This is an odd one. I found myself noticing more and more songs where a torrent of words go by quickly and wondered how many I could think of. The answer: not that many, so I augmented those selections with some spoken-word selections.

“It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M.

Really, how could this not be on here, so I figured I might as well lead off with it and get it out of the way. I’m still amused by a blurb in Rolling Stone from before the album this was on (Document) was released, with guitarist Peter Buck saying it is their the best or worst thing they had done so far.

“Sam” by Meat Puppets

I will forever be wondering whether or not this machine-gun fire of syllables was accomplished through some sort of studio trickery.

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Bob Dylan

A famous song and almost equally famous clip to accompany it, from the beginning of the feature-length Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back.

“Hourglass” by Squeeze

OK, the notable part of this song is only the chorus but, damn, is that something. It’s like somebody had a pitcher full of words, and they keep tipping it forward just enough to have some spill out before cutting off the flow again.

“Goin’ Down” by The Monkees

Micky Dolenz scats. Just an aside: I love that title and cover.

“The Story of Willy” by King Missile

Now for the other first of the other kind of tracks I want to highlight here, that being the spoken-word variety. Helping to ensure my complete unlikability in high school, I used to be able to recite this entire piece verbatim at the drop of a hat. Everybody around me quickly learned to hold onto their hats.

“Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)” by Reunion

This. Ugh. This is a great example of how artists in the 70s were so desperate to find a new gimmick to make a hit, even if it was to make them a one-hit wonder. This is the kind of thing which is interesting a couple of times, only to become the audio equivalent of a pet rock, another pointless 70’s trend.

“I Am What I Am” by Adrian Belew

Really just a spoken-word piece, but an interesting outlier in the oeuvre of the guitar slinger who had worked with Bowie and had been briefly been in King Crimson.

“I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash

…in which the singer rattles off a bunch of locales in North America and a smattering of ones in South America.

“Countries Of The World” from the TV show Animaniacs

…in which almost every country in the world gets a shout-out (suck it, Burkina Faso!)

“Chemical Calisthenics” by Blackalicious

A high-water-mark for even the astutely named Gift of Gab.

“Along Comes Mary” by The Association

A huge single of the time, with lines so packed with syllables that they threaten to overflow the meter.

“The Auctioneer Song” by Larry Van Dyke

‘Nuff said. No really, enough already.

“Stuart” by The Dead Milkmen

Similar to “The Story of Willy”, I also used to be able to recite this verbatim. Now if I only I had applied those memorization skills to anything scholastic.

“We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel

A textbook example of faux-intelligence. I understand what Joel was going for here, but the result is as much of a novelty as “Life Is A Rock”.

…and with that, I feel the remaining songs are self-explanatory…

“Hardware Store” by “Weird Al” Yankovic

“Major-General’s Song” from The Pirates of Penzance

“88 Lines About 44 Women” by The Nails