Why don't you capitalize PSB song titles the way the Boys themselves say they're supposed to be capitalized, with each one written as if it were a sentence (for example, "Tonight is forever" instead of "Tonight Is Forever")?
It's not out of ignorance. Boneheaded contrariness, perhaps. But at least it proves I'm no mere PSB sycophant.
More seriously, folks—and I sincerely hope I'm not going to offend anyone by saying this—I personally regard the "official" PSB way of capitalizing their song titles to be a stylistic affectation that no one else is obliged to follow. Call me old-fashioned (irony intended), but I don't see why I or anyone else should deviate from the conventions of title capitalization that have served the English language and the worlds of publishing, journalism, and academia perfectly well for the past two centuries or so.
You might respond, "But they wrote the songs! The songs are theirs! So you're wrong to capitalize them differently!"
No. Once an artist shares his or her work with the public, he or she no longer "owns" it. To be sure, the artist (or publisher) generally owns the copyright to that artwork and thereby has certain exclusive commercial, financial, and other "intellectual property" rights related to it. But the artwork itself has slipped out of their hands. This is especially true with regard to critical references to it. It's no more "wrong" for me to capitalize a song title in the conventional way than it is for Neil and Chris to capitalize a song title in an
Besides, just look at how the Boys themselves have capitalized the titles of songs written by others that they've covered, such as (and, to illustrate, I'll use their capitalization style here) "Always on my mind," "What keeps mankind alive?" and "Where the streets have no name (I can't take my eyes off you)." They haven't felt obliged to adhere to how the writers of those songs capitalized their titles. So neither do I feel any such obligation.
In short, Chris and Neil are perfectly free to capitalize song titles—their own and anyone else's—as they see fit. And so am I. None of us are "wrong" to do so.
By the way, I don't capitalize the title of Brian Wilson's magnum opus Smile as SMiLE, either, as some writers insist. It was a design consideration, for goshsakes!
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