The ten greatest homonymic songs of all time

Tracks 7 through 5

7 – “Fairground Attraction” (1988)

No, they weren’t Fairport Convention, but you can be forgiven if you make that mistake. Fairground… was a different folky British band fronted by Scottish singer Eddi Reader. Though they released a second album after Reader left, this is their one true album of first-rate material. And this dreamlike, vaguely creepy tune is the best thing on the album.

The soft-pop single “Perfect” was the hit, but that song is professional and forgettable, whereas “Fairground Attraction,” with Kim Burton’s accordion providing a distant carnival echo, could have come straight out of the classic micro-budget horror Carnival of Souls. That’s high praise.

6 – “Bad Religion” (1981)

No, it’s not Bad Company. Not yet. You can take your pick of several versions of Bad Religion’s self-titled tune. I kind of prefer the original from their first EP, a muddy and messy version that suits the song a little better. On the remastered full album version, released a couple of decades later, you can hear a cleaner, slower version, with singer Gary Gaffin’s voice sounding much prettier. I’m not sure why you would want to though.

5 – “Motorhead (1977)

The history of this song is legendary. It was the final song bassist/vocalist Lemmy Kilmister wrote for his band Hawkwind before they dumped him. So Lemmy got a new band together, eventually settling on guitarist Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil Taylor. He named the band after that final Hawkwind song. It was the first track on the self-titled debut, and it pretty much instantly made people forget Hawkwind. It opens with Lemmy’s chugging bass, gives Clarke a wild scorcher of a solo in the middle, and follows that up with Lemmy’s iconic couplet – “Fourth day, five-day marathon – We’re moving like a parallelogram.”