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My Car', 'No Money Down', 'Baby Driver', 'Racing In The Streets', 'No Particular Place To Go', '2-4-6-8 Motorway',
'Don't Worry Baby', 'Tell Laura I Love Her' and 'Pink Thunderbird'. Driving a car often becomes an image for a
certain other popular activity, as in 'Radar Love'. 'Convoy' took care of long-distance lorries and immortalized the
expression 'rubber duck'.
Trains
Train songs include '5:15', 'Last Train To Clarksville' (which also features a telephone call), 'The Day We Caught
The Train', 'Rock Island Line', 'Leaving On A Jet Plane', 'It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry' and
'Morning Train (9 to 5)'.
Crime and Punishment
In songs such as 'Hey Joe' and 'Killing Floor', the singer hopes to escape the Long Arm Of The Law by going down
(usually) to Mexico. If the singer is also In Love at this point, we have plenty of drama. 'Indiana Wants Me', 'I've
Just Got To Get A Message To You', 'The Green, Green Grass Of Home', 'Last Night In Soho' and 'Gotta See Jane'
are further instances. If there isn't an execution and the prisoner is released, you get 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round
The Old Oak Tree'. (On second thoughts, throw that switch, y'all.. .)
Names
Since so many popular songs have been about love, it's not surprising there are so many songs whose titles include,
or are, a woman's name. How many names in this list can you match to the correct artist?
Alison, Amanda, Amelia, Angie, Annie, Barbara Ann, Bernadette, Beth, Betty, Billie Jean, Brandy, Bridget,
Candida, Candy, Carol, Caroline, Carrie Ann, Cathy, Cecilia, Cindy, Clair, Claudette, Debora, Delilah, Diana, Dolly,
Donna, Eileen, Elaine, Eleanor, Elise, Eloise, Emma, Emily, Gaye, Jackie, Jane, Jean, Jesamine, Jennifer, Jessie,
Johanna, Jolene, Judy, Julia, Julie, Juliette, Kayleigh, Lana, Layla, Lily, Linda, Lucille, Lucy, Maggie, Mandy,
Maria, Marie, Martha, Mary, Mary Lou, Maybelline, Michelle, Nikita, Nikki, Pamela, Patricia, Paula, Peggy Sue,
Polly, Prudence, Rhonda, Rita, Rosalita, Roseanna, Rosetta, Rosie, Roxanne, Sadie, Sally, Samantha, Sara, Sharona,
Sheila, Sherry, Shirley, Stephanie, Sue, Suzanne, Suzie, Sylvia, Tammy, Tracy, Virginia, Wendy. (Phew!)
The Urban Landscape
Many popular songs evoke aspects of city and town life without necessarily referring to specific places: 'Bus Stop',
'Heartbreak Hotel', '59th Street Bridge Song', 'Twenty Flight Rock' (about a girl who lived on the 20th floor), 'No
Milk Today', 'Another Day', 'Don't Sleep In The Subway', 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight', 'Strange Town',
'Ghost Town', 'Babylon's Burning', 'Downtown', 'Disco 2000', 'Want Ads', 'Rent', 'Expresso Love', 'Money For
Nothing', 'Walk Of Life', 'Pinball Wizard', 'YMCA', 'Semi-detached Suburban Mr Jones' and 'Fire Brigade'. There are
also songs about leaving the city for the country: 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' and 'I'm Gonna Be A Country
Girl Again'.
Answer Songs and Parodies
If you're stuck for lyric ideas, why not write an 'answer' song? The Silhouettes' 'Get A Job' was answered by the
Miracles' 'Got A Job'. The titles of 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Hotel Happiness' are obviously linked. Would 'Miss
Judy's Farm' have existed without 'Maggie's Farm'?
You can do this with your own songs, and in commercial songwriting there has