Dan Mooney

I can discern precisely eight types of album titles, no more, no fewer:

1.  Self-titled  (The Beatles, although this the worst example ever since it’s always The White Album)

2.  Including the band’s name as part of a phrase (Beatles for Sale)

3.  A word or phrase seemingly unrelated to the lyrical content  (Revolver)

4.  A word or phrase who most distinctive element is none of the above, but rather is most aptly described as being part of a series of titles among the artist’s oeuvre, instead of relating most directly to the material itself (Queen’s A Day at the Races has more to do with the fact that it was preceded by A Night at the Opera, another Marx Brothers movie, than with anything going on storywise.  Think also of Led Zeppelin I, II, III.  I could have folded this into point three as this is really a sub-point of being unrelated to the material, but it’s specific enough to warrant its own independent mention.

5.  A word or phrase related to the recording of the album itself (Abbey Road)

6.  Named after a song on the album  (Magical Mystery Tour)

7.  A word or phrase indeed taken directly from the lyrical content, but not a song title exactly  (No Beatles’ albums here, although the title of the American release Something New did show up in “In My Life.”  I’ll stick with McCartney and for this example go with Flowers in the DIrt, which is a line from the song “That Day is Done.”)

8.  A word or phrase directly inspired by lyrical content, but somewhat modified  (The Beatles’ American release Yesterday… and Today)

Tags: Album Titles, Beatles, Flowers in the Dirt, Lyrics, McCartney, That Day is Done

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