Thursday, August 13, 2009

31 Songs Named After A Girl (From Family Guy)

I spent a few minutes looking for this list, without any good results. So here it is in full, with extra info.

Family Guy Episode 115 Ocean's Three and a Half - Video Clip

In this episode, Stewie falls in love with Joe and Bonnie's beautiful baby girl named Susie. Stewie decides to write a song about her and calls it "Susie." Brian says the song is horrible and calls him out for writing a song about a girl, because "there aren't a million of those already." Stewie says, "Oh Yeah? Name 20!"

Here is that list.

Name 20:
1) Rosanna - Toto
2) Roxanne - The Police
3) Michelle - Beatles
4) Allison - Pixies, Elvis Costello
5) Sarah - Thin Lizzy (Sara - Starship / Fleetwood Mac)
6) Angie - The Rolling Stones
7) Brandy (Mandy) - Barry Manilow, (or "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass)
8) Mandy *
9) Gloria - Shadows of Knight (Van Morrison)
10) Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkel
11) Maggie May - Rod Stewart, The Beatles
12) Jessica - The Allman Brothers Band
13) Nancy - Frank Sinatra14) Barbara Ann(e) - The Regents, The Beach Boys
15) Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
16) Layla - Derek and the Dominos (Clapton/Allman)
17) Lola - The Kinks
18) Polly - Nirvana19) Helena - My Chemical Romance
20) Jenny from the Block - Jennifer Lopez

Name 6 more:
1) Sherry (Baby) - The Four Seasons
2) Laura - Frank Sinatra
3) Wendy - The Beach Boys
4) Maria - Ricky Martin, and others
5) Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly
6) Minnie the Moocher - Cab Calloway

Name 5 more: **
1) Tracie - Level 42?
2) Jean - Oliver?
3) Jane - Barenaked Ladies4) Mary Anne - The who
5) Elenor Rigby - The Beatles

*Brandy was the original name of Barrry Manilow's song, but was later changed to Mandy due to confusion with the same song by Scott English. This may be a homage to both songs, listing them in order.
**With the obvious exception of Eleanor Rigby, the last 5 songs are pretty obscure, but are possibly the version performed by the bands I listed. I think they easily could have found some more mainstream songs to throw in at the end, like Molly (Sponge), Maybellene (Chuck Berry), Veronica (Elvis Costello), or they just threw in these randoms to confuse people like me making these stupid lists.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

And here I was thinking I was the only person running around trying to find a proper list of these songs.

Thank you!

Brian said...

brandy is not barry's song. brandy is the song that drew barrymore and tom greene sing in the original charlie's angels, "brandy, you're so fine (you're so fine) what a good wife you would be. but my life, my love and my lady is the sea (doo doo doo doo doo doo dooo doo doo doo doo doo)...."

Matthew Arata said...

You really think Family Guy is going to reference a song that isn't at all famous, completely unknown, and from a 3rd rate re-make movie? It is far FAR more likely that the inclusion of Brandy on the list, especially immediately before Mandy, is a direct reference to the Brandy/Mandy song by Barry Manilow.

There is also a slim chance the Brandy song could be "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass, which came out at the same time. Or the reference is inclusive of this song as well.

Anonymous said...

you skipped the number 9

Anonymous said...

Also "Gloria" was popularized first by the Shadows of Knight, and "Sara" (as opposed to "Sarah") is both a Starship and Fleetwood Mac song, "Barbara Ann" was a Regents song first, and I second the Looking Glass "Brandy".

Just for completionists sake, of course ;)

Matthew Arata said...

Thanks - post updated. Thanks for the tips.

Polymathic J said...

If you ask me, Brandy = "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass.
Helpful list, though.

Varierande said...

Thank you for posting this! I started putting together a Spotify playlist based on the Family Guy scene and then I realized that I didn't have to invent the wheel a second time. :)

Matthew Arata said...

You should post your spotify playlist when you are done making it!

kint98.com said...

Also the song Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) was recorded in the early '70s by "Looking Glass" and made it to the top of the charts.

Anonymous said...

the Jane i think they are talking about is Jane by jefferson starship

Anonymous said...

There are loads more songs named after girls ! What about Rhonda Beach Boys Barbara Ann ditto, Rosie, etc etc !!!

Matthew Arata said...

Yes Anon - there are tons more songs named after girls - but that is not the point of this list. This list is simply documenting what was said by Brian in the Family Guy episode - and adding some color commentary.

Anonymous said...

Nope :) some radio station had a picture. ....."for a fun game,name a song with a girl's name in it" I listed all of them and said...... "check and mate :) "

Anonymous said...

I was thinking that too

Unknown said...

Ah Leah - Donny Iris
Shannon - Henry Gross

Anonymous said...

Shandi - KISS
Beth - KISS
Sister Sarah - Alice Cooper
Laura - Bat For Lashes

Anonymous said...

Brian should’ve put in Luanne by foreigner too

Anonymous said...

Josephine - Chris Rea