Sounds Like A Setlist For Question Mark And The Mysterians, Or Maybe Alex Trebek

Karen asked for "Eternal Questions in Popular Music" and boy have I got them! So that I could cheat by searching for "?" (and on the five Ws) in my iTunes library, I've only included questions that arise in song titles.

Here are the more eternal of the questions in my collection (minus all the good ones Karen and her readers already came up with):

• "Are We Ever Going to Have Sex Again?" - Amy Rigby [go read the lyrics, we'll wait]
• "Who Stole My Monkey?" - Boozoo Chavez
• "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" - Bruce Springsteen
• "What You Gonna Do?" - Buckwheat Zydeco
• "Do You Realize?!?" - Flaming Lips [bonus points for the exclamation point!]
• "Is This All There Is?" - Los Lobos
• "Will the Wolf Survive?" - Los Lobos
• "Can You See The Hard Helmet On My Head?" - My Morning Jacket
• "Are You Passionate?" - Neil Young
• "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" - REM
• "Why Does the Sun Shine?" - They Might Be Giants
• "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight?" Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart [is that technically even a question?]
• "Can I Kick It?" - A Tribe Called Quest [-ion?]
• "Have I Told You Lately" - Van Morrison [the missus and my wedding song!]
• "Did You Get Healed?" - Van Morrison
• "Why Must I Always Explain?" Van Morrison [Van asks a lot of questions]
• "So What'cha Want" - Beastie Boys [no question mark, but still a question]
• "What's Going Ahn" - Big Star [I love the super-laid-back "Ahn"]
• "What's the Matter Here?" - 10,000 Maniacs
• "How Can I Love You If You Won't Lie Down?" - Silver Jews
• "How Soon Is Now" - The Smiths
• "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?" - The Kinks

Any questions?

Comments

[Frank]

Man, that's brilliant. Pure Gold. The Question Set...what a funny way of looking at songs.

[The Velvet Blog]

Amy Rigby is terribly underappreciated. I saw her perform in Nashville about seven or eight years ago, and she puts on a great show, too.

To your list, I'd add only Lloyd Cole's "Are You Ready to be Heartbroken?"

[Mark]

I should have gotten that Lloyd Cole since I've got Camera Obscura's "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" in my car right now.

Amy Rigby was writing a blog for a while, but she shut it down right after I subscribed to it (of course). She's a great writer.

Thanks, Frank, I only wish I could take credit for the idea.

[TwoBusy]

Nice.

(swipe!)

[holaolah]

I think we've got the same hard drive.