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

Steve Miller's "Living in the USA" has a cheeseburger in it. (I checked - yes, it charted)

― Lee626, Sunday, July 28, 2013 9:18 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Peaked at #94, not sure I call that a "hit."

The first time, yes, but then it was reissued 3 years later and reached #49. That was enough to ensure occasional AOR airplay in the '80s. A mini-hit anyway.

Whoa whoa ...

"The Magnificent Seven" The Clash can has "Cheeseboiger!

John Sebastian - toddled (Darling Be Home Soon)

I would say "blender" also, but the same heart-tender-blender bit appears in "Nookie." I always wondered if that was supposed to be some kind of shoutout or reference or something.

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, July 28, 2013 3:33 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Let me tell you about this fantastic American art form called "rap music"

Sometimes the lyrics in rap music are so full of references that self-proclaimed "rap geniuses" actually create entire databases documenting and decoding them

Steve Miller's "Living in the USA" has a cheeseburger in it. (I checked - yes, it charted)

― Lee626, Sunday, July 28, 2013 9:18 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Peaked at #94, not sure I call that a "hit."

The first time, yes, but then it was reissued 3 years later and reached #49. That was enough to ensure occasional AOR airplay in the '80s. A mini-hit anyway.

― Lee626, Monday, July 29, 2013 4:22 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oops, you're right - it's in!

re: rap, yeah, uh, i get that, just the particular way Fred Durst delivers the line always made me feel like he thought it was his original awesome rhyme.

Another 'Blender', from "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (written by Warren Zevon, a #31 hit for Linda Ronstadt)

Yes he really worked me over good
He was a credit to his gender
Put me through some changes Lord
Sort of like a Waring blender

wow, even a specific brand of blender!

"If I Were A Carpenter", which has been a hit for several artists, "onlyness"? There's a Birthday Party song with that word, but it wasn't a hit.

"calamine lotion" - Poison Ivy, The Coasters

supertramp's "logical song" must have a few: dependable, presentable, clinical, etc

"calamine lotion" - Poison Ivy, The Coasters

― playwright Greg Marlowe, secretly in love with Mary (Dr Morbius), Monday, July 29, 2013 10:47 AM (8 hours ago)

Calamine Lotion features a few times in "Foggy Notion" by the Velvet Underground

You know, that hit song by the velvet underground

"Rolleiflex" in Jobim's "Desafinado". Not sure if that's a hit, but it was covered by a zillion people and everyone knows it.

Splackavellie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz9yvs_2nvw

"Victrola" - CCR's Looking out my back door

Also appears in "Dim All the Lights."

And Black Velvet.

Agggghhh that thread is rapidly contaminating all of ILM!

'conceited' and 'smarty' (not used in conjunction with the word 'pants') in "An Invitation To Your Party" by Jerry Lee Lewis (#6 Country)

'smarty' is in "Bust a Move" by Young MC (#7 Pop)

And "Well did ya ever" Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry

Kilimanjaro and Serengeti in Toto's "Africa"
Glasgow in Abba's "Super Trouper"

Unfortunately, as previously discussed, "Serengeti" is also in "Everything Is Everything" by Lauryn Hill.

have just heard a 3rd sacroiliac single, which predates both the others (1961)

Rod McKuen - Oliver Twist Meets The Duke Of Earl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9kqm3bIrI

was a single, not sure it was a hit anywhere.

'conceited' and 'smarty' (not used in conjunction with the word 'pants') in "An Invitation To Your Party" by Jerry Lee Lewis (#6 Country)

Does "Conceited" by Remy Ma count as a hit? It only got to 90 on the Hot 100 but was top 20 on the hip-hop chart.

xp elo's "calling america" mentions the 747

Saxon, "747 (Strangers in the Night)", reached No. 13, 1980

'Shipfitter' and 'iodine' in Guy Marks' "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" (which unlike most of the songs on this thread was a hit single)

'iodine' also turns up in tennessee jed by the grateful dead:

I dropped four flights and cracked my spine,
Honey, come quick with the iodine

and iodine by l cohen

"insinuating" in Ciara's "Goodies"?

"Glasgow" is in dozens of songs, some of them hits - eg. "Helen Wheels" by Wings and "Town to Town" by Microdisney.

Microdisney had a hit?

and speaking of Steve Miller, does any other song have a 707 in it? Or any other specific model of airplane for that matter? (there are a few songs with LearJets in them, but that's just a manufacturer's name, like Boeing or Lockheed, not a specific model)

― Lee626, Monday, 29 July 2013 01:23 (1 week ago) Permalink

"I came from the sky/Like a seven forty-seven"
Zodiac Mindwarp - Prime Mover

Census!

(Sparks, obv)

and speaking of Steve Miller, does any other song have a 707 in it? Or any other specific model of airplane for that matter? (there are a few songs with LearJets in them, but that's just a manufacturer's name, like Boeing or Lockheed, not a specific model)
― Lee626, Monday, 29 July 2013 01:23 (1 week ago)

Far East Movement: "Like a G6"
CCR: "Travelling Band" ("747 comin' out of the sky...")

"Electrician" in Beastie Boys' "Ch-Check It Out"

CCR say "737" actually. It is probable Fogerty had never seen a 747 when he recorded that song, since the plane was introduced into commercial service the same month "Travelin' Band" was released.

"Mezzanine" in Soul Coughing's "Super Bon Bon"

(Mezzanine is in belle and sebatian's 'century of elvis', but that wasn't a single)

i heard a song with 'urinal' in it on the radio this morning, but can't remember what it was.

Improbably, "Mezzanine" appears in "Thrift Shop!"

Bupkis (or it might be "buttkiss") in Bran Van 3000's Drinking in LA

"fruit-cage" in "Sledgehammer"

"hornyback toad" from "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," surely.

i heard a song with 'urinal' in it on the radio this morning, but can't remember what it was.

morrissey's "the boy racer," perhaps? do they still play that on the radio?

it was, yes

and speaking of Steve Miller, does any other song have a 707 in it? Or any other specific model of airplane for that matter? (there are a few songs with LearJets in them, but that's just a manufacturer's name, like Boeing or Lockheed, not a specific model)

― Lee626, Sunday, July 28, 2013 6:23 PM (3 weeks ago)

Fairly certain that Paul Pena's original (not a hit) says 747, not sure why Steve went retro.

"Biscayne" and "Leafs" (not leaves) in Joni's "Raised on Robbery", maybe?

"Biscayne" also in Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu," though it wasn't a hit.

The Rolling Stones posted the first two verses of "Bitch" on FB today. Learned that "fortnight" is in the first one.

The '57 Biscayne in "Raised on Robbery" is an anachronism - Chevrolet didn't begin production of Biscaynes until 1958. I wonder if Joni (a) wasn't aware of this, (b) didn't care, or (c) was just taking artistic licence because '57 Chevys are so much cooler than '58s....

"'57 Bel Air" would scan.