By The Landlord
"Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign." – Theophile Gautier
"Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title." – Thomas Paine
This week's topic is one that's been right under our noses all along. We almost all use them here at the Bar – viewable by many thousands of readers who peruse those that write, comment and contribute under an alias, a nom de plume, an anonym, a moniker, assumed name, a stage name, an AKA. And alongside those chosen, these are sometimes adapted into fond nicknames, also known as sobriquets – here a the Bar they might become shortened versions, or perhaps with an added syllable for friendly familiarity. Nicknames are often given to us, pseudonyms we choose, but they serve a useful purpose of perspective, identity and sometimes disguise, wearing a particular hat. So this week let's turn that on its head, and talk about songs that, in reference to people or animals, mention them in lyrics, either in passing or as the main subject. Obviously that doesn't mean songs by artists with stage names (although these might be mentioned in others' songs so that could be considered) otherwise that would mean most of the oeuvre.
Here of course I go under the pseudonym of The Song Bar Landlord, self-chosen to promote as sense of welcoming, friendliness and general benevolence, associated with the smiling persona of a classic old-fashioned British pub landlord, not the money-grabbing cliche of a rent-hungry property owner. The Landlord is an extension that aims to be generous spirited and broadminded, let diversity breathe, to emanate a persona with strength and sensitivity, who can both bar and bring in, edit and promote, whose arms and voice should protect and serve, can quickly spot and stop trouble (not required here of course!), but far more likely let the fun characters in to entertain, and let talent and ideas shine out.
Behind most other Song Bar aliases, I of course have a real name, and like a number of you (some of whom might even be deemed famous in your field and in the real world), I have a public persona, in my case in the world of journalism and other forms of writing. When I set up the Bar, I was tempted to use this name to help promote it, but decided to let the music, and the spirit of the place attract people in a fresh way, to develop and continue of its own accord, and happily this has happened in abundance in a wonderful, collective manner.
First then, self-chosen aliases. In the online world, also sometimes known, slightly inaccurately as an avatar, which primarily means the embodiment of an idea or deity in human form, but can now also mean a electronic image to represent an identity. These have become commonplace in the last 20 years, in online video games, social media and for shopping account. Each of us might even have many. They are useful to protect identity, but some abuse this to harm and antagonise others on platforms such as Twitter. Happily none of the latter is tolerated, nor happens at the Song Bar.
But the most likely that might crop in song are those that refer to the famous. These might refer to any side of life – performers, artists politicians, social activists, famous criminals, noms de guerre, religious figures, sports stars and more and if these are referred to in song, they might well be part of this week’s topic.
George Eliot ((Mary Ann Evans)
Authors of course are the original pseudonymous figures, chosen so for a variety of reasons. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) of course for the prejudice against her gender, as with Acton Bell (Anne Brontë) or George Sand (Amandine Lucie Aurore Dupin), although Benjamin Franklin also wrote under the name Polly Baker, but then there are many other reasons. For legality Joe Klein went under the Anonymous name for Primary Colors. Others do it for mischief – the prolific comedy writer Gerald Wiley was really Ronnie Barker, and others use a different name just because their sound better – Ford Madox Ford (Ford Hermann Hueffer), Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), or John Le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell) for example.
Then in art and architecture there are the more pronounceable, such as Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi), El Greco (Dominikos Theotokópulos)
But in song, other figures might be more common. In warfare, as well as history at large, how about The Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen), or Strongbow (Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke), Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), or perhaps hyped or shortened: Catherine The Great (Yekaterina Velikaya), Joseph Stalin (Ioseb Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), or criminal legends such as Carlos The Jackal (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) Son of Sam (David Berkowitz), Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney) and Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker), Baby Face Nelson (Lester Joseph Gillis) or even The Unabomber (Ted Kaczynski)? Sometimes there is a fine line between self-chosen aliases and nicknames, whatever their origin, often merging together by common reference, which is why they come under the same umbrella in this week's topic.
Prince of course
Naturally pseudonyms coming up in song might most commonly come up in the context of other performers. Ironically Prince seemed like a stage name, but Prince Rogers Nelson was The Purple One's actual name, although he use many writing aliases, including Jamie Starr and The Starr Company, Joey Coco, Alexander Nevermind, Christopher and of course his Symbol persona, which was a response to record industry restriction.
Daft Punk aka Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter
But in another dimension, artists have extended their stage names into full-blown disguises, keeping their true identity relatively unknown via masks and other theatricality. Best known (or not) there's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, also known as Daft Punk, the ever articulate and mischievous Daniel Dumille aka MF Doom, Madvillian, Doomstarks, Dangerdoom, and other combinations reflecting various collaborations.
Masks are often intertwined with aliases, from Joel Thomas Zimmerman's Deadmau5 to the singer and prolific songwriter Sia, whose real name is indeed Sia Kate Isobelle Furler and has regularly performed with her face hidden behind a huge wig.
Deadmau5
The brilliantly innovative Richard David James, also known as Aphex Twin, has many other pseudonyms, including AFX, Blue Calx, Bradley Strider, the Universal Indicator, Brian Tregaskin, Caustic Window, The, Smojphace, GAK, Karen Tregaskin, Martin Tressider, PBoD (Phonic Boy on Dope), Polygon Window, Power-Pill, Q-Chastic, Dice Man, the Tuss, and Soit-P.P.
But just to repeat, this is not so much songs by artists with pseudonyms or stage names, but ones that refer to them. This then brings us to nicknames that may well come up because their are inextricably linked to identity, whether given by fans, management or the person themselves. So in music that could include The King (Elvis Presley) to The Boss (Bruce Springsteen), The Divine One (Sarah Vaughn), Bird (Charlie Parker), Ol' Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra), God (anyone from Eric Clapton to Art Tatum) and more, especially in blue and jazz.
Most of us have had nicknames, also known as sobriquets, at some point in our lives. Do we adopt them or grow out of them? Often they come from the human need to hang an identity, a frame of reference. They may be given, but sometimes also self-promoted. For the famous, they might come as a form of admiration for their talent, such as Mahatma Gandhi ("mahatma" means "great soul" in Sanskrit and Hindi), or in another style altogether Cassius Clay who changed his name to Muhammad Ali's and of course proclaimed himself as "The Greatest". Or by contrast, nicknames that remain from youth, such as George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr, but also nicknamed "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat" but his slugging skills. Nicknames may describe physical appearance. or from fear or mockery – Edward The Confessor to Ivan The Terrible.
Buckethead, aka the extraordinarily prolific Brian Patrick Carroll
Finally then, we have a few visitors to the Bar to talk about this topic. The actor Alan Alda reckons “almost everybody that's well-known gets tagged with a nickname.”
But one that didn’t stick with John Lydon, other than Rotten of course, was one he had as a child: “Dummy Dum Dum was my nickname for years at school. I was the strange one of the family, the one who couldn't remember his name,” he tells us.
FKA twigs is here too, and says her name has been around for ages. “Twigs has been my nickname for years, and I guess a lot of people close to me called me Twigs, like, as a nickname. Before I even did dancing properly or anything, like, substantially creative, I was still Twigs,” she tells us, twigs perhaps because she’s skinny like the model Twiggy, although her real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett.
“Artists take on an alias that's suitable for their style of music. Everyone had a nickname when they were younger,” says Tinie Tempah. Hip hop is surely the most universal genre of self-created names in music.
Shaggy, aka Orville Richard Burrell is here too, and says: “'Shaggy' was a nickname before it was ever a stage name. I have no problem with it.” No doubt. Perhaps it started as a name to describe his appearance, but ended up being more about is prolific record with the ladies. Talking of which, here’s a strange, but amusing remark from the brilliant actor Joaquin Phoenix: “When I go out with the ladies, I don't force them to pronounce my name. I tell them I like to go by the nickname of Kitten.” Meow.
Hair today … Sia
Also, strange, and from the acting world, here’s Reese Witherspoon: “I have to admit I was dismayed when I found out 'type A' refers to a category of risk for heart disease - I thought it was just a nickname my mom gave me!” A different take on A-lister, certainly.
The New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern meanwhile confesses how her early nickname helped shape her but also wasn’t entirely satisfactory. “In the early days of my political career, I was called Socialist Cindy. I just hate the nickname Cindy.”
Any writers in the house? Carol Joyce Oates says the nom de plumes can be useful for the craft itself. “I suggest to my students that they write under a pseudonym for a week. That allows young men to write as women, and women as men. It allows them a lot of freedom they don't have ordinarily.”
Poppy Z. Brite meanwhile is against the idea: “I can't think of a reason I'd ever use a pseudonym, as I wouldn't want to publish something that I didn't like enough to put my name on it.” That’s all very well when you’re already called Poppy Z. Brite.
The mass magazine magnate Felix Dennis confessed another use for a pseudonym, aiming to put something back: “I've been busy for years, buying land, often under pseudonyms, and planting trees on it. All the money is going into it when I die.. and in the end I'd like to think that it will be 20 to 30,000 acres." So many dead trees reborn, eh?
Talking of death, Sylvia Plath is no fan of the nom de plume. “The man creates a pseudonym and hides behind it like a worm,” she writes.
But let us finish by going down that wormhole to finish in another dimension entirely, as described by the science writer Michio Kaku: “Wormholes were first introduced to the public over a century ago in a book written by an Oxford mathematician. Perhaps realising that adults might frown on the idea of multiply connected spaces, he wrote the book under a pseudonym and wrote it for children. His name was Charles Dodgson, his pseudonym was Lewis Carroll, and the book was Through The Looking Glass.” Amazing.
So then, let us turn to another brilliant persona and nom de plume, our very own guest guru, UncleBen, who will welcome in your aliases to suggest songs relating to this subject. Deadline is Monday at 11pm UK time, for playlists published on Wednesday. All welcome, whoever you are.
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