Music Puzzle by Jangler

[tablesaw]

This puzzle was posted by jangler_npl two weeks ago. I wanted to repost it for a larger audience, since the original was under a friends lock.

What unusual feature do all of these songs have in common? If you know the answer, feel free to show it by posting additional examples (if you can think of any). There's at least one other Paul Simon song which works. (And technically, the Pretenders song probably needs an asterisk.)

"1979"—Smashing Pumpkins
"Against All Odds"—Phil Collins
"American Tune"—Paul Simon
"Big Yellow Taxi"—Joni Mitchell
"Brass In Pocket"—The Pretenders
"No Rain"—Blind Melon
"Sloop John B"—The Beach Boys

The original post inspired several additions, some of which will be listed in the first comment to this post, as additional references.

Comments

[tablesaw]

"All Along the Watchtower"—Bob Dylan
"Famous Blue Raincoat"—Leonard Cohen
"Losing My Religion"—REM
"One More Try"—George Michael

[dysprositos]

(I only tested my guess with the first four songs in the post, but the property I think it is is certainly rare enough that I'll be very surprised if it doesn't turn out to be correct.)

Marble House--the Knife
Treat Me Like a Villain--Calm
What Is Eternal--Trans-Siberian Orchestra

[tablesaw]

They look good to me!

[cnoocy]

"Here I Am" — Air Supply

[(Anonymous)]

Rubrick here — your Jangler lj link is incorrect.

[tablesaw]

Fixed. Thanks.

[tahnan]

I went to the original post—I was very much on the right track, heavily clued in by "Against All Odds" and "Big Yellow Taxi", except that "Sloop John B" confused me. Jangler's hint in the comments about two songs that, at the extreme, wouldn't be on the list were helpful in focusing my thoughts.

Love the Leonard Cohen suggestion. This really is a compelling sort of meme, where I'm mentally going through everything I know trying to find more examples.

Oh! Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" fits; is that the other one that Jangler had in mind, I wonder?

[(Anonymous)]

You wonder the identity of the Paul Simon song I had in mind? ;)

It was indeed "The Boy In The Bubble". "That Was Your Mother", from the same album, also works. And wow, "Careless Whisper" is insanely close...I wonder if any other songs are that close for the same reason.

[giandujakiss]

Totally taking a wild stab here about the rule - I only know a couple of the songs identified so far and I'm too lazy to google the others. But I'll guess - Cemeteries of London by Coldplay.

Edited to add - assuming I've got the right rule, there's also Number Three and She's an Angel, both by They Might Be Giants.

Oh, oh! Also - Of Monsters and Heroes and Men by James. (Man, I will feel silly if I've got the wrong rule). And Nancy Boy by Placebo. The Rose by Bette Midler. (I fear you've created a monster)

[tahnan]

Michelle offers Counting Crows - "Angels of the Silences". Other than that, we keep coming up with songs that just fail to qualify for one reason ("Careless Whisper", "1952 Vincent Black Lightning") or another ("Winter" by Tori Amos, "American Idiot" by Green Day).