your mother will faint, your father will fall in a bucket of paint

[spatch]

A3 - Ain't Goin to Goa
Mojo Nixon - Ain't Got No Boss
Clarence "Frogman" Henry - Ain't Got No Home
Mojo Nixon - Ain't High Falutin'
John Prine - Ain't Hurting Nobody
Leon Redbone - Ain't Misbehaving
Louis Jordan - Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
Dean Martin - Ain't That a Kick in the Head

Six thousand songs on that music machine over there and only eight that start with Ain't.



WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM ALL THIS?

1. You can use the word all you want if you're Mojo Nixon.
2. If you're not Mojo Nixon you can still use the word, but be sure to round it out with a double negative to really annoy the pedants.

Comments

[slakko.livejournal.com]

You can also use ain't if you happen to be Larry Love or the Reverend D-Wayne Love of the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine (UK). See the first song on the list.

[sernin.livejournal.com]

drat you!

Our local public radio station has a deep infatuation with Louis Jordan, and plays his episode of Arkan-Songs twice (or more) per year. Each time, I suffer from "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" earworms for weeks. Just when I think I'm free of it..

BAM!

[meedja.livejournal.com]

That music machine needs some Chas & Dave. Everyone needs some Chas & Dave. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkt8E2Ul-Xw

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

Yay Mojo! I actually named my first cat in Georgia after him, and have had plenty of fun at his shows over the years. Remind me to tell you about the whole "Vibrator Dependent" episode some time... ;-)

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Of the 27K songs on my external, 30 start with Ain't. Of these, 8 also contain the word "No" (e.g., Ain't No Greens in Harlem, Ain't Got No Home), 3 contain the word "Nothing" or "Nothin'" (e.g., Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, Ain't Nothin' But a House Party), and 8 contain the word "Nobody" (e.g., Ain't Nobody's Business, Ain't Hurtin' Nobody, and the ubiquitous Louis Jordan). So yeah, it's all about the double negatives. Double negatives, and some fool lying on some Third World beach wearing spandex, psychedelic trousers, smoking damn dope pretending he gettin' consciousness expansion.

Also:

[dimloep-suum.livejournal.com]

AC/DC - "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution"
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - People Ain't No Good"
Queens of the Stone Age - "You Think I Ain't Worth
Squirrel Nut Zippers - "It Ain't You"
Tom Waits - "Ain't Goin' Down To The Well"
Hair Soundtrack - "Ain't Got No"
Hair Soundtrack - "Ain't Got No (Reprise)"
[Artist Unknown] - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

[tonysalieri.livejournal.com]

I think Moby did something called "Ain't Never Learned."

sweet pretty country acid house music

[spatch]

(When I want consciousness expansion, I go to my local tabernacle and I sing!)

I am heartened to hear that it really is all about the double negative. Such a grammatical go-for-broke, that: If you're breaking one rule of usage, you might as well break more and do it all in style.

I want consciousness expansion, I go to my local tabernacle and I sing!

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I like that line so much, I named a mix after it

Incidentally, my work computer has only six songs that start with Ain't, but four of them are double negs

• Ain't Got No, I Got Life (Nina Simone)
• Ain't Got Nobody to Grind My Coffee (Clara Smith)
• Ain't No King of Rock n Roll (The Nomads)
• Ain't Nobody's Business (Jimmy Witherspoon)

Strangely, no Mojo starting with Ain't on this machine, though I do have Beer Ain't Drinkin' Other Ain't-containin'-but-not-Ain't-startin' double negatives on this machine include

• You Ain't Nothin' But Fine (Rockin' Sidney)
• Your Thing Ain't No Good Without My Thing (Marie Queenie Lyons)
• You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had (Muddy Waters)
• You Ain't Got It No More (Julia Lee and her Boyfriends)

[sanspoof.livejournal.com]

I've got:
100 Damned Guns - Ain't Goin' Back to Jail
The Allen Brothers - Ain't That Skippin' and Flyin'
Annette Hanshaw - Ain't He Sweet
Arthur Briggs - Ain't She Sweet
Bird Nest Roys - Ain't Mutatin'
Carolina Tar Heels - Ain't No Use Workin' So Hard
Circle of Willis - Ain't God Good
Dow Jones and the Industrials - Ain't Good Enough
Helen Kane - Ain'tcha?
Ike Carpenter - Ain't Nothin Nothin Baby Without You
Izumi Yukimura - Ain't Cha-cha Coming Out T-tonight?
Jack Teagarden - Ain't Cha Glad
Marty Robbins - Ain't I Right
Mason Jennings - Ain't Gonna Die
Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Nat Shilkret - Ain't That a Grand and Glorious Feeling
Negativland - Ain't No Baby
Nosebleeds - Ain't Bin to no Music School
Oingo Boingo - Ain't This the Life
Phil Baxter and His Orchestra - Ain't Got No Girl Now
Richard Buckner & P.W. Long - Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down
Television - Ain't That Nothin'
Van & Schenk - Ain't We Got Fun

Six with double negs. WHEW