#1.

Sufjan Stevens – ‘‘The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire
Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We
Apologize for the Inconvenience but You’re Going to Have to Leave Now, or, ‘I
Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are
Off Our Lands!’’’
I mean, this list could just be a collection of Sufjan songs really, couldn’t it?
Maybe it will be, I haven’t decided yet. The prolific Oscar nominee (!) has
graced us with an abundance of wonderfully titled tracks over the years, but
I’ve plumped for the second song from his breakthrough record Illinois or, to
give it its full title, Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the
Illinoise. Okay, Sufjan, if you insist.

#2. Panic! At The Disco – ‘Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without
Taking Her Clothes Off’
Travel back to a simpler time when you dressed entirely in black and listened
to Panic! At The Disco with sincerity. Not like now, where you dress entirely in
black and listen to Panic! At The Disco with sincerity masked as irony. The
group have annotated the Closer-inspired lyrics on Genius, offering some real
insight into their creative process:

#3. PJ Harvey – ‘A Woman a Man Walked By/The Crow Knows Where All the
Little Children Go’
Definitely a deeper cut from the Harvey discography, this song sees the multi-
instrumentalist in raucous form. Taken her from her second collaborative
album with frequent musical companion John Parish, Harvey snarls and spits
through a menacing set of lyrics.

#4. The Flaming Lips – ‘My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as
Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action)’
The Flaming Lips are a notably gas bunch, indeed frontman Wayne Coyne got
married inside a literal bubble this past week (nod to No Encore for that piece
of knowledge). This sense of reckless abandon clearly extends to their song
naming sensibilities. Alas, Spotify has failed to grace us with the majesty of the
track’s full title, granting us the meagre ‘My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion’.
Pathetic.