22 Songs 2 Celebrate 2 Years of Earworms

Part 2️⃣ of my "number" song playlist essay series

May 23, 2024

In honor of Earworms and Song Loops reaching the two-year mark, I thought it appropriate to focus this month’s number playlist on the number 2. Or two.

There are thousands of songs with the word two and number 2 in the title. It’s a bit overwhelming to narrow it down to 22 (don’t worry, I’m only going to write about 11 of them), so I’m limiting the list to songs with the word “two,” not the number 2. This, sadly, would exclude all Prince songs. But then again, he tended to use the number 2 as a replacement for “to” or “too,” so he would have been disqualified on that front anyway.

Fear not, though. Prince will appear on several upcoming playlists.

In addition to excluding “to” and “too,” I’m also disallowing “part two” songs. For example, De La Soul’s brilliant “Ego Trippin’ (Part Two)” from their Buhloone Mindstate album will be left off this mix. Which is a bummer.

I’ve got a workaround, though. I’m sharing the De La love here, separate from the list. Rules are made to be broken, folks!

I’d love to hear about your favorite songs with the word or number two/2. Leave your picks in the comments and I’ll create a bonus playlist featuring your songs, which I’ll share in a future post.

A Spotify playlist of all 22 songs is at the bottom of this piece (my trick to get you to read to the end!). And I’ve hyperlinked songs 12 through 22 to their YouTube videos.

So, without further ado, here are 22 essential “two” songs.

1. Two Princes — Spin Doctors

I thought I’d start the mix off with perhaps the most earwormy tune on the list.

This is a song that I lote (love/hate), though I imagine most of you lean toward the hate side of the equation. As a fan of this admittedly annoyingly catchy song, I have to admire the band for writing it on yellow sticky bug trap paper.

It’s also a great track for making up lyrics. I have no idea what Christopher Barron is singing other than “If you…..” and then “go ahead now.”

As a fun game, I invite you to add your own lyrics in the comments. They must start with “if you,” and then you can add anything you want as long as it’s six syllables. I’ll compile the lyrics and post them in my next post!

2. Goody Two Shoes — Adam Ant

The Adam Ant classic, “Goody Two Shoes,” keeps the festivities festive. I have it on good word that Adam’s appearance at the Cruel World Festival earlier this month in southern California was a highlight.

I suppose I’m a Goody Two Shoes at the moment, as I don’t smoke and am not drinking either. I’ve been called much worse.

3. Two of Hearts — Stacey Q

Is Stacey Q a low-rent Madonna? Perhaps. But there’s no denying the dance-floor filling grooves (circa 1986) of “Two of Hearts.”

Stacey’s last name is Swain, but Stacey S probably didn’t sound as cool. What is cool, regardless of last initial, is that Swain, after graduating from high school in 1976, joined the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where she performed as a showgirl in her first year and as an elephant rider in her second year. Madonna has nothing on you, girl.

4. Two Tribes — Frankie Goes To Hollywood

I was going to include the extended R-rated video of “Two Tribes,” but this MTV-approved edit is also amazing (and sadly prescient; would it be Biden wrestling with Putin today?), so I went with that.

This Trevor Horn-produced anti-war anthem was everywhere in 1984 when Cold War fears seemed top of mind. It's hard to believe that was 40 years ago.

5. It Takes Two — Marvin Gaye/Kim Weston

Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston’s legendary Motown duet made it to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1967 (though was released in December 1966, just two weeks before a certain earworm writer was born!).

The music is courtesy of The Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

6. It Takes Two — Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock

No, not a cover of the Gaye/Weston classic, but a classic track and an essential part of hip-hop’s history. Sampling both James Brown’s iconic shriek as well the “Yeah! Woo!” from Lyn Collins’ 1972 song “Think (About It),” this late ‘80s jam had to make this mix.

7. Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad — Meatloaf

I always had a soft spot for this Meatloaf power ballad. It’s completely over the top and cheesy as all get out, but it somehow gets me in the feels anyway.

And who else but Meatloaf could pull off lyrics like this:

You'll never find your gold on a sandy beach
You'll never drill for oil on a city street
I know you're lookin' for a ruby in a mountain of rocks
But there ain't no Coupe de Ville hidin'
At the bottom of a Cracker Jack box

8. Two Tickets to Paradise — Eddie Money

My wife and I (and friends) used to rent a house on the Russian River (a 90-minute drive north of San Francisco) called Paradise. I’d bring my Bluetooth speaker with me, and as soon as we arrived, I’d play Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise.” It was our ritual.

We still go to the river every year, but we found another house that is much more dog-friendly. That house is called “Dreamweaver.” You can probably guess what song gets played when we arrive at that lovely abode.

I know he passed away in 2019, but I’ll say it again: R.I.P. Eddie Money. You wrote some damn fine songs.

9. Be My Number Two — Joe Jackson

If you’ve read my ‘Stack for any length of time, you know that I’m a massive Joe Jackson fan. “Be Me Number Two” is definitely a favorite, with gorgeous piano and emotionally rich lyrics and melodies.

When I was hit with massive writer’s block and overwhelm last year, it was his “Slow Song” that helped pull me through the muck. You can read about it below:

Joe Jackson - A Slow Song

Steve Goldberg

September 25, 2023

Read full story

10. Baby in Two — Pernice Brothers

Pernice Brothers is one of two repeat artists from my previous “Zero” playlist. The other, Elvis Costello, is in the 12-22 list below. “Baby in Two” features Joe Pernice's gorgeous vocals and evocative lyrics that stay with you long after the song has finished playing.

Is the song a reference to the King Solomon story in the bible, where one of two women living together with their newborns accidentally rolls over and kills her baby, then tries to steal the other mother’s baby by placing the dead one next to the unsuspecting mother? I don’t know, but I got caught in an internet rabbit hole around this dark biblical story.

11. Two-Headed Boy — Neutral Milk Hotel

Neutral Milk Hotel (Jeff Mangum) was one of those bands that you either loved deeply or didn’t get at all.

I fit firmly in the former. When In the Aeroplane Over the Sea came out in 1998, I played it over and over obsessively. I couldn’t get enough of it. “Two Headed Boy” is as lyrically obfuscating as the rest of the songs, but Mangum’s vocals and the band’s instrumentation leave me feeling a wide range of emotions anyway.

Well that was the first 11 tunes, but I promised 22 tracks, so here’s songs 12-22. You can click the song titles to call up the YouTube video for each.