints simply "Stranded." Or the song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," which most people call "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," is supposed to just be called "Satisfaction."
Sometimes, it's true, there are songs that have extraneous parenthetical titles, most famously James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine," which no one (not even James Brown, in the single version) called "Get Up Sex Machine."
On the other hand, no postpunk connoisseur calls the Stranglers' song "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" "Grip." They just don't. It's stupid.
There's a reason I am thinking about this. The theme of the show this week is "control," so I will definitely play the Joy Division song "She's Lost Control."* But for some reason - & this is before there was a film called Control, about Joy Division - people began referring to the song as "Control." Like, one time, I asked a trainee at KOOP who wanted to do a postpunk show what her favorite Joy Division song was, & she said, "Control." I had never heard the song "She's Lost Control" referred to as "Control." & that song doesn't even have parentheses!
Were we suddenly allowed to shorten songs to sound-bite length? I know some songwriters - I'm looking at Morrissey here - that sometimes have songs with titles as long as their lyrics, but does anyone refer to "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" as "Light"? Nope.**
So stop. Don't encourage bullshit songwriters. If a song has parentheses, just assume all the words are the entire song. & don't shorten long song titles. It's dumb & disrespectful. You think you sound cool but you really sound like a dumbass who doesn't really know the song or the band.
Because that sort of thing bothers me, but really only a little.
* Which version? You can vote on Twitter!
** Props to Morrissey for never using parentheses. At least, I can't think of any example. Wait. I found one. "(I'm) The End Of The Family Line." Well, it wouldn't be Morrissey if he weren't somewhat contrary.
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