@aw nice! don’t want to lead you into another endless hole, but have you thought about Server Side Includes? Under used low tech IMO! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Side_Includes#Examples
You could have an include with the HTML until the title tag, then write out the title after that. Continue with another include until <article> begins. End with an include that goes from </article> to the end of the the document (footer etc).
@mikael interesting… I use lighttpd and there is a module for it. I may try it out https://redmine.lighttpd.net/projects/lighttpd/wiki/Mod_ssi ty!