May 312010
There have been two recent mentions of the Cream song, SWLABR. BTW, it was a song I hadn’t heard of and had to look up so that I could get with the RTH program. I’m now ISO other of these acronym songs. Mr. Royale and I could think of three: DMSR by Prince, PYT by Michael Jackson, and IGY by Donald Fagen. FWIW, can you think of others? (One entry per post, of course.)
BFN, LMKR
O.P.P., Naughty by Nature.
S. Y. S. L. J. F. M. by Joe Tex
T.C.B. or T.Y.A. by Bobby Patterson – which is awesome, by the way. I mean, btw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knUAiQ3nXtY
D.M.S.O. Dead Kennedys
Double Score: T.N.T. by ACDC.
Does this qualify for a double score? U.S.L.S. 1 by P.I.L
L.G.B.N.A.F by Ice-T
Not sure if this counts, ruling please: R.A.M.O.N.E.S. by the Ramones
I don’t think we can accept R.A.M.O.N.E.S., unless anyone can spell out the acronym.
Can Edwin Starr’s “S.O.S. (Stop Her On Sight)” count considering that it includes full words?
H.I.V.E.S by the Hives
Ok, that one isn’t right since it just spells it out.
F.O.D. by Green Day, I believe is F off and die.
Mr Mod, The Edwin Starr track would be half points as it contains words, but S.O.S. by ABBA would qualify for double points (ABBA being an acronym for the band members’ names).
Ok, so with the R.A.M.O.N.E.S. ruling stating you must be able to spell out an acronym,, that also disqualifies R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (Aretha Franklin). However, how about:
L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very ex-tra-ord-in-ar-y
E is even more than anyone that you adore
diy – Peter Gabriel
Y.M.C.A. – the only one with it’s own dance (so far).
Another double – C.O.D. by ACDC
N.W.O. – Ministry
DOA – Van Halen AND the Foo Fighters
N.I.B. – Sabbath
Isn’t an acronym an actual word though, not just the initial letters of an abbreviated phrase? SCUBA is an acronym, as is RADAR, which makes “Radar Love” close, but not quite. ABBA is an acronym, since the letters are pronounced as a word, not as individual letters. I await clarification.
Good point Bostonhistorian – officially an acronym must make a pronouceable word in its own right SCUBA, RADAR, SNAFU…..otherwise its an “initialism”. Keep in mind however the examples that started this thread were all initialisms… SWLABR, DMSR, PYT,IGY…so maybe Ladymisskirroyal meant initialisms…..Lady?
R.I.P ACDC
Just dug out my copy of “World Clique” – Ladymisskirroyale, you missed
ESP – Deeelight
MFSB by TSOP.
But can someone tell me what Sabbath’s N.I.B. stands for?
“Love T.K.O.”
Does Prince’s “MLPS” count?
If not, I’ll go with Prince’s “D.M.S.R.”
@ misterioso
Nativity In Black by Black Sabbath
New Order – I.C.B.
Thanks, shawnkilroy. I don’t think I ever knew that.
What about HWC by my girlfriend Liz Phair?
To clarify, I was going for initialisms. Acronyms get triple word score.
And of course, I would LOVE to know what all the initials stand for.
Hats (or platform shoes) off to beenreeping for hoisting me by my own petard.
New Order’s ICB supposedly stands for Ian Curtis Buried but I’ve never seen that officially anywhere. Has anyone else?
I’m tossing in KAPO by the Lyndells and covered by the Untamed Youth. KAPO stands for “knock a piece off”, which means to have sexual intercourse.
I’m guilty of not describing the full phrase in each initialism, so for each one Ive listed:
T.N.T. = Tri Nitro Toluene, ACDC =Alternating Current/Direct Current
U.S.L.S. 1 – Unknown, but in the song its referring to a flight so I assume “United States L..?S…? 1…But P.I.L. = Public Image Limited
L.G.B.N.A.F. = Let’s Get Buck Naked And F* (Who said romance was dead?)
S.O.S. = Save Our souls , ABBA = Annifrid, Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha (not too many Motorhead fans would admit to knowing that)
Y.M.C.A. = Young Men’s Christian Association (or that either)
C.O.D. = ok the song has a bunch: Call of a dog, Cream of a dream, Call of the doctor, cash on demand, care of the devil (last one is repeated during the chorus, so well assume it’s the primary)
N.W.O. = New World Order
D.O.A. = Dead On arrival
N.I.B. = Nativity In Black, Name In Blood (against popular thought I prefer the latter explanation, because the lyrics are about the devil seducing someone, I assume to steal their soul, which is as standard signed over in their own blood, much like a home mortgage.)
R.I.P. = Rock In Peace (not possible in my house with all the singing;)
E.S.P. = Extra Sensory Perception (I’ve also heard Extra Sexual Perception but can’t find any evidence to back this up, certainly not in the song lyrics)
The thread title gave me one – “WTF” by Ok Go.
KLF by The KLF
don’t know what it means.
KLF = Kopyright Liberation Front
How about “USSA” by those Butthole Surfers?
V.F.W. by the Dead Milkmen.
Chumbawamba has an album called WYSIWYG. No song by that title, but that disc has one called “WWW.” like the web address.
SUPERSONIC by J.J. Fad.
The S was for Super, the U was for Unique, the P was for Perfection (as we now know, they were freaks), the E was for Exotic and the R was for Raps.
The SONIC, apparently, just stood for SONIC.
Loudon Wainwright has three:
IDTTYWLM (I Don’t Think That Your Wife Likes Me)
TSMNWA (They Spelled My Name Wrong Again)
IWIWAL (I Wish I Was A Lesbian)
For RSG – The Yardbirds
Oops, sorry that one is actually Here Tis (for RSG). Not quite the thing.
Lions in My Own Garden, Exit Someone by Prefab Sprout is an acrostic of Limoges, the French city where Macloon’s girlfriend was staying.
WFL by the Happy Mondays.
Excellent additions, Mikeydread!