Fantastic-Fat Bottomed Girls

"Fantastic Voyage," Lakeside
"Fantasy," Earth Wind & Fire
"Far and Wide," Roadside Graves
"Far Away Coast," Dropkick Murphys
"Far Far Away From My Heart," The BoDeans
"Farms on Fire," Twitchen Vibes
"Farther up the Road," Vigilantes of Love
"Fascination," David Bowie
"Fashion," David Bowie
"Fat," Violent Femmes
"Fat Bottomed Girls," Queen

NOTE: Not included in this alphabetical range are Bruce Springsteen's "Further On (Up the Road)," or the cover of it by Johnny Cash. Bill Mallonee correctly employs "farther," referring to physical distance, "God shows his face farther up the road." Physical distance also seems to be a component of what Springsteen is communicating, yet he opts for "further," referring to an extension of time or degree. I wouldn't say that either is right or wrong. The "road" in both songs is clearly a metaphor, so the distance implied is clearly more than mere physical distance. The distinction that my AP Stylebook attempts to enforce here is thus inadequate or incapable of addressing the polyvalent meaning in either song. Hence the real basis for the songwriters' different choices here: Euphony, not grammar.

Here, then, I side with Fowler:

The history of the two words appears to be that further is a comparative of fore and should, if it were to be held to its etymology, mean more advanced, and that farther is a newer variant of further, no more connected with far than further is, but affected in its form by that fact that further, having come to be used instead of the obsolete comparative of far (farrer), seemed to need a respelling that should assimilate it to far. …

As to the modern use of the two forms, the OED says: "In standard English the form farther is usually preferred where the word is intended to be the compartive of far, while further is used where the notion of far is altogether absent; there is a large intermediate class of instances in which the choice between the two forms is arbitrary."

This seems to be too strong a statement: a statement of what might be a useful differentiation rather than of one actually developed or even developing. The fact is surely that hardly anyone uses the two words for different occasions; most people prefer one or the other for all purposes, and the preference of the majority is for further. … On the whole, though differentiations are good in themselves, it is less likely that one will be established for farther and further than that the latter will become universal.