# Is there a weirder song than "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708 "2009-12-27T15:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/41 "2009-12-28T04:33:19Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > No-one mentioned Kate Bush’s [The Dreaming](http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/kate-bush-lyrics/the-dreaming-lyrics.html) yet? Hmm. I’d pick Sat in Your Lap or Babooshka over The Dreaming, for weirdness. Or Violin. Or Get Out of My House. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/42 "2009-12-28T04:33:38Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > MacArthur Park for the win. Not even a win in the 1st 7 posts. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/43 "2009-12-28T04:35:54Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Also, the “Hear come old flat top” line is a direct reference from Chuck Berry’s “You Can’t Catch Me.” > > Anyway, in terms of Beatles weirdness, it doesn’t come close to [“I Am the Walrus”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsiQuXrREFE&NR=1) and (especially) [“Revoluton 9”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPtaSAlN3jY) (which isn’t so much a song as a sound collage). I still think in terms of just sheer weirdness, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer wins in the “WTF” department from the Beatle’s library. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/44 "2009-12-28T04:38:29Z")
Actually, one of the weirdest songs ever is a [James Brown cover](http://bit.ly/8SsXAB). Also shortlisted is a [Beatles cover](http://bit.ly/4tv2T8). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/45 "2009-12-28T04:41:12Z")
Although how I could’ve forgotten [Melinda Miel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0jIdnrIah8), I’ll never know. Watch the video. (Produced by Marc Almond.) ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/46 "2009-12-28T04:46:47Z")
[Detroit Grand Pubahs- Sandwiches](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94IdL3djJVU) Just as funky. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/47 "2009-12-28T04:51:35Z")
[Your skin is black metallic.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtTqR9oZX6Q) The girl at the end reminds me a bit of the octo-mom. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/48 "2009-12-28T05:10:48Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > In terms of weird hit songs, Napoleon XIV is right up there for all-time honors: > > \*You thought it was a joke and so you laughed, you LAUGHED when I had said > that losing you would make me flip my lid.. RIGHT??? > I know you laughed, I heard you laugh, you laughed you laughed and > laughed and then you left, but now you know I’m utterly mad… And.. > > They’re coming to take me away, ha-haaa, > They’re coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa > To the happy home. With trees and flowers and chirping birds and basket > weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes and they’re > coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!!\* > > Nope, nothing odd about that. :dubious: > > Pass the tanning butter. You win, Jack! What the younger generation might not realize is that this shit got serious air-play in it’s day on AM radio. It was pre-FM. Sitting in the back seat of dad’s Dodge and this comes on and we all laugh. And it was bizarre even to a teenager! It was WTF?! disturbing to me! This song is one of those that cemented the idea, in my father’s brain, that drugs were going to kill the modern world. Evidence of impending Hippy Armaggedon. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/49 "2009-12-28T06:39:42Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [The Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack Flash lyrics | LyricsFreak](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/jumping+jack+flash_20118147.html) Tough to beat Jumpin Jack Flash. Jumpin’ Jack Flash makes perfect sense to me. It is a story of someone who suffered when he was young, but now he is having a good time. It is a bit hyperbolic, but not weird at all. (Is the problem with “it’s a gas”? That was commonplace slang at the time, meaning something like “it’s really fun”.) It has occurred to me that the “spike right through my head” might be a reference to the story of Phineas Gage, who was a sober minded guy who did indeed get a spike right through his head that turned him into a hellraising drunkard. But maybe that is over-thinking it. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/50 "2009-12-28T15:10:40Z")
1. “Cars” by Gary Numan was a very weird song to be such a huge mainstream hit. Probably not as weird as “Rock Lobster,” though. 2. An old friend was once at a party in a fancy recording studio in the early 80s. Fred Schneider shows up, walks into a studio room where some musicians are jamming, and grabs a mike – and it becomes apparent to my friend that (a) this kind of stuff flows out of Fred Schneider like water from a tap and (b) he turns every band into the B-52s without trying too hard. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/51 "2009-12-28T16:02:43Z")
Eleven year-old Kizarvexilla heard _Rock Lobster_ for the very first time just this past weekend. In her opinion, there is NO weirder song. Obviously, I have been neglecting certain crucial aspects of my daughter’s musical education. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/52 "2009-12-28T18:53:17Z")
It’s especially weird if, when you first heard it, you have no idea what ‘tanning butter’ is. Lotion, yes. Sunscreen, yes. But _butter_? ---
**Author:** ![Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blut_Aus_Nord)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/53 "2009-12-28T18:57:30Z")
Any song by The Residents. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/54 "2009-12-28T20:07:44Z")
Or anything by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/55 "2009-12-28T21:52:27Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > [Camel Walk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUP5rwVNJko) by Southern Culture On The Skids I get some strange looks when I blurt out, “Little Debbie, Little Debbie, I’m a coming on home baby!”. Great song, but probably not far enough up the Wierd-O-Meter for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708/56 "2009-12-28T23:01:58Z")
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins had a modest hit with “Feast Of The Mau Mau”: _Pull the skin off your friend with a razor blade And tonight change tomorrow bring back yesterday Shake your hip, bite your lip, shoot your mother-in-law Put on your gorilla suit, drink some elbow soup and have a ball Get it straight, don’t be late, it’s time for mad fun Feast of the Mau Maus has begun_ And that’s the most normal part of the song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-weirder-song-than-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s/522708.md?page=2)