Word(s) that only ever appeared in one (hit) song, ever.

Om (Across the Universe)?

Moody Blues had an "Om" too.

"Mitsubishi Zero" and "Red Star Belgrade"
from Billy Bragg's "Sexuality"

"Equilibrium"
from "Falling to Pieces", Faith No More

"Hijacking your equilibrium/Midnight snacks in the mauesoleum" Beck, "Sexxlaws"

I'm sure quite a few dodgy Eurodance #28 for one week hits may disprove this, but:

"Eurobeat" ("Twisting By The Pool" by Dire Straits).

"Kidnapped" (Tom Petty: "Refugee")
"Pudding" (Pink Floyd: "Another Brick in the Wall Part Two")
"Leonid Brezhnev" (REM: "It's the End of the World...")

Ah, but "Black Pudding Bertha" by the Goodies ("She's the queen of Northern Soul!").

Also, "I Like My Baby's Pudding" (ooer, sounds a bit rude) by Wynonie Harris.

"Pudding on the Ritz"?

'Asunder' in Kate Bush's- Running Up That Hill

And these are the days
When our work has come asunder
And these are the days
When we look for something other

U2 - Lemon

"Pudding" (Pink Floyd: "Another Brick in the Wall Part Two")

You playing album versions again?

Asunder's in 3 girl rhumba, but I guess that wouldn't qualify as a hit.

"Alabaster" (Shoplifters Of The World Unite)

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

Nabakov - "Don't Stand So Close To Me"

"Alabaster Lady" by Carole King.

10cc:

'bullhorn' ("Rubber Bullets")
'Milton' (as in John) ("The Dean and I")
'Getty', 'Rothschild' ("Wall Street Shuffle")
'toupees and threepees' ("Silly Love")
'minestrone' ("Life Is a Minestrone!")

"Minestrone" - "Bangers And Mash" by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren.

'Paisley' (as in the town) (Hue & Cry, "Looking For Linda")

Apposite time to cite "The Glasgow Underground Song" by Francie and Josie:

"There's Partick Cross and Cessnock,
Hillhead (pronounced HillHEED) and Merklands Street,
George's Cross and Govan Cross where all the people meet,
West Street, Shields Road, the train goes round and round" etc.

There's also "Paisley Park" by Prince (okay, it's not about the town, but it's still the same word).

Yeah, was going to say...

Also "Letter From America" by the Proclaimers wraps up Bathgate, Linwood, Methil, Irvine, Lochaber etc. Not to mention "Sunshine On Leith."

And "HAVER"!

There's also "Paisley Park" by Prince (okay, it's not about the town, but it's still the same word).

Which isn't a hit single

I thought Paisley was mentioned in "These Streets" by Paolo Nutini, but he only mentions a couple of specific streets in Paisley, not Paisley itself.

18 Prince & The Revolution Paisley Park May 1985

Which isn't a hit single

It was in the UK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_Park_%28song%29

Damn, x-post.

Ha ha, I musta forgot all about that!

<i>"Pudding" (Pink Floyd: "Another Brick in the Wall Part Two")

You playing album versions again?

-- Mark G, Tuesday, February 5, 2008 10:40 AM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Link</i>

Hey man, American classic rock radio (at least the stations I know) ALWAYS plays the "eat your meat" part!

'Bon marché' (Steely Dan, "Haitian Divorce")

"Wakka" ("Ooh Wakka Doo Wakka Day" by Gilbert O'Sullivan).

"Camisas" ("Favourite Shirts" by Haircut 100).

Is "Mo Money, Mo Problems" the only hit record with the word "flagrant" in it?

Was "People Who Died" a hit? Can't be many others that mention hepatitis or leukemia.

c'puter says no.

What about Capt. Beefheart's "Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish"? Was that a hit?

21 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica Dec 1969

So, yeah.

Somehow or another, big awkward words just DO NOT have the same effect in all these obscure art-rock songs that some of you guys have started naming. You EXPECT five-dollar words in some song by Jim Carroll, 'cause hell, he's a poet in the first place! And if Van Dyke Parks uses the word "progenitorship" in a song, his audience probably wouldn't even have to look that up!

But it's way more shocking to hear funny words in some out-and-out mainstream pop or soul song (even if it didn't make the charts). Laura Lee's "Separation Line" is a moving southern soul ballad that was never a hit, true - but I always love to hear that line about how she no longer needs her mother's jurisdiction. Or Rick James (not mainstream, but close) singing about coming home horny and intoxicated in his hit "Give It To Me Baby." It sounds more left-field in songs like those than it does in some R.E.M. tune.

(Say, where was Beefheart's "Octafish" a hit? Pluto?)

Rick James (not mainstream, but close) singing about coming home horny and intoxicated in his hit "Give It To Me Baby"

"I'm the fear you tasted/ Well intoxicated/ Psycho somantic addict insane"

psychosomatic - prodigy, breathe

(Say, where was Beefheart's "Octafish" a hit? Pluto?)

-- Rev. Hoodoo, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 17:18 (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Hull.

Antibiotics - Alanis M., "Thank U"
Eclectic - The Cars, "Hello Again"
Horton Hears A Who - Deee-Lite, "Groove Is In The Heart"

Sussudio - Phil Collins

Has it gotten this far without mentioning "My Prerogative"?

Or for that matter, Foster Sylvers'"Misdemeanor?"

several Missy Elliott tracks

Has it gotten this far without mentioning "My Prerogative"?

-- bendy, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 23:48 (Yesterday) Link

"The best thing about being a woman/Is the prerogative to have a little fun"

I don't guess "Verisimilitude" (Teenage Fanclub) was a hit.

I'd be surprised if there's a song other than Ween's "Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)" that mentions "spinal meningitis".

"Spo-Dee-O-Dee" from "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee

"Buffalo Stance" by Neneh Cherry

"The Discovery Channel" from Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch"

"Longines Symphonette" from They Might Be Giants' "Birdhouse in Your Soul"

"Zipperhead" from Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl"

"JavaScript" from Weird Al's "White & Nerdy"

In Jessie's Girl Rick Springfield says the word "moot."

I remember hearing it and looking it up in the dictionary when I was younger

Beach Boys: "My four-speed dual-quad positraction 409."