Invent a Cocteau Twins song title

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Sweet Lilacs in Ether Haze

― Dave Bush (davebush), Sunday, 30 April 2006 05:00 (twenty years ago)

Moonlit Kiss

― Chris Bergen (Cee Bee), Sunday, 30 April 2006 05:09 (twenty years ago)

archipel lullaby

― keyth (keyth), Sunday, 30 April 2006 05:13 (twenty years ago)

Sugar-Coated Glass In Snowfoils

― Bring Me The Head of ESTEBAN BUTTEZ (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Sunday, 30 April 2006 05:30 (twenty years ago)

Violerai
Emphasymia

― justsomegalahsuppose, Sunday, 30 April 2006 10:38 (twenty years ago)

twinkly bell bellpeals

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 30 April 2006 11:06 (twenty years ago)

he poos clouds

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Sunday, 30 April 2006 11:16 (twenty years ago)

Tivo
Your Wind Through The Crack

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 30 April 2006 12:39 (twenty years ago)

Gossamer Blancmange.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Sunday, 30 April 2006 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Turquoise Belly
Honeyed Veldt
Partick Thistle

― Neil FC (Neil FC), Sunday, 30 April 2006 14:20 (twenty years ago)

Moonkiss Fling

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 30 April 2006 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Cherry Kissed Orchid Veils
Eschelopine Milk
Floating Tiny Droplets of Habaroooosh

Sex Bomb.....baby yeah

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Sunday, 30 April 2006 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Launder Skidded Lingerie

― bendy (bendy), Sunday, 30 April 2006 18:36 (twenty years ago)

All these current thread titles would do the trick

Vinko Globokar (1 new answer)
Record Cleaning Machines (3 new answers, 15 total)
Songs with rain/storm sounds (26 new answers)
Just on the tip of my tongue (1 new answer)

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Sunday, 30 April 2006 18:40 (twenty years ago)

Gay, Fey And In The Way

― timmy tannin (pompous), Sunday, 30 April 2006 18:42 (twenty years ago)

1. At Least-Heatmoon
2. Ships in Ayrshire
3. Seersuck Cheek
4. In Nutshells Masts
5. Quince and Quilt
6. Spicebush
7. Whites and Sulfurs
8. Tikerak
9. Bridged Bid Bridget
10. We Share Our Mother's Health

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, 30 April 2006 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Penelope

Lavender

― Chris Bergen (Cee Bee), Sunday, 30 April 2006 19:39 (twenty years ago)

BTW, help with this task is available right here.

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, 30 April 2006 19:59 (twenty years ago)

sorry but nabisco OTM

― Aaron A, Sunday, 30 April 2006 20:46 (twenty years ago)

Ha, that's just because all of those are actually references to Cocteaus references! "Tikerak" is an Inuit word (just like "Oomingmak"). "Spicebush" and "Whites and Sulfurs" are all kinds of butterflies (just like "Great Spangled Fritillary" is a butterfly and "Melonella" is a moth). "At Least-Heatmoon" is because the title Four-Calendar Cafe is almost certainly pulled from this one story by William Least Heatmoon. "Seersuck Cheek" is because Cocteaus are always referencing different kinds of fabric and lace, plus "seersucker" actually comes from the Persian for "milk and sugar," which is totally Cocteaus. And "In Nutshells Masts" (for boats) is just a lame copy of the perfect cross-image in "Feathers Oar-Blades," my favorite Cocteau title.

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, 30 April 2006 21:45 (twenty years ago)

I mean, part of why I love Cocteau Twins song titles so much is that Liz (I assume) really honestly does have the core of a poet in her, which is to say that she clearly loves language effects, and she's an incredible collector of interesting words and phrases -- that site I just linked, while a little weird on some fronts, should be good proof of that. I have no idea what she reads (besides William Least Heatmoon, anyway), but she's collecting gorgeous things. And they don't seem just picked at random out of arcane books, either, because they all rather connected and place-specific, this very northern-European (far north, like Scotland!) run of fabrics and fairy-tales and archaic metaphors. When she sees something good, she picks it up and uses it: "Serpentskirt" as the English translation of Coatlicue, "Calfskin-Smack" as swearing on a Bible, "Fifty-Fifty Clown" for a night policeman, "Iceblink" for a glacier reflections and cliffs, "Pitch the Baby" as a card-game tactic, "Summerhead" for a parasol -- honestly, I want to read whatever she's reading that brings these terms along!

On top of which she's got the same poet's sense of putting the words together for effect, some for images ("Feathers Oar-Blades") and lots just for pure sound: "Hearsay Please" and "The High Monkey-Monk" (from "high mucky-muck") and "Ella Megalast Burls Forever" -- she knows assonance and alliteration and even meter in these things. They're really gorgeous work.

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, 30 April 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

*boggles*

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Sunday, 30 April 2006 22:12 (twenty years ago)

Jesus, though, how did they ever come up with all that? Proof of their genius I suppose.

xxpost

― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Sunday, 30 April 2006 22:14 (twenty years ago)

Ha, that's just because all of those are actually references to Cocteaus references! "Tikerak" is an Inuit word (just like "Oomingmak"). "Spicebush" and "Whites and Sulfurs" are all kinds of butterflies (just like "Great Spangled Fritillary" is a butterfly and "Melonella" is a moth). "At Least-Heatmoon" is because the title Four-Calendar Cafe is almost certainly pulled from this one story by William Least Heatmoon. "Seersuck Cheek" is because Cocteaus are always referencing different kinds of fabric and lace, plus "seersucker" actually comes from the Persian for "milk and sugar," which is totally Cocteaus. And "In Nutshells Masts" (for boats) is just a lame copy of the perfect cross-image in "Feathers Oar-Blades," my favorite Cocteau title.

I love you Nabisco :D

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 1 May 2006 02:25 (twenty years ago)

I tell you what though - this one in the glossary cracked me up:

MIZAKE THE MIZAN (Mizake the Mizan): v. [Slang] To purchase from a peddler of drugs. A distortion of "make the man." This construction originated in the hip-hop underground, where a sort of pig-latin is occasionally spoken by inserting the letters "iz" after the first letters of verbs and nouns.

I can't decide wether that's just fanciful thinking, or Liz is one funny mufugger =)

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 1 May 2006 02:31 (twenty years ago)

On second reading I'd accept it as true actually seeing as Leesa Beales did most of that work - she's good friends with Simon R to my knowledge (actually I know a bit more than that but won't say in public).

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 1 May 2006 02:36 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

OH NO the Cocteau Twins glossary is GONE!

― nabisco, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah the whole website is gone! It disappeared maybe a week or 3 ago? Someone not payin their hosting bill.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

he poos clouds

hahahaha

― Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 23:20 (nineteen years ago)

seven years pass...

once upon a tonic-clonic
we share a mother
omegle melograno
hexis-lexis-nexis
parappa rappa
birdalone
gams

― disinclination loops (unregistered), Friday, 5 September 2014 16:58 (eleven years ago)

OH NO the Cocteau Twins glossary is GONE!
― nabisco, Tuesday, May 1, 2007 5:22 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 5 September 2014 17:01 (eleven years ago)

10. We Share Our Mother's Health

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, April 30, 2006 3:14 PM (8 years ago)

wtf

(but I was thinking of the Chvrches song, not the Knife song)

― disinclination loops (unregistered), Friday, 5 September 2014 17:02 (eleven years ago)

is this it? (xpost)

http://www.cocteautwins.com/html/dynamine/glossary.html

― disinclination loops (unregistered), Friday, 5 September 2014 17:03 (eleven years ago)

slippy ploppy sniffs

― massaman gai, Friday, 5 September 2014 19:40 (eleven years ago)

Laniakea
Perseus-Pisces

― jmm, Friday, 5 September 2014 19:48 (eleven years ago)

pissy ribbons
glitters who are farters

― massaman gai, Friday, 5 September 2014 19:59 (eleven years ago)

Belvita-Geico
Wow Bao Blimpies
Guy Fieri Crop Top

― Coarse Apple Slaw (Old Lunch), Friday, 5 September 2014 20:47 (eleven years ago)

Jicama Giggle

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 5 September 2014 20:59 (eleven years ago)

spiraling in frozen fractals

― disinclination loops (unregistered), Friday, 5 September 2014 21:23 (eleven years ago)

halfbreed hermits in homosote hovels
flounced rustic
luperina

― disinclination loops (unregistered), Friday, 5 September 2014 21:36 (eleven years ago)

On The Vanilla Peninsula (Victorialand leftover)

― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 5 September 2014 23:04 (eleven years ago)

Wamsutta Percale

― Hideous Lump, Saturday, 6 September 2014 05:21 (eleven years ago)

hollow hippopotamus
syphilitic polyps that are weavers

― massaman gai, Saturday, 6 September 2014 07:11 (eleven years ago)

coarse-grained
thigh highs
tell-tale twin
mingle-mangle wrists
rustic swallow brume

― Arghn, Saturday, 6 September 2014 16:08 (eleven years ago)

muffin and minge

― Hideous Lump, Sunday, 7 September 2014 02:07 (eleven years ago)

potlucks and muffintops

― hook up with a townie! (rip van wanko), Sunday, 7 September 2014 02:26 (eleven years ago)

Stapled Shapely Stomach

― ODB's missing grammar (bernard snowy), Sunday, 7 September 2014 02:53 (eleven years ago)

Ragpicker's Litter

― ODB's missing grammar (bernard snowy), Sunday, 7 September 2014 03:06 (eleven years ago)

Woodland Waterlogging

― ODB's missing grammar (bernard snowy), Sunday, 7 September 2014 03:07 (eleven years ago)

Progestra Pink Panther
Roomba Rooney Mara
Sharkleberry Fin
Gallowsbird Bark

― Coarse Apple Slaw (Old Lunch), Sunday, 7 September 2014 13:14 (eleven years ago)

Blameblind Lane
Turn Tiss-Up
Ave Ranier Maria **

**bit of a lol at the Jeff Buckley thing, there.

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Tuesday, 9 September 2014 03:44 (eleven years ago)

Actually fuckit I'm using one or all of those as Actual song titles.

― the Bronski Review (Trayce), Tuesday, 9 September 2014 03:45 (eleven years ago)

Peppermint Drop
False Pixie Cup
Flaky Freckle Pelt
Blood-Spattered Beard

Lichens make good Cocteau titles.

― jmm, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 03:58 (eleven years ago)

Three-Quarter Quaker
Plinko Cleft Palate
Sunstroke In A Hot Saab

― Rocking In The Broad Daylight (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 9 September 2014 04:55 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

pomapoos in sheepy armour
lirazel yearns for earth
flight-fright-or-freeze
scarlatti

― small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Thursday, 24 March 2016 16:55 (ten years ago)

('fight-flight-or-freeze', I mean)

― small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:02 (ten years ago)

Cuckold For New Coke
Sarsippius' Ark
Bob-omb In The Billfold
Tussin-Riunite
Hubba-Bubba Selfie Stick
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

― I Can Say I Know We're Risin' Underneath The Blazin' Sky (Old Lunch), Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:05 (ten years ago)

ruskin rongeur

― small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:07 (ten years ago)

Hubba-Bubba Selfie Stick

More of a Stereolab title IMO.

― Jenny Ondioleeene (Leee), Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:09 (ten years ago)

Popeil Pocket Truther
Sunkist-Bareilles
Drak Pack Or Rubik
Five-Dollar Footlongs
Wavy Gravy In A Swagger Red Zone

― I Can Say I Know We're Risin' Underneath The Blazin' Sky (Old Lunch), Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:17 (ten years ago)

(I enjoy imagining a Cocteau Twins analogue that exists 150 years from now and is sifting through our inscrutable cultural detritus for song title inspiration.)

― I Can Say I Know We're Risin' Underneath The Blazin' Sky (Old Lunch), Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:19 (ten years ago)

"Five-Dollar Footlongs"

This made me spit Vanilla Coke all over my office keyboard.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:51 (ten years ago)

No finer compliment.

― I Can Say I Know We're Risin' Underneath The Blazin' Sky (Old Lunch), Thursday, 24 March 2016 17:53 (ten years ago)

coincidentally learned a few years ago that the phrase 'rilkean heart' appears in bachelard's 'poetics of space'

― donna rouge, Thursday, 24 March 2016 18:13 (ten years ago)

Tame Impala

― Paul, Thursday, 24 March 2016 18:26 (ten years ago)

Jiggery-Pokery

― U.S. (brownie), Thursday, 24 March 2016 18:57 (ten years ago)

Some of the random bits of nonsense that float past my consciousness as I drift into micro-sleeps in front of my computer, which I've been writing down for years, make for some choice Cocteau Twins titles:

As Catchers of Orange Juice
A Springlow
Salt, Semen, Stone
I Looked Like Snow
Tittysmart
Perfect Parsonage Dream
Ice, Chains and Other Melties
Nine Run-a-What
Strip Naked and Sing About Corn
Because You Had to Crouch
Autumnal Sock
Sassy-Assed Mink Sugar
Spec Second Six a Lot
Jean, Who Finds Everything
Pre-Married Scrotum
Herring Brawl
Apart from Easting Blackside
The Day I Lacked All Perspective and Could Not Get It Back
The Sweet A-Bustles Pivot
Burnish Your Faggotry

But really, I could give you 10 times as many that sound like Guided By Voices songs.

― Hideous Lump, Friday, 25 March 2016 03:51 (ten years ago)

Horse Hair Sleepover

― ... (Eazy), Friday, 25 March 2016 04:09 (ten years ago)

I remember the Melody Maker comp run in the late 80s which was won by "Crispy Fiver Blue"

― MatthewK, Friday, 25 March 2016 06:44 (ten years ago)

(to this day I have it mentally noted as an outtake from Blue Bell Knoll)

― MatthewK, Friday, 25 March 2016 06:45 (ten years ago)

two years pass...

Just encountered a business name that fits itt: Wonder & Unwind

― Why have more than 1,000 of my bucks disappearded? (Old Lunch), Monday, 4 February 2019 18:41 (seven years ago)

How I fell in love with Microdisney

― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Monday, February 4, 2019 9:08 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― MaresNest, Monday, 4 February 2019 19:21 (seven years ago)

20 more bits of random nonsense that zipped through my subconscious while I was falling asleep at work:

Never Feather Would Be
Chatting a Cherry
The Color of Salt Just
Open the Door and Feed the Mop
Oyster Velour
Spine-O-Lights
Mishounds the Diva
Cupid Ballbag
Float Another Fable
Great Horned Winston
Bitter Dish Graveyard
It Wasn't Her Neck, It Was the Food She Left There
Tiny Leftovers
Leathery Weathery Wings
Echoes and Approval
Your Pencil, You're Panting
Elixon Po
Dimension Rich Potomac Hat
Pin-Soaked Bitches
You are My Sportswear

― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 04:20 (seven years ago)

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