::Names Week:: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Colleen

What's in a name? Well, turns out a lot. This week I'm going to focus on songs that blatantly call out a girl's specific name. What better way to get their attention than calling out their name in a song, yeah? Girls love that stuff right? And lets face it guys, a major factor in us picking up guitar is to swoon women. Name dropping in songs may not always have romantic intentions though as some of my picks may show. It could also just be a big F-you to said person. Anyway, here's a few songs that make use of monikers.



This was the song that made me want to do Name Week. It popped up on my iPod today and I hadn't heard it in a while. I'm not a huge fan of all of Ted Leo's music, because sometimes its a bit too pop-punk for me, but he's got a few jems here and there. He's got a style that on the outside that's kinda gooey, catchy safe-punk, but looking deeper there's a lot more going on. Plus he's just an all around cool guy.

This song is from his 2007 album with the Pharmacists called Living With the Living. Its, like I said, a catchy fun pop punk song about a girl named, you guessed it, Colleen. Its a standard, verse chorus verse chorus and pretty expected instrumentation, but its just so happy. Plus, only using things that rhyme with Colleen through most of the song takes some talent.

Colleen – never to be crowned queen, never an evergreen
Floating above the scene as still as a figurine
Expressionless, so serene, but I know what makes you scream
So don’t you run out of steam – I know you, Colleen
It’s been all messed up since the very beginning
But you act so tough, people think that you’re winning
And everyone wants something from Colleen
Colleen - perpetually between what is and what could have been
Floating through your routine every day since you were fifteen
And as rosy as you make it seem, I know life for you ain’t been a dream
To have to deal with the things you’ve seen while they work you like you’re a machine
Machines break down, but you can’t break with them
It’s too late now, so don’t break the rhythm
And everyone wants something form Colleen
Colleen, if ever you walk into a dead-end street, come clean –
Don’t say that it’s all in your mind because I know what you mean – Colleen
It’s been all messed up since the very beginning
It’s too late now, ‘cause we’re already in it
And everyone wants something from Colleen
(and no one gets ‘cause she’s no one’s Colleen)