The Top 10: Songs with Brackets (in the Title)

John Rentoul selects his favourite tracks featuring titular parentheses

Did Otis Redding need those brackets on his biggest hit? Who knows... (Rex)

Kien Tan suggested this list after I unsuccessfully tried to compile a Top 10 Best Brackets in Literature. But there are few as good as Vladimir Nabokov’s in Lolita: “My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three…” Instead, here we go, in chronological order.

1. “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”, Otis Redding, 1968. Nominated by Adam Behr.

2. “Breathe (In The Air)”, Pink Floyd, 1973. Thanks to George Bosanko.

3. “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, 1975. Nominated by George Bosanko and David Lister. “Worth a mention as many people think the bit in brackets is the song title,” said Darren Sugg.

4. “You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)”, Rod Stewart and the Faces, 1976. Not my kind of thing, but has to be included because it is the longest to have featured in the UK chart – it is so long that it ceases to make any sense by the time you get to the end. Nominated by Pete Young.

5. “(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)”, The Stranglers, 1977. Thanks to Stephen Evans.

6. “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”, Elvis Costello, 1977. Thanks to George Bowling. Or we could have had “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea”, 1978, which was nominated by Stuart Marker and Patrick Hennessy.

7. “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear”, Blondie, 1978. As if you could call it “Presence, Dear”... From Alasdair Brooks.

8. “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)”, The Buzzcocks, 1978. Written by Pete Shelley, RIP. Nominated by Peter Warner.

9. “The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)”, The Jam, 1982. Also featured in Top 10 Pop Songs Shorter Than Two Minutes. Thanks to Paul Wilkinson and Blair McDougall.

10. “Goodbye (Butterfly)”, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, 2014. From Mary Elwin.

Heavy representation from the 1970s, which is a straightforward abuse of editor’s privilege.

Honourable mention for Mick O’Hare, who nominated “A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission)” by Simon and Garfunkel, which ought to win some kind of award for pretension. As does Paul Simon’s track called “Think Too Much (b)” on his solo album Hearts and Bones.

Mark Cobley thought Sigur Ros’s second album entitled ( ) deserved a mention, and so it does. Alasdair Brooks also nominated Sarah Blasko’s single, “{explain}”, all lower case with curly brackets, which had “reasonable airplay in Australia”.

Next week: More Twitter jokes

Coming soon: My compilation of the Top 10 Top 10s of the year

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk