# Most Unlikely or Unusual Popular Song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 26, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902 "2022-06-26T18:05:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/41 "2022-06-27T03:53:53Z")
“Rock Lobster” by the B-52s is the weirdest popular song ever. It’s not even a close call. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/42 "2022-06-27T04:00:59Z")
Taco’s 1982 version of “Puttin On The Ritz” always seemed really random to me. Not like it was during the resurgence of swing music or anything, and it was 8 years after _Young Frankenstein_. Dude just decided he wanted to do a pop synth cover of an Irving Berlin song in the 80s and he did. His real name is Taco by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/43 "2022-06-27T04:10:21Z")
Not nearly as strange as some of these, but I always found it quite odd that one of Pearl Jam’s bigger hits was a cover of “Last Kiss”, one of the teenage death songs from the early 60s. The Pearl Jam version hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999, which at least according to Wikipedia is the band’s highest ranking on that chart. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/44 "2022-06-27T04:10:58Z")
I thought I had successfully blanked this: wasn’t there a, “Disco Lucy” - the theme song from, “l Love Lucy,” disco-ed up with a chorus singing the title at the end of each passage? Like, in case you forgot what the theme song sounded like even though it’s playing perpetually since 1951. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/45 "2022-06-27T04:57:14Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > {…} Listen at your own peril. Can someone call 911 for me? I’m ODing on glurge… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/46 "2022-06-27T05:17:18Z")
I think Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto in 1961 should make the list. Sakamoto was a Japanese singer, and non-English acts typically don’t go very far here in the United States. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/C35DrtPlUbc/maxresdefault.jpg "Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Arukou) - Kyu Sakamoto (English Translation and Lyrics)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/47 "2022-06-27T05:18:57Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > Hard to believe the list left off _Fire_ by _The Crazy World of Arthur Brown_, which in 1968 reached #1 in the U.K. and #2 in the U.S. I don’t think most people remember that song. It wasn’t played on any of the oldiest stations I grew up with. There was a local station that used to play part of it, the “I am the god of hell fire!” part whenever there was a car on fire during the local traffic report, but I never heard the song in its entirety until fairly recently. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/48 "2022-06-27T05:21:43Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Spoken word “songs” are dreadful to the extreme. “An Open Letter to my Teenage Son” by Victor Lundberg is one of the most egregious. It sold a million copies and went to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. It’s the worst kind of right-wing extremist diatribe, with the Battle Hymn of the Republic played as a background. Well, now I understand what this classic Simpsons bit was referencing. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9n9bHi_3CFg/hqdefault.jpg "This Things I Believe (The Simpsons)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n9bHi_3CFg) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/49 "2022-06-27T05:30:22Z")
Yeesht. Want people to leave your business? Play THAT. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/50 "2022-06-27T05:32:22Z")
ISTR that it was the second remake where both songs hit #1, the first one being “The Loco-Motion” by Little Eva, and a decade or so later, by Grand Funk Railroad. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/51 "2022-06-27T05:34:44Z")
THIS showed up in my recommended feed on You Tube just a few days ago. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eOjAzI5zALo/maxresdefault.jpg "B52s Planet Claire FULL HQ Restored best version!!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOjAzI5zALo) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/52 "2022-06-27T05:43:38Z")
“Open the Door Richard”. This song was just before my time, but I was constantly reminded of the refrain, my name being Richard. I hope to piss on the writer’s grave before I die. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/53 "2022-06-27T06:08:22Z")
And of course Taste of Honey’s English version. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVSUaz10v7w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVSUaz10v7w) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/54 "2022-06-27T06:11:54Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > “Open the Door Richard”. This song was just before my time, but I was constantly reminded of the refrain, my name being Richard. I hope to piss on the writer’s grave before I die. My uncle, whose name was Mike, absolutely hated “Playground in My Mind” from 1972. > **[Playground in My Mind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_in_My_Mind)** > > "Playground in My Mind" is a 1972 single by Clint Holmes. It was written by Paul Vance with Lee Pockriss, and is a nursery rhyme-styled song which features a duet with record producer Vance's seven-year-old son Philip, who sang on the chorus, both the boy's and the girl's parts for Michael and Cindy. > "Playground in My Mind" had first been recorded by Billy Lawrence (II) in 1971 as "Playground In My Mind (Mama, Je T'aime)" > on Atlantic Records, but failed to chart. Holmes' better known version wa... ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/55 "2022-06-27T06:17:33Z")
_Relax_ - Frankie Goes to Hollywood [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yem\_iEHiyJ0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yem_iEHiyJ0) And the MTV version [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc6f\_2nPSX8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc6f_2nPSX8) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/56 "2022-06-27T06:40:15Z")
“Ringo”, a spoken-word western ballad by Pa Cartright himself, made #1 on the Hot 100 in 1964, possibly because of teenyboppers who bought the single assuming it had something to do with Ringo Starr. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q-rsTAD0B78/maxresdefault.jpg "Ringo") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-rsTAD0B78) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/57 "2022-06-27T06:40:52Z")
“Bohemian Rhapsody” deserves a place on this list. It’s become such an enduring classic that it’s hard to remember just how peculiar it is, even by the standards of progressive rock. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/58 "2022-06-27T07:07:41Z")
Enigma had _multiple hits_ in the early 90s combining dance beats with Gregorian chanting and New Age music. Bizarre! [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/x4maoo4A3x4/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AGeBoACzAOKAgwIABABGH8gLignMA8=&rs=AOn4CLAfTLT4ZSJczf8XGo_UGzLNHl2p7g "Enigma - Sadeness (Full Version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4maoo4A3x4) “Peek-A-Boo” by Siouxsie And The Banshees is pretty unusual. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gGH_16SICL0/maxresdefault.jpg "Siouxsie And The Banshees - Peek-A-Boo") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGH_16SICL0) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/59 "2022-06-27T15:54:05Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I thought I had successfully blanked this: wasn’t there a, “Disco Lucy” - the theme song from, “l Love Lucy,” disco-ed up with a chorus singing the title at the end of each passage? Like, in case you forgot what the theme song sounded like even though it’s playing perpetually since 1951. There was, indeed – and I, too, had successfully blocked it from my mind until you dredged up that memory. 😉 It reached #24 on the Billboard chart in 1977. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jHxyIpWOvPY/maxresdefault.jpg "Disco Lucy (I Love Lucy Theme) - Wilton Place Street Band (45)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHxyIpWOvPY) ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/60 "2022-06-27T16:16:28Z")
_Short People_ by Randy Newman peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s one of those songs that, when you first hear it, you can’t believe you’re hearing what you think you’re hearing. > [@](#): > > Short people got no reason > To live > > They got little hands > And little eyes > And they walk around > Tellin’ great big lies [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902.md?page=4)