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

"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.

Undertones' My Perfect Cousin must have a few... "Human League", "university challenge"
Originally I thought Subbuteo, but then I remembered Half Man Half Biscuit's All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit, which also has Scalextric, "Dodgy transformer".

"Biscayne" is in Drake's "The Motto"

"recipe" and "striped" (pronounced strip-ed) on "MacArthur Park." Rihanna scooped up "icing" though.

"Cherokee" on "Indian Reservation." Maybe "beads."

"astral plane" on "Dream Weaver"? Ah, damn, nope. "Bring the Pain" hit #4 on US Rap. Nice to imagine Gary Wright and Method Man owning the same issues of Doctor Strange though.

"Half Breed" by Cher (among other hits maybe) has "Cherokee," too.

Is Royals the only hit song that has ever had the phrase "post code" in it?

"Recipe" is in "Lilac Wine," a hit single by Elkie Brooks in 1979, also recorded by Jeff Buckley and Miley Cyrus.

"Recipe" is also in "What Love Is Made Of" by Katy B.

"Cherokee" and "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" are jazz-pop standards.

Plus, technically speaking, "strip-ed" is also in Donna Summer's hit version of that song.

'Recipe(s)' is in Joni Mitchell's "Raised On Robbery" (which only went to #65 US anyway)

This word will most certainly be popping up on the charts via Katy Perry sometime soon, but 'Prism' in "Joanne" by Michael Nesmith (#21 US in 1970)

Ha, I sort of knew all those were going to be duds when I posted them. All part of the fun I guess.

"injustice" in "Easy To Be Hard." "Social injustice," no less...