“Gravity’s Bringing us Down” by Beulah
“Everything Hits at Once” and “Chicago at Night” by Spoon
“New Slang” by The Shins
“Obscurity Knocks” by Trash Can Sinatras (hmm, how appropriate)
martin_ibn_martin - You are thinking of Bobby Sheehan.
Billy sheehan was in Talas, Mr. big, David Lee Roth band. One of the best bass players around.
Hmm, most of the music I listen to can be classified as “obscure”. Here are some random favorites:
“Throwing Stones” by Paula Cole. Never played on the radio because she sings “motherfucker” in it. I love women who curse!!
“Crimson” by Edge of Sanity. 40 minutes of black metal heaven.
In the mid-70’s I heard a song on the radio called “L.A. International Airport” but I have no idea who sang it, and hours of Google & Kazaa searching have turned up nothing. Does anyone know? I do remember the lyrics went, “L.A. International Airport, where the big jet engines roar!” and it had a female singer.
Queen, from “Night at the Opera”, the song '39
It’s a catchy country-pop tune about an interstellar voyage. The lyrics are incomprehensible unless you know about Einstein’s theory of time dilation as the ship travels near the speed of light. Many reviewers had no clue about relativity, so they misinterpreted the song as being “mystical”.
Here is a sample of a relativistic lyric. The voyager returns – in his time frame only a year has passed, but back on earth decades have gone by due to time dilation. His wife is long dead, and he meets his daughter, now grown up. He grieves his wife’s death, seeing her resemblance in the daughter’s eyes*
For so many years have gone though I’m older but a year
Your mother’s eyes, from your eyes, cry to me *
“Who’s behind the Door” by Zebra
and
“Don’t pay the Ferryman” by Chris DeBurgh
“Bigmouth Strikes Again” by The Smiths
I’m a newbie to his stuff, for sure, but I know much weaker.
I never heard of this Sally ballad. I thought I’d spare any mild-mannered Dopers (is this an oxymoron?) his lyrics, leaving it at “Unfit-for-airplay” stuff.
I.L.B.T’s. by Joe Walsh fom the “You bought it, you name it” album. Great album title too.
“Something So Big” by the Local Rabbits
“Companion (Lay Me Down)” by Wide Mouth Mason
“Hangin’ by a Thread” by Jann Arden
“Mother Russia” by Renaissance, not that one, the other one with Annie Haslem 
“Loan Me a Dime” by Boz Scaggs [w/ Gregg & Duane Allman]
“Between the Lines” by Lake
'Another Man’s Woman" by Atlanta Rythym Section
“Dead & Gone” by Gypsy
“The Last Illusion” by JF Murphy & Salt
“Born with a Moon in Virgo” by Michael Franks
“Salisbury” by Uriah Heep
“The Prophet’s Song” by Queen
“Narnia” by Steve Hackett
“Fight Dirty” by Charlie
I could go on all night.
Roadwalker I thought Zebra was unkown outside of St Louis?
“Song for America” is a good one, too.
Already mentioned, but Bonzo Dog Band:
One of the best song they did was Tubas in the Moonlight. This is a beautifully crafted track, short and sweet.
I heard Who’s behind the Door back in '83. My friend in British Columbia had taped it off the radio. I listened to it driving on a highway in Hawaii at sunset. the sound of the song matched the driving and I really got to like the song.
I offer these for your consideration:
“Freight Train” by Nitro
“Whirly Girl” by Oxo (total guilty pleasure)
“Comin’ Through” by Killer Dwarfs
“Gratitude Walks” and “Mercury” by American Music Club
“Sleeping Satellite” by Tasmin Archer
“Mas y Mas” by Kinky
“Die by my Hand” by Coroner
“Satellites” by Rhythm Corps
“Nemesis” by Celtic Frost
“Sometimes” by The Dogs D’Amour
“Ojala Que Llueva Cafe” by Juan Luis Guerra
“Critical Mass” by Nuclear Assault
“Car Bomb” and “Yellow, Black and Rectangular” by Negativland
“New Breed” by The Pietasters
“Tree of Knowledge” by The Pursuit of Happiness
And a special lifetime achievement award goes to the collective works of Freedy Johnston, who IMHO never gets enough recognition. He writes these wonderful, puzzle-box songs about complex characters. He always finds the emotional core and the right angle to present his songs. Not your typical subject matter either.
I believe you’re thinking of Susan Raye. See (and hear)this site:
This might be a novelty song but its called "Has anyone seen my corpse " by electric funstuff
It basically describes the culture of everquest the online rpg game in a funny as hell way
I remeber l.a international airport becuase I had a tape of 70s country music in the car and I liked a song that was right before it called "wolfcreek pass a 70s trucking song about a outof control truck …
But i thought the airport song was corny …
“Sheer Heart Attack” by Queen. I just love the drum run-up right after all the feedback. I’ve always wondered why the first major Queen album had the “Sheer Heart Attack” title, but the song didn’t come out until “News of the World”.
I also have a “lost song” story. In '73 or '74, I heard a song at camp, played by one of the counsellers. All I could remember about it was bits of a verse where the singer described his “brother” being struck by lightning as he chopped wood. It haunted me for years. I tried a number of folk-song books and looked over the song lists on the back of likely records, but no luck. In '75 I met a good friend, Gary, who played guitar. We spent a lot of time listening to music and playing. What withj one thing and another we didn’t see each other for most of the Eighties. When I finally did re-connect, we were chatting on the phone one day and I casually mentioned that darn song. Turns out he’d known it all along. It’s “The Ballad of (can’t remember the name)” by Shaun Phillips. I finally found a copy of the album a few years ago. Great, right? Wrong! I had a bunch of records stolen not long after. Yep, nabbed. To add insult to injury, they left the cover…just not the record!
It’ll be another fifteen years…
This is the greatest song of all time:cool:
American Psycho