# Most Unexpected / Obscure Song Heard In A Restaurant or Other Public Setting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 5, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971 "2012-11-05T17:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/61 "2021-12-06T23:41:51Z")
I thought of another good example. On _Jeopardy!_ some years ago, the category was “before & after”. There was an audio clue “The name of this band, heard here, combines a type of recreational vehicle & a composer:”, and they played _Take the Skinheads Bowling_ by… Camper Van Beethoven ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/62 "2021-12-06T23:54:28Z")
In a fast food burger joint: Max Frost and the Troopers-Shape of things to Come. Talk about obscure. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/63 "2021-12-07T00:06:50Z")
A few years back I was pleasantly surprised to hear “Alone Again, Or” by 1960s psychedelic rock band Love play in a chain grocery store. It’s a great song, one of my favorites from the era, but while Arthur Lee and Love had a cult following, they were never one of the top-of-mind groups back in the day. I marveled at how and why that song made its way onto the playlist of whatever service they were using. A friend was highly amused to hear Alice Cooper’s “Hello, Hurray” in a grocery store one day. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/64 "2021-12-07T00:34:23Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I heard Hap played before a Vienna Teng concert, and again before a Charlotte Martin concert. The first time I heard Vienna Teng being played in a Walgreens my jaw dropped. This was early, I think it was “Harbor” but in not sure, definitely off _Waking Hour_. I had only just discovered her music, but I’d gone to high school with her alter ego. Another one in that same Walgreens, not long after I had a thought that Sarah McLachlan “When She Loved Me” from _Toy Story 2_ would make a good male country song I heard that exact cover. No idea who it was, maybe Steve Tyrell. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/65 "2021-12-07T01:14:28Z")
In a very mainstream UK chain hardware store, “Girlfriend in a coma” by The Smiths. OK, Morrisey…. But it’s a great song. j ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/66 "2021-12-07T01:18:51Z")
I had a friend whose fiancée was in a coma. I’d like a lot of Self-Control Credits for never even humming this song in the presence of anyone who knew her (ps, she was all better a week later). . My example was being pretty shut off from “civilization” on a little island, back in the early 70s. I’d had a good part of a month with no ‘tunage’, until I stumbled upon a little café with sand floors, native decorations, and… cold beer! I bit into my first burger in way too long, a cassette player got turned on… And a pure, plaintive voice rang out: _Slippin’ away… headin’ out to L.A._ _Gonna sing in the city tonight…_ Wait, I know this voice… that’s Richie Furay from Buffalo Springfield… no one in the bar knew anything, it was a mixtape of unknown origin. Got back home and dug around (pre-internet, y’know) and it _was_ Richie Furay, now with Poco, on a poignant album, Crazy Eyes. But it’ll always be the beer and burger Slippin’ Away song: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CVCuVvNjtMA/hqdefault.jpg "Poco - Let's Dance Tonight.wmv") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVCuVvNjtMA) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/67 "2021-12-07T01:22:21Z")
Pleased to hear that! j ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/68 "2021-12-07T01:38:52Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I remember noting that the Muzak version of “Gangsters Paradise” was playing in the grocery store at which I worked. Were there a lot of Amish there? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/69 "2021-12-07T01:42:54Z")
" In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" In a Portland elevator three years ago. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/70 "2021-12-07T01:50:11Z")
The church my wife worked for 12 years ago was preparing their big Easter cantata. She was conducting and playing piano and I ran the soundboard for practices when the regular guy couldn’t make it. There was one song – I don’t know the title – that I recognized while having lunch at the Chik-fil-A a year or so later. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/71 "2021-12-07T02:00:21Z")
“Cat’s in the Cradle,” as the hold music at a pediatrician’s office. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/72 "2021-12-07T02:00:44Z")
Not a one. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/73 "2021-12-07T04:27:04Z")
I remember being a little bit surprised years ago when I realized the music NPR was playing in between programs was a smooth jazz cover of Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/74 "2021-12-07T07:22:29Z")
Being fitted for contact lenses back in 1972, the eye clinic’s Muzak started playing an instrumental version of the theme from _ **Star Trek** _. First and only time I’ve ever heard it outside of TV. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/75 "2021-12-07T13:45:35Z")
Just this morning in Dunelm, Shoreham (“Home Furnishings”) my distracted consciousness gradually realized that the muzak they were playing was…Changes by David Bowie. Good Lord. j ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/76 "2021-12-07T13:46:30Z")
I was at work a number of years ago, when we realized the muzak was playing a version of the theme to Sesame Street. One of my co-workers was incensed. “What do they think we are - a bunch of babies?” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971/77 "2021-12-07T18:08:14Z")
Shopping at Highland Farms a couple of years ago, the Muzak started playing a tune that took me a few seconds to identify. It was “Tommy” by The Who, which I probably hadn’t heard since I played it on the trombone in my High School’s marching band. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unexpected-obscure-song-heard-in-a-restaurant-or-other-public-setting/639971.md?page=3)