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

'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...

"social injustice" appears in Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation.

"trigonometry" from Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World".

Also puts in a forgettable appearance on will.i.am's ''T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)'' but that peaked at #36 and I'm not convinced anybody in the world remembers it, so ''hit'' is probably a stretch.

was that the one with (yeesh) Jagger on it?

if so, not a hit. forgotten dud already.

Hahhaa, yes, that one.

I think "Ancoats" only appears in "Matchstalk Men etc"

Has there ever been a hit single version of 'This Old Man'? If not, I'm going to nominate Pop Muzik by M as the only hit to include 'knick knack paddy whack'

Is Ultravox's Vienna the only hit song to include the word 'pizzicato'?

sometimes I have an idle reverie about being hired to write the lyrics for the X-Factor winner's song, and writing a lyric composed entirely of words from this thread

or comprised, even

wtf you took seven minutes to decide to replace the right word with the wrong one

"Knick knack paddy whack" is also in Ludacris's "Get Back."

'Club Country' by the Associates has 'refrigeration' and 'soldered', both of which feel like they might be contenders?

Squonk - Steely Dan, "Any Major Dude (Will Tell You)"