"Abhor" ("Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant).
― Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 4 February 2008 12:10 (sixteen years ago) link
hanson - mmmbop
MMMbop tick a ta ba do ba dubi da ba do ba tick a ta ba doo yeah eh yeah MMMbop tick a ta ba do ba dubi da ba do ba tick a ta ba doo yeah eh yeah
― sadie8707, Monday, 4 February 2008 17:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Kurosawa-Barenaked Ladies "One Week"
― C. Grisso/McCain, Monday, 4 February 2008 17:47 (sixteen years ago) link
to the guys at the top of this thread: "FANCY" BY REBA McENTIRE~! HELLO!?
i mighta been born just plain white trash BUT FANCY WAS UH MA NAME!!
― maffew12, Monday, 4 February 2008 17:49 (sixteen years ago) link
the pretenders - brass in pocket "reet"
― CaptainLorax, Monday, 4 February 2008 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
groos ELO - "don't bring me down"
― Steve Shasta, Monday, 4 February 2008 19:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Jackie Wilson beat them to it by more than 20 years.
― Geir Hongro, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Now wracking brain for an unmatched two-letter word.
Om (Across the Universe)?
― Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 07:32 (sixteen years ago) link
zigazig-ha
― abanana, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 08:10 (sixteen years ago) link
'progenitorship' in 'The Attic' by Van Dyke Parks. Probably a handful also from his Song Cycle. 'Hackamore'?
'snozzed' in Mike Doughty's 'I Hear Them Bells'? ("you snooze you lose, well I snozzed and lost" - totally pulls this off!). Maybe that doesn't count, since it's slang.
I'm guessing The Fall and maybe Jandek have some.
'haplocanthosaur' on Pere Ubu's 'Petrified'. They probably have heaps too.
My favourite use of unusual words used in song = 'Parallelograms' by Linda Perhacs. The title word takes the cherry.
quadrahedral/tetrahedral... semi-parabolic (?)
― spectra, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 08:50 (sixteen years ago) link
sorry, overlooked the 'hit' part of thread q. Only the Mike Doughty could fit anywhere into that from my stabs.
― spectra, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 08:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Moody Blues had an "Om" too.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 09:59 (sixteen years ago) link
"Mitsubishi Zero" and "Red Star Belgrade" from Billy Bragg's "Sexuality"
"Equilibrium" from "Falling to Pieces", Faith No More
― DavidM, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 10:53 (sixteen years ago) link
"Hijacking your equilibrium/Midnight snacks in the mauesoleum" Beck, "Sexxlaws"
― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 10:55 (sixteen years ago) link
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).
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 11:33 (sixteen years ago) link
"Kidnapped" (Tom Petty: "Refugee") "Pudding" (Pink Floyd: "Another Brick in the Wall Part Two") "Leonid Brezhnev" (REM: "It's the End of the World...")
― Clarke, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:24 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:30 (sixteen years ago) link
"Pudding on the Ritz"?
― Tom D., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:31 (sixteen years ago) link
'Asunder' in Kate Bush's- Running Up That Hill
― shanissey, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:37 (sixteen years ago) link
And these are the days When our work has come asunder And these are the days When we look for something other
U2 - Lemon
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link
"Pudding" (Pink Floyd: "Another Brick in the Wall Part Two")
You playing album versions again?
― Mark G, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Asunder's in 3 girl rhumba, but I guess that wouldn't qualify as a hit.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:41 (sixteen years ago) link
"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.
― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link
Nabakov - "Don't Stand So Close To Me"
― Steve Shasta, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:45 (sixteen years ago) link
"Alabaster Lady" by Carole King.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:45 (sixteen years ago) link
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!")
― Tom D., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:47 (sixteen years ago) link
"Minestrone" - "Bangers And Mash" by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:49 (sixteen years ago) link
'Paisley' (as in the town) (Hue & Cry, "Looking For Linda")
― Tom D., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:51 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:53 (sixteen years ago) link
There's also "Paisley Park" by Prince (okay, it's not about the town, but it's still the same word).
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, was going to say...
― Mark G, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Also "Letter From America" by the Proclaimers wraps up Bathgate, Linwood, Methil, Irvine, Lochaber etc. Not to mention "Sunshine On Leith."
And "HAVER"!
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Which isn't a hit single
― Tom D., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― ailsa, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link
18 Prince & The Revolution Paisley Park May 1985
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link
It was in the UK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_Park_%28song%29
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Damn, x-post.
Ha ha, I musta forgot all about that!
― Tom D., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:00 (sixteen years ago) link
<i>"Pudding" (Pink Floyd: "Another Brick in the Wall Part Two")
-- 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!
― Clarke, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:01 (sixteen years ago) link
'Bon marché' (Steely Dan, "Haitian Divorce")
― Tom D., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:06 (sixteen years ago) link
"Wakka" ("Ooh Wakka Doo Wakka Day" by Gilbert O'Sullivan).
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:06 (sixteen years ago) link
"Camisas" ("Favourite Shirts" by Haircut 100).
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Is "Mo Money, Mo Problems" the only hit record with the word "flagrant" in it?
― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Was "People Who Died" a hit? Can't be many others that mention hepatitis or leukemia.
― dad a, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:40 (sixteen years ago) link
c'puter says no.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:44 (sixteen years ago) link
What about Capt. Beefheart's "Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish"? Was that a hit?
― Tom D., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 16:55 (sixteen years ago) link
21 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica Dec 1969
So, yeah.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
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?)
― Rev. Hoodoo, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 17:18 (sixteen years ago) link
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"
― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 17:23 (sixteen years ago) link
psychosomatic - prodigy, breathe
― ledge, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 17:27 (sixteen years ago) link