Spelling Words in Songs

I recently submitted an application for virtual media access to the 67th annual Grammy Awards in February 2025. Unfortunately, the Sean's Ramblings budget does not allow me to travel to and attend the red carpet and ceremony in Los Angeles (assuming that I get accepted), but I think it would be fun to cover the Grammy Awards remotely and provide interesting and informative information to you. To demonstrate my music credentials to the Recording Academy, I am writing this blog post to show a trend in music history maybe not known to many. And my finding/theory is this: 

Spelling a word in a song = H-I-T

Seems simple, right? Like A-B-C (though ABC isn't an actual word), easy as 1-2-3!

While I acknowledge that this is not an exhaustive review of every song with words spelled out, I think this is a pretty thorough list. The idea of this post/theory stemmed from the current Chappell Roan song, HOT TO GO! where the artist spells out H-O-T-T-O-G-O 14 times. It's a really catchy song and Target agreed by featuring it in a commercial. HOT TO GO reached #15 on the Billboard HOT 100 chart, but would easily have reached #1 if Billboard had a HOT TO GO 100 chart. Let's take a look at other songs that help make my argument.

Respect by Aretha Franklin

This is simply one of the greatest songs of all time. Not much more to write except that it went to #1 in 1967.

Saturday Night by Bay City Rollers

BCR (did anyone ever call them BCR?) just comes right out with a spelling lesson. It’s right there at the start of the song. S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night! Saturday Night hit the top spot in 1976.

Jump Jump by Kris Kross 

Two different words spelled in the same song. First, you have the D-A-double D-Y-M-A-C. (Yeah, you know me!) Later, either the Mack Daddy or the Daddy Mack spells out J-U-M-P. Next, wear your clothes backwards, and you get a 1992 #1 song.

Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani

You never realized how much fun it was/is to spell bananas until Gwen Stefani told us. This song was #1 in 2005, or nearly 20 years ago which is B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

U.N.I.T.Y by Queen Latifah

Although this song didn't reach the top 20 like the others above (#23 in 1995), this is Queen Latifah's biggest song and won a Grammy for best rap solo performance.

Gloria - Them

Until I started writing this post, I thought this was a Van Morrison song. Turns out, the song was released by Morrison's band Them in 1964. This is the rare song in this post that didn't chart very highly. Sort of. While Them's original Gloria only peaked at #75, a cover version released around the same time by The Shadows of Knight  reached #10. Patti Smith and The Doors both had their own versions of the song. This song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and made multiple greatest songs and rock songs of all time lists. While I can't prove it, I don't think this happens without Morrison spelling out G-L-O-R-I-A. (The audience shots in the video below are fantastic.) Thanks to Wikipedia for all of this information.

P.I.M.P. by 50 Cent

Let's go back to 2003. 50 Cent was the biggest artist in the country. His Get Rich or Die Tryin' album sold over 9 million copies. Although P.I.M.P. didn't reach the top spot like 50's first two singles from this album, it made it to #3. Not too shabby.

Safety Dance by Men Without Hats

After being told that you can dance if you want to, this song went to #3 in 1983. I also danced to this song with friends at an 80s dance party in college.

Fergalicious by Fergie featuring will.i.am

Glamorous by Fergie featuring Ludacris

While Fergie may not be a pioneer in spelling words in songs, if you had a spelling contest, she would be the bee champion. Fergie released these songs back-to-back with Fergalicious reaching #2 in January 2007 and Glamorous going to #1 in March of the same year. The former somewhat indirectly spells multiple words like the D-A- double D-Y-M-A-C did 15 years earlier. First, you have "T to the A, to the S-T-E-Y girl, you tasty" followed by D to the E, to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S. Glamorous has none of the "to the" in the middle of a word. That's probably why the latter went all the way to the top of the chart! 

First Class by Jack Harlow

Harlow sampled Glamorous in 2022 and kept the spelling of Fergie's title in his version. The result was another #1 song. 

Lola by The Kinks

Spelling out C-O-L-A and L-O-L-A is just brilliant. This song reached the top 10 by going to #9 in 1970.

R.O.C.K In the U.S.A. by John Mellencamp

#2 in 1986. Maybe this would have gone to #1 if Mellancamp went by John Cougar Mellencamp at the time.

Steal My Sunshine by Len

Although it’s not prominent, Len sneaks in the spelling of L-A-T-E-R early in the second verse. Steal My Sunshine went to #9 in the US in 1999 and is Len's only charting song.

Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton

The winner of the longest spelled word goes to Macklemore for I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T.  No record label is going to sign him. He's not going to sell out! Can't Hold Us went to #1 in 2013 and was the most streamed song on Spotify that year.

O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature

Y.M.C.A. by Village People

Technically, these are abbreviations and not words. O is for other, P is for people. The last P , hmm, stands for property. This song reached #6 in 1991 and was played at every single homecoming dance in America that fall.

Not much to write about Y.M.C.A. Amazingly, it never reached #1 in the US, peaking at #2, though it went #1 in 15 other countries. If someone finds this blog in 100 years and looks through the songs in this post, this is the one that will still be known.

Finally, I'll give an honorable mention to Taylor Swift for her song Me with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco where she says "Spelling is fun." I agree with Taylor (though apparently there was some controversy with this line), and spelling words in songs is a key to success!